Jeremy is in the second year of his PhD. and fourth year at Toronto Metropolitan University in the Social and Political Psychology lab under the supervision of Dr. Becky Choma. He completed his B.A. with Honours in psychology and a minor in political studies at Vancouver Island University. During his undergraduate degree, Jeremy was an RA in the Resilience Research Lab and the Environmental Psychology Research Lab. Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jeremy began his MA under the supervision of Dr. Choma and focused his research on political identity, political ideology, partisan information processing, scientific beliefs, and misinformation. His MA thesis examined whether political ideology, critical reflection, and belief in science predict the categorization of individual topics (e.g., climate change, evolution, composition of meteors) as scientific, political, religious, or neutral. For his PhD. Jeremy is looking into how certain personality characteristics (e.g., epistemic curiosity, intellectual humility), social media post framing (i.e., humble vs. arrogant wording), and a digital literacy training program relate to the identification of, and engagement with, misinformation on social media.
Jeremy’s other research interests surround Social Identity Theory in political decision making and the psychological factors associated with information interpretation and vulnerability to propaganda. He is curious about which psychological characteristics influence a person’s likelihood of being misled by false information, and how that information can influence voting decisions, economic behaviour, and support for public policy. Among Jeremy’s many other ideas, he would also like to explore the effect that life changing injuries/illnesses can have on political opinions and support for public policy. After his mom developed a traumatic brain injury and having personally developed epilepsy, Jeremy couldn’t help but wonder how other lives have been influenced by their own experiences with injuries, illness, and disability.
Select papers:
McCunn, L., & Wright, J. (2019). Hospital employees’ perceptions of circadian lighting: A pharmacy department case study. Journal of Facilites Management, 17(5), 428-441.