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).

As course leader of the MSc Applied Psychology (PSRB) programme, I co-ordinate and teach on undergraduate and postgraduate psychology courses in addition to supervising research students. My supervision covers areas of social psychology and culture such as marital experience in cultural context, romantic love, personal relationships, psychology of achievement aspiration and personal development, etc. If you are interested in pursuing a PhD related to these areas, please 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).

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

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 (Co-ordinator/Lecturer)
Culture and Individual Differences (Co-ordinator/Lecturer)
Cognition and Performance - MSc (Lecturer)
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 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
Perceptions and effectiveness of EDI initiatives in higher education

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
Member of the BPS Social Psychology Section
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 life and relationship outcomes

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. (2010) Educating Yourself for Strategic Achievement: Workshop for DAFI Scholars delivered in Accra, Ghana under the auspices of UNHCR, Flowers School of Technology and Management and The Christian Council of Ghana, 4th November 2010.
Adonu, J. (2009) The Cultural Grounding of Innovation: Presentation given at a Meeting on Culture and Entrepreneurship. Volda University College, Norway, 18^th May, 2009.
Adonu, J. (2007) The Cultural Grounding of Personal Relationships Across 7 European Settings: Research Workshop delivered at the European Summer School of Cross-Cultural Psychology in Leie, Estonia, July-August 2007 under the auspices of the European Federation of Psychology Students’ Associations (EFPSA).
Adonu, J. (2007) The Cultural Grounding of Psyche: Implications for Development in African Settings. Paper presented at the African Studies Center of The University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA, January, 2007.
Adonu, J. (2007) The Cultural Grounding of Marriage: Evidence from Ghana and the UK. Paper presented at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology 2007 Annual Conference (25^th - 27^th January, 2007), Memphis, Tennessee, USA.

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]

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. (2010). The Effects of Cultural Grounding of Psyche on Innovation. In M. Flowers (Ed.), The Moneymakig Code. Germany: Flowers Books.
Adonu, J. (2010). Psychology of Personal Development: Educating and Re-inventing Yourself For Business. In M. Flowers (Ed.), The Moneymakig Code. Germany: Flowers Books.
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.