Dr Malcolm Schofield

About

I am a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Derby and the module leader for Parapsychology, Human Behaviour and Evolution, and Independent Studies in Psychology. Additionally, I'm the lead of the B:ICEP (Belief Identity, Cognition, Experience, and Personality) research group. My research interests span paranormal, religious, and conspiracy beliefs and their relationship to personality and cognition. I am interested in music psychology and supervises many PhD, Masters and Undergraduate projects. I have previously edited the Journal of the Society for Psychological Research, sit on the Society for Psychical Research council, and I'm a member of their Spontaneous Cases Committee. I have been featured on the BBC documentary ‘Paranormal: The Girl, the Ghost and the Gravestone’, and have been in the Times Higher Education, Independent, Daily Mirror and the Daily Star.

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:

Caroline Adams: I feel, therefore I am: Investigating what emotions underly the variables that correlate with paranormal belief and experience
Megan Brian: The Somatic Markers of Metacognition, Interoception, Alexithymia & Schizotypal Personality in Individuals who hold Supernatural Beliefs
Josh Williams: Casualties of the War on Drugs: A Foucauldian Discourse Analysis of Historical Accounts of Drug Use, Drug Policy, and Current Psychedelic Use
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

Previous PhD Students who have completed:

Natasha Beeson: Investigating Theories of Belief Bias: Individual Differences in Interpretation, Strategy Selection and Performance

Funding History

2024 – Funding received from The Society for Psychical Research ‘I feel, therefore I am: Investigating what emotions underly the variables that correlate with paranormal belief and experience’. Amount Received £6,982.95. PI Dr Malcolm Schofield, and Caroline Adams
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

Recent publications

Roxburgh, E. C., Vernon, D., & Schofield, M. B. (in press). Sensory processing sensitivity, transliminality, and boundary-thinness as predictors of anomalous experiences, beliefs, and abilities. Current Psychology
Vernon, D., Roxburgh, E. C., & Schofield, M. B. (2024). Testing home dream precognition and exploring links to psychological factors. International Journal of Dream Research
Houran, J., & Schofield, M.B. (2023). Championing “Exchange and Cooperation” Efforts in Frontier Science: Epilogue to the Special Issue. Journal of Scientific Exploration. 37(4) 776-786
Sharpe, E.E., Schofield, M.B., Roberts, B.L.H., Kamal, A. & Maratos, F.A. (2023). Exploring the Role of Compassion, Self-Criticism and the Dark Triad on Obesity and Emotion Regulation. Current Psychology
Vaal, S., Schofield, M.B., Roberts, B.L.H., & Baker, I.S. (2022). Narcissism, National Narcissism, COVID-19 Conspiracy Belief, and Social Media Use as Predictors of Compliance with COVID-19 Public Health Guidelines. Current Psychology
Schofield, M.B., Sheffield, D. & Baker, I.S. (2022). Metarepresentations of Supernatural Belief and the Effect of Context on Cognition's. Journal of Scientific Exploration. 36(2)
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

Membership of professional bodies

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
Council member of the Society for Psychical Research

Qualifications

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

Recent conferences

Schofield, M.B. (June, 2024). Poster: Conspirituality: Predicting COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs using, spirituality, purity and political orientation. Conspiracy FX Conference. University of Kent
Schofield, M.B. (November, 2023). Childhood Trauma and Paranormality: A Critical Review and Meta-analysis. The Society for Psychical Research 46th Annual Convention, Leamington Spa
Schofield, M.B. (November, 2023).). Retroactive Priming of a Compound Remote Associates Task (CRAT) Using Pre-selected Participants. The Society for Psychical Research 46th Annual Convention, Leamington Spa
Schofield, M.B. (April, 2021). Metarepresentations of supernatural belief and the effect of context on physiological responses and cognitions. 2021 Bial Foundation Conference, Porto
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 - Senior 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)

In the media

2024 – i News – ‘Why autumn is good for your sleep, weight and mood 22 health benefits of autumn, according to experts’
2024 – Channel 4 News – Interviewed about the conspiracy theories surrounding Kate Middleton
2024 – Observer Magazine – ‘Who you gonna call? Meet the real ghostbusters’
2024 – Yahoo!Life – ‘Psychologists reveal why we get so hooked on conspiracy theories’
2024 – Daily Star – ‘Aliens exist, but there are two major reasons why we'll never meet them, says expert’
2023 – Times Higher Education – ‘Believe it or not, you can use conspiracy theories as tools for teaching’ Blog
2023 – Daily Star – ‘Humans not prepared for aliens to visit – it'll give everyone massive anxiety’ Interview
2023 – QWightLike.A Podcast. Interview
2023 – The Sun – ‘FEAR FACTOR Psychologist reveals why we like to feel scared – and what it says about our personalities if we take it to the extreme - Interview
2023 – Daily Mirror – ‘Four psychological reasons why watching horror films is actually beneficial for you' - Interview
2023 – Independent – ‘Why do some people love horror movies?' - Interview
2023 – Daily Star – ‘I ran a marathon looking for Nessie – what I saw on monster hunt took my breath away' Interview
2023 – Daily Star – ‘Aliens threaten our concept of reality – NASA could send world into ontological shock' Interview
2023 – BBC3 ‘Paranormal: The Girl, the Ghost and the Gravestone’ TV series – Interview
(Psypost, 2021). Dark personality study finds that religious belief predicts reduced psychopathy but increased sadism. Retrieved from https://www.psypost.org/2021/09/dark-personality-study-finds-that-religious-belief-predicts-reduced-psychopathy-but-increased-sadism-61820
26/01/2021 Sally Pepper radio show Radio Derby – talking about after death communications

Teaching responsibilities

I am the module leader on Parapsychology, Human Behaviour and Evolution, and Independent Studies. I also teach a wide range of undergraduate modules, including various research methods modules and the Darkside of Psychology.

Additional interests and activities

Invited talks

Schofield, M.B. (July, 2024). Childhood Trauma and Paranormality: A Critical Review and Meta-analysis. The University of Northumbria
Schofield, M.B. (February, 2024). Childhood Trauma and Paranormality: A Critical Review and Meta-analysis. The University of Northampton
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