- B218, Portland Square, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA
- +44 1752 584805
- A.M.Bacon@plymouth.ac.uk
Profiles
Dr Alison Bacon
Associate Professor
School of Psychology (Faculty of Health)
Alison can be contacted through arrangement with our Press Office, to speak to the media on these areas of expertise.
- Personality
- Emotional intelligence
- Health psychology
- Stress
- Attitudes to health
Email publicrelations@plymouth.ac.uk to enquire.
Associate Professor in Psychology
Msc Psychology programme lead
Qualifications
BSc Psychology (First Class): 2000
Post-graduate Diploma in Psychological Research Methods (Distinction): 2001
PhD: Thesis title: "Individual Differences and Strategies for Human Reasoning": 2003
Professional membership
Associate Fellow of British Psychological Society (Chartered Psychologist)
Member of BPS Divisions of Health and Social Psychology
Member of British Society for the Psychology of Individual Differences (BSPID)
Member of International Society for the Study of Individual Differences (ISSID)
Fellow of UK Higher Education Academy
Teaching interests
I currently teach the following,
PSYC412: Stress and Coping
PSYC514/704: Individual Differences
PSYC404: Introduction to Forensic Psychology
Research interests
My principle research interests concern individual differences and the social and cognitive implications of these in everyday life, particularly with regard to health and wellbeing, resilience, stress and coping. Behavioural medicine and psychological implications of chronic health conditions such as fibromyalgia syndrome and most recently, Covid-19.
I am a member of the Social Psychology Research Interest Group (SPRInG) https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/psychology/social
Grants & contracts
BA/Leverhulme. £9,920.00. October 2019 - September 2020. Award ref SRG19\190500. Bacon, A.M. & Walsh C.R. Mental time travel: developing a measure of reflection on past actions and future change.
ESRC. £99,910. Oct 2006 - March 2008. Award no. RES000221965. Bacon, A.M. & Handley, S.J. Dyslexia and the impact of strategy preference on reasoning.
ESRC, £46,000. September 2005 to August 2006. Award no. RES000221293. Evans, J., Bacon, A. &. Handley, S. An investigation of dual processes in conditional reasoning.
ESRC funded PhD studentship, October 2000-September 2003. Award no. R42200034033.Bacon, A.M. Individual Differences and Strategies for Human Reasoning.Key publications
Key publications are highlighted
Journals
Articles
2021 'Virtually renovating the Trauma Film Paradigm: Comparing virtual reality with on-screen presentation of an analogue trauma' Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace , DOI
2020 'Behavioural Immune System responses to coronavirus: a Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory explanation of conformity, warmth towards others and attitudes towards lockdown' Frontiers in Psychology (11) , DOI Open access
2020 'Trauma after childbirth: The mediating effects of perceived support' British Journal of Midwifery 28, (10) 724-730 , DOI Open access
2020 'Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the UK: A personality-based perspective on concerns and intention to self-isolate' British Journal of Health Psychology 25, (4) 839-848 , DOI Open access
2020 'Looking Behind and Looking Ahead: Personality Differences in Counterfactual and Prefactual Thinking' Imagination, Cognition and Personality , DOI Open access
2019 'Is Nurturing Attachments training effective in improving Self-Efficacy in foster carers and in reducing manifestations of Reactive Attachment Disorder in looked after children?' Adoption and Fostering , DOI Open access
2019 'Experiences of youth mentoring through street dance: mentee and mentor perspectives' Youth Justice: an international journal , DOI Open access
2019 'Symptom frequency and development of a generic functional disorder symptom scale suitable for use in studies with IBS, FMS or CFS patients' Chronic Diseases and Translational Medicine , DOI Open access
2019 'At long last, a Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory Explanation of Procrastination' Journal of Individual Differences , DOI Open access
2019 'What motivates academic dishonesty in students? A Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory explanation' British Journal of Educational Psychology , DOI Open access
2018 'A Qualitative Evaluation of Recovery Processes Experienced by Mentally Disordered Offenders following a Group Treatment Programme' Journal of Forensic Psychology Research and Practice 18, (5) 352-373 , DOI Open access
2018 'Investigating the association between fantasy proneness and emotional distress: the mediating role of cognitive coping strategies' Personality and Individual Differences 135, 157-165 , DOI Open access
2018 'Risk as reward: Reinforcement sensitivity theory and psychopathic personality perspectives on everyday risk-taking' Personality and Individual Differences 128, 162-169 , DOI Open access
2017 'A Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory explanation of antisocial behaviour' Personality and Individual Differences , DOI Open access
2017 'Trait emotional intelligence and social deviance in males and females' Personality and Individual Differences Open access
2017 'What helps in self-help? A qualitative exploration of interactions within a borderline personality disorder self-help group' Journal of Mental Health 1-7 , DOI Open access
2017 'Motivating emotional intelligence: A reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST) perspective' Motivation and Emotion , DOI Open access
2016 'Manipulative emotional behaviour and delinquency: sex differences and links to emotional intelligence' Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology (in press) , DOI Open access
2015 'The working life of a medium: a qualitative examination of mediumship as a support service for the bereaved' Mental Health, Religion & Culture 18, (4) 286-298 , DOI
2015 'Disabled or differently-enabled? Dyslexic identities in online forum postings' Disability and Society 30, (9) 1328-1344 , DOI
2014 'Sex differences in the relationship between sensation seeking, trait emotional intelligence and delinquent behaviour' Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology 25, (6) 673-683 , DOI Open access
2014 'Reasoning and dyslexia: Is visual memory a compensatory resource?' Dyslexia 20, 330-345
2013 'Fantasy proneness and counterfactual thinking' Personality and Individual Differences 54, (4) 469-473 , DOI Open access
2013 'Visuospatial memory in dyslexia: Evidence for strategic deficits' MEMORY 21, (2) 189-209 , DOI Open access
2013 'Dyslexia in Higher Education: the decision to study art' European Journal of Special Needs Education. 28, (1) 19-32 , DOI Open access
2013 'Personality and counterfactual thinking' Personality & Individual Differences 54, (4) 469-473
2010 'Dyslexia and reasoning: the importance of visual processes' Br J Psychol 101, (Pt 3) 433-452 , DOI Open access
2009 'Reasoning under time pressure. A study of causal conditional inference' Exp Psychol 56, (2) 77-83 , DOI
2008 'On some limits of hypothetical thinking' QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 61, (5) 784-808 , DOI
2008 'Reasoning strategies: the role of working memory and verbal-spatial ability' EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 20, (6) 1065-1086 , DOI
2007 'Reasoning and dyslexia: A spatial strategy may impede reasoning with visually rich information' British Journal of Psychology 98, 79-92
2005 'Connectionist modeling of linguistic quantifiers' Artificial Neural Networks: Formal Models and Their Applications - Icann 2005, Pt 2, Proceedings 3697, 679-684
2003 'Individual differences in strategies for syllogistic reasoning' Thinking & Reasoning 9, (2) 133-168
'Virtually renovating the Trauma Film Paradigm: Comparing Virtual Reality with on-screen presentation of an analogue trauma' Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberpspace 15, (1) , DOI Open access
Chapters
2010 'DYSLEXIA, REASONING & THE IMPORTANCE OF VISUAL-SPATIAL PROCESSES' in Alexander-Passe N Dyslexia and creativity: Investigations from differing perspectives New York Nova Science 25-49
2005 'Grounding language in perception: A connectionist model of spatial terms and vague quantifiers' in Cangelosi A; Bugmann G; Borisyuk R Singapore World Scientific 47-56
2005 'Verbal and spatial strategies in reasoning' in Roberts M; Newton E Methods of thought: Individual differences in reasoning strategies Hove: Psychology Press. 81-105
2004 'Spatial prepositions and vague quantifiers: Implementing the functional geometric framework' 98-110