Dr Roy Spina
Senior Lecturer
About
After completing his BSc in Structural Engineering, Dr Spina worked as an engineer for 2 years before moving to Japan to teach English as a Second Language. Living and teaching in Japan, and subsequently travelling throughout East and Southeast Asia stimulated Dr Spina’s interest in individual and cultural differences in social cognition. Upon returning from Asia, he completed his BSc in Psychology at University of British Columbia, before undertaking his MSc and PhD in Social and Personality psychology at Queen’s University (Canada), acquiring a strong background in research methodology and statistics, with an emphasis on quantitative experimental research. After completing his studies, Dr Spina held Lecturer posts at Queen’s University and Birmingham City University, before joining the University of Chichester. Dr Spina is a personality and social psychologist with expertise in cultural psychology, judgment and decision-making processes, and natural health.
Professional bodies:
British Psychological Society, Canadian Psychological Association, International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, The Society for Personality and Social Psychology.
Module responsibility:
Dr Spina leads the following modules:
- Being and Feeling (Foundation Year)
- Individual Differences Psychology (Year 2)
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Mental Health and Forensic Psychology (Year 2)
- Cultural Psychology (Year 3)
Awards:
- Higher Education Academy – Individual Research Grant – £1800 – 2012 – 2013
- Higher Education Academy – Individual Research Grant – £7000 – 2011 – 2012
- Ontario Graduate Fellowship – $15000 (CDN) – Declined – 2009 – 2010
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Canadian Psychological Association – 1 of 3 Certificates of Academic Excellence for best Doctoral thesis – Queen’s University – 2009 -2010
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Andrew McGhie Prize for best Doctoral thesis in Queen’s University Psychology Department – $500 (CDN) – 2009-2010
- Council of Canadian Departments of Psychology – Teaching Assistantship Award Certificate for excellence in teaching – 2008 – 2009
- Queen’s University Department of Psychology – Certificate of Teaching Excellence – 2008 – 2009
Administrative Responsibilities:
In addition to being Academic Advisor for 1st year Criminology and Forensic Psychology students, and Research Degrees Co-ordinator overseeing the research environment for PhD and ProfDoc students, Dr Spina is the Research Lead for the department, sitting on the REF Committee and the Research and Enterprise Committee, thus overseeing departmental REF activity.
Publications
Peer-Reviewed Journals:
Fontes-Perryman, E., & Spina, R. (2022). Fear of missing out and compulsive social media use as mediators between OCD symptoms and social media fatigue. Psychology of Popular Media, 11(2), 173–182.
Spina, R., Ji, L. J., Guo, T., Li, Y., & Zhang, Z. (2020). Cultural Differences in the Tendency to Seek Practical versus Theoretical Information, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology.
Guo, T., & Spina, R. (2019). Cross-Cultural Variations in Extreme Rejecting and Extreme Affirming Response Styles, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology.
Guo, T., & Spina, R. (2019). Cultural Asymmetry Between Perceptions of Past and Future Personal Change, Frontiers in Psychology: Cultural Psychology.
Schmalbach, B., Zenger, M., Spina, R., Steffens-Guerra I., Kliem, S.; Michaelides, M., Hinz, A., & Zenger, M. (2017). Gain +1 or Avoid -1: Validation of the German Regulatory Focus Questionnaire (RFQ), BioMedCentral Psychology, 5-40, 1-11. doi 10.1186/s40359-017-0207-y.
Schmalbach, B., Spina, R., Steffens-Guerra, I., Franke, G. H., Kliem, S., Michaelides, M. P., Hinz, A., & Zenger, M. (2017). Psychometric Properties of the German Version of the Health Regulatory Focus Scale. Frontiers in Psychology, 8-2005, 1-10. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02005
Guo T., & Spina, R. (2016). Chinese are more loss averse than British. Asian Journal of Social Psychology.
Guo, T., & Spina, R. R., (2015). Regulatory focus affects predictions of the future. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
Guo, T., Ji, L.J., Spina, R. R., & Zhang, Z. (2012). Culture, Temporal Focus, and Values of the Past and the Future. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
Wilson, D., Spina, R. R., & Canaan, J. (2011). In Praise of the Carceral Tour: Learning from the Grendon Experience. Howard Journal of Criminal Justice.
Spina, R. R., Ji, L. J., Guo, T., Zhang, Z, Ye, L., & Fabrigar, L. (2010). Cultural differences in the representativeness heuristic: Expecting a correspondence in magnitude between cause and effect. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
Spina, R. R., Ji, L. J., Ross, M., & Zhang, Z. (2010). Why best can’t last: Cultural differences in anticipating a regression toward the mean. Asian Journal of Social Psychology.
Heine, S. J., Foster, J., & Spina, R. R. (2009). Do birds of a feather universally flock together? Cultural variation in the similarity-attraction effect. Asian Journal of Social Psychology.
Symposia:
Spina, R., Ji, L.J., Masuda, T., Choi, I. (2016, July). Advancements in Culture and Cognition.
Symposium chair at the XXIII Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP), WINC Aichi Conference Center, Nagoya, Japan.
Spina, R., Ji, L.J., Guo, T., & Kwan, V. (2010, July). Culture and Breadth of Focus: Implications for Judgment and Decision Making. Symposium chair at the XX Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP), The University of Melbourne, Australia.
Research
Dr Spina’s research focuses on 3 main areas:
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cultural and individual differences in heuristics (mental shortcuts to human thinking and reasoning), and the psychological mechanisms by which they cause biases in important judgment and decision-making processes across a variety of contexts, including attention/perception, attitudes, attributions, categorization, information seeking, judgment and decision making, prediction, response biases in research, and time perception. Most of my research utilizes experimental and survey research designs with an emphasis on empirical quantitative data.
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individual differences in relationship formation, quality, and their effects on well-being
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human natural health interventions – we are currently preparing to investigate the effects of fasting and the ketogenic diet on cognitive performance and well-being in people with Alzheimer’s disease, along with other forms of dementia and cognitive impairment.
PhD Supervision
Dr Spina is currently accepting students with interests in social psychology, cultural psychology, individual differences psychology, social cognition, and natural health.
PhD and ProfDoc summary of recent and current supervision:
Monica Hess: Perceptions of Romanian Immigrant Workers on Organisational Culture in Relation to Organisational Communication and Job Satisfaction (2012 – 2016)
Clare Steere: Longitudinal analysis of Further Education (FE) professionals’ experiences of supporting students within their role as mentor or personal tutor (2020 – present)
Dr Mario Menz: Exploring the Professional Identity of Financial Crime Prevention Professionals in the Private Sector (2022 – present)
Riz Judkins: Dietary lifestyle and its impact on neurodegenerative diseases: An investigation into the challenges and effects of implementing a fasting and ketogenic diet intervention with individuals with mild or moderate dementia (2023 – present)
Hollie Trollen: In what ways can the organizational aspects of police culture be modified or reformed to create an environment that discourages sexual misconduct and encourages the reporting of such incidents? (2024 – present)
Stewart Seymour: Do masculine norms, stoicism, and risk of disclosure affect airline pilot’s wellbeing? (2024 – present)
Research Output
Articles
Fontes-Perryman, E. and Spina, R. (2022) Fear of missing out and compulsive social media use as mediators between OCD symptoms and social media fatigue. Psychology of Popular Media, 11 (2). pp. 173-182. ISSN 2689-6567 10.1037/ppm0000356
Spina, R., Ji, L.-J., Guo, T., Li, Y. and Zhang, Z. (2020) Cultural Differences in the Tendency to Seek Practical versus Theoretical Information. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. ISSN 0022-0221 10.1177/0022022120933691
Guo, T. and Spina, R. (2019) Cross-cultural variations in extreme rejecting and extreme affirming response styles. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 50 (8). pp. 955-971. ISSN 0022-0221 10.1177/0022022119873072
Guo, T. and Spina, R. (2019) Cultural asymmetry between perceptions of past and future personal change. Frontiers in Psychology - Cultural Psychology, 10 (885). pp. 1-11. ISSN 1664-1078 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00885
Schmalbach, B., Zenger, M., Spina, R., Steffens-Guerra, I., Kliem, S., Michaelides, M. and Hinz, A. (2017) Gain +1 or Avoid -1: Validation of the German Regulatory Focus Questionnaire (RFQ). BioMed Psychology, 5 (40). pp. 1-11. ISSN 2050-7283 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02005
Schmalbach, B., Spina, R., Steffens-Guerra, I., Franke, G. H., Kliem, S., Michaelides, M., Hinz, A. and Zenger, M. (2017) Psychometric Properties of the German Version of the Health Regulatory Focus Scale. Frontiers in Psychology - Personality and Social Psychology section. ISSN 1664-1078 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02005
Guo, T. and Spina, R. (2016) Chinese are more loss averse than British. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 19 (2). pp. 154-162. ISSN 1367-2223 DOI: 10.1111/ajsp.12129
Guo, T. and Spina, R. (2015) Regulatory Focus Affects Predictions of the Future. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41 (2). pp. 214-223. ISSN 1552-7433 10.1177/0146167214561194
Guo, T., Ji, L.-J., Spina, R. and Zhang, Z. (2012) Culture, Temporal Focus, and Values of the Past and the Future. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38 (8). pp. 1030-1040. ISSN 0146-1672 10.1177/0146167212443895
Wilson, D., Spina, R. and Canaan, J. E. (2011) In praise of the carceral tour: Learning from the Grendon experience. The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, 50 (4). pp. 343-355. ISSN 0265-5527 10.1111/j.1468-2311.2011.00673.x
Spina, R., Ji, L.-J., Ross, M., Li, Y. and Zhang, Z. (2010) Why best cannot last: Cultural differences in predicting regression toward the mean. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 13 (3). pp. 153-162. ISSN 1467-839X 10.1111/j.1467-839X.2010.01310.x
Spina, R., Ji, L.-J., Guo, T., Zhang, Z., Li, Y. and Fabrigar, L. (2010) Cultural differences in the representativeness heuristic: Expecting a correspondence in magnitude between cause and effect. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36 (5). pp. 583-597. ISSN 1552-7433 10.1177/0146167210368278
Spina, R., Ji, L.-J., Ross, M., Li, Y. and Zhang, Z. (2010) Why best cannot last: Cultural differences in predicting regression toward the mean. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 13. pp. 153-162. ISSN 1467-839X DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-839X.2010.01310.x
Heine, S. J., Foster, J.-A. B. and Spina, R. (2009) Do birds of a feather universally flock together? Cultural variation in the similarity-attraction effect. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 12 (4). pp. 247-258. ISSN 1367-2223 10.1111/j.1467-839X.2009.01289.x
Heine, S. J., Foster, J.-A. B. and Spina, R. (2009) Do birds of a feather universally flock together? Cultural variation in the similarity-attraction effect. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 12 (4). pp. 247-258. ISSN 1367-2223 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-839X.2009.01289.x
Spina, R., Ji, L.-J., Guo, T., Zhang, Z., Li, Y. and Fabrigar, L. (2009) Cultural Differences in the Representativeness Heuristic: Expecting a Correspondence in Magnitude Between Cause and Effect. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36 (5). pp. 583-597. ISSN 1552-7433 DOI: 10.1177/0146167210368278
