Dr Joseph Adonu

Senior Lecturer in Social Psychology

Joseph Adonu I am a Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol) with the British Psychological Society and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy of England and Wales (SFHEA).

I currently co-ordinate and teach on undergraduate and postgraduate psychology courses in addition to supervising research students. My research supervision covers the areas of social psychology, culture and psychology, personal relationships, psychology of culture and socio-economic development. If you are interested in pursuing a PhD related to these areas, contact me for a discussion towards a possible supervision in our School of Psychology.

After serving as teaching/research assistant in the Department of Psychology of University of Ghana for two years, I began an MPhil (later upgraded to PhD.) social psychology programme at Brunel University, London. I completed my PhD in 2005 under the supervision of Professor Robin Goodwin, during which I served as graduate teaching assistant (Human Sciences, Brunel) as well as part-time lecturer (FE) at Thames Valley University (now University of West London).

MVT II - St. Paul Technical Institute, Ghana
BA (First Class Honours) - University of Ghana, Ghana
PhD (Social Psychology) - Brunel University, England
PgCAP - University of Bedfordshire, England
Certificate in Appreciative Inquiry in Organisational Leadership - Senspero, Sweden
Certificate in Lean Thinking - The Lean Six Sigma Company, England

Introduction to Psychological Research Methods and Data Analysis (Lecturer)
Foundations to Psychology (Lecturer)
Psychology In Everyday Life (Lecturer)
Social Processes and Lifespan Development (Lecturer)
Psychology in Practice (Lecturer)
Critical Social Psychology (Lecturer)
Culture and Individual Differences (Co-ordinator/Lecturer/Tutor)
Social Psychology - MSc (Co-ordinator/Lecturer)
Personality, Intelligence and Assessment - MSc (Co-ordinator/Lecturer)
BSc Dissertation Supervision
MSc Dissertation Supervision
PhD Supervision
Course Leader for BSc Psychology and Criminology
Deputy Course Leader for MSc Applied Psychology

Social psychology and culture
Personal relationships - marriage, friendship and enemyship across Euro-American and African cultural settings
Romantic love
Achievement aspiration and personal development
Continental philosophy and applications of modern existentialism

Academic mentor for the Social Psychology Network
Senior Fellow of The Higher Education Academy of England and Wales
Chartered Member of the British Psychological Society
Advising and mentoring of individuals and student groups on personal relationships, personal development and educational attainment (see josephadonu.com)

Ontology and experiences of romantic love. (see my recent Subject Spotlight on Love)
Measuring enemyship - Development of the Multi-Dimensional Enemyship Scale
Perceptions of EDI initiatives among HE students
Applications of Heidegger's existential analytic of 'Dasein' to the examination of African (Akpalu) songs

Adonu, J. (2023). Development of the Multi-Dimensional Enemyship Scale. Paper presented at the 6th Annual International Multidisciplinary Conference, Malta, 13-15 Sept. 2023.
Adonu, J. (2021). Critique of Romantic Love: Introducing notions of conditionality and concurrency. Paper presented (via Teams) at Centre for Applied Psychological Research, University of Huddersfield, 13^th January 2021.
Adonu, J. (2018). Power Distance and Democracy in a Digital Age. Paper presented (via Skype) at the Democracy and Development Conference at Kabul University, Afghanistan, 10^th July 2018.
Gaitain, A., Ertubey, C, & Adonu, J. (2017 July). Assessing the impact of a final year unit on culture in a psychology course on students' knowledge, attitudes, and national views (webinar). University of Bedfordshire Annual Staff Conference.
Adonu, J. (2015). Personal synthesis as an ontological imperative: an existential proposal for authentic life satisfaction. Paper presented at the International Conference of the Journal of Arts and Sciences (IJAS), Freiburg, Germany (December 1-4 2015).

Adonu, J. (in preparation). Development of the Multi-Dimensional Enemyship Scale. Symposia Melitensia, L-Universita ta' Malta.
Dzokoto, V. A. A., Schug, J., Adonu, J. & Nguyen, C. (2018). 'Marriage is like a groundnut. You must crack it to see what is inside': Examining romantic relationship rules in Akan proverbs. Interpersona: An international Journal on Personal Relationships, 12(1), 1-22. Download Publication [PDF]
Adonu, J. (2016). Personal synthesis as an ontological imperative: an existential proposal for authentic life satisfaction. Humanities and Social Sciences Review, 5 (01), 85-92. Download Publication [PDF]
Goodwin, R., Marshall, T., Fülöp, M., Adonu, J., Spiewak, S. Neto, F., & Hernandez Plaza, S. (2012) Mate value and self-esteem: Evidence from eight cultural groups. PLoS One, 7(4): e36106 (Impact Factor of 4.41). Download Publication [PDF]
Goodwin, R., Costa, P. & Adonu, J. (2004). Social support and its consequences: 'Positive' and 'deficiency' values and their implications for support and self-esteem. British Journal of Social Psychology, 43(3), 465-474. Download Publication [PDF]
Adams, G., Anderson, S. L. & Adonu, J. K. (2004). The Cultural Grounding of Closeness and Intimacy. In D. Mashek & A. Aron (Eds.), The Handbook of Closeness and Intimacy. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Books/Chapters

Adonu, J. (2012). How to Excel and Have Fun at University: Powerful Tips for Breaking Through at University. Germany: Flowers Books.
Adonu, J. K. (2009). The Effects of Cultural Grounding of Psyche on Innovation. In M. Flowers (Ed.), The Moneymaking Code. Germany: Flowers Books.