Profile Kai Sassenberg

  • Prof. Dr. Kai Sassenberg

Director

+49 (0) 651 603419-183

 

  • Associate professor at the University of Groningen (NL) 2007; full professor at University of Tübingen and Head of the Social Processes Lab at Leibniz Institut für Wissensmedien 2008-2023
  • PhD in Psychology (Dr. rer. nat.) 1999, University of Göttingen

 

Research interests

Social influence, Bias reduction, Metascience

Selected Publications

  • Araya, C., & Sassenberg, K. (2025). The impact of co-opetition on cognitive flexibility: A replication study of (Landkammer & Sassenberg, 2016). Social Psychology, 56(4), 190-201.   https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000585

  • Hahn L., Glöckner A., Gollwitzer M., Hellmann, J., Lange, J., Schindler, S., & Sassenberg, K. (2025). A cross-sectional study of the completeness of preregistrations by psychological authors from German-speaking institutions. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 8(3).   https://doi.org/10.1177/25152459251357568

  • Pummerer, L., Gkinopoulos, T., Douglas, K., Jolley, D., & Sassenberg, K. (2024). The appraisal model of conspiracy theories (AMCT): Highlighting core concepts and potential extensions. Psychological Inquiry, 35, 233-243.   https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2025.2454118

  • Sassenberg, K. & Winter, K. (2024). Intraindividual conflicts reduce the polarization of attitudes. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 33, 190-197.   https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214241242452

  • Winter, K., Hornsey, M. J., Pummerer, L., & Sassenberg, K. (2024). Public agreement with misinformation about wind farms. Nature Communications, 15(1), 8888.   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-53278-2

  • Sassenberg, K., Bertin, P., Douglas, K.M., & Hornsey, M.J. (2023). Editorial: Engaging with conspiracy theories: Causes and consequences. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 105. 104425. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2022.104425

  • Sassenberg, K., Winter, K., Becker, D., Ditrich, L., Moskowitz, G.B., & Scholl, A. (2022). Flexibility mindsets: Reducing biases that result from spontaneous processing. European Review of Social Psychology, 33, 171-213. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10463283.2021.1959124 *shared first-authorship

  • Scholl, A., Ellemers, N., Scheepers, D., & Sassenberg, K. (2022). Construal of power as opportunity or responsibility. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 65, 57-107. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.aesp.2021.11.001

  • Winter, K., Hornsey, M. J., Pummerer, L., & Sassenberg, K. (2022). Anticipating and defusing the role of conspiracy beliefs in shaping opposition to wind farms. Nature Energy, 7, 1200-1207. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41560-022-01164-w

  • Winter, K., Scholl, A., & Sassenberg, K. (2021). A matter of flexibility: Changing outgroup attitudes through messages with negations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 120(4), 956–976. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000305

  • Sassenberg, K., & Ditrich, L. (2019). Research in Social Psychology has changed between 2011 and 2016: Larger sample sizes, more self-report measures, and more online studies. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 2, 107-114. https://doi.org/10.1177/2515245919838781

Porträt Kai Sassenberg

Related Links