About

I am a Lecturer in Psychology, programme leader for the MRes in Psychology and module leader for Advanced Quantitative Research Methods.

Teaching responsibilities

I am a programme leader for the MRes in Psychology and the module leader on the Advanced Quantitative Research Methods. I also teach across a wide range of modules at undergraduate level, including various research methods modules, Human Behaviour and Evolution, and Anomalous and Parapsychology.

Research interests

My research interests include paranormal belief, religious belief, and spirituality. Also, I am interested in personality, specifically the dark tetrad of personality.

I am currently supervising the following PhD students:

• Natasha Beeson - Investigating Theories of Belief Bias: Individual Differences in Interpretation, Strategy Selection and Performance
• Alexander Gunn - Moral messaging in online misinformation, the impact on metacognition and reasoning
• Barbara Waldhauser - Digital Mindset. A framework for the measurement and development of individual thought structures in the digital transformation
• Jonathan Burton - An examination of the auditory experience of audience members at large open-air concerts and musical events

Funding History

2020 - Funding received from The Society for Psychical Research ‘Retroactive priming of a compound remote associates task (CRAT) using pre-selected participants’. Amount Receive £5,481.30. Dr David Vernon (Canterbury University), and PI Dr Malcolm Schofield

2020 – Funding Received from the Bial Foundation. ‘Investigating the relationship between sensory processing sensitivity (SPS), anomalous experiences, and precognitive performance’. €44.000. PI Dr Elizabeth Roxborough (Canterbury University), Dr David Vernon (Canterbury University), and Dr Malcolm Schofield

2016 – Funding received from The Bial Foundation (Grant No. #147/16). Project title: “Metarepresentations of supernatural belief and the effect of context on physiological responses and cognition.” Amount received: €42,000. Principle investigator: Dr Malcolm Schofield

2015 - 2017 –Funding received from The Bial Foundation (Grant No. #355/14). Project title: “Cognitive and personality differences in supernatural belief.” Amount received: €50,000. Principle investigator: Dr Ian Baker

Membership of professional bodies

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)

Qualifications

• BSc (Hons) Psychology
• Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching
• MRes in Psychology
• PhD in Psychology

Recent conferences

• Schofield, M.B. & Stein Vaal (September 2021) Keynote - COVID Conspiracy Theories and Compliance with COVID-19 Public Health Guidelines. British Psychological Society - The Virtual Midlands Conference 2021 - A celebration of psychology in the Midlands!, Online
• Schofield, M.B. (July 2021) Supernatural Somatic Markers: The Effect of Belief and Analytic Thinking On Physiological Responses. 2021 Society for Scientific Exploration and Parapsychological Association Connections Conference, Online
• Schofield, M.B. (August 2019) The Effect of Context and Supernatural Belief on Cognition. 2019 Parapsychological Association Conference, Paris
• Schofield, M.B. (August 2018) Modelling Supernatural Belief: Cognition and Personality. 2018 Parapsychological Association Conference, Petaluma, CA
• Schofield, M.B. (April 2018) Cognitive and Personality Differences in Supernatural Belief. 2018 Bial Foundation Conference, Porto
• Schofield, M.B. (July 2017) Creation and Validation of the Belief in the Supernatural Scale. 2017 Parapsychological Association Conference, Athens
• Schofield, M.B. (May 2016) Creation and Validation of the Belief in the Supernatural Scale (poster). University of Derby Annual Research Conference
• Schofield, M.B. (April 2016) Creation and Validation of the Belief in the Supernatural Scale. 2016 Postgraduate Research Conference
• Schofield, M.B. (January 2015) Mental representations of the supernatural: A Cluster Analysis of religious, spiritual and paranormal belief. New Horizons 2015 Postgraduate Research Conference
• Schofield, M.B. (September 2014) Mental representations of the supernatural: A Cluster Analysis of religious, spiritual and paranormal belief. The Society for Psychical Research 38th Annual Convention
• Schofield, M.B. (January, 2014). Predicting paranormal belief using critical thinking, metacognition and magical ideation. New Horizons 2014 Postgraduate Research Conference

Experience in industry

January 2017 to present - Lecturer at the University of Derby

September 2013 to January 2017 - Associate Lecturer at the University of Derby

June 2013 to Present - Associate Academic at the University of Derby

May 2013 to September 2013 - Research Assistant (University of Derby). Head of research: Dr Miles Richardson (Psychology Department, University of Derby)

Additional interests and activities

Invited talks:

• Schofield, M.B. (April 2021). Everybody Believes in Something: Researching Paranormal Belief. Society for Psychical Research invited talk, online
• Schofield, M.B. (September 2018). How Thinking & Belief Interact: Cognition, Personality & the Supernatural. Psychology in the Pub, Birmingham City University
• Schofield, M.B. (November 2017). Cognition, Personality and Supernatural Belief. Staffordshire University
• Schofield, M.B. (May 2016). Belief in the Supernatural. Worthington House, Bristol, for the BPS South West Branch
• Baker, I.S., Wilson, A.F. & Schofield, M.B. (November 2014). Belief in the Supernatural – Sociology vs. Psychology. Quad, Derby
• Baker, I.S. & Schofield, M.B. (October 2014). Belief in the Supernatural. Quad, Derby
• Schofield, M.B. (September 2013). Psychology of Radicalisation. Multi-Faith Centre, University of Derby

In the media

(Psypost, 2021) Dark personality study finds that religious belief predicts reduced psychopathy but increased sadism

26/01/2021 Sally Pepper radio show Radio Derby – talking about after-death communications

Recent publications

• Schofield, M.B., Roberts, B.L.H., Harvey, C.A., Baker, I.S. & Crouch, G. (2021). Tales from the Dark Side: The Dark Tetrad of Personality, Supernatural and Scientific Belief. Journal of Humanistic Psychology
• Schofield, M.B., Baker, I.S., Staples, P., & D. Sheffield. (2020). Modelling Supernatural Belief: Cognition and Personality. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 84(3), 129-157
• Barbett, L., Stupple, E. J. N., Sweet, M., Schofield, M. B., & Richardson, M. (2020). Measuring Actions for Nature—Development and Validation of a Pro-Nature Conservation Behaviour Scale. Sustainability, 12(12), 4885
• Schofield, M.B. (2019). Exceptional Experiences: CEP's 20th Annual Conference (Review). Consciousness & Experience, 11, 17-18
• Aubeeluck, A., Stupple, E., Schofield, M. B., Hughes, A. C., van der Meer, L., Landwehrmeyer, B., & Ho, A. K. (2019). An International Validation of a Clinical Tool to Assess Carers’ Quality of Life in Huntington’s Disease. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1658
• Elander, J., Bij, D., Kapadi, R., Schofield, M.B., Osias, A., Khalid, N., Kaya, B., & Telfer, P. (2019). Development and validation of the Satisfaction with Treatment for Pain Questionnaire (STPQ) among patients with sickle cell disease. British Journal of Haematology
• Beeson, N., Stupple, E.J.N., Schofield, M.B., & Staples, P. (2019). Mental Models or Probabilistic Reasoning or Both: Reviewing the Evidence for and Implications of Dual-Strategy Models of Deductive Reasoning. Psychological Topics. 28, 21-35
• Hunt, T.E., Bagdasar, O., Sheffield, D., & Schofield, M.B. (2019). Assessing domain specificity in the measurement of mathematics calculation anxiety. Educational Research International
• Schofield, M.B., Baker, I.S., Staples, P., & D. Sheffield. (2018). The creation and validation of the Belief in the Supernatural Scale. Journal of Parapsychology, 82 (1), 41-64
• Elander, J., Richardson, C., Morris, J., Robinson, G., & Schofield, M. B. (2017). Motivational and behavioural models of change: A longitudinal analysis of change among men with chronic haemophilia‐related joint pain. European Journal of Pain, 21 (8), 1384-1396
• Elander, J., Said, O., Maratos, F. A., Dys, A., Collins, H., & Schofield, M. B. (2017). Development and validation of a short-form Pain Medication Attitudes Questionnaire (PMAQ-14). Pain, 158 (3), 400-407
• Schofield, M.B., Baker, I.S., Staples, P., & D. Sheffield. (2016). Mental representations of the supernatural: A Cluster Analysis of religiosity, spirituality and paranormal belief. Personality and Individual Differences, 101, 419–424
• Irwin, H. J., Schofield, M.B., & Baker, I. S. (2014). Dissociative tendencies, sensory-processing sensitivity, and aberrant salience as predictors of anomalous experience and paranormal attributions. Journal for the Society of Psychical Research, 78.4 (917), 193-207
• Baker, I. S., Schofield, M. B., & Staples, P. (2014). A review of “Education in Parapsychology: Student and Instructor Perspectives” by H. J. Irwin. Journal of the Society of Psychical Research, 78.4 (917), 240-242