![Thomas Vaughan-Johnston PhD](https://profiles-cardiff.imgix.net/attachments/4606?w=200&h=200&auto=format&crop=faces&fit=crop&q=90")
Overview
My research tackles persuasion with a focus on vocal properties (emotions and confidence signals projected by how we speak), and integrating individual differences research (involving personality, the self, and lay scientific beliefs) to better understand how to maximize persuasion. I also have a line of research involving the self, particularly people's beliefs that self-esteem has causal effects on their outcomes (self-esteem importance).
I am currently investigating topics like:
- Under what conditions does higher vocal confidence work against successful persuasion?
- When does matching vocal affect (sounding sad) to message affect (a sad message) benefit or undermine persuasion?
- How do individual differences in the motivation to acquire neutral (non-extreme) attitudes shape people's response to information, persuasive messages, and beyond?
Publication
2024
- Vaughan-Johnston, T. I., Guyer, J. J., Lawrence, K. L. and Fabrigar, L. R. 2024. Disclosure and identification information increase the benefits of stealing thunder. Social Influence 20(1), article number: 2447273. (10.1080/15534510.2024.2447273)
- Vaughan-Johnston, T. I., Imtiaz, F., Patro, G. A., Shang, S. X., Fabrigar, L. and Ji, L. 2024. Recruitment strategies bias sampling and shape replicability. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (10.1177/01461672241293504)
- Guyer, J. J., Vaughan-Johnston, T. I., Fabrigar, L. R., Paredes, B., Briñol, P. and Shen, M. 2024. Vocal speed and processing of persuasive messages: Curvilinear processing effects. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior (10.1007/s10919-024-00477-6)
- Vaughan-Johnston, T., Guyer, J. J., Fabrigar, L. R., Lamprinakos, G. and Briñol, P. 2024. Falling vocal intonation signals speaker confidence and conditionally boosts persuasion. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (10.1177/01461672241262180)
- Vaughan-Johnston, T. I., Imtiaz, F., Ji, L., Hanif, R., Fowlie, D. I. and Jacobson, J. A. 2024. Comparing self-esteem discrepancies in Pakistan and Canada. Asian Journal of Social Psychology 27(2), pp. 231-247. (10.1111/ajsp.12592)
- Imtiaz, F., Vaughan-Johnston, T. and Ji, L. 2024. Motivation and age revisited: The impact of outcome and process orientations on temporal focus in older and younger adults. Journal of Ageing and Longevity 4(2), pp. 140-155. (10.3390/jal4020010)
- Vaughan-Johnston, T. I. 2024. Hypocrisy judgments are affected by target attitude strength and attitude moralization. European Journal of Social Psychology 54(2), pp. 397-414. (10.1002/ejsp.3018)
- Vaughan-Johnston, T. I., Nguyen, A. and Jacobson, J. A. 2024. A surprising lack of consequences when constraining language. Frontiers in Psychology 2, article number: 1260974. (10.3389/frsps.2024.1260974)
- Vaughan-Johnston, T. I., Fowlie, D. I., Wallace, L. E., Susmann, M. W. and Fabrigar, L. R. 2024. The preference for attitude neutrality. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (10.1037/xge0001703)
2023
- Guyer, J., Brinol, P., Vaughan-Johnston, T., Fabrigar, L., Moreno, L., Paredes, B. and Petty, R. 2023. Pitch as a recipient, channel, and context factor affecting thought reliance and persuasion. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (10.1177/01461672231197547)
Articles
- Vaughan-Johnston, T. I., Guyer, J. J., Lawrence, K. L. and Fabrigar, L. R. 2024. Disclosure and identification information increase the benefits of stealing thunder. Social Influence 20(1), article number: 2447273. (10.1080/15534510.2024.2447273)
- Vaughan-Johnston, T. I., Imtiaz, F., Patro, G. A., Shang, S. X., Fabrigar, L. and Ji, L. 2024. Recruitment strategies bias sampling and shape replicability. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (10.1177/01461672241293504)
- Guyer, J. J., Vaughan-Johnston, T. I., Fabrigar, L. R., Paredes, B., Briñol, P. and Shen, M. 2024. Vocal speed and processing of persuasive messages: Curvilinear processing effects. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior (10.1007/s10919-024-00477-6)
- Vaughan-Johnston, T., Guyer, J. J., Fabrigar, L. R., Lamprinakos, G. and Briñol, P. 2024. Falling vocal intonation signals speaker confidence and conditionally boosts persuasion. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (10.1177/01461672241262180)
- Vaughan-Johnston, T. I., Imtiaz, F., Ji, L., Hanif, R., Fowlie, D. I. and Jacobson, J. A. 2024. Comparing self-esteem discrepancies in Pakistan and Canada. Asian Journal of Social Psychology 27(2), pp. 231-247. (10.1111/ajsp.12592)
- Imtiaz, F., Vaughan-Johnston, T. and Ji, L. 2024. Motivation and age revisited: The impact of outcome and process orientations on temporal focus in older and younger adults. Journal of Ageing and Longevity 4(2), pp. 140-155. (10.3390/jal4020010)
- Vaughan-Johnston, T. I. 2024. Hypocrisy judgments are affected by target attitude strength and attitude moralization. European Journal of Social Psychology 54(2), pp. 397-414. (10.1002/ejsp.3018)
- Vaughan-Johnston, T. I., Nguyen, A. and Jacobson, J. A. 2024. A surprising lack of consequences when constraining language. Frontiers in Psychology 2, article number: 1260974. (10.3389/frsps.2024.1260974)
- Vaughan-Johnston, T. I., Fowlie, D. I., Wallace, L. E., Susmann, M. W. and Fabrigar, L. R. 2024. The preference for attitude neutrality. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (10.1037/xge0001703)
- Guyer, J., Brinol, P., Vaughan-Johnston, T., Fabrigar, L., Moreno, L., Paredes, B. and Petty, R. 2023. Pitch as a recipient, channel, and context factor affecting thought reliance and persuasion. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (10.1177/01461672231197547)
Research
I have been investigating different aspects of the voice and their implications for attitude change. Specifically, different aspects of the voice such as vocal intonation (rising versus falling), speed (slow versus fast), and pitch (low versus high) have implications for attitude change, such as informing perceptions of the source's confidence.
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Vocal affect in affective persuasive messages (Guyer, Fabrigar, Vaughan-Johnston, & Tang, 2018 - JESP)
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Vocal confidence has several routes to influencing persuasion (Guyer, Fabrigar, & Vaughan-Johnston, 2019 - PSPB)
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A novel theory accounting for vocal affect's relationship with persuasion (Vaughan-Johnston, Guyer, Fabrigar, & Shen, 2021 - JNVB)
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A review of how vocal confidence (and particularly pitch) influences persuasion through multiple processes (Guyer, Briñol, Vaughan-Johnston, Fabrigar, Moreno, & Petty, 2021- JNVB)
People may view some attitudes as beliefs that they believe they ought or or would ideally hold ("desired attitudes"). However, the antecedents of these desired attitudes are less well understood. I am examining how we might (de)activate desired attitudes, using paradigms inspired by self-discrepancy, cognitive dissonance, and self-persuasion theories.
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Desired attitudes can shape actual attitude change (even without new information) (Vaughan-Johnston et al., 2023 - JESP)
How might beliefs about self-esteem influence how powerful of a role self-esteem actually plays in individuals' mental lives? Along with Dr. Jill Jacobson, I have developed a scale of self-esteem importance that measures beliefs about self-esteem. Self-esteem importance (i) affects how people react emotionally to gaining/losing self-esteem, (ii) orients individuals towards self-enhancing and self-protective behaviours, and (iii) shapes adolescents' and young adults' peer defending behaviors in bullying episodes.
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Manipulated self-esteem importance increases emotional reactions to evaluative feedback about oneself (Vaughan-Johnston & Jacobson, 2021 - C&E)
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Self-esteem importance is related to a desire for self-enhancement (Vaughan-Johnston & Jacobson, 2021 - PAID)
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Self-esteem importance is related to defending behaviors and prosocial intentions among adults and adolescents (Vaughan-Johnston et al., 2020 - S&I)
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Self-esteem importance is linked with social sensitivity - bigger positive/negative reactions to acceptance/rejection. We also find that self-esteem importance has substantial test-retest reliability, and that women (vs men) and Euro-Canadians (vs Asian-Canadians) endorse these beliefs more (Vaughan-Johnston & Jacobson, 2021 - PAID).