Careers in cyberpsychology - in conversation with Alan Gray

How would you describe your job to a 12-year-old?

I look at the way people behave around one another, and see if they behave the same way when they're online and at work. I study relationships, and use this knowledge to transform businesses and improve leadership. I try to understand what makes a person persuasive and why we listen to and trust some people and not others.

Could you describe what you do during a typical workday?

There is no typical workday, really. But as a freelance consultant, a lot of what I do involves putting myself out there. I write reams of articles, blogs, and whitepapers, and try to make my work available in as many ways as I can. This involves speaking at conferences, hosting webinars, joining podcasts and meeting people in person for pitches. I design and run workshops with SME businesses and offer training across all sorts of roles. One day, I may be helping a sales team improve their game, the next I might be discussing communication strategies with a founder, or delving into instructional design and employee coaching.

Can you tell us about your job role, your own career trajectory and the steps you took to get where you are today?

I'm currently working on my freelancing business Gray Area – wherein I provide a psychological consultation service for small businesses, as well as create content and offer workshops and seminars.

Prior to this, I worked as the senior research psychologist at Tailify, an influencer marketing agency that sought to use psychology to select better influencers, craft better strategies, and achieve greater performance.

Before Tailify, I worked at Cybsafe, designing and evaluating interventions within cybersecurity. And before that, I'd worked in numerous research roles at the University of Oxford, UCL, and the University of Durham.

It's a broad and diverse career history, but what I'm proud of the most is that each part of it engaged in some important way with my key research interests. I've always been interested in relationships, and each of my roles allowed me to address relationship issues in new and fascinating ways. Cybsafe saw me try to apply my knowledge of relationship psychology to the online world of cybercrime, and Tailify continued this, with its focus on the bond between influencer and follower – a parasocial relationship that exists completely online, and while unilateral in nature is also incredibly profound, even life-changing.

How do you apply cyberpsychology in a corporate setting and what challenges do you experience?

I think the biggest challenges stem from misconceptions about what psychology is and what psychologists do. Oftentimes companies will resist hiring a psychologist, simply because they misunderstand a psychologist's role and can't fully comprehend how they can be of service. This is our responsibility as much as theirs. We must market ourselves in ways that don't undermine our practice, and we must master the language of business as well as science. It is no use speaking to a HR professional as if they were a fellow academic in the field. Nor is it worth expounding on a particular concept when the CEO just wants to see results. To be successful as a psychologist in business, empathy is a must.

What are your research interests?

My research focuses on relationships. How they're formed, how they're maintained, and what causes them to fail and falter. I'm particularly interested in understanding laughter and self-disclosure, and draw upon a range of disciplines to help me do so – including cognitive neuroscience and evolutionary theory.

It's been fascinating to see how I can apply these interests to understanding interactions in cyberspace. Despite the technical world we live in, relationships and feelings of connection are still at the heart of our lives. Cybercriminals seek to exploit such bonds to gain an advantage over the victims, and influencers are able to create parasocial connections of such strength that many come to consider the influencer as a friend. How relationship psychology can inform wellbeing programmes and organisational transformation is another application of this research.   

How do you stay current with the latest trends and developments in the field of cyberpsychology?

I'm always researching some topic or other, and in the process I often discover new breakthroughs and developments. I never deliver a talk without preparing extensively beforehand, and often that involves reacquainting myself with the literature, and making sure everything I share is up-to-date and conscious of the work of my contemporaries.

More informally, Linkedin and the BPS's very own Psychologist magazine can often set me off on a new track, piquing my interest for a particular tidbit that soon becomes a whole new research area to explore.

What are some of the most important factors to consider when choosing a job in cyberpsychology?

Cyberpsychology is such a vast field that there is almost certainly something out there that'll align with your passions. The digital domain is ever-expanding, and the human factor will always be there … at least for the foreseeable future!

What advice would you give to someone interested in a career in cyberpsychology?

If you're keen to explore a career in cyberpsychology, a great place to start is by marketing yourself. Don't assume that the industry will immediately comprehend your value or appreciate your skillset. Marketing oneself has never been more important than it is today, and misconceptions of psychology as a subject abound. To get ahead, you need to be a good communicator. Remember, that as a scientist you have learned a language most people can't speak – train yourself to translate it and sing in a voice that is as informed as it is entertaining.