Category Archives: Cyberpsychology

Dr Jo Lloyd blogs about her new research into gambling motivations

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Dr Jo Lloyd (Lecturer in Psychology and member of the Staffordshire Centre for Psychological Research) blogs about her ongoing research into gambling:

I was thrilled to recently receive funding from Staffordshire University’s Centre for Health and Development for a piece of research into people’s motivations for gambling. I have studied gambling motivations in the past (e.g. Lloyd et al., 2010) and it is clear that people gamble for multiple, diverse reasons. Many people enjoy gambling in moderation as a leisure activity, but some experience problems relating to their gambling, ranging from mild to severe. I believe that learning more about the varied factors that attract people to gambling is key piece of the puzzle of why some people experience difficulties while others find it to be harmless fun. Understanding these issues is important because it has the potential to help identify ways to prevent people from developing gambling problems, or recover from existing problems.

I believe that there is still much more that psychologists need to learn about gambling motivations, and the study I am now running is using a qualitative approach to gain a deeper understanding of the topic. This means that rather than running an experiment, or collecting questionnaires, I am interviewing people and collecting their detailed accounts of how and why they gamble. I’m currently looking for people aged 18 or older, from the Stoke-on-Trent area who gamble fairly regularly (at least a few times a month, but it could be any type of gambling) who can spare about an hour to chat to me. This can be done in person or over the phone, and we offer a gift voucher as a thank you for your time. Please get in touch with me via email (joanne.lloyd@staffs.ac.uk) for more info, if you are interested!

This research ties in with an existing web-based study that I am currently running, looking at how people’s cognitions (or thought processes) might influence their relationship with gambling. I am also looking for volunteers to take part in this study, which can be done online in about 15 minutes, and has a prize draw incentive. Anyone who is over 18 and has gambled even just once or twice in the past 12 months, can find out more and take part at: www.bit.ly/gamblingstudy.

Watch this space for an update on the findings of these studies in the future!

The Staffordshire Centre for Psychological Research is home to research activity in the Psychology Department at Staffordshire Centre. The Centre is home to a number of research-active psychologists who are engaged in research across a wide range of psychological subdisciplines. The Centre has two overarching research streams: Health and Behaviour Change and Applied Perception and Cognition.

The Centre provides training for PhD students, Research Masters degrees, as well as Professional Doctorates in Clinical and Health Psychology (click here for more details). The Centre also provides bespoke training to private and public organisations, as well as expertise for consultancy research opportunities. For more details about the Centre, its research activities, events and consultancy, please visit our website (click here).

Dr Maria Panagiotidi blogs on attending the 22nd Annual CyberPsychology, CyberTherapy & Social Networking Conference (CYPSY22)

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Dr Maria Panagiotidi (Lecturer in Psychology & member of the Staffordshire Centre for Psychological Research) blogs about attending a recent Cyberpsychology conference:

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to attend the 22nd Annual CyberPsychology, CyberTherapy & Social Networking Conference (CYPSY22). CYPSY is an international networking and sharing platform for researchers, clinicians, policymakers and funding agents to share and discuss advancements in the growing disciplines of CyberTherapy and Cyberpsychology. This year’s conference took place in Wolverhampton and consisted of three days of fascinating sessions on the latest developments in the relatively new filed of Cyberpsychology. The conference was jointly organised by the Interactive Media Institute in collaboration with the University of Wolverhampton, and Cyberpsychology Research at the University of Wolverhampton (CRUW), the Virtual Reality Medical Institute and the International Association of Cyberpsychology, Training, & Rehabilitation (iACToR). The topics covered various areas related to the way humans interact with technology, from virtual reality applications and cybersecurity research to Pokémon Go!

Professor David Wall discussing the future of Cybercrime

In the opening keynote of the conference Professor David Wall, who researches cybercrime at the University of Leeds, explored the impact of new technologies on cybercrimes and identified the generations of cybercrime and offender behaviour. The talk was focussed on the need to understand the various pathways into cybercrime taken by offenders, their motivations and the organisation of cybercrimes in order to frame interventions. Dr. Elaine Kasket, an HCPC-Registered Counselling Psychologist, gave the second keynote speech about how digital-age technologies are affecting bereavement and mourning on social networking sites and ways our online data could both facilitate and disrupt the mourning process for our loved ones after we are gone. The final keynote was given by Dr Daria Kuss was focussed on Internet and Gaming Addiction and empirical evidence.

Cyberpsychology is an interest of mine (see my blog post on my study on ADHD and problematic video game play) but this was the first time I attended a conference focussed on this area. The atmosphere was very friendly, inspiring, and welcoming to anyone with an interest in Cyberpsychology. It was a great opportunity to meet potential collaborators and discuss research ideas with field experts. Looking forward to presenting my work in a future CYPSY conference!

The Department of Psychology at Staffordshire University offers an optional final year undergraduate module on Cyberpsychology. The module brings together psychological theory and research methods to explore contemporary issues in the field of Cyberpsychology.

The Department of Psychology at Staffordshire University offers a range of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Psychology at the University’s £30 million Science Centre in Stoke-on-Trent.

Interested in a Psychology degree? Come to an Open Day – for further details, and to book your place at an open day, please visit: http://www.staffs.ac.uk/openyourmind/

For more information about the Psychology degrees on offer at Staffordshire University please visit the below pages:

New research shows relationship between ADHD traits and problematic video game play in adults

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Dr Maria Panagiotidi

Dr Maria Panagiotidi (Lecturer in Psychology & member of the Staffordshire Centre for Psychological Research) blogs about her recent research into the relationships between traits associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and the potentially problematic use of videogames:

In a recent paper published in “Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking”, I found that there is a positive relationship between Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) traits and problematic video game play. In other words, healthy adults who reported more inattention symptoms were at higher risk of pathological gaming.

Mainstream video games first appeared in the 1970s and their popularity has been steadily increasing since. Recently, the idea of problematic video game play has emerged. Such behaviour refers to persistent, recurrent, and excessive video game play, which can have a negative impact on an individual’s life (e.g., their performance at school, social life). A number of factors have been associated with problematic video game play including poor time management, underlying personal problems, or mental health problems. There is some emerging evidence suggesting that children and adolescents with ADHD exhibit more problematic video game behaviours compared to typically developing children. The majority of studies so far were focussed on children and adolescents. However, problematic video game use is also common among adults (4.1%).

The main aim of this study was to examine the contribution of inattention and hyperactivity, along with overall ADHD to problematic video game play. Two hundred and five adults completed an online survey measuring ADHD symptoms and problematic video game play. Overall, higher level of ADHD traits was associated with more problematic behaviour in video game play. This is consistent with previous research on children and adolescents with ADHD.

In particular, inattention symptoms and time spent playing video games were the best predictors of problematic video game play. These findings suggest that subclinical ADHD symptoms, especially inattention symptoms, could contribute to pathological gaming in adults. Further research on ADHD and problematic video game play has the potential to improve our understanding of how best to help people who experience video game addiction.

You can read the publication via the below link:

Panagiotidi, M. (2017). Problematic Video Game Play and ADHD Traits in an Adult Population. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 20(5), 292-295.

The full version of the article is available to the public until 19/06: http://bit.ly/2rby9zR

Interested in a Psychology degree? Come to an Open Day

Dr Maria Panagiotidi is one of a number of research-active psychologists based in the Department of Psychology at Staffordshire University. The Department offers a range of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Psychology at the University’s £30 million Science Centre in Stoke-on-Trent.

Find out more about these exciting Psychology courses by attending an Open Day – for further details, and to book your place at an open day, please visit: http://www.staffs.ac.uk/openyourmind/

The Staffordshire Centre for Psychological Research is home to research activity in the Psychology Department at Staffordshire Centre. The Centre is home to a number of research-active psychologists who are engaged in research across a wide range of psychological subdisciplines. The Centre has two overarching research streams: Health and Behaviour Change and Applied Perception and Cognition.

The Centre provides training for PhD students, Research Masters degrees, as well as Professional Doctorates in Clinical and Health Psychology (click here for more details). The Centre also provides bespoke training to private and public organisations, as well as expertise for consultancy research opportunities. For more details about the Centre, its research activities, events and consultancy, please visit our website (click here).