Dr John Sabo

I completed his undergraduate degree in 2010 in North Carolina, USA and then moved to the UK in 2012 to complete a Master's degree in social and applied psychology.

From 2013-16 I completed my PhD research at the University of Kent where I then worked as a Lecturer in Psychology from 2016-2020. 

I joined Canterbury Christ Church University as a Senior Lecturer in Psychology, and I am now the course director of the MSc Psychology and the section's recruitment and marketing coordinator.

My teaching expertise covers a wide range of statistics and methodology courses, including workshops and tutorials, and social psychological courses.

I am also experienced supervising student projects at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, and am always happy to speak to prospective supervisees.

Former student projects have included topics such as the morality of violent video game play, emotional reactions to villains on television, and ethics in the workplace.

My research interests include moral emotions and moral cognition.

In particular, I am interested in exploring the interplay between morality and fiction. Current interests include an examination of moral condemnation and negative emotion that is directed towards people who engage with fiction (i.e. video games, thought, novels, films) that encourages the imagination of immoral behaviours.

• QR Research Seed and Impact Fund 2019-20. Project title: Anti-abortion rhetoric, moral disgust, and perceptions of elective abortion. Awarded: £1152. Co-PI Dr Evangelis Ntonis, CCCU
• Teaching Enhancement Small Support Award. Project title: Improving Student Satisfaction with Assessment and Feedback Through the Use of Audio Feedback. Awarded £1,745. Co-PI Dr Lazaros Gonidis, UKC
• Teaching Enhancement Small Support Award. Project title: The Use of Online Quizzes and Video Tutorials as Tools of Enhancing Student Learning Experience in Methods and Statistics. Awarded £1,210. Co-PI Dr Lazaros Gonidis, UKC

• Sabo, J. (April, 2018) Condemnation of harm, but not impurity, is mitigated by fictional contexts. Poster presented at: Consortium of European Research on Emotion (CERE), Glasgow, Scotland.
• Sabo, J. (June 2015). The Fictive Pass: Condemnation of harm, but not purity, is mitigated by fictional contexts. Talk given at: Two Day Conference: Knowledge of Emotion, University of Manchester, UK.
• Sabo, J. (May 2015). The evaluative asymmetry between fictitious violations of moral harm and moral purity and how it affects the portrayal of antiheros. Talk given at: Villains, Real and Fictional Conference, University of Kent, UK.
• Sabo, J. (April 2014). Disgust Across Borders: Moral evaluations of taboo behavior in reality and fantasy. Poster presented at: Psychology Postgraduate Affairs Group (PsyPag) Annual Postgraduate Student Conference, University of Kent, UK.
• Sabo, J. (March 2014). Self-criticism – Is it delivered or received? An investigation of self- perception in self-critical emotions. Poster presented at: Consortium of European Research on Emotion (CERE), Berlin, Germany.