Jelka Stojanov is a DPhil (PhD) candidate at the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford and an Applied Behavioural Scientist at the Center for Policy Innovation. Her research centres around the question of how group membership, social context, and (meta-)stereotypes disrupt different psychological processes, primarily emotion perception and empathy. She is equally interested in understanding behavioural consequences of these processes (e.g., intergroup harm) as well as designing and evaluating interventions to reduce intergroup bias in different domains.

Project description

Public opinion is known to shape public policies, especially when the policy issue at stake is highly salient. However, little is known about the psychological factors influencing public attitudes to specific policy approaches and interventions. Even though policymakers are generally considered adept at predicting responses to policies even in the absence of up-to-date, representative data, gauging public support for a particular policy in increasingly polarised environments, where disagreements and animosities are amplified, might be a challenge. In this project, we will investigate both public responses to different policy approaches, as well as how these relate to the policymakers’ predictions about public opinion. which together has the potential to inform efforts to effectively communicate with and include the public in the policymaking process.