The latest....

My PhD student Pum is doing a research project together with the science museum NEMO in Amsterdam - come and have a look!

We launched the AmsterdamPinkPanel - a research panel for LGBT individuals. This project is a collaboration with COC Amsterdam and is run by my PhD student Martijn Bruil.

Still hot....

The edited volume, by Thomas Morton and myself, on intervention and engagement after societal crises has been published.

My guidebook for conflict free heritage has been published.

• You can get it here or at your beloved bookstore

Biographical Sketch

K. J. (Kai) Jonas was born in 1972 and raised in the Lower Bavarian countryside. He graduated 1998 from the University of Göttingen, Germany and received his doctorate degree from the same institution in 2002. He moved to the University of Jena, Germany, where he worked first as a post-doc in the Junior Research Group "Motivational Determinants of Social Discrimination" and and later as an assistant professor in the Social Psychology Department.
Since 2008 he is working as an Assistant Professor (tenured) in the Social Psychology Program group.

Research Interest

In social cognition, I am doing research on automatic behavior, more specifically, how social categories automatically activate responses directed towards them. Furthermore, I am developing a comprehensive approach to automatic behavior analyzing the interplay of individual characteristics (goals, automatic activation of attributes, attention and behavior) and situational appraisal.
PhD student: Tim Faber

Thematically bound research in the context of social identity/group processes, has always been relevant to me. Currently, two aspects are my focus: (1) Responses to intergroup humiliation and (2) the analysis of emotion interpretation in conflict situation.
Post-Doc: Dr. Marte Otten
PhD student: Pumin Kommattam

Furthermore, I applying the above mentioned paradigms and theoretical approches to topics such as sexual risk taking, heritage processes and grieving.

In the past, I have worked on mental representation of brands and on computer-mediated communication.

Applied Research and Consulting

I consider applying research to societal problems to be highly relevant and necessary. One core aspect is the evaluation and research on sexual health prevention. This line of research is being done together with the Amsterdam Municipal Health Authority, and has been funded by the Dutch AIDS Fonds, Gilead, among others.

Another core aspect is the development, implementation and evaluation of Zivilcourage (moral courage) trainings to increase bystander intervention in emergencies. My work in this field is recognized broadly, not only by media, but also in school curricula on ethics. 

But there are also other topics I have worked on. For example, we developed and evaluated a training program to improve the delivery of death messages by emergency authorities. This project lead not only to a published evaluation study, but more noteworthy to the production of "carry-on" knowledge cards for police officers and a publication of the training manual (incl. a DVD).
Another aspect of my work is the evaluations of various training & coaching programs, as well as consulting cities, communities and companies in their societal responsibility policies.

Research and Teaching Awards

In the 2007 Die Zeit/academics.de competition, he was mentioned as one of the Top 5 Young German Researchers for his applied research onZivilcourage.

He has received continuously awards for his teaching and supervision. In 2008 he received Award for Distinguished Teaching of Social Psychology by the Amsterdam Psychology Institute of the UvA, and in 2011 he came in 3rd as Research Master lecturer for the period 2010/2011.

In 2010 he won a UvA Grassroots Award for the innovative use of new electronic media in his teaching.

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