Peer Research Ambassador Brendan Hogan

Brendan Hogan '21

Brendan (he/him/his) is a senior majoring in Psychology (B.A.), Political Science (Honors), and Philosophy (Honors). He is also the Director of Honors Across State Borders and the President of Humans of UConn.

In his freshman year, he was awarded a position as a Bennett Research Assistant. With this opportunity, he was able to work with Professor Morrell on the Scholio Project. As a part of the research team, Brendan was able to help pilot test and report on a platform, known as the Deliberatorium Platform, that aimed to promote intellectual humility, empathy, and public discourse within the comment sections of online news articles. Later on, he applied for and was awarded a SHARE Award. As a recipient, he was able to continue to assist the Scholio team, as they prepared to conduct the Scholio Experiment, by reporting on the platform’s strengths, weaknesses, and possible improvements. Last year, he worked alongside Professor Anievas to help assist him on his current research surrounding his manuscript project. The project examined the role of race and the far-right in the making of the US-led postwar ‘liberal international order’. In particular, through theoretically-informed empirical analysis, the manuscript focused on how the far-right contributed to the crystallization of a distinct racialized anticommunist politics at home crucial to US power-projection abroad. 

He was awarded a UConn IDEA Grant for this past summer to examine the psychological biases within alt-right leaders' rhetoric. Specifically, he looked at how their desire to protect those 'outside' their 'in-group' was reflected in their blogs and manifestos by carrying out a quantitative content analysis of their work from 2007 to 2020.  

If you have any questions or concerns, or would like a perspective on the social sciences in research, feel free to reach out to him.

Student Research Blog Posts by Brendan: