PSY/CONF Seminar: Nevin Solak (TED University)

SABANCI UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

PSYCHOLOGY / CONFLICT ANALYSIS AND RESOLUTION SEMINAR

Understanding Collective Action: The Role of System Justification and Emotional Processes

Nevin Solak

(TED University)

May 8, 2017, Monday

10:00 FASS 2034

Collective action is one of the major tools of social change, and therefore of great importance for psychologists, political scientists, and policy-makers. A growing body of research on collective action has attempted to address the question “what are the social psychological factors that lead people to engage in collective action” (e.g., van Zomeren & Iyer, 2009)? However, in real-world settings, the incidence of collective actions is rare, and even individuals who recognize that they are treated unfairly do not join them.  Drawing on System Justification Theory (Jost, Banaji, & Nosek, 2004), I will flip the question by asking “what are the social psychological factors that lead people not to engage in collective action?”  I will try to address this question with a particular emphasis on emotional processes, which play a pivotal role in determining individuals’ attitudes, motivations, and behaviors in socio-political contexts (Halperin, 2016; Tamir, 2015). In my talk, I will focus on the role of emotional processes in shaping the links between collective action and system justification. First, I will focus on emotional experiences. Second, I will discuss emotional preferences. Third, I will examine the role of emotion regulation. Fourth, I will investigate emotional expression. Throughout my talk, I will provide empirical evidence for my theoretical propositions and demonstrate their implications in shaping collective action in and outside the laboratory.