מעבדת קוגניציה חברתית
ZAC Social Cognition Lab

Our research projects at the ZAC Social Cognition Lab focus on issues with social importance while exploring their cognitive mechanisms and developmental trajectories. We examine a variety of socio-cognitive processes using a diversity of psychological methods with adults and children. We are interested in understanding the way people from different social-ethnic groups perceive and represent their surroundings, categorize people and traverse their social world.

Current Research Areas

• Socio-cognitive development of unique groups in Israel: majority Jewish children and various Arab minorities – Collaboration with the 'Helping Kids' Team.
• Embodied cognition
• Priming of religious symbols and intergroup attitudes
• Imagined contact

Collaborations

• Jocelyn Dautel, Ph.D. – School of Psychology, Queens University Belfast, UK
• Laura K. Taylor, Ph.D. – School of Psychology, University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland
• Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos, Ph.D. – Human and Artificial Cognition, The University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
• Nurit Tal-Or, Ph.D. – Department of Communication, University of Haifa, Israel

Practical Overview

In the context of the protracted Arab-Israeli conflict and based on our multi-discipline and multi-cultural projects we wish to contribute to the fields of: negotiation, mediation and conflict resolution. In particular, our research on religious content and intergroup contact can be used to advance intergroup dialogues and negotiation workshops for university students, business executives and government officials.

• Shamoa-Nir, L., Razpurker-Apfeld, I., Dautel, J. B., & Talor, L.K. (in preparation). How do children in divided societies define their intercultural contact? A qualitative study. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology.

• Shamoa-Nir, L., Razpurker-Apfeld, I., Dautel, J. B., & Taylor, L. K. (2020). Outgroup prosocial giving during childhood: The role of ingroup preference and outgroup attitudes in a divided society. International Journal of Behavioral Development.

• Shamoa-Nir, L., & Razpurker-Apfeld, I. (2020). Exposure to religious outgroups and intergroup anxiety in Israel. Israel Affairs.

• Shamoa-Nir, L. & Razpurker-Apfeld, I. (2020). Investigating stereotypes among minority group members in Israel: The role of ingroup and outgroup symbols. The American Journal of Psychology, 133(2), 169-180.

• Razpurker-Apfeld, I., & Shamoa-Nir, L. (2020). Imagined contact with strongly-identified outgroup members: Do religious trappings make the man? Asian Journal of Social Psychology. Advance online publication.

• Razpurker-Apfeld, I. & Shamoa-Nir, L. (2020). Is an outgroup welcome with open arms? Approach and avoidance motor positions and outgroup prejudice. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied.

• Taylor L. K., Dautel J., Rylander, R., Tomovska Misoska, A., Maloku Berdyna, E., Razpurker-Apfeld, I. & Shamoa-Nir, L. (2019). Report on the Social Psychology Section Pump Priming Grant – Children’s understanding of conflict-related group markers. Social Psychological Review, 21.

• Shamoa-Nir, L., & Razpurker-Apfeld, I. (2019). The relationship between religious symbols and intergroup attitudes among majority group members. International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, 23 (4), 2028-2035.

• Shamoa-Nir, L., & Razpurker-Apfeld, I. (2019). Religious primes and threat-perceptions as predictors of attitudes toward Muslims in Israel. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 54(2), 392-415.

• Shamoa-Nir, L., & Razpurker-Apfeld, I. (2019). Investigating stereotypes towards the outgroup: The role of religious concepts and group membership. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 41(3), 188-200

• Razpurker-Apfeld, I., & Shamoa-Nir, L. (2018). Religious content in intergroup relations: The effect of exposure to religious symbols on mutual stereotypes of Jews and Muslims. Megamot, 53(2), 147-178. [in Hebrew]

• Razpurker-Apfeld, I., & Shamoa-Nir, L. (2015). The influence of exposure to religious symbols on out-group stereotypes. Psychology, 6, 650-663.

• Razpurker-Apfeld, I., & Shamoa-Nir, L. (2015). Are out-group stereotypes influenced by exposure to religious content? In A. M. Columbus (Ed.), Advances in psychology research (vol. 113). New York: Nova Science Publishers