Cliodhna O'Connor
- Media Contact
My primary research focus is the popularisation of neuroscientific knowledge and its implications for social life and common-sense beliefs. Under the auspices of a research project entitled "The Brain in the Public Sphere," I have employed a mixture of quantitative and qualitative techniques to investigate how neuroscientific ideas affect self-conception, attitudes and behaviour. I am particularly interested in the role that popular neuroscience plays in fostering essentialist understandings of social categories such as gender and sexual orientation, and attendant processes of stigmatisation and discrimination.
Beyond this, I also maintain an active interest in public engagement with risk, particularly economic and environmental hazards.
Primary Interests:
- Attitudes and Beliefs
- Causal Attribution
- Ethics and Morality
- Gender Psychology
- Intergroup Relations
- Prejudice and Stereotyping
- Self and Identity
- Sexuality, Sexual Orientation
Research Group or Laboratory:
Note from the Network: The holder of this profile has certified having all necessary rights, licenses, and authorization to post the files listed below. Visitors are welcome to copy or use any files for noncommercial or journalistic purposes provided they credit the profile holder and cite this page as the source.
Image Gallery
Journal Articles:
- Joffe, H., Rossetto, T., Solberg, C., & O’Connor, C. (2013). Social representations of earthquakes: A study of people living in three highly seismic areas. Earthquake Spectra, 29(2), 367-397.
- O’Connor, C. (2012). Using social representations theory to examine lay explanation of contemporary social crises: The case of Ireland's recession. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 22, 453-469.
- O’Connor, C., & Joffe, H. (2014). Gender on the brain: A case study of science communication in the new media environment. PLoS ONE, 9(10): e110830.
- O’Connor, C., & Joffe, H. (2014). Social representations of brain research: Exploring public (dis)engagement with contemporary neuroscience. Science Communication, 36(5), 617-645
- O’Connor, C., & Joffe, H. (2014). The social aetiology of essentialist beliefs. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 37, 498-499.
- O’Connor, C., & Joffe, H. (2013). How has neuroscience affected lay understandings of personhood? A review of the evidence. Public Understanding of Science, 22, 254-268.
- O’Connor, C., & Joffe, H. (2013). Media representations of early human development: Protecting, feeding and loving the developing brain. Social Science & Medicine, 97, 297-306.
- O’Connor, C., Rees, G., & Joffe, H. (2012). Neuroscience in the public sphere. Neuron, 74(2), 220-226.
Other Publications:
- Joffe, H., & O’Connor, C. (2013). Risk society and representations of risks: Earthquakes and beyond. In H. Joffe, T. Rossetto & J. Adams (Eds.), Cities at risk: Living with perils in the 21st century (pp. 9-23). Dordrecht: Springer.
Cliodhna O'Connor
Department of Psychology
Maynooth University
Maynooth
Ireland