Dr. Ronja Demel
- Foto
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- Name
- Dr. Ronja Demel
- Status
- Research Assistant
- ronja.demel (at) hu-berlin.de
- Institution
- Humboldt-Universität → Präsidium → Lebenswissenschaftliche Fakultät → Institut für Psychologie → Persönlichkeitspsychologie
- Visiting address
- Rudower Chaussee 18 , Room 4'109
- Phone number
- 030 2093-1836
- Mailing address
- Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin
About
Ronja Demel is a postdoctoral researcher at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, where she conducts research on (inter-group) empathy, attitudes toward refugees, and (the measurement of) political attitudes. She is the principal investigator in the Einstein Research Unit “Coping with Affective Polarization.” In her doctoral thesis at the Universität Göttingen, she examined, among other things, how political attitudes shape everyday moral judgments.
Ronja Demel teaches in the bachelor's and master's programs in psychology with a focus on personality and political psychology. In her teaching, she emphasizes an innovative and non-discriminatory learning environment in which students use a variety of methods to develop not only subject-specific content but also methodological and presentation skills. She encourages students to try out new approaches and to actively engage in scientific exchange. A detailed feedback culture is particularly important to her in order to promote reflection and further development.
Research Interests
- (Inter-group) empathy
- Political attitudes
- Stereotyping and prejudice
- Marginalization
Academic Career
|
2017-2022 |
Doctorate (Dr. rer. nat.) in the doctoral program Behavior and Cognition of Georg-August Universität Göttingen |
|
2014-2017 |
M. Sc. Psychology with a focus on affective neuroscience at Georg-August Universität Göttingen |
|
2011-2014 |
B. Sc. Psychology at Otto-von-Guericke Universität Magdeburg |
Scientific Career
|
since 2022 |
Research Associate in the Department of Personality Psychology at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin |
|
2017-2021 |
Research Associate in the Department for Cognition, Emotion and Behavior (ANaP Lab) at Georg-August Universität Göttingen |
|
2016-2017 |
Student Assistant in the Department for Cognition, Emotion and Behavior (ANaP Lab) at Georg-August Universität Göttingen |
Scholarships and Awards
|
2022-2023 |
Career Development Award from the Berlin University Alliance for investigating the role of intergroup empathy in activist engagement |
|
2023 |
Conference travel grant from the Leibniz Science Campus: Primate Cognition |
|
2018 |
Conference travel grant from the Leibniz Science Campus: Primate Cognition |
|
2018-2022 |
Doctoral scholarship from the Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft (sdw) |
Publications
Demel, R., Masch, L., Schieferdecker, D., Schwander, H., Hutter, S., & Specht, J. (2025). Empathy During Crises: Investigating Attitudes, Tolerance, and Ingroup-Outgroup Dynamics in Response to Refugee Movements. Journal of personality, 10.1111/jopy.13012. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.13012
Demel, R., Pooresmaeili, A., Gagsch, F., Spengler, M., & Schacht, A. (2024). Beyond bidimensional measures: Introducing a culturally tailored measure of political orientation. Political Psychology, 45(3), 517–535. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12935
Masch, L., Demel, R., Schieferdecker, D., Schwander, H., Hutter, S., & Specht, J. (2023). Shift in Public Opinion Formations on Defense, Energy, and Migration: The Case of Russia’s War Against Ukraine. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 35(4), edad038.
Demel, R., Grassi, F., Rafiee,Y., Waldmann, M.R., Schacht, A. (2022) How German and Italian Laypeople Reason about Distributive Shortages during COVID-19. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 12067. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912067
Social Media