Dr John Reidy BSc (Hons), PhD

Prior to coming to Sheffield Hallam I was a lecturer in Psychology at the University of East London (UEL) for four years. It was at UEL that I had the opportunity to manage undergraduate modules and develop my interest in teaching research methods and statistics. Whilst at UEL I was invited by Christine Dancey to co-author a statistics textbook, Statistics Without Maths for Psychology, a book which has turned out to be very successful and which is now in its fifth edition. More recently, I have co-authored another statistics textbook with Christine Dancey and Richard Rowe aimed at supporting students in the health sciences.

I moved to Sheffield Hallam in 1999 where I have had a number of roles, including Course Leader for the BSC Psychology, the Programme leader for the Applied Social Sciences where I had responsibility for the running of all the undergraduate courses in Psychology, Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology. After this I became the Academic Workplanner for Psychology and a Psychology Group Leader. I then became the Head of Academic Operations with responsibility for operations, resourcing and staffing in the Department.

I have for the past year and a half been the Business Lead for the Academic Work Planning (AWP) project. During this project we have procured and implemented some AWP software and implemented a revised AWP framework.

I am an active researcher with interests in cognitive and emotion, in particular cognitive biases associated with anxiety and depression; the use of interventions to promote healthy behaviours, e.g. mental simulations. I have developed a wide ranging expertise in research methodologies, including in the use of eye-tracking methods and psychometrics. 

Department of Psychology, Sociology and Politics

BSc Psychology 

Advanced Statistics & Design.
Advanced Quantitative Design & Statistics.
Research Methods and Measurement Issues in Health Psychology.

I am currently involved with two Education Endowment Foundation funded research evaluation projects with colleagues in the Centre for Education and Inclusion Research. The first of these is an evaluation of a curriculum to enhance secondary school pupils oracy skills and the second is an evaluation of the impact of a computational thinking curriculum in schools.

Journal articles

Soranzo, A., Acaster, S., Taroyan, N., & Reidy, J. (2020). Depth plane separation affects both Lightness Contrast and Assimilation. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 2114. http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02114

Gheorghes, T., Richardson, P., & Reidy, J. (2020). Local biases drive, but do not determine, the perception of illusory trajectories. Scientific Reports. http://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-64837-0

Morgan, J., Reidy, J., & Probst, T. (2019). Age group differences in household accident risk perceptions and intentions to reduce hazards. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16 (12), e2237. http://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16122237

Soranzo, A., Petrelli, D., Ciolfi, L., & Reidy, J. (2018). On the perceptual aesthetics of interactive objects. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 71 (12), 2586-2602. http://doi.org/10.1177/1747021817749228

Akram, U., Milkins, B., Ypsilanti, A., Reidy, J., Lazuras, L., Stevenson, J., ... Barclay, N.L. (2018). The therapeutic potential of attentionalbias modification training for insomnia: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. Trials, 19. http://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-018-2937-4

Akram, U., Beattie, L., Ypsilanti, A., Reidy, J., Robson, A., Chapman, A.J., & Barclay, N.L. (2018). Sleep-related attentional bias for tired faces in insomnia: Evidence from a dot-probe paradigm. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 103, 18-23. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2018.01.007

Mayor, H., & Reidy, J. (2016). The role of pain, perseverative cognition and goal adjustment in vasculitis associated fatigue. Journal of Health Psychology, 23 (10), 1299-1308. http://doi.org/10.1177/1359105316652466

Moore, D., Reidy, J., & Heavey, L. (2016). Attentional allocation of autism spectrum disorder individuals : searching for a Face-in-the-Crowd. Autism, 20 (2), 163-171. http://doi.org/10.1177/1362361315573637

Benn, Y., Webb, T.L., Chang, B.P.I., & Reidy, J. (2015). What information do consumers consider, and how do they look for it, when shopping for groceries online? Appetite, 89, 265-273. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2015.01.025

Brown, K.G., Reidy, J., Weighall, A.R., & Arden, M.A. (2013). Graphic imagery is not sufficient for increased attention to cigarette warnings: the role of text captions. Addiction, 108 (4), 820-825. http://doi.org/10.1111/add.12008

Armitage, C.J., & Reidy, J.G. (2012). Evidence that process simulations reduce anxiety in patients receiving dental treatment: randomized exploratory trial. Anxiety, Stress and Coping, 25 (2), 155-165. http://doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2011.604727

Moore, D.J., Heavey, L., & Reidy, J. (2012). Attentional processing of faces in ASD: a dot-probe study. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 42 (10), 2038-2045. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1449-4

Webb, T.L., Ononaiye, M.S.P., Sheeran, P., Reidy, J.G., & Lavda, A. (2010). Using implementation intentions to overcome the effects of social anxiety on attention and appraisals of performance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36 (5), 612-627. http://doi.org/10.1177/0146167210367785

Armitage, C.J., & Reidy, J.G. (2008). Use of mental simulations to change theory of planned behaviour variables. British Journal of Health Psychology, 13 (3), 513-524. http://doi.org/10.1348/135910707X227088

Ononaiye, M.S.P., Turpin, G., & Reidy, J. (2007). Attentional bias in social anxiety: manipulation of stimulus duration and social-evaluative anxiety. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 31 (6), 727-740. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-006-9096-8

Reidy, J. (2004). Trait anxiety, trait depression, worry, and memory. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42 (8), 937-948. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2003.07.005

Keogh, E., & Reidy, J. (2000). Exploring the factor structure of the Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire (MASQ). Journal of Personality Assessment, 74 (1), 106-125. http://doi.org/10.1207/S15327752JPA740108

Keogh, E., French, C.C., & Reidy, J. (1998). Predictors of worry. ANXIETY STRESS AND COPING, 11 (1), 67-80. http://doi.org/10.1080/10615809808249314

Reidy, J., & Richards, A. (1997). A memory bias for threat in high-trait anxiety. Personality and Individual Differences, 23 (4), 653-663. http://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(97)00071-8

Reidy, J., & Keogh, E. (1997). Testing the discriminant and convergent validity of the mood and anxiety symptoms questionnaire using a British sample. Personality and Individual Differences, 23 (2), 337-344. http://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(97)00048-2

Reidy, J., & Richards, A. (1997). Anxiety and memory: A recall bias for threatening words in high anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 35 (6), 531-542. http://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7967(97)00001-6

Conference papers

Acaster, S., Soranzo, A., Taroyan, N., & Reidy, J. (2018). ERP responses to stimuli which elicit lightness contrast and assimilation. In 41st European Conference on Visual Perception, Trieste, Italy, 26 August 2018 - 30 August 2018. https://www.ecvp2018.org/

Greene, L., Barker, L., Reidy, J., Morton, N., & Atherton, A. (2018). Exploring fixation patterns and social cognition after traumatic brain injury. Journal of Neurology and Neuroscience, 9, 71. http://doi.org/10.21767/2171-6625-C1-009

Greene, L., Barker, L., Reidy, J., & Morton, N. (2018). Investigating visual strategies during the recognition of static and dynamic facial affect in TBI and control cohorts. Journal of Neurology and Neuroscience, 9, 60-61. http://doi.org/10.21767/2171-6625-C1-008

Petrelli, D., Soranzo, A., Ciolfi, L., & Reidy, J. (2016). Exploring the aesthetics of tangible interaction : experiments on the perception of hybrid objects. In ACM International conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction (TEI), Eindhoven University of Technology, 14 January 2016 - 2 January 2016. ACM: http://doi.org/10.1145/2839462.2839478

Gheorghes, T., Soranzo, A., & Reidy, J. (2015). The effect of inter-stimulus interval on the partially occluded slalom illusion. In ECVP 2015 ; European Conference on Visual Perception, Liverpool (UK), 23 August 2015 - 27 August 2015. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0301006615598674

Acaster, S., Soranzo, A., Taroyan, N., & Reidy, J. (2015). The effects of depth separation on lightness contrast and lightness assimilation. In ECVP 2015 ; European Conference on Visual Perception, Liverpool (UK), 23 August 2015 - 27 August 2015. http://ecvp.org/2015/

Gheorgheos, T., Reidy, J., & Soranzo, A. (2014). The slalom illusion in the context of illusory lines. In 37th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP 2014), Belgrade, Sebia, 24 August 2014 - 28 August 2014. http://ecvp2014.org/default.asp

Soranzo, A., Gheorgheos, T., & Reidy, J. (2014). The slalom illusion in the context of partially invisible trajectory. In 37th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP 2014), Belgrade, Sebia, 24 August 2014 - 28 August 2014. http://ecvp2014.org/default.asp

Books

Dancey, C., Reidy, J., & Rowe, R. (2012). Statistics for the Health Sciences A Non-Mathematical Introduction. SAGE.

Dancey, C.P., & Reidy, J. (2007). Statistics Without Maths for Psychology. Pearson Education.

Dancey, C., & Reidy, J. (2004). Statistics Without Maths for Psychology with Psychology Dictionary. Prentice Hall.

Reports

Boylan, M., Demack, S., Wolstenholme, C., Reidy, J., & Reaney, S. (2018). ScratchMaths: evaluation report and executive summary. Education Endownment Foundation. https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/public/files/Projects/Evaluation_Reports/ScratchMaths.pdf

Maxwell, B., Burnett, C., Reidy, J., Willis, B., & Demack, S. (2015). Oracy curriculum, culture and assessment toolkit. London: Education Endowment Foundation. https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/projects/school21-and-cambridge-university/

Theses / Dissertations

Gheorghes, T. (2018). An investigation into perceived motion paths by means of the Slalom Illusion. (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Reidy, J. http://doi.org/10.7190/shu-thesis-00085

Cutts, K. (2009). Online written emotional disclosure: Effects on psychological well-being in individuals with infertility. (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Arden, M., Hurst, K., & Reidy, J.

Posters

Soranzo, A., Petrelli, D., Ciolfi, L., & Reidy, J. (2017). The importance of behaviour as an aesthetic feature. Presented at: ECVP 2017, Berlin, 2017

Gheorgheos, T., Reidy, J., & Soranzo, A. (2014). The slalom illusion in the context of illusory lines. Presented at: 37th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP 2014), Belgrade, Sebia, 2014

I have been an external examiner for the BSc Psychology & Graduate Diploma in Psychology courses at the University of Westminster and also for the Advanced Statistics and Research Methods (D841) course at the Open University. I have also been an external advisor to ICS Training on the development of their online Cognitive Psychology course and I am a member of the British Psychological Society and a Fellow of the Higher Educational Academy.

Alongside my main research interests I currently supervise five PhD students.

Psychology