Upcoming event – aha Festival | Lucerne, Switzerland
aha – A Festival of Knowledge January 25th & 26th 2019. Südpol Lucerne, Switzerland. aha is a new science festival in Lucerne, Switzerland. The board of trustees have 20 interesting questions on a broad range of topics that they have invited experts to answer. I have been invited to answer the question “how do dating platforms decide whom I date?” For a full programme and to buy tickets – visit aha-festival.ch/
read moreUpcoming event – Science Gallery | Are we getting close?
Are we getting close? A debate on intimacy in the digital age. January 17th. 6pm. Paccar Theatre in the Science Gallery, Dublin. How do we find intimacy in the 21st century? Can technology help us to fundamentally fulfil our desire for connection, or are we ultimately re-programming ourselves for future loneliness? I will be discussing how technology and the digital age affect our ability to experience intimacy with the people around us with Dr Jamie Saris, Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at Maynooth University. More information about the...
read moreTG4 | Náire: online shaming
TG4 | Náire: a documentary about online shaming A documentary looking at victims who have been shamed online and exploring the devastating consequences it had on their lives. I contributed to the programme talking about what revenge porn is, and how romance scammers use our own psychology against us. Watch it on the TG4 player until January...
read morePrime Time RTE 1 | Dating apps
Prime Time | Online dating apps How successful are dating apps and what are the dangers that lurk within? You can see the show here and the Dating apps segments starts at 16 minutes – the segment is available online until Thursday December 6th 2018.
read moreEU Cyber Summit talk & panel
I was invited to give a talk and take part in a panel discussion at the EU Cyber Summit in the Helix, DCU, on October 24th. Why do we fall for scams: Lessons from cyberpsychology I shared some lessons from cyberpsychology on why we fall for online scams. Scammers manipulate basic human motivations, they utilise powerful principles of persuasion, and they take advantage of the fact that computer mediated communication changes how we communicate, and shifts our attention. I also took part in a panel discussion taking a look at the problem of...
read morePrime Time RTE 1 | Sextortion
Prime Time | Sextortion and Shame People are falling for online scams where they are tricked into believing the scammers are interested in a relationship, but are actually being manipulated into exposing themselves in intimate pictures so that they can be blackmailed. I spoke to journalist Fran McNulty from RTÉ Prime Time about the psychology of why people fall for these scams, about why they might engage in behaviour online that they wouldn’t offline, and why they should not feel ashamed of their behaviour. You can see the show here...
read moreIntroduction to Catfish at the IFI/Science Gallery
As part of the Science Gallery exhibition titled Fake, they partnered with the Irish Film Institute to curate a number of films around the theme of Fake. One of the chosen fils was Catfish. The film is credited with originating the term ‘catfishing’, which has seeped into the cultural vernacular, to denote fake social networking presences created for deceptive and mischievous purposes. I was asked to give an introduction to the film from a cyberpsychological perspective. I spoke about connecting online, deception, and why people might...
read moreA night with the Media + Entertainment Psychology Lab at Banter
The UCD Media + Entertainment Psychology Lab joined Banter again for a public panel discussion on “media is everywhere, but what do we get out of it?”. We talked about music, television, film, books, online dating, how we perceive emotion and story telling and a lot more. We got plenty of audience engagement and questions! More about the event here.
read moreCyberpsychology and Society Current Perspectives
Cyberpsychology and Society Current Perspectives is a collection of research studies in the area of Cyberpsychology, all based on the major research projects undertaken by students of the MSc Cyberpsychology in IADT. I supervised five of the graduates who contributed their thesis project work to the book. You can buy or find out more abut the book here.
read morePat Kenny on Newstalk
Pat Kenny on Newstalk | “Ask the expert” about online dating I was invited to do an Ask the Expert slot on the Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk 106. I took listeners questions about online dating and answered based on the latest research we have in the field. Listen to the full piece here. You can watch a shorter clip of the piece on video...
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