6th Military Psychology Conference
Thursday 8th November 2018 at The Ark Conference Centre, Basingstoke
Would I misinform you? The psychological impact of misinformation
Ascertaining what is real and what is false has always been a priority in defence and security. Carl von Clausewitz’s On War was published in 1832 following the Napoleaonic wars and identified a key problem in the ‘uncertainty of all information’. Similarly, in recent years the civilian world has seen a rise in allegations of ‘fake news’, and the rapid rise of social media has made it increasingly difficult to tell the difference between what is real and what is false, warping perceptions of what is normal and our understanding of the world.
- How can we spot social media that is presenting information in a mis-leading way?
- What are the defence and security challenges in today's information age?
- How can psychological research and practice support the well-being of those facing misinformation?
- What is effect of misinformation on decision making?
- How do we understand risk when we cannot be certain of the information received?
This conference aimed to bring together researchers and practitioners to foster an understanding of the psychological impact of misinformation and identify areas of good psychological practice for future research. Through presentations and poster sessions we discussed the psychological impact of misinformation in the following three areas:
- Risk taking
- Decision-making
- Wellbeing
Conference Programme & Presenter Biographies
To download the full conference programme, please click here.
Click here to download the abstracts for the oral and poster presentations.
Oral Presentation Speaker Biographies can be downloaded here.
Poster Presenter Biographies can be downloaded here.
Presentation Downloads
Keynote Presentation: The psychology of conspiracy theories
Professor Karen Douglas, University of Kent
Heroes and Villains: social media misinformation following the 2017 terror attacks
Dr Helen Innes & Diyana Dobreva, Crime and Security Research Institute, University of Cardiff
Unable to share slides
In the Red: A comparison between Defence doctrine, policy and guidance on red teaming and the use of red teaming within the Operational Level Planning Process
Commander Rachel Smallwood MBE, MOD
Assessing and monitoring the well-being of Army personnel using continuously attitude surveys
Rita Hawkshaw, MOD
999, what’s your emergency? Evidence-based communication tools for Fire and Rescue Services
Dr Andrea Shawyer, Institute of Criminal Justice Studies, University of Portsmouth
Keynote Presentation: Don't break the chain - from effective communication to successful decision-making
Professor Rebecca Milne, University of Portsmouth
Fooled by false information? A technique for quantifying how much information individuals choose to accept or reject in any situation
Dr Graham Edgar, University of Gloucestershire
Confusing and Obvious: Tactical Psychology as Information Exchange
Dermot Rooney, Wapentakes
The effect of message source and recipient characteristics on the organic reach of Fake News: do trust, risk propensity or personality affect the likelihood of spreading misinformation?
Professor Tom Buchanan, University of Westminster
Social media, trust and heuristics.
Dr John McAlaney, Bournemouth University
Posters
Machine Learning, Explainability and Decision Space Visualisation
Prof Chris Baber, University of Birmingham
Trust it or not: Cognitive Shortcuts to Online Information Credibility Evaluation
Dr Marie Cahillane & Dr Victoria Smy, Cranfield University
Mindfulness in the Military: lessons for practice from an organisational psychology field experiment
Alison Carter & Amanda Callen Institute for Employment Studies
Building Resilience in Military Personnel on Humanitarian and Peacekeeping Missions: Cochrane review Protocol (Cochrane Common Mental Disorders Group)
Colm Doody, NUI Galway
Positive Thinking and well-being, or why it may be harmful to promote optimism: an integrative literature review
Shafag Garayeva, Birkbeck, University of London
Evaluation of tools to enhance cognitive performance
Dr David Harris, University of Exeter
The Risk Personalities of Pilots: A Comparison of Military-Trained and Civilian-Trained Pilots
Geoff Trickey & Dr Simon Toms, Psychological Consultancy Ltd
Per Adua Ad Astra - 'Through adversity to the stars': The impact of social identities and social identity leadership on resilience within the Royal Air Force
Craig White, Loughborough University
The Impact of Traumatic Stress on Decision Making
Christopher Wolper, Midwestern University, Glendale
Prize Winning Posters
Thank you to Security Lancaster, Lancaster University for sponsoring our Poster Prizes Presentation. The first place prize was awarded to Colm Doody and second place was awarded to Dr Marie Cahillane and Dr Victoria Smy. Posters were judged by an independent panel.
If you have any queries please contact us via the event hotline on 01332 224507.
Sponsors
This event is made possible through the generous support of the following organisations:
Agenda
Thursday 8th November 2018
Please note, all speakers, timings and content are subject to change.
| 08:30 | Networking Breakfast & briefing on new BPS Defence and Security Section |
| 08:45 | Conference Registration |
| 09:15 | Welcome and Housekeeping Dr Kathryn Fielden, Chair BPS Wessex Branch |
| 09:20 | Keynote Presentation: The psychology of conspiracy theories - Professor Karen Douglas, University of Kent |
| 10:05 | 60 second poster flash talks |
| 10:15 | Refreshments and poster viewing |
| 10:45 | Parallel Session |
| 11:15 | Parallel Session |
| 11:45 | Keynote Presentation: BBC Horizon Programme ‘A Week Without Lying: the Honesty experiment’ - Dr Gordon Wright, Holloway University & Jay Taylor, Thoroughly Modern Media |
| 12:30 | Lunch and poster viewing |
| 13:15 | Keynote Presentation: Don't break the chain - from effective communication to successful decision-making - Professor Rebecca Milne, University of Portsmouth |
| 14:00 | Fooled by false information? A technique for quantifying how much information individuals choose to accept or reject in any situation - Dr Graham Edgar, University of Gloucestershire |
| 14:30 | Confusing and Obvious: Tactical Psychology as Information Exchange - Dermot Rooney |
| 15:00 | Refreshments and poster viewing |
| 15:30 | The effect of message source and recipient characteristics on the organic reach of Fake News: do trust, risk propensity or personality affect the likelihood of spreading misinformation? - Professor Tom Buchanan, University of Westminster |
| 16:00 | Social media, trust and heuristics - Dr John McAlaney, Bournemouth University |
| 16:30 | Closing remarks and poster prize winner announcement - Fiona Butcher, Conference Organising Committee |
| 16:45 | Conference Close |
Speakers and Facilitators
Professor Karen Douglas
Keynote SpeakerKaren Douglas obtained her PhD from the Australian National University. She was a lecturer at Keele University before moving to the University of Kent, where she is now a Professor of Social Psychology. Karen studies the psychological processes that explain belief in conspiracy theories, and some of the social, health and environmental consequences of conspiracy theories.
Professor Rebecca Milne
SpeakerBSc (Hons). PhD CPsychol CSci AFBPsS
Becky Milne is a Professor of Forensic Psychology at the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies at the University of Portsmouth. The main focus of her work over the past twenty years concerns the examination of police interviewing and investigation. Jointly with practitioners, she has helped to develop procedures that improve the quality of interviews of witnesses, victims, intelligence sources, and suspects of crime across many countries. As a result, she works closely with the police (and other criminal justice organisations), creating novel interview techniques, developing training, running interview courses, and providing case advice. She is also the Director of the Centre of Forensic Interviewing, which is an internationally recognised centre of excellence for investigative interviewing that brings together research, teaching, and innovation activities. Becky is a member of the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC, UK), Investigative Interviewing Strategic Steering Group and was part of a writing team who developed the 2007 version of the Achieving Best Evidence document, National guidelines for interviewing vulnerable groups. She is an Affiliate of CREST. She was given the Tom Williamson award for her outstanding achievements in the field of investigative interviewing by NPCC in April 2009.
Venue
Additional Information
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