Professor John McAlaney
- Professor In Psychology
- Poole House P125, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, BH12 5BB
Biography
I am a Chartered Psychologist, Chartered Scientist and Professor of Psychology. I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of Stirling, my MSc at the University of Strathclyde and then my PhD at the University of West of Scotland in 2007. My PhD was on the topic of social psychology and substance use, looking particularly at misperceptions of peer norms. Following this I worked on an AERC funded post-doc position at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine before moving onto a lecturing post at the University of Bradford in 2008. I joined the Department of Psychology here at Bournemouth in 2014. I lead the Cyberpsychology research group, and are Programme Leader for the BSc Cyberpsychology degree. Outside of the University I act as a Trustee for the Gordon Moody Association, which provides treatment for individuals with problem gambling.
Research
My research focuses on social psychological aspects of behaviour change, and how this is informed by group dynamics and perceptions of peer behaviour. I have been extensively involved in the development of the social norms approach in the UK, which aims to bring about positive change through challenging misconceptions and negative stereotypes. I am particularly interested in applying this research to areas that involve risk based decision making.
Since joining Bournemouth University I have also been working with colleagues from the Department of Computing on several aspects of socio-technical systems. This includes exploring how social psychology research may be used to better understand the role of human factors in cybercrime, hacktivism and online social protest; as well as how system may be designed to address the potential psychological factors associated with excessive use of digital technologies (i.e. digital addiction). I also conduct research on problematic gambling and how this can be addressed with the help of technology to detect, predict, prevent and intervene with harmful gambling behaviours. More broadly I am interested in how socio-technical systems transform and enhance social processes, including for example issues such as the spread of fake news.
A common element of all of my research activity is engagement with stakeholders to ensure that real-world benefits are achieved. This includes industry, charities and Government organisations.
Favourites
- Alutaybi, A., Al-Thani, D., McAlaney, J. and Ali, R., 2020. Combating fear of missing out (Fomo) on social media: The fomo-r method. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17 (17), 1-28.
- Mcalaney, J., Hambidge, S., Kimpton, E. and Thackray, H., 2020. Knowledge is power: An analysis of discussions on hacking forums. Proceedings - 5th IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy Workshops, Euro S and PW 2020, 477-483.
- M’manga, A., Faily, S., McAlaney, J., Williams, C., Kadobayashi, Y. and Miyamoto, D., 2019. A normative decision-making model for cyber security. Information and Computer Security, 26 (5), 636-646.
- Alutaybi, A., Arden-Close, E., McAlaney, J., Stefanidis, A., Phalp, K. and Ali, R., 2019. How can social networks design trigger fear of missing out? Conference Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, 2019-October, 3758-3765.
- Alutaybi, A., McAlaney, J., Arden-Close, E., Stefanidis, A., Phalp, K. and Ali, R., 2019. Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) as Really Lived: Five Classifications and one Ecology. BESC 2019 - 6th International Conference on Behavioral, Economic and Socio-Cultural Computing, Proceedings.
- Sample, C., McAlaney, J., Bakdash, J.Z. and Thackray, H., 2019. A cultural exploration of social media manipulators. Journal of Information Warfare, 17 (4).
- Drosatos, G., Arden-Close, E., Bolat, E., Budka, M., McAlaney, J., Phalp, K., Vuillier, L. et al., 2018. Enabling Responsible Online Gambling by Real-time Persuasive Technologies. Complex Systems Informatics and Modeling Quarterly.
- Dempsey, R.C., McAlaney, J. and Bewick, B.M., 2018. A critical appraisal of the social norms approach as an interventional strategy for health-related behavior and attitude change. Frontiers in Psychology, 9 (NOV).
- Drosatos, G., Arden-Close, E., Bolat, E., Vuillier, L., McAlaney, J., Phalp, K. et al., 2018. Empowering responsible online gambling by real-time persuasive information systems. Proceedings - International Conference on Research Challenges in Information Science, 2018-May, 1-11.
- Skinner, T., Taylor, J., Dale, J. and McAlaney, D.J., 2018. The development of intervention E-learning materials and implementation techniques for cyber-security behaviour change. Proceedings of AISB Annual Convention 2018, 29-33.
- M'manga, A., Faily, S., McAlaney, J. and Williams, C., 2018. Rationalising Decision Making about Risk: A Normative Approach. PROCEEDINGS OF THE TWELFTH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON HUMAN ASPECTS OF INFORMATION SECURITY & ASSURANCE (HAISA 2018), 263-271.
- Taylor, J., McAlaney, J., Hodge, S., Thackray, H., Richardson, C., James, S. and Dale, J., 2017. Teaching psychological principles to cybersecurity students. IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference, EDUCON, 1782-1789.
- Thackray, H., Richardson, C., Dogan, H., Taylor, J. and McAlaney, J., 2017. Surveying the hackers: The challenges of data collection from a secluded community. European Conference on Information Warfare and Security, ECCWS, 0, 745-748.
- McAlaney, J., Thackray, H. and Taylor, J., 2016. The social psychology of cybersecurity. The Psychologist, 29 (9), 686-689.
- Alrobai, A., McAlaney, J., Phalp, K. and Ali, R., 2016. Exploring the risk factors of interactive e-health interventions for digital addiction. International Journal of Sociotechnology and Knowledge Development, 8 (2), 1-15.
- Thackray, H., McAlaney, J., Dogan, H., Taylor, J. and Richardson, C., 2016. Social psychology: An under-used tool in cybersecurity. Proceedings of the 30th International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference, HCI 2016, 2016-July.
- Ali, R., McAlaney, J., Faily, S., Phalp, K. and Katos, V., 2015. Mitigating circumstances in cybercrime: A position paper. Proceedings - 15th IEEE International Conference on Computer and Information Technology, CIT 2015, 14th IEEE International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing and Communications, IUCC 2015, 13th IEEE International Conference on Dependable, Autonomic and Secure Computing, DASC 2015 and 13th IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Intelligence and Computing, PICom 2015, 1972-1976.
- McAlaney, J. et al., 2015. Personal and perceived peer use of and attitudes toward alcohol among university and college students in seven EU countries: Project SNIPE. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 76 (3), 430-437.
- Ali, R., Jiang, N., Phalp, K., Muir, S. and McAlaney, J., 2015. The Emerging Requirement for Digital Addiction Labels. In: The 21st International Working Conference on Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality (REFSQ 2015) 23-26 March 2015 Essen, Germany..
- Helmer, S.M., McAlaney, J. et al., 2014. Illicit substance use among university students from seven European countries: A comparison of personal and perceived peer use and attitudes towards illicit substance use. Preventive Medicine, 67, 204-209.
- McAlaney, J., Hughes, C. and Bewick, B., 2011. The international development of the ‘Social Norms’ approach to drug education and prevention. Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, 18 (2), 81-89.
