Angela Gurney

Gurney, A., Dienes, Z., & Scott, R. B. (2019). Hypnotic suggestibility is unaffected by a challenging inhibitory task or mental exhaustion. https://doi.org/10.1037/cns0000186

Gurney, A., Lagos, A. N. L., Manning, A., & Scott, R. B. (2018). Susceptibility to unconscious influences is unaffected by a challenging inhibitory task or mental exhaustion. Consciousness and Cognition, 58, 111–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2017.10.016

I am module lead for Introduction to Social Psychology and Individual Differences, a core module for second year students on Psychology courses. I also teach on the following modules: Psychological Investigations Foundations, Psychological Investigations Practical Applications, Psychological Investigations Becoming an Independent Researcher, Forensic Security, and Brain Body and Cognition. I am a supervisor on the Psychology Dissertation module.

I try to foster an active learning environment in my teaching using techniques such as discussion, debate, reflection to make sure students are engaged and thinking critically and creatively about the material. I view the classroom as a two-way teaching process where open communication of ideas is paramount to the growth of students and teachers alike.

My research is predominantly in cognitive psychology using quantitative approaches to research interests such as mental health, self-control, and healthy behaviours.

My PhD research focused on self-control and how this can affect our susceptibility to unconscious influences such as hypnosis, mood manipulations and subliminal priming for example. This work employed experimental methods and an fMRI component.

My work as a research assistant looked at measuring skin conductance responses during an unconscious presentation of phobic threat stimuli (e.g. spiders) in order to see thresholds at which desensitisation could be effective.

I previously worked as the sole behavioural scientist for an international insurance company focussing on how we can use unconscious behavioural biases to prompt behaviour change and as such, find simple, evidence-based solutions for real world problems and to promote good commercial and customer outcomes. Therefore I am also interested in behaviour change and how we can promote healthy behaviours using simple, practical techniques.