Congratulations to Conor McCloskey on being selected as the Student Spotlight Award winner for February 2023!
The purpose of this award is to highlight students who are doing important work in the CBS community whether for research, clinical, and/or volunteer-humanitarian efforts.
This is a way to highlight their achievements, let the ACBS community know important work students are doing, and possibly provide a platform for mentoring, collaboration, professional development, and conversations around highlighted areas.
Learn more about Conor McCloskey:
Background of CBS Research/Clinical/Volunteering efforts/achievements:
My ongoing PhD research looks at Rule-Following in line with Relational Frame Theory, and how it can help improve clinical practice. This basic work has previously been used to develop theories about clinical communication (i.e. how clinicians should talk to their clients to maximise treatment effectiveness), such as the use of metaphors in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. My PhD is seeking to understand the precise contribution that rule-governed behaviour plays in this process. Additionally, I am working on a rule-governed behaviour study looking at the role that generalised pliance plays within educational choice in low-income communities, as in Ireland, many individuals from underprivileged communities do not attend college despite it being free. Coming from a similar low-income background, I believe that my basic research can go on to produce better outcomes in these communities. I have published research around rule-governed behaviour and COVID-19 public health adherence in the past. I have also volunteered in a number of roles for the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS), most notably as the incoming President of the Contextual Philosophy of Science Special Interest Group within ACBS, as well as a number of smaller roles such as a member of the EvoSci Special Interest Group Sprint Group, in which we set out to better clarify the purpose of the group. Overall, I am a passionate CBS researcher and an engaged member of ACBS.
Autobiography:
I recall being interested in psychology from a very young age, primarily stemming from a will to understand why people act badly when there is so much good in the world. This interest guided me very gradually to a to a lecture on relational frame theory (RFT) that I attended as a second year undergraduate student. The elegance of the theory instantly captured my interest more than anything I had ever come across prior to that, and since then I have spent countless hours studying RFT in order to better understand it and to understand how I can contribute to it. This passion brought me to the University College Dublin Contextual Behavioural Science lab, where I conduct research under the supervision of Professor Louise McHugh and with the guidance of the other lab members. The level of brilliance that emanates from this lab is like nothing I have ever witnessed, and I believe that the support and kindness of its coordinator and members, past and present, is the key to the research that comes out from it.
Outside of my research I am a keen reader with a particular fondness for the Irish writer James Joyce. I have written about Joyce and CBS principles for public readership in the past. I am also a keen musician – when I was younger I knew I wanted to be a famous musician if I couldn’t be a psychologist.
Future goals:
I aim to continue to work a basic RFT researcher and to explore the philosophical foundations of CBS and the developmental account of derived relational responding.
Relevant publications:
McCloskey, C., Stapleton, A., Collins, S., Hagshenas, P., Kelly, J., Kenny, S., Rodin, C., & McHugh, L. (2022). The Psychometric Properties of the Values Clarity Questionnaire and its Relationship to Psychological Flexibility. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/z9p6x
Stapleton, A., McCloskey, C. & McHugh, L., (2022). Exploring the relationships between rule-governed behavior and adherence to guidelines aiming to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 25, 73-77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2022.06.005
McCloskey, C. (2022). Evolutionary Science in Joyce’s Ulysses. This View of Life. https://thisviewoflife.com/evolutionary-science-in-joyces-ulysses/
McCloskey, C. (2020). Effective Communication and Vaccinations: An Uphill Battle. The College Tribune. https://collegetribune.ie/effective-communication-and-vaccinations-an-uphill-battle/