About

I joined the University of Derby as a Lecturer in Psychology in November 2017, having previously worked as an associate lecturer (online), and as a teaching assistant on campus. During my time, I taught a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules, including The Psychology of Rationality, Introduction to Cognitive Psychology, Psychology in Practice, Research Methods and Analysis in Psychology, Biological and Cognitive Approaches to Psychology, Health Psychology, Individual Differences and Investigation and Analysis.

Research interests

My research incorporates different disciplines within Psychology in order to investigate people’s decision-making, critical thinking abilities and beliefs.  

I use Individual differences, Biopsychology and Cognitive approaches to explain impairment in decision-making. Main research interests include:

• Decision-making
• ‘Rationality’ and ‘Irrationality' of people’s behaviour
• The effect of stress on health and decision-making
• Critical thinking
• Fake news

Qualifications

• BSc (Hons) Psychology – University of Derby
• MSc in Health  Psychology – University of Derby
• PhD in Psychology – University of Derby

Recent publications

• Simonovic, B., Vione, K., Stupple, & Doherty, A. (2023). It is not what you think it is how you think: A critical thinking intervention enhances argumentation, analytic thinking and metacognitive sensitivity. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 49, 101362.
• Pop-Kostic, J., & Simonovic, B. (2023). Baking in Harmony: Modernised Balkan Cuisine, Guidance to Overcome Stress Through Cooking (ISBN-13: 979-8373918664). Independently published. (Original work published 2023), Amazon.
• Simonovic, B., Vione, K., Fido, D., Stupple, E., Martin, J., & Clarke, R. (2022). The impact of attitudes, beliefs, and cognitive reflection on the development of critical thinking skills in online students. Online Learning
• Ho, M. H., Fido, D., & Simonovic, B. (2021). An investigation of the learning motivation of students studying accounting courses in China. International Journal of Learning and Teaching, 7(3), 219–225
• Simonovic, B., Supple, E. J. N., Gale, M., & Sheffield, D. (2019). Sweating the small stuff: A Meta-analysis of Skin Conductance on the Iowa Gambling Task. Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience, 5, 1097-1112
• Hussain, Z., Simonovic, B., Stupple, E. J. N., & Austin, M. (2019). Using Eye Tracking to Explore Facebook Use and Associations with Facebook Addiction, Mental Well-being, and Personality. Behavioral Sciences, 9, 19
• Simonovic, B., Supple, E. J. N., Gale, M., & Sheffield, D. (2018). Performance Under Stress: An Eye-Tracking Investigation of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
• Simonovic, B., Stupple, E. J. N., Gale, M., and Sheffield, D. (2017). 'Pupil Dilation and Cognitive Reflection as Predictors of Performance on the Iowa Gambling Task' In (Eds.) G. Gunzelmann, A. Howes, T. Tenbrink, E.J. Davelaar: Proceedings of the 39th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Cognitive Science Society, Cambridge MA, p. 3180-3185
• Simonovic, B., Stupple, E. J. N., Gale, M., & Sheffield, D. (2017). Stress and risky decision-making cognitive reflection, emotional learning or both. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 30, 658-665

Courses

• Psychology BSc (Hons) (online)