Who
After a mob rioted yesterday at the U.S. Capitol, many Americans are feeling shocked, anxious and frightened for the future of the country. Some are wondering how the United States could have become polarized to such a dangerous extent. Others are worried about how to explain the violence to their children. Psychologists’ research can help shed light on these questions.
What
The following psychological scientists are available to discuss trauma and resilience, political psychology and polarization, misinformation and conspiracy theories, and how to talk to children about traumatic events:
Trauma, stress and resilience
Lynn Bufka, PhD
Washington, D.C.
Contact: Sophie Bethune, APA Communications
Work: (202) 336-6134
Cell: (202) 841-4082
Email
Expertise: An expert on stress and anxiety, Bufka is a clinical psychologist and senior director for practice transformation and quality at the American Psychological Association. She can discuss political unrest as a stressor, how to take care of yourself in times of stress, the impact of uncertainty and how to manage your media consumption.
Alison Holman, PhD
Irvine, California
Phone: (949) 370-1980
Email
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Expertise: A health psychologist and associate professor in the Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing at the University of California, Irvine, Holman can address health effects of stress, media exposure to collective traumas and health care needs of vulnerable populations. She can also discuss effective coping strategies during times of trauma and stress.
Roxane Cohen Silver, PhD
Irvine, California
Phone: (714) 404-9414
Email
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Expertise: A social psychologist and professor in the department of psychological science, program in public health, and department of medicine at the University of California, Irvine, Silver can address individual and community responses to collective traumas (mass violence, natural disasters, epidemics) and effects of media exposure on collective traumas.
C. Vaile Wright, PhD
Chicago
Contact: Sophie Bethune, APA Communications
Work: (202) 336-6134
Cell: (202) 841-4082
Email
Expertise: Clinical psychologist Wright is senior director of health care innovation at the American Psychological Association. With expertise on stress, anxiety, trauma and discrimination, Wright can talk about how to manage distress related to the events at the Capitol, how to gain a sense of control after traumatic events and strategies for self care.
How to talk to children about difficult news
Mary Alvord, PhD
Rockville, Maryland
Phone: (301) 257-9005
Email
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Expertise: A practicing psychologist, Alvord specializes in the treatment of children, adolescents and adults with anxiety disorders, mood disorders and emotional and behavioral regulation problems. She is the co-author of the “Resilience Builder Program for Children and Adolescents” and of “Conquer Negative Thinking for Teens.” She can answer questions related to talking to children about difficult news and how to help children deal with anxiety after traumatic events.
Robin H. Gurwitch, PhD
Durham, North Carolina
Cell: (405) 659-9513 (text message preferred)
Email
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Expertise: A psychologist and professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University, Gurwitch can address issues related to helping children deal with traumatic events in the news.
Political psychology and polarization
Christopher Federico, PhD
Minneapolis
Phone: (612) 625-7217
Email
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Expertise: A professor of political science at the University of Minnesota, Federico has conducted extensive research on political psychology, ideology and belief systems, racial and ethnic attitudes and authoritarianism. He is vice president of the International Society of Political Psychology.
Kirk Schneider, PhD
San Francisco
Phone: (415) 567-5021
Email
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Expertise: A licensed clinical psychologist, Schneider is also president of the Existential-Humanistic Instituteopens in new window and adjunct faculty at Saybrook University and Teachers College, Columbia University. He is author of the book “The Polarized Mind: Why It's Killing Us and What We Can Do About It.” The polarized mind is the fixation on one point of view to the exclusion of competing points of view, which is killing us personally, politically and environmentally, according to Schneider. He can discuss the psychological origins of the polarized mind, how it has affected leaders and cultures throughout history and steps that can be taken to address the problem. He has elaborated such steps in his recent book "The Depolarizing of America: A Guidebook for Social Healing.”
Jay Van Bavel, PhD
New York
Phone: (212) 992-9627
Email
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Expertise: Van Bavel is an associate professor of psychology and neural science at New York University, an affiliate at the Stern School of Business in management and organizations and director of the Social Identity and Morality Lab. His research examines how collective concerns—group identities, moral values and political beliefs—shape the mind and brain and, ultimately, human behavior. He is an expert on the psychology of political identity, misinformation and polarization.
Misinformation and conspiracy theories
Dolores Albarracin, PhD
Champaign, Illinois
Phone: (217) 244-7019
Email
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Expertise: Albarracin is a professor of psychology, business and medicine at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Her research focuses on the fields of behavior, communication and persuasion. She is an expert on misinformation and fake news, why they persist and how they can be counteracted.
Karen Douglas, PhD
Canterbury, Kent, United Kingdom
Phone: +44 (0)1227 824758
Email
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Expertise: Douglas is a professor of social psychology at the University of Kent. Her research focus is on beliefs in conspiracy theories: Why are conspiracy theories so popular? Who believes them? Why do people believe them? What are some of the consequences of conspiracy theories and can such theories be harmful? Douglas can also speak about the social psychology of human communication, including the influence of technology on social interaction and the psychology of sexist language.
Chrysalis Wright, PhD
Orlando, Florida
Cell: (407) 300-4212
Email
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Expertise: A faculty member in the psychology department at the University of Central Florida, Wright focuses her research on developing methods for identifying and fighting fake news. She can discuss the relationship between fake news and consumer attitudes regarding marginalized groups, methods and techniques to identify fake news and combat its persistent nature, and the negative impact fake news can have on the mental health of consumers.
Other resources
The American Psychological Association also has useful resources available, including:
- Healing the political divide
- Speaking of Psychology: How to recognize and combat ‘fake news’
- What do we know about conspiracy theories?
- Thrill-seeking, search for meaning fuel political violence
- Speaking of Psychology: How politics became so uncivilized
- Speaking of Psychology: Why America's bitter politics are like a bad marriage
- Politics is personal
- How to talk to children about difficult news
- Stress in America 2020: A National Mental Health Crisis
- Self-care
- Managing stress related to political change