Profile
Gabriela Morris
My CV
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Education:
- Springfield Convent Primary and Secondary School
- Hyde Park High School
- University of South Africa
- University of Portsmouth
- Goldsmiths College, University of London
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Qualifications:
I finished secondary school in Cape Town, South Africa, and went to Johannesburg (also in South Africa) for High School. I finished High School with A’s in Art, Biology, History and English, but didn’t do nearly as well in Maths and my second language (Afrikaans) – only Cs there… whoops. During this time I did some volunteer work for the RSPCA in South Africa, as I love animals and wanted to work with them to help them find loving homes.
I got a BA Honours in Psychology at the University of South Africa, an MSc in Child Forensic Psychology and Law at the University of Portsmouth, and am now doing a PhD in Forensic Psychology at Goldsmiths College, University of London.
All my qualifications have helped to get me where I am today.
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Work History:
- Au Pair
- Content Marketer
- Copywriter
- Account Manager
- Business Analyst
- Product Analyst
- Research Scientist
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Current Job:
Research Scientist
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About Me:
A fantasy, sci-fi and psychology enthusiast with a love of gaming, reading, animals, art, heavy metal music and all things science!
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Originally from South Africa, I moved around a lot with my parents and 4 older sisters. In my twenties, I decided to settle in England (we’d lived here before) and that’s when I started my Master’s and PhD in psychology. I’ve been here for 5 and a half years, and now own a house, with my boyfriend, just outside of London.
I’m a huge fan of RPG games like Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Skyrim and the Witcher, and love reading fantasy and sci fi novels. Outside of my PhD-related work, that’s mostly what I do for fun!
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I work as both a Research Scientist for a cyber security company, and am doing my PhD in psychology. The psychology side of things is why I’m here, so I’ll give more detail on that.
My thesis is exploring various different deception techniques used by psychopaths to see if there’s a difference between how male and female psychopaths behave when they’re conning others. Part of this includes looking at charm, and how acting like a typical femme fatale may work for some psychopathic women, as well as how this type of charm appeals to men.
Hopefully, with the research I’m doing, we’ll be able to understand female psychopaths better. This means we can identify them, offer them treatment if they’re looking for it, and help others who have been negatively affected by them.
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My Typical Day:
A typical day for me starts with coffee. And maybe some time with a good book. After that, I start my work by going over what needs to be done that day. My work day usually involves reading up on past psychology experiments to see if there’s anything useful to help my own studies. I make notes while listening to music and write up what I find from what I’ve read. I’ll put together any studies I need to conduct, and go over any data I’ve gathered from previous studies of mine. I don’t usually have a typical day, because it all depends where I’m at in my thesis. But it’s nice having the variation.
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Specifically, in my research role, there’s a broader timeline across many months, instead of just within one day. Think of it like an essay you need to write, but you have months (or years) to write it. That means I have a lot of time on my hands, but it also means I have all that time to make it as good as I can.
So one day could look like this:
I go over the data from a study I’m conducting – maybe it’s an online survey, maybe it’s a Zoom interview with someone – and analyse it to see if there are any patterns and what this tells me about the topic I’m investigating. Sometimes this involves colour-coding and interpreting what’s been said by someone, and sometimes this involves complicated statistics analysis of the data (it’s actually quite fun once you get the hang of it). This type of day is usually my favourite, because it’s like putting together one giant puzzle, only I don’t know what the picture will be. I also feel like Sherlock Holmes sometimes, and that makes me feel pretty cool.
Another day may be like this:
I read lots of research papers written by other talented scientists who have covered work that is similar to mine. By reading what they’ve done, I can learn about their findings, see what will help me with my experiments, and see what their mistakes were, to make sure I don’t make the same ones with my research (working in research is like being part of a big family, where past studies and experiments are there to help you, much like a family would). I’ll make notes (while listening to music) and gather my notes together to write up in an essay-like format what I’ve found and what this means to the subject I’m studying. This often helps me come up with plans for future studies, too, so I know what I can look into next.
My work day will eventually involve going to conferences, and attending meetings with like-minded individuals, but because of COVID, I haven’t been able to do those things just yet.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I’d use the prize money to broaden the scope of my research. I’d be able to travel to conferences to learn more about psychopaths and the other types within the Dark Triad, and meet with the leading experts in the field of Forensic Psychology to learn more.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Fantasy-loving forensic psychologist
What did you want to be after you left school?
Psychologist
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Sometimes - for laughing too much in class
Who is your favourite singer or band?
It's a toss up between In This Moment, Disturbed, Beast in Black and Nightwish
What's your favourite food?
Chocolate
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
I'd wish for a cat (my cat died a few years ago and I miss him desperately), my family to move to England so we could all be together again, and more time in the day to read.
Tell us a joke.
I like anti-jokes, so here's one: What are the similarities between a monkey and a bicycle? They both climb trees... except for the bicycle.
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