Dr Claire Jones completed her PhD in March 2019 at the University of Wolverhampton. Her PhD research focussed on whether specific cognitive biases were associated with delusional beliefs. Claire has been a Lecturer in Psychology at Wolverhampton since September 2016 and is a member of the Cognition and Individual Differences research group. She teaches on the undergraduate psychology degree programme, primarily on research methods and cognitive psychology.

Since completing her PhD, Claire has continued to examine cognitive aspects of belief and this has led to interests in related areas of psychology, such as Forensic Psychology and Cyberpsychology. 

The influence of thinking styles and reasoning on perceptions of terrorism and terrorist-related behaviour change.

Terrorist activity is a major cause of concern in society (Goodwin, Wilson & Stanley, 2005) however little research exists around the psychological factors involved in how terrorism is perceived. Given that this has the potential to affect subsequent terrorist-related behavioural outcomes, it is vital to gain an understanding of this under-researched area.

The way we make judgements about risk is influenced in particular by the way we decide on the likelihood of events occurring (Denovan et al., 2017). It is well known in the thinking and reasoning literature that uncommon occurrences are overestimated (e.g. murders, air crashes) and common occurrences are underestimated (e.g. heart attacks, car crashes).

To date, only one other study (Denovan et al., 2017) has investigated some of these psychological factors in relation to perceptions of terrorism. Therefore, the aim of this research is to determine if factors that are important for making judgements, particularly under conditions of uncertainty, influence perceptions of terrorism and subsequent behaviour change.