Dr. Svenja Frenzel

Conspiracy theories posit that secret groups or powerful people cooperate to pursue malevolent goals without public oversight. They often provide non-mainstream explanations for societal events. Believing in conspiracy theories (or short conspiracy beliefs) is associated with several undesired consequences such as law norm adherence including the readiness to break the law or less willingness to engage for the greater good (e.g., less pro-environmental behavior). We are studying conspiracy beliefs, their consequences and interventions against them - mostly in the context of societal crises such as global warming, pandemics, or political crises. 

DFG-Project: "Understanding and fighting the impact of conspiracy mentality" (coordinated by Dr. Svenja Frenzel)

Dr. Lena Hahn

Cognitive conflicts cause higher cognitive flexibility, presumably because resolving these conflicts requires elaboration and the integration of seemingly inconsistent information at a more abstract level. The positive impact of cognitive conflicts on flexibility carries over from one context to another. It can, thus, be used to facilitate flexibility where spontaneous responses lead to undesirable consequences such as biases (e.g., stereotyping, confirmation bias). We are studying these positive consequences of cognitive conflicts as a means to reduce biases and explore the underlying cognitive processes.

• Sassenberg, K. & Winter, K. (2024). Intraindividual conflicts reduce the polarization of attitudes. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 33, 190-197. https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214241242452
• Sassenberg, K.*, Winter, K.*, Becker, D., Ditrich, L., Moskowitz, G. B. & Scholl, A. (2022). Flexibility mindsets: Reducing biases that result from spontaneous processing. European Review of Social Psychology, 33, 171-213. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10463283.2021.1959124 *shared first-authorship

Dr. Lena Hahn

Research using scientific methods to study science itself (i.e., metascience) has long been rare, but seen a substantial increase as an outcome of the replication crisis. We are broadly interested in Metascience and the acceptance of methodological changes within psychology as an outcome of the replication crises and researchers strategic behavior in response to policy changes. 

• Hahn, L., Glöckner, A., Gollwitzer, M., Hellmann, J., Lange, J., Schindler, S., & Sassenberg, K. (2025). A Cross-Sectional Study of the Completeness of Preregistrations by Psychological Authors From German-Speaking Institutions. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 8 (3). https://doi.org/10.1177/25152459251357568
• Glöckner, A., Gollwitzer, M., Hahn, L., Lange, J., Sassenberg, K. & Unkelbach, C. (2024). Quality, replicability, transparency in research in social psychology: Implementation of recommendations in Germany. Social Psychology, 55, 134-147. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000548
• Sassenberg, K. & Ditrich, L. (2019). Research in Social Psychology has changed between 2011 and 2016: Larger sample sizes, more self-report measures, and more online studies. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 2, 107-114. https://doi.org/10.1177/2515245919838781

Dr. Johanna Falbén

Even though most people would not admit using cultural stereotypes in social situations, they still continue causing issues in the society (e.g., hiring decisions, leadership positions, organisational settings). Therefore, my research focuses on investigating cultural stereotypes and how they bias people’s decision-making and learning in social situations. I am especially interested in gender stereotypes and the roles women and men are expected to take in the society. By assessing the underlying mechanisms of stereotypes and cultural beliefs, we can better develop tools and interventions to avoid their negative consequences in everyday life. In so doing, we can design a society that provides equal opportunities for everyone. 

• Falbén, J. K., Golubickis, M., Tsamadi, D., Persson, L. M., & C. N. Macrae (2023). The power of the unexpected: Prediction errors enhanced stereotype- based learning. Cognition, 235, 105386. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105386
• Tsamadi, D., Falbén, J. K., Persson, L. M., Golubickis, M., Caughey, S., Sahin, B., & Macrae, C. N. (2020). Stereotype-based priming without stereotype activation: A tale of two priming tasks. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 73, 1939-1948. https://doi.org/10.1177/1747021820925396

Dr. Johanna Falbén

How do egocentrism and self-relevance influence people’s decision-making and cognition? This research avenue is built on previous findings showing that if anything is associated with yourself, it becomes special and receives additional processing resources. My focus in this domain has been to investigate when these self biases occur and influence people’s behaviour. I have found that they are not as automatic and unavoidable as often thought. Instead, people can flexibly avoid them when it is useful during a social interaction. 

• Falbén, J. K., Golubickis, M., Wischerath, D., Tsamadi, D., Persson, L. M., Caughey, S., & Macrae, C. N. (2020). It’s not always about me: prior beliefs and stimulus prevalence moderate self-other prioritization. QuarterlyJournal of Experimental Psychology, 73, 1466-1480. https://doi.org/10.1177/1747021820913016
• Falbén, J. K., Golubickis, M., Balseryte, R., Persson, L. M., Tsamadi, D., Caughey, S., & Macrae, C. N. (2019), How prioritized is self-prioritization during stimulus processing? Visual Cognition, 27, 46-51. https://doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2019.1583708

Dr. Tom Rosman

Belief updating describes how individuals modify their beliefs when confronted with scientific evidence. Recent studies have shown that individuals with higher trust in science evaluate empirical evidence more systematically, leading to greater belief updating. These findings underscore the importance of trust in science and the need to provide both methodological information and source cues in science communication. 

• Rosman, T. & Grösser, S. (2023).Belief updating when confronted with scientific evidence: Examining the role of trust in science. Public Understanding of Science, 33 (3), 308-324.  https://doi.org/10.1177/09636625231203538
• Kerwer, M., & Rosman, T. (2020). Epistemic change and diverging information: How do prior epistemic beliefs affect the efficacy of short-term interventions? Learning and Individual Differences, 80, 101886. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2020.101886