Shira Hebel-Sela

Aside from being the most supportive PhD advisor one could ask for, Boaz is also an inspiring researcher whose vision just earned him an ERC Starting Grant. So proud and happy celebrate this achievement! 🎉🥳

This is 1/4 of Israel's ENTIRE population, including children. On the streets.
Think how many protests you agreed with but didn't join in on.

Israelis REJECT Netanyahu's war. They want the hostages back and the genocide and starvation over.

Thrilled to share that @eranhalperin75.bsky.social has been awarded ISPP's 2025 Sanford Award! 🏆 This honor recognizes his exceptional work in bridging political psychology research with real-world applications. Huge Congratulations Eran! 🎉 #ISPP2025

Group diversity The editors at Nature Communications, Communications Psychology and Scientific Reports invite submissions to a Collection on the topic of group diversity.

I was lucky to be a Guest Editor for this Nature Collection on Group Diversity. Thank you to all who submitted work and reviewed!

Check out the collection here: www.nature.com/collections/...

Virtual contact improves intergroup relations between non-Muslim American and Muslim students from the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia in a field quasi-experiment - Communications Psychol... Virtual contact between U.S. non-Muslim and Muslim students from MENA and SE Asia regions demonstrates that online interactions can effectively reduce prejudice and dehumanization, offering a scalable...

Up next, a tremendous paper led by @shirahebelsela.bsky.social

finding that a semester-long virtual contact intervention improved attitudes, reduced dehumanization, and increased self-outgroup overlap among non-Muslim and Muslim students

www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Thank you!!

Thanks!

Working on this project and hearing stories from my advisor
@boazhameiri.bsky.social
who was his post doc helped me get to know Emile better. His vision for using science to foster peace continues and will continue to guide my research.

This project holds special meaning as it was initiated by the late Emile Bruneau. Although I never met him, it was truly special to work on something he started. He has been an incredible inspiration to me and to our entire field.

In this large-scale field study (N=2,886) we show that semester-long virtual
between American and Muslim students significantly improves intergroup relations and reduces dehumanization and meta-dehumanization

Virtual contact improves intergroup relations between non-Muslim American and Muslim students from the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia in a field quasi-experiment - Communications Psychol... Virtual contact between U.S. non-Muslim and Muslim students from MENA and SE Asia regions demonstrates that online interactions can effectively reduce prejudice and dehumanization, offering a scalable...

My second publication is a field experiment published
@commspsychol.bsky.social
with @boazhameiri.bsky.social,
@lindatropp.bsky.social, Samantha Moore-Berg
@rebeccasaxe.bsky.social @eranhalperin75.bsky.social and Emile Brunneau
www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Our framework proposes tailoring interventions by considering three critical factors: desired outcomes, power dynamics, and ideology—dimensions that are many times overlooked but can be crucial for effectiveness.

In this chapter with
@boazhameiri.bsky.social
and
@eranhalperin75.bsky.social ,we challenge the prevalent "one-size-fits-all" approach to psychological intergroup interventions that dominates the field today.

Personalized Psychological Intergroup Interventions | 18 | A Three-Fac The rise in intergroup animosity has led social and political psychologists to shift toward a more interventionist approach. However, unlike other scientific

🧵Excited to share two publications I've recently worked on! First, a chapter on "Personalized Psychological Intergroup Interventions" in Richard Petty, Andy Luttrell & Jacob Teeny's new Handbook of Personalized Persuasion 📚 www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edi...

delighted to see our paper now available online! 🙌🏻
with @shirahebelsela.bsky.social @boazhameiri.bsky.social @eranhalperin75.bsky.social @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social and Samantha Moore-Berg

Virtual contact improves intergroup relations between non-Muslim American and Muslim students from the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia in a field quasi-experiment - Communications Psychol... Virtual contact between U.S. non-Muslim and Muslim students from MENA and SE Asia regions demonstrates that online interactions can effectively reduce prejudice and dehumanization, offering a scalable...

Virtual contact between U.S. non-Muslim and Muslim students from MENA and SE Asia regions demonstrates that online interactions can effectively reduce prejudice and dehumanization.
@shirahebelsela.bsky.social @boazhameiri.bsky.social
@eranhalperin75.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Emotion regulation contagion drives reduction in negative intergroup emotions - Nature Communications Here the authors show that an emotion regulation intervention for reducing negative intergroup emotions in conflicts can decrease negative emotions not only in treated participants but also in nontrea...

Can emotion regulation interventions spread from treated to non-treated people in a group?
We examine this question in a paper published in @naturecomms.bsky.social, led by Michael Pinus and Yajun Cao.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Abstract for a paper that reads, How does the rise of ideologically extreme leaders affect attitudes and beliefs among their supporters? Previous research on paradoxical thinking suggests that when individuals are exposed to a radicalized version of their held beliefs, they moderate them in response. However, it is yet unknown whether, how, and among whom, such moderation occurs in response to radicalization of individuals' favored leaders. The proposed study examines how an unfolding real-world manifestation of a paradoxical thinking intervention—that is, the radical and extreme policies carried out by the newly elected Israeli government—affects the political attitudes of the government's supporters. Using a longitudinal design, we examined how pre-election attitudes (N = 589 government supporters) moderate, radicalize, or remain unchanged following the announcement and implementation of radical policies. Over four time points, we also examine the psychological mechanisms mediating the policies' moderating impact, to disentangle the reciprocal or paradoxical effects of radicalization among leaders on the public.

Following the implementation of policies that were the "extreme version far beyond mainstream conservative positions" people in Israel shifted to the left on issues

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

#socpsyc #polisky

Does participating in collective action moralize one's attitudes over time, and if so, how?

Happy to share that our paper is now out in JPSP! With Martijn van Zomeren, Roberto González, Ernestine Gordijn, Pia Carozzi, Michal Reifen Tagar, Belén Álvarez, Cristián Frigolett, and Eran Halperin. (1/9)

Gone Too Far Elite Radicalization Hebel-Sela Aldar Orian Harel Political Psychology

Political hope, anyone? When are leaders go fascist, previous supporters of those leaders actually go less fascist.
See our registered-report longitudinal study, led by @shirahebelsela.bsky.social, Lee Aldar, and @taloharel.bsky.social, with Boaz Hameiri and Eran Halperin, here:
tinyurl.com/3py5n6vb

Finally made the jump to bluer skies :)
Looking forward to sharing and discussing research here in the future!
If you're curious about my past work you can check out my website: www.ericshuman.com