Staff profile

Thomas Vaughan-Johnston was born and raised in Canada, receiving his psychology Bachelor's at the University of Alberta, then his Masters and PhD in social-personality psychology at Queen's University (in Ontario, Canada). He now lives in the UK.

Research Interests

My research tackles attitudes and persuasion work, alongside individual differences research (involving personality, the self, and lay scientific beliefs). Some examples of my specific interests include desired attitudes and self-persuasion, and the role of human vocal characteristics influencing persuasion (in the attitudes/persuasion domain); and how people's beliefs about self-esteem influence their self-enhancement motivation (in the self domain).

Journal Article

• Ji, Li-Jun, Vaughan-Johnston, Thomas I., Zhang, Zhiyong, Jacobson, Jill A., Zhang, Ning & Huang, Xiaoye (2021). Contextual and Cultural Differences in Positive Thinking. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 52(5): 449.
• Vaughan-Johnston, Thomas I., Guyer, Joshua J., Fabrigar, Leandre R. & Shen, Charlie (2021). The Role of Vocal Affect in Persuasion: The CIVA Model. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior
• Vaughan-Johnston, Thomas I. & Jacobson, Jill A. (2021). Naïve beliefs shape emotional reactions to evaluative feedback. Cognition and Emotion 35(2): 375.
• Vaughan-Johnston, Thomas I., MacGregor, Karen E., Fabrigar, Leandre R., Evraire, Lyndsay E. & Wasylkiw, Louise (2021). Extraversion as a Moderator of the Efficacy of Self-Esteem Maintenance Strategies. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 47(1): 131.
• Imtiaz, Faizan, Ji, Li-Jun & Vaughan-Johnston, Thomas (2021). Exploring preferences for present- and future-focused job opportunities across seniors and young adults. Current Psychology
• Vaughan-Johnston, Thomas I. & Jacobson, Jill A. (2021). Naïve beliefs about self-esteem's importance. Personality and Individual Differences 173: 110635.
• Vaughan-Johnston, Thomas I., Jackowich, Robyn A., Hudson, Chloe C., France, Kalee De, Hollenstein, Tom & Jacobson, Jill A. (2020). The role of individual differences in emotion regulation efficacy. Journal of Research in Personality 84: 103904.
• Vaughan-Johnston, Thomas I. & Jacobson, Jill A. (2020). “Need” personality constructs and preferences for different types of self-relevant feedback. Personality and Individual Differences 154: 109671.
• Vaughan-Johnston, Thomas I., Lambe, Laura, Craig, Wendy & Jacobson, Jill A. (2020). Self-esteem importance beliefs: A new perspective on adolescent self-esteem. Self and Identity 19(8): 967.