Research
Behavioural Analytics
My work falls under the field of behavioural analytics. In particular, my research primarily involves using computational language analysis methods (i.e., analysing the way in which people use words, using sophisticated automated tools) to understand people's motivations, values, behaviour, and underlying psychology. My current work is focused on applying computational linguistic methods to various domains, including personality, identity, suicide, self-harm, psychopathology, and emotion. More broadly, I am also interested in, and will often use, other forms of behavioural analysis, such as the analysis of non-verbal digital footprint data (e.g., social media meta-data). The analysis of various forms of digital footprint data combined, incorporating interactionist theories of personality, can provide comprehensive, individualised, contextualised insight into individuals' inner worlds and associated behaviours. I am keen to apply these methods to a broad range of domains.
Identity, Personality Processes, and Personality Functioning
I am interested in the broad spectrum of personality processes, personality (dys)function, and personality pathology. My PhD work predominantly focused on personality pathology, an increasingly prevalent, high-risk issue in society. New technologies provide advanced tools to better understand personality and personality pathology, such as computational language analysis (i.e., computationally examining how people use language). My work is based on psycholinguistic theory which states that words reflect our inner thoughts, feelings, and experiences. The application of such theory and methods can provide new, critical insights into psychological phenomena, including personality (dysfunction). Accordingly, three of my PhD projects used computational language analysis to better understand facets of personality pathology: interpersonal dysfunction, emotion dysregulation, and behavioural dysregulation (i.e., suicidality and deliberate self-harm). Findings generated better understanding of personality pathology, including insight into characterising dimensions of social dysfunction, maladaptive emotion processes contributing to emotion dysregulation, and psychosocial dynamics of suicidality and deliberate self-harm.
Relatedly, my current Fellowship is focused on narrative identity (how we tell stories about ourselves) and personality functioning, investigating the relationship between the two, combining various theories and methods. More specifically, I examine life stories using a combination of traditional narrative analysis approaches (i.e., manual annotation of life story data to extract narrative and structural themes) and computational linguistic methods. This research is based on the life story model of identity pioneered by Dan McAdams, which asserts that individuals gain unity and meaning from their lives by constructing internalised and evolving narratives of the self. Investigating identity and self is crucial, especially as disturbances in identity play a significant role in dysfunction. The overarching objective of my current work is to improve understanding of self-processes in the context of personality functioning.
I would be excited to collaborate on any research related to personality processes, functioning, and (narrative) identity.
Psychopathology
In addition to personality functioning and pathology, I am also interested in psychopathology more broadly, adopting a dimensional (spectrum-based) perspective. My research has primarily focused on trans-diagnostic behaviours and manifestations of psychopathology, such as social problems, emotion dysregulation, suicidality, and deliberate self-harm.
During my PhD, I investigated the nature of suicidality and deliberate self-harm online, using a computational approach, to better understand the psychosocial dynamics that surround self-harm. I have recently built on this in a post-doctoral Fellowship, in which my research has utilised computational verbal and non-verbal behavioural analytic techniques to analyse large-scale data from online support communities – specifically borderline personality disorder communities – to examine effects of online support community dynamics on suicidality and deliberate self-harm, among other psychosocial outcomes.
Regarding emotion dysregulation, I am particularly interested in how emotions manifest in words, and likewise how emotion word use relates to underlying emotion processes and critical outcomes. My ongoing research investigates natural (or active) emotion vocabularies (i.e., the variety of emotion words used in everyday language), and how emotion vocabularies relate to psychopathology.
I am interested in all research in the domain of psychopathology, but particularly that with a focus that extends across various forms of psychopathology, in a trans-diagnostic fashion.