51����

Research Interests:

Emotions, meaning in life, and well-being.

Project Supervisors:

Dr. Eric R. Igou, Dr. Elaine L. Kinsella, and Dr. Wijnand van Tilburg (University of Essex)

Project Title:

Self-transcendent emotions as a psychological resource against boredom: The role of meaning in life

Project Description:

When people feel bored, they perceive that what they are doing lacks meaning or that life in general lacks meaning (Van Tilburg & Igou, 2012)​. Accumulating evidence supports meaning as a buffer to boredom (Coughlan et al., 2017; Fahlman et al., 2009; Van Tilburg et al., 2019a)​. Self-transcendent emotions (such as compassion, awe, and gratitude) encourage a focus on others, foster social bonds and are theorised to provide feelings of meaning (Stellar et al., 2017)​. My project systematically investigates the notion that increasing meaning in life through self-transcendent emotions can buffer against boredom in advance, using mixed quantitative methods​.

Scholarships, Awards, and Honors:

• SPSP Diversity Graduate Registration Award, 2024
• Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship, 2023
• European Association of Social Psychology Seedcorn Grant (collaborator, 2023)
• YERUN Research Mobility Award, 2022
• European Association of Social Psychology Summer School Attendee, 2022
• Education and Health Sciences Faculty sPhD Support Funding, 2021, 2022
• Cleveland State University Existential Psychology Student Registration Award, 2022
• William J. Flynn PhD Scholarship (€12,000, 2021)
• Education and Health Sciences sPhD Fee Waiver Scholarship (€14,646, 2020)
• 51���� Presidential List for outstanding academic achievement (QCA > 3.5) for all eligible Autumn and Spring semesters in undergraduate degree (2016– 2020)

Publications:

Igou, E. R., O’Dea, M. K., Tam, K. Y., & van Tilburg, W. A. P. (in press), Boredom and the quest for meaning. In M. Bieleke, W. Wolff, & C. Martarelli (Eds.), The Routledge International Handbook of Boredom.

O’Dea, M. K., Igou, E. R., & Van Tilburg, W. A. P. (2023) Preventing boredom with gratitude: The role of meaning in life. Motivation and Emotion.

O’Dea, M. K., & Van Tilburg, W. A. P. (2023). Self-compassion and heroes. In S. Allison, G. Goethals, & J. Beggan (Eds.), Encyclopaedia of Heroism Studies.

O’Dea, M. K., Igou, E. R., Van Tilburg, W. A. P, & Kinsella, E. L. (2021) Self-compassion as a psychological resource against boredom: The role of meaning in life. Personality and Individual Differences, 186, 111360.

Selected Conference Presentations:

O’Dea, M. K., Igou, E. R., Van Tilburg, W. A. P., & Kinsella, E. L. (2023, July). From awe to boredom: Untangling the complex relationship between awe and boredom with meaning in life. 19^th General Meeting of the European Association of Social Psychology, Krakow, Poland.

O’Dea, M. K., Igou, E. R., Van Tilburg, W. A. P., & Kinsella, E. L. (2023, June). Is awe an antidote to boredom? Investigating the relationship between awe and boredom with meaning in life. The Role of Emotions in Societal Problems Preconference, 19^th General Meeting of the European Association of Social Psychology, Krakow, Poland.

O’Dea, M. K., Igou, E. R., Van Tilburg, W. A. P., & Kinsella, E. L. (2022, April). Self-transcendent experiences prevent boredom: The buffering role of meaning. 94^th Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, USA.

O’Dea, M. K., Igou, E. R., Van Tilburg, W. A. P., & Kinsella, E. L. (2022, February). Self-compassion predicts less boredom: The role of meaning in life. Existential Psychology Preconference, Society for Personality and Social Psychology 2022 Annual Convention, San Francisco, USA.

O’Dea, M. K., Igou, E. R.,Van Tilburg, W. A. P., & Kinsella, E. L. (2021, September). Gratitude and self-compassion promote resilience to boredom: The role of meaning in life. ESCON Transfer of Knowledge Conference 2021, Salzburg, Austria.  

O’Dea, M. K., Igou, E. R.,Van Tilburg, W. A. P., & Kinsella, E. L. (2021, July). Self-compassion promotes boredom resilience: The role of meaning in life. British Psychological Society Conference, United Kingdom.

Research in the Media:

The Irish Examiner, September 22^nd 2023, “Workplace Wellbeing: Looking beyond boredom at work.”

International Society for the Science of Existential Psychology (October, 2022). “Muireann O’Dea on boredom, self-compassion, and meaning in life.”

Greater Good Magazine University of California, Berkeley, May 12^th 2022, “Can Being Kind to Yourself Alleviate Boredom?” 

PsyPost, March 15^th 2022, “People who have high levels of self-compassion are less prone to boredom, study finds”:

Memberships:

• SOCO-UL, Social Psychology and Cognition Research Lab, 51����
• European Association of Social Psychology, Postgraduate Member
• Society of Personality and Social Psychology
• International Society of Boredom Studies
• International Society for the Science of Existential Psychology