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PhD projects

Thinking and reasoning and their development
Beliefs about social categories
The psychology of debt and indebtedness

1997 …2024

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Particulars

I obtained my first degree at Trinity College Dublin in 1992, and my PhD from the Centre for Thinking and Language at the University of Plymouth in 1997. In 1998 I moved to the University of Durham where I was first a lecturer, and then from 2005, a senior lecturer. I came to Queen’s in February 2009 where I was promoted to professor in 2019.

Research Interests

I am interested in the role of thinking in everyday life. I have studied how we generalise on the basis of specific evidence, and how we reason deductively. I am also interested in judgement and decision making, including how we think about how things might have been different had we decided differently and in the role played by counterfactual emotions such as regret and relief in decision making. 

I have studied the role played by essentialist beliefs about social categories in how we think about other people and I am interested in decision making around debt and why people fail to seek or adhere to debt advice.

My work has been supported by ESRC, Leverhulme Trust, Templeton Foundation, and NIHR. 

I have served as an associate editor at both the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology and Thinking and Reasoning. I am currently Editor-in-Chief at Thinking and Reasoning.

Teaching

I convene a final year module, PSY3118 Using Nudges to Change Behaviour. I also contribute to modules at Level 1 and on the MSc Psychological Science (Conversion).

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
  • SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
  • SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

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