School of Psychology- Ms Renata Bongiorno

Ms Renata Bongiorno

Post Doctoral Research Fellow

Qualifications: B.A. (Hons.)

RESEARCH:
My research is primarily concerned with understanding how inequitable gender relations are reproduced in society. I am also interested in the psychology of social movements and social change.

ACTIVITIES:
In seeking to understand how gender inequality is reproduced, my PhD research explored the pervasiveness of gender categorization and the need to develop a conceptualization of gender as a constant (i.e., ground) feature of social perception. I also explored how categorization in terms of gender can marginalise women relative to men, as they are afforded a much narrower scope of acceptable behaviour.

I am currently working as a Research Associate on an ARC Discovery Project: Bolstering commitment to positive social change, with Professor Craig McGarty. This research is concerned with understanding how people come to act in line with a cause they are in favour of (such as reconciliation, poverty reduction and environmental sustainability).

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

Bongiorno, R., McGarty, C., David, B. Multiple routes to marginalization: The social and cognitive determinants of the reproduction of gender inequality Manuscript in Preparation; Australian National University.
Bongiorno, R., McGarty, C., David, B. Is Gender a basic fixed category or a flexible self category? Paper presented at the meeting of the Society of Australasian Social Psychologists, Canberra, April, 2006
Bongiorno, R. & David, B. Gender and the categorization of powerful others Paper presented at the meeting of the Society of Australasian Social Psychologists, Sydney, April, 2003.

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