Robert Brennan
PhD Student
Profile
Biography
After completing a BSc (Hons) in Psychology at the University of Limerick in 2018, I enrolled in an MSc in the Psychology of Global Mobility, Inclusion and Diversity in Society under the mentorship of Dr Anca Minescu. Along with a summer school in cross-cultural interventions and research methods at Koç University, and an RA internship involving action research and outreach with marginalised groups, the content of this course furthered my interest in the political and normative aspects of intergroup attitudes and prejudice.
In 2020 I worked as a research assistant to Dr Anna Kende at Eötvös Loránd University on the multi-national projects PolRom and MisMiE, both involving quantitative research on attitudes towards minority groups across Europe. In 2021 I began a PhD in Psychology at the University of York under the supervision of Prof Harriet Over. My current work seeks to understand the extent to which existing social psychological models of dehumanization explain intergroup harm.
Career
- PhD in Psychology, University of York (UK), 2021 – present
- Research Assistant, Department of Social Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University (Hungary), 2020 – 2021
- Erasmus Mundus Joint MSc in the Psychology of Global Mobility, Inclusion and Diversity in Society (Global MINDS), ISCTE – University Institute Lisbon (Portugal), 2018 – 2020
- BSc in Psychology, University of Limerick (Ireland), 2014 - 2018
Departmental roles
- Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA)
Research
Overview
Understanding the role of intergroup bias in dehumanization research
Projects
My research examines current theoretical and metric approaches to dehumanization within social psychology, particularly the apparent link between dehumanization and intentions to harm the target.
Research group(s)
- Social Origins Research Group
Collaborators
- Professor Harriet Over
- Dr Florence Enock
Teaching
Undergraduate
Tutorials:
- Social, Personality & Abnormal Psychology I
- Language & Development II
Publications
Selected publications
Brennan, R. A., Enock, F. E., & Over, H. (2024). Attribution of undesirable character traits, rather than trait-based dehumanization, predicts punishment decisions. Royal Society Open Science, 11(7)
Conference Presentations:
Brennan, R. & Minescu, A. (2021). Demographic trends and normative influences of Prejudice towards Travellers in Ireland. Unpublished paper virtually presented as part of the panel Challenges and answers to anti-Gypsyism within the current political climate of Europe at the 44th annual meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP) 11th July, Montreal, Canada.
