Dr Megan Birney

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
• Full Member of the European Association of Social Psychology (EASP)

• PhD Psychology, University of Exeter
• MSc Social & Organisational Psychology, University of Exeter
• BSc Psychology and Interdisciplinary Studies (Business Leadership & International Relations), Virginia Tech (USA)

• Social Identity Theory
• Communication
• Intergroup Processes
• Followership & Obedience
• Stigma & Exclusion

Current Projects:

• Engaged Followership – The New Psychology of Obedience (with Stephen Reicher and Fergus Neville, University of St. Andrews, & Alex Haslam and Nik Steffens, University of Queensland
• Taking one for the Team: Sport and Immoral Development (with Peter Coffee, Heriott-Watt, Stephen Reicher & Fergus Neville, University of St. Andrews)
• Perceptions of/experiences with speaking with a non-native accent (with Anna Rabinovich, University of Sussex & Thomas Morton, University of Copenhagen
• Perceptions of masculinity among adolescents (with Anne McNulty, University of Chester
• The relationship between spite and belief in conspiracy theories (with David Gordon, University of Chester)
• The impact of existential risk on human behaviour (with David Gordon, University of Chester)
• Examining perceptions of intentions in communities (with Suzanne Stewart, University of Chester)

I am currently working with Climbing Out, a non-profit organisation dedicated to helping people who have experienced trauma re-build their confidence. Our project looks at the effectiveness of their programmes.

Undergraduate Teaching

• Adventures in Psychology
• Understanding the Social World
• The Psychology of Social Perception
• Oppression and Empowerment
• Dissertation Supervisor

Birney, M.E. (expected 2023). Self and identity: The basics. Routledge. (Contracted for completion – Oct 2022)

Birney, M.E., Reicher, S.D., Haslam, S.A., & Steffens, N. (under review). Following in the name of science: Evidence that obedience to authority is a result of perceived prototypicality of the cause.

Gordon, D. & Birney, M.E. (under review). Conspiracy theories as an expression of spite.

McNulty, A. & Birney, M.E. (under review). What makes a good man? A mixed-methods investigation of adolescent attitudes towards masculinity

Birney, M. E., Rabinovich, A., Morton, T. A. (2020). Where are you from? An investigation into the intersectionality between accent strength and nationality status on perceptions of non-native speakers in Britain. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 39(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X20932628

Birney, M.E., Roessel, J., Hansen, K., & Rakic, T. (2020). Prologue: Language challenges in the XXI century. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 39(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X20933315

Birney, M. E., Rabinovich, A., Morton, T. A., Heath, H., & Ashcroft, S. (2020). When speaking English Is not enough: The consequences of language-based stigma for nonnative Speakers. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 39(1), 67-86. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X19883906

Gonzalez-Franco, M., Slater, M., Birney, M. E., Swapp, D., Haslam, S. A., & Reicher, S. D. (2018). Participant concerns for the Learner in a Virtual Reality replication of the Milgram obedience study. PloS One, 13(12). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209704

Morton, T.A., Wilson, N., Haslam, C., Birney, M., Kingston, R., & McCloskey, L. (2016) Activating and guiding the engagement of seniors with online social networking: Experimental findings from the AGES 2.0 project. Journal of Aging and Health, 25, 1 – 25. https://doi.org/10.1177/0898264316664440

Haslam, S.A., Reicher, S.D., & Birney, M.E. (2016). Questioning authority: New perspectives on Milgram’s ‘obedience’ research and its implications for intergroup relations. Current Opinion in Psychology, 11, 6 – 9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2016.03.007

Haslam, S.A., Reicher, S.D., & Birney, M.E. (2014). Nothing by mere authority: Evidence that in an experimental analogue of the Milgram paradigm participants are motivated to continue not by orders but by appeals to science. Journal of Social Issues, 70(3), 473 – 488. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12072

Haslam S.A., Reicher, S.D., Millard, K., & Birney, M. (2014). Just obeying orders? New Scientist, No. 2986 (September 13), 28 – 31

Rabinovich, A., Morton, T.A., & Birney, M.E. (2012). Communicating climate science: The role of perceived communicator’s motives. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 32(1), 11-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2011.09.002