Professor Brett, Gordon
Professor Brett, Gordon
Gordon Brett is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Hong Kong. Broadly, his research examines how cognitive processes and social and cultural life interrelate. This includes examining how cognition shapes creativity and human behavior in social contexts, how people develop patterns of thought, perception, and action, and how the cognitive sciences can improve sociological theory and research. His dissertation, “Creativity on Demand: Cognition, Materiality, and Sociality in Improvisation” examines how improvisational theatre troupes create new jokes, characters, stories and scenes in real-time, drawing on interview and observational data with experienced improvisers from the Toronto improv scene. His research has been published in Sociological Science, Sociological Theory, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Social Psychology Quarterly, Poetics, and Sociological Forum, among others.
| Year | Awarding Institution | Qualification |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | University of Toronto | Ph.D. |
| 2013 | McMaster University | M.A. |
| 2012 | University of Toronto | B.A. |
Gordon Brett is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Hong Kong. His research examines how cognitive processes and social and cultural life interrelate. This includes how cognition shapes creativity and human behaviour in social contexts, how people develop patterns of thinking and acting, and how the cognitive sciences can improve sociological theory and research.
Gordon’s dissertation, "Creativity on Demand: Cognition, Materiality, and Sociality in Improvisation" examines how improvisational theatre troupes create new jokes, characters, stories and scenes in real-time, drawing on interview and observational data with experienced improvisers from the Toronto improv scene. From this data, he develops an account of how creativity emerges out of interactions between cognitive processes, corporeal and material states and conditions, and the social and cultural environment.
He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Toronto.
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