I study the psychological and biological underpinnings of political attitudes and behavior. My approach to research is interdisciplinary, combining ideas and methods from social psychology, political psychology, and social cognitive neuroscience.

I am interested in the expression of political attitudes, beliefs, and ideology, and how this expression is influenced by situational factors. Much of my current work is focused on understanding how uncertainty interacts with threat to shape political behavior (e.g., political tolerance) and underlying cognitive and neural processing. I am also interested in understanding how and when political ideology functions as a social identity, and what this means for political attitude expression.

Primary Interests:

Attitudes and Beliefs
Emotion, Mood, Affect
Ethics and Morality
Neuroscience, Psychophysiology
Political Psychology
Prejudice and Stereotyping
Self and Identity
Social Cognition

Attitudes and Beliefs
Emotion, Mood, Affect
Ethics and Morality
Neuroscience, Psychophysiology
Political Psychology

Prejudice and Stereotyping
Self and Identity
Social Cognition

Journal Articles:

Cunningham, W. A., Johnsen, I. R., & Waggoner, A. S. (2011). Orbitofrontal cortex provides cross-modal valuation of self-generated stimuli. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 6(3), 286-293.
Cunningham, W. A., Van Bavel, J. J., & Johnsen, I. R. (2008). Affective flexibility: Evaluative processing goals shape amygdala activity. Psychological Science, 19(2), 152-160.
Haas, I. J., & Cunningham, W. A. (in press). The uncertainty paradox: Perceived threat moderates the effect of uncertainty on political tolerance. Political Psychology.
Polusny, M. A., Ries, B. J., Schultz, J. R., Calhoun, P., Clemensen, L., & Johnsen, I. R. (2008). PTSD symptom clusters associated with physical health and health care utilization in rural primary care patients exposed to natural disaster. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 21(1), 75-82.
Van Bavel, J. J., Packer, D. J., Haas, I. J., & Cunningham, W. A. (2012). The importance of moral construal: Moral versus non-moral construal elicits faster, more extreme, universal evaluations of the same actions. PLoS ONE, 7(11), e48693.

Other Publications:

Cunningham, W. A., Haas, I. J., & Jahn, A. (2011). Attitudes. In J. Decety & J. T. Cacioppo (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Social Neuroscience (pp. 212-226). New York: Oxford University Press.

Courses Taught:

Introduction to Social Psychology (PSYCH 325, PSYCH 367)
Power and Politics in America (POLS 100)
Psychology of Political Ideology, Morality, and Values (POLS 398)

Introduction to Social Psychology (PSYCH 325, PSYCH 367)
Power and Politics in America (POLS 100)

Psychology of Political Ideology, Morality, and Values (POLS 398)

Ingrid J. Haas
Department of Political Science
531 Oldfather Hall
University of Nebraska--Lincoln
Lincoln, NE 68588
United States

Phone: (402) 472-2173