Prof John L. McClure, PhD
My research interests centre around several areas of social judgment: Causal attributions (folk psychology); helplessness and fatalism; biases such as unrealistic optimism; and risk judgments. Currently, my projects focus on the following questions:
(1) How do people's risk judgments, optimism, and attributions for events influence their fatalism and response to events like earthquakes and climate change.
(2) How do people explain the actions of individuals with invisible conditions, such as brain injury? And why independence is not an adequate goal for brain injury rehab.
(3) How do people perceive and explain intentional actions?
Primary Interests:
- Applied Social Psychology
- Causal Attribution
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Motivation, Goal Setting
- Person Perception
- Social Cognition
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Video Gallery
So We Don't Have Free Will: The Argument From (Social) Psychology
Books:
- Paton, D., & McClure, J. (2013). Preparing for disaster: Building household and community capacity. Charles C. Thomas. Xii + 245 pp.
Journal Articles:
- Aitken, C., Chapman, R. B., & McClure, J. (2011). Climate Change, Powerlessness and the Commons Dilemma: Assessing New Zealanders’ preparedness to act. Global Environmental Change, 21, 752-760.
- Doyle, E. E. H., McClure, J., Paton, D., & Johnston, D.M. (2014). Uncertainty and decision making: Volcanic crisis scenarios. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 10, 75-101. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2014.07.006
- Doyle, E. E. H., McClure, J., Potter, S. H., Lindell, M. K., Becker, J. S., Fraser, S A., Johnston, D. M. (2020). Interpretations of aftershock advice and probabilities after the 2013 Cook Strait Earthquake, Aotearoa New Zealand. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 49, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101653
- Eiser, J. R., Bostrom, A., Burton, I., Johnston, D. M., McClure, J., Paton, D; van der Pligt, J., White, M. P. (2012). Risk Interpretation and Action: A Conceptual Framework for Responses to Natural Hazards. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2012.05.002.
- Gallagher, J., McClure, J., McDowall, J., (2019). Why do people misunderstand stroke symptoms? How background knowledge affects causal attributions for ambiguous stroke symptoms. Brain Injury, 33(8), 1070-1077. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699052.2019.1606451
- Henrich, L., McClure, J., & Crozier, M. (2015). Effects of risk framing on earthquake risk perception: Life-time frequencies enhance recognition of the risk. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2015.05.0 03
- Hilton, D. J., McClure, J., & Moir B. (2016). Acting knowingly: Effects of the agent’s awareness of an opportunity on causal attributions. Thinking and Reasoning, 22(4), 461-494. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13546783.2016.1191547
- Hilton, D. J., McClure, J., & Sutton, R. M. (2010). Selecting explanations from causal chains: Do statistical principles explain preferences for voluntary causes. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40, 383-400.
- McClure, J. (2012). Attributions, causes, and actions: Is the consciousness of will a perceptual illusion? Theory and Psychology, 22, 402-419. DOI:10.1177/0959354310386845.
- McClure, J., Devlin, M. E., McDowall, J., & Wade, K. (2006). Visible markers of brain injury influence attributions for adolescents’ behaviour. Brain Injury, 10, 1029-1035.
- McClure, J., Doyle, E. E. H., & Velluppillai, J. (2015). A Tale of Two Cities: Judgments about Earthquake and aftershock Probabilities across Time Windows. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 14, 15-26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2014.11.010
- McClure, J., Hilton, D. J., & Sutton, R. M. (2007). Judgments of voluntary and physical causes in causal chains: Probabilistic and social functionalist criteria for attributions. European Journal of Social Psychology, 37, 879-901.
- McClure, J., Johnston, D., Henrich, L., Milfont, T., & Becker, J. (2015). When a hazard occurs where it is not expected: Risk judgments about different regions after the Christchurch earthquakes. Natural Hazards, 75, 635-652. DOI 10.1007/s11069-014-1338-6.
- McClure, J. L. (2002). Goal based explanations of actions and outcomes. European Review of Social Psychology, 12, 201-235.
- McClure, J. L. (1998). Discounting causes of behavior: Are two reasons better than one. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 7-20.
- McClure, J. L., Allen, M. W., & Walkey, F. H. (2001). Countering fatalism: Causal information in news reports affects judgements about earthquake damage. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 23, 109-121.
- McClure, J. L., & Hilton, D. (1998). Are goals or preconditions better explanations: It depends on the question. European Journal of Social Psychology, 28, 897-911.
- McClure, J. L., & Hilton, D. (1997). You can't always get what you want: when circumstances are better explanations than goals. British Journal of Social Psychology, 36, 223-240.
- McClure, J. L., Walkey, F., & Allen, M. (1999). When earthquake damage is seen as preventable: Attributions, locus of control and attitudes to risk. Applied Psychology: An international review, 48, 239-256.
- McClure, J., & Leah, C. (2021). Is independence enough? Rehabilitation should include autonomy and social engagement to achieve quality of life. Clinical Rehabilitation, 35(1), 3-12. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269215520954344
- McClure, J., Noy, I., Kashima, Y., & Milfont, T. L. (2022). Attributions for Extreme Weather Events: Science and the People. Climatic change, 174:22 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-022-03443-7
- McClure, J., Sutton, R. M., & Sibley, C. (2007). Listening to reporters or engineers: How different messages about building design affect earthquake fatalism. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 37, 1956-1973.
- McClure, J. & Velluppillai, J. (2013). The effects of news media reports on earthquake attributions and preventability judgments: Mixed messages about the Canterbury earthquake. Australasian Journal of Disaster and Trauma Studies, 2013-1, 27-36.
- Spittal, M., McClure, J., Walkey, F., & Siegert, R. (2008). Psychological predictors of earthquake preparation. Environment and Behavior, 40, 798-817.
- Sutton, R., & McClure, J. (2001). Covariational influences on goal-based explanation: An integrative model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 222-236.
- Vinnell, L. J., Milfont, T. L., & McClure J. (2021). Why do people prepare for natural hazards? Developing and testing a Theory of Planned Behaviour approach. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 2,10011. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cresp.2021.100011
- Vinnell, L. J., Milfont, T. L., & McClure, J. (2018). Do social norms affect support for earthquake-strengthening legislation? Comparing the effects of descriptive and injunctive norms. Environment and Behavior, 26(1), 2840. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916517752435
- McClure, J., Doyle, E.E.H., & Velluppillai, J. (2014). A Tale of Two Cities: Judgments about Earthquake and aftershock Probabilities across Time Windows. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2014.11.010
Courses Taught:
- Applied Social Psychology
- Personality & Social Cognition
Prof John L. McClure, PhD
School of Psychology
P.O. Box 600
Victoria University of Wellintgon
Wellington 600
New Zealand
- Mobile: +62 21 562550
- Fax: +64 4 4635402