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Professor ALEXA SPENCE's Outputs (38)

Approaching future rewards or waiting for them to arrive: Spatial representations of time and intertemporal choice (2024)
Journal Article
Fletcher, D., Houghton, R., & Spence, A. (2024). Approaching future rewards or waiting for them to arrive: Spatial representations of time and intertemporal choice. PLoS ONE, 19(4), Article e0301781. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0301781

Our mental representation of the passage of time is structured by concepts of spatial motion, including an ego-moving perspective in which the self is perceived as approaching future events and a time-moving perspective in which future events are per... Read More about Approaching future rewards or waiting for them to arrive: Spatial representations of time and intertemporal choice.

Applied Scenarios: Embedding Psychological Literacy in Assessment (2023)
Journal Article
Einav, S., Spence, A., Blackie, L. E., Cassidy, S., & Allen, H. A. (2024). Applied Scenarios: Embedding Psychological Literacy in Assessment. Psychology Learning and Teaching, 23(2), 224 - 234. https://doi.org/10.1177/14757257231209178

Psychological literacy refers to the ability of a psychology student to use psychological knowledge, rather than merely learn it, in the context of personal, social, and organizational issues. Embedding psychological literacy in assessment is a criti... Read More about Applied Scenarios: Embedding Psychological Literacy in Assessment.

Thinking about your future self: Do better perspective-takers make more patient decisions? (2023)
Journal Article
Fletcher, D., Spence, A., & Houghton, R. (2023). Thinking about your future self: Do better perspective-takers make more patient decisions?. Personality and Individual Differences, 212, Article 112281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2023.112281

Decisions involving costs and rewards materialising at different points in time (intertemporal decisions) are prevalent in everyday life and can have significant consequences for well-being across the lifespan. Recent neuroimaging research points to... Read More about Thinking about your future self: Do better perspective-takers make more patient decisions?.

Mindfully and confidently digital: A mixed methods study on personal resources to mitigate the dark side of digital working (2023)
Journal Article
Marsh, E., Perez Vallejos, E., & Spence, A. (2023). Mindfully and confidently digital: A mixed methods study on personal resources to mitigate the dark side of digital working. PLoS ONE, 19(2), Article e0295631. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0295631

A growing body of research demonstrates the potential of mindfulness to reduce employee stress. However, with work increasingly migrating from the physical to the digital workplace, evidence is lacking on how mindfulness might help employees live hea... Read More about Mindfully and confidently digital: A mixed methods study on personal resources to mitigate the dark side of digital working.

Cost, context, or convenience? Exploring the social acceptance of demand response in the United Kingdom (2021)
Journal Article
Naghiyev, E., Shipman, R., Goulden, M., Gillott, M., & Spence, A. (2022). Cost, context, or convenience? Exploring the social acceptance of demand response in the United Kingdom. Energy Research and Social Science, 87, Article 102469. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102469

The energy sector, and buildings in particular, are one of the main contributors to climate change. Demand-Side Management (DSM) has the potential to realise energy savings on the demand as well as the supply side. However, the domestic sector still... Read More about Cost, context, or convenience? Exploring the social acceptance of demand response in the United Kingdom.

The digital workplace and its dark side: An integrative review (2021)
Journal Article
Marsh, E., Vallejos, E. P., & Spence, A. (2022). The digital workplace and its dark side: An integrative review. Computers in Human Behavior, 128, Article 107118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.107118

An intensification of digital working driven by Covid-19 has brought into sharp focus both the beneficial nature of digital workplace technologies and their potential dark side. Research has burgeoned in this area in recent years, but an integrated v... Read More about The digital workplace and its dark side: An integrative review.

Sustainability following adversity: Power outage experiences are related to greater energy saving intentions in the United Kingdom and Mexico (2021)
Journal Article
Spence, A., Leygue, C., & Ortega Andeane, P. (2021). Sustainability following adversity: Power outage experiences are related to greater energy saving intentions in the United Kingdom and Mexico. Energy Research and Social Science, 79, Article 102143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102143

Concerns about climate change and energy security, and related behaviour may be impacted by experiences such as flooding and power outages and we consider that impacts may be different for individual and social actions. Our first study, using online... Read More about Sustainability following adversity: Power outage experiences are related to greater energy saving intentions in the United Kingdom and Mexico.

Big Changes Start With Small Talk: Twitter and Climate Change in Times of Coronavirus Pandemic (2021)
Journal Article
Gaytan Camarillo, M., Ferguson, E., Ljevar, V., & Spence, A. (2021). Big Changes Start With Small Talk: Twitter and Climate Change in Times of Coronavirus Pandemic. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.661395

Behavioural scientists have been studying public perceptions to understand how and why people behave the way they do towards climate change. In recent times, enormous changes to behaviour and people’s interactions have been brought about by the world... Read More about Big Changes Start With Small Talk: Twitter and Climate Change in Times of Coronavirus Pandemic.

Dumber energy at home please: Perceptions of Smart Energy Technologies are dependent on home, workplace, or policy context in the United Kingdom (2021)
Journal Article
Spence, A., Leygue, C., Wickes, L., Withers, L., Goulden, M., & Wardman, J. K. (2021). Dumber energy at home please: Perceptions of Smart Energy Technologies are dependent on home, workplace, or policy context in the United Kingdom. Energy Research and Social Science, 75, Article 102021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102021

Smart energy technologies (SETs) are being developed around the world to support using energy more efficiently and to smooth our consumption over time, helping us to meet our carbon reduction targets. Notably, SETs will only be effective with support... Read More about Dumber energy at home please: Perceptions of Smart Energy Technologies are dependent on home, workplace, or policy context in the United Kingdom.

The resilience paradox: flooding experience, coping and climate change mitigation intentions (2018)
Journal Article
Ogunbode, C. A., Böhm, G., Capstick, S. B., Demski, C., Spence, A., & Tausch, N. (2018). The resilience paradox: flooding experience, coping and climate change mitigation intentions. Climate Policy, 19(6), 703-715. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2018.1560242

Climate change is projected to increase the frequency, intensity and unpredictability of extreme weather events across the globe and these events are likely to have significant mental health implications. The mental health literature broadly characte... Read More about The resilience paradox: flooding experience, coping and climate change mitigation intentions.

Differentiating ‘the user’ in DSR: developing demand side response in advanced economies (2018)
Journal Article
Goulden, M., Spence, A., Wardman, J., & Leygue, C. (2018). Differentiating ‘the user’ in DSR: developing demand side response in advanced economies. Energy Policy, 122, 176-185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.07.013

This paper reports on the current state of Demand Side Response (DSR) in the UK – an early adoptor amongst advanced economies – and the role of the end user in determining its future. Through 21 expert interviews we establish the current state of DSR... Read More about Differentiating ‘the user’ in DSR: developing demand side response in advanced economies.

Digital energy visualisations in the workplace: the e-Genie tool (2017)
Journal Article
Spence, A., Goulden, M., Leygue, C., Banks, N., Bedwell, B. D., Jewell, M., Yang, R., & Ferguson, E. (in press). Digital energy visualisations in the workplace: the e-Genie tool. Building Research and Information, https://doi.org/10.1080/09613218.2018.1409569

Building management systems are designed for energy managers; there are few energy feedback systems designed to engage staff. A tool, known as e-Genie, was developed to engage workplace occupants with energy data and support them to take action to re... Read More about Digital energy visualisations in the workplace: the e-Genie tool.

Public prioritisation of energy affordability in the UK (2017)
Journal Article
Demski, C., Evensen, D., Pidgeon, N., & Spence, A. (2017). Public prioritisation of energy affordability in the UK. Energy Policy, 110, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2017.08.044

Much research has focused on the so-called ‘energy trilemma’ – i.e., three leading energy policy issues: energy security, affordability, and climate change mitigation. Whilst substantial understanding exists of why people support climate-friendly ene... Read More about Public prioritisation of energy affordability in the UK.

Saving energy in the workplace: why, and for whom? (2017)
Journal Article
Leygue, C., Ferguson, E., & Spence, A. (2017). Saving energy in the workplace: why, and for whom?. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 53, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2017.06.006

Saving energy at work might be considered altruistic, because often no personal benefits accrue. However, we consider the possibility that it can be a form of impure-altruism in that the individual experiences some rewards. We develop a scale to meas... Read More about Saving energy in the workplace: why, and for whom?.

Guilty repair sustains cooperation, angry retaliation destroys it (2017)
Journal Article
Skatova, A., Ferguson, E., Leygue, C., & Spence, A. (2017). Guilty repair sustains cooperation, angry retaliation destroys it. Scientific Reports, 7, Article 46709. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep46709

Sustained cooperative social interactions are key to successful outcomes in many real-world contexts (e.g., climate change and energy conservation). We explore the self-regulatory roles of anger and guilt, as well as prosocial or selfish social prefe... Read More about Guilty repair sustains cooperation, angry retaliation destroys it.

Effects of exemplar scenarios on public preferences for energy futures using the my2050 scenario-building tool (2017)
Journal Article
Demski, C., Spence, A., & Pidgeon, N. (2017). Effects of exemplar scenarios on public preferences for energy futures using the my2050 scenario-building tool. Nature Energy, 2, https://doi.org/10.1038/nenergy.2017.27

Understanding which energy future configurations provide publicly acceptable levels of energy security, affordability, and environmental protection is critical for institutional decision-making. However, little is known about how scenarios influence... Read More about Effects of exemplar scenarios on public preferences for energy futures using the my2050 scenario-building tool.

Experience of extreme weather affects climate change mitigation and adaptation responses (2016)
Journal Article
Demski, C., Capstick, S., Pidgeon, N., Gennaro Sposato, R., & Spence, A. (2017). Experience of extreme weather affects climate change mitigation and adaptation responses. Climatic Change, 140(2), 149-164. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-016-1837-4

The winter of 2013/2014 saw a series of severe storms hit the UK, leading to widespread flooding, a major emergency response and extensive media exposure. Previous research indicates that experiencing extreme weather events has the potential to heigh... Read More about Experience of extreme weather affects climate change mitigation and adaptation responses.

Intervening to change behaviour and save energy in the workplace: a systematic review of available evidence (2016)
Journal Article
Staddon, S. C., Cycil, C., Goulden, M., Leygue, C., & Spence, A. (2016). Intervening to change behaviour and save energy in the workplace: a systematic review of available evidence. Energy Research and Social Science, 17, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2016.03.027

Workplaces worldwide are a major source of carbon emissions and changing energy use behaviour in these environments has the capacity for large carbon savings. This paper reviews and synthesises empirical evidence to identify what types of behaviour c... Read More about Intervening to change behaviour and save energy in the workplace: a systematic review of available evidence.

Public values for energy system change (2015)
Journal Article
Demski, C., Butler, C., Parkhill, K. A., Spence, A., & Pidgeon, N. F. (2015). Public values for energy system change. Global Environmental Change, 34, 59-69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2015.06.014

In this paper we discuss the importance of framing the question of public acceptance of sustainable energy transitions in terms of values and a ‘whole-system’ lens. This assertion is based on findings arising from a major research project examining p... Read More about Public values for energy system change.