Cliodhna O'Connor

Neuroscience in the Public Sphere

The media are increasingly fascinated by neuroscience. Here, we consider how neuroscientific discoveries are thematically represented in the popular press and the implications this has for society. In communicating research, neuroscientists should be sensitive to the social consequences neuroscientific information may have once it enters the public sphere.

How has neuroscience affected lay understandings of personhood? A review of the evidence:

The prominence of neuroscience in the public sphere has escalated in recent years, provoking questions about how the public engages with neuroscientific ideas. Commentaries on neuroscience’s role in society often present it as having revolutionary implications, fundamentally overturning established beliefs about personhood. The purpose of this article is to collate and review the extant empirical evidence on the influence of neuroscience on commonsense understandings of personhood. The article evaluates the scope of neuroscience’s presence in public consciousness and examines the empirical evidence for three frequently encountered claims about neuroscience’s societal influence: that neuroscience fosters a conception of the self that is based in biology, that neuroscience promotes conceptions of individual fate as predetermined, and that neuroscience attenuates the stigma attached to particular social categories. It concludes that many neuroscientific ideas have assimilated in ways that perpetuate rather than challenge existing modes of understanding self, others and society.

Social Representations of Earthquakes: A Study of People Living in Three Highly Seismic Areas

Much research on peoples seismic adjustment activity in highly seismic areas has assumed that low levels of adjustment are attributable to insufficient awareness of seismic risk. Empirical evidence for this assumption is weak, and there is growing appreciation of the role played by sociocultural and emotional variables in risk perception and behavior. This study explored these socio-cultural and emotional dimensions via 144 interviews and questionnaires, with matched samples of locals in Seattle (United States), Osaka (Japan), and Izmir (Turkey). The data showed that high awareness of possible seismic adjustment measures was not translated into behavior, with all sites demonstrating low adjustment uptake, though the North Americans adopted significantly more adjustments than the other cultures. Thematic analysis of the interview data suggested that adjustment behavior was undermined by anxiety, distrust, distancing self from earthquake risk and fatalistic beliefs. The paper concludes by recommending how culture-specific disaster mitigation plans may be developed to address these factors.

Social Representations of Brain Research: Exploring Public (Dis)engagement With Contemporary Neuroscience

Recent years have seen a major expansion of the position of neuroscience in the mass media, public policy, and legal dialogue. Drawing on interviews with 48 London residents, this article examines how people with no prior involvement with neuroscience make sense of the concept of “brain research.” Thematic analysis of the data furnished little evidence that neuroscience has meaningfully infiltrated lay thinking. Respondents consigned brain knowledge to the “other world” of science, which was seen as a decidedly separate social milieu. They envisioned that the only route by which they might become alert to brain information would be if they developed a neurological illness. This article considers the social and psychological dynamics that shape neuroscience’s dissipation into public consciousness.

Eating disorder literacy and stigmatising attitudes towards anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder among adolescents

ABSTRACT Little research has investigated adolescents’ understanding of eating disorders (EDs) or attitudes towards people affected by EDs. This impedes the development of targeted health promotion interventions. In the current study, 290 adolescents viewed a vignette depicting a target with either anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, Depression or Type 1 Diabetes. Subsequent questionnaires assessed understanding of and attitudes towards the disorder described. Adolescents recognised the symptoms of depression significantly more frequently than any ED. Relative to depression and Type 1 diabetes, participants held targets with EDs more personally responsible for their illness and ascribed them more negative personality characteristics. The data revealed a particularly unfavourable view of binge eating disorder, which was conceptualised as a failure of self-discipline rather than a medical condition. The results confirm previous findings that EDs are more stigmatised than other mental or physical health conditions and extend the findings to an adolescent cohort.

A qualitative investigation of the origins of excessive work behaviour

Studies of workers who engage in excessive work behaviour continue to attract the attention of researchers. Most research in this field adheres to quantitative methodologies aligned to the addiction or trait paradigms and largely focuses on correlates and consequences of such behaviour. However, within this literature, empirically based understandings of the factors that propel individuals to engage in excessive work patterns are sparse. Resting on socio-cultural theories of work, we adopt a novel approach to this field of enquiry and examine the genesis of excessive working using a qualitative methodology. We use discourse analysis to comparatively explore data from a sample of twenty-eight workers comprising excessive and non-excessive workers. Our study identified the roles of family of origin, educational experience, and professional norms as clear drivers of excessivework patterns. Data to support the dominant addiction and trait paradigms within this research domain were equivocal. Lifestyle decision-making differentiated the comparison group from the excessive workers. We discuss our findingswith reference to theories of workaholism and consider their implications for the evolution of this field.

Intragroup Processes and Teamwork within a Successful Chamber Choir.

ABSTRACT Despite the ubiquity of choirs across time and cultures, relatively little is known about the internal dynamics of these social systems. This article examines the group processes involved in a small European chamber choir. The research adopted a mixed-methods qualitative approach that combined individual interviews (n = 13) with ethnographic observation. Analysis described the group processes of the choir in relation to standard models of effective teamwork. The results suggest that certain dynamics of this choir lie beyond conventional conceptualisations of teamwork. Further conceptual and empirical research is necessary to develop a model of teamwork that can be applied to the conditions of performance-based teams and inform choral practice and training.

The social aetiology of essentialist beliefs.

This commentary highlights the importance of attending to the sociocultural contexts that foster essentialist ideas. It contends that Cimpian & Salomons (C&Ss) model undervalues the extent to which the development of essentialist beliefs is contingent on social experience. The result is a restriction of the models applicability to real-world instances of essentialism-fuelled prejudice and discrimination.