I am an Associate Professor at the Amsterdam School of Communication Research (University of Amsterdam). My work focuses upon contemporary issues social polarization and populism. In particular, I study the psychological roots of citizens’ political beliefs with the most attention to the role of personality and emotions. Besides I am motivated to work as transparent as possible and stimulate others to do the same. My work has appeared in journals such as Nature Human Behaviour, Journal of Communication, the American Political Science Review and the Journal of Politics. 

I also serve as an Associate Editor at the Journal of Experimental Political Science. I am the co-founder of the Hot Politics Lab, a lab-group in which we study the role of emotions and personality in politics (here). I am also the founder and co-organizer of the Dutch Political Psychology Meetings which are held twice a year at the University of Amsterdam.

I teach the course the psychology of political communication in the Master Communication Science and in the Research Master I teach courses on Experimentation and Good Research Practices. Besides, I advice students while writing their Master thesis and during their (professional) internships. 

Expertise and Research Fields 

• Political Psychology
• Emotions
• Personality 
• Polarization

Administrative Roles

• Open Science Coordinator (ASCoR)
• Lab Coordinator (ASCoR)
• Member of the ethics board (ASCoR)
• Associate Editor at the Journal of Experimental Political Science

Research Methods

• Experiments
• Surveys
• Laboratory studies
• Psychophysiology

Current Research Projects 

• Threat and Politics: In a new research line, funded by a VIDI Grant from the NWO, I study the causes and consequences of societal threats.
• Physiology & Politics: In this project we study the physiological responses to political communication. We rely upon laboratory experiments and laboratory in the field experiments (Lowlands, InScience festival, TT Assen, Tilburgse Kermis). In this project, we address if, how, and when people have physiological responses to political communication and how this aligns with their self-reported emotions. 
• Personality & Politics: I study the role of personality in politics. Is personality causing political preferences? And if so how? These are questions I address in this project.  
• Research practices: I am increasingly interested in studying how we do our research. Can we create a culture of openness and transparency in the social sciences? And what are the current research practices do our research?  

Research Grants & Honours

• VIDI Grant (2022, NWO)
• Early Career Partnership (2020, KNAW)
• Investment Grant Medium (2018, Dutch National Science Foundation)
• Marie Sklodowska-Curie Global Fellowship (2017, European Commission)
• Groot Nationaal Onderzoek (2017, KNAW and NTR)

Teaching 

• Psychology in Political Communication
• Experimentation in the Social Sciences
• Good Research Practices
• (Research) Master thesis supervision

PhD Supervision

• Maaike Homan
• Christian Pipal

The Hot Politics Lab aims to use political psychology and adjacent fields to explain salient socio-political themes. To date our work engages with themes such as populism, polarization, the role of emotions in politics and the quality of leadership. To this end we research citizens and elites combining traditional social science research methods such as surveys and experiments with computational and neuroscientific research methods. 

Find out more about the Hot Politics Lab