Dr Natalia Zarzeczna
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Email
n.j.zarzeczna@essex.ac.uk -
Location
4.726, Colchester Campus
Profile
Biography
I am interested in meaning-making processes. I specialise in social cognition and social psychology. I aim to bridge the gap in understanding how basic cognitive processes inform complex social belief systems and their societal consequences. I primarily focus on beliefs associated with science, religion, spirituality, conflict between these beliefs, and their consequences for science rejection. Regarding cognitive processes, I study mental representation of abstract concepts, with a focus on metaphoric links with physical and psychological space (embodied cognition, sensorimotor processes, psychological distance), and how these links underpin the nature of belief systems. I use diverse methodologies including reaction-time experiments, self-report surveys, and physiological measures of arousal (pupillometry). I completed my PhD in Social Cognition at Cardiff University (2019). Before joining the University of Essex in 2024, I was as a research associate at the University of Birmingham (2019-2020) and the University of Amsterdam (2020-2024). I am an Associate Editor at American Psychologist, the flagship journal of the American Psychological Association. Full list of publications: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=mEm3DPcAAAAJ&hl=en
Qualifications
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PhD Cardiff University, (2019)
Appointments
Other academic
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Research Associate, University of Amsterdam (15/3/2020 - 31/12/2023)
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Research Associate, University of Birmingham (17/6/2019 - 14/3/2020)
Research and professional activities
Research interests
Psychology of Meaning, Science Attitudes, Religion, Spirituality, Science-religion Conflict, Science Communication, Threat Compensation
Conferences and presentations
The feeling is not mutual: Religious belief predicts compatibility between science and religion, but scientific belief predicts conflict
Invited presentation, Cognitive Representations of Religion, Cognitive Representations of Religion, Oxford, United Kingdom, 2/7/2024
Teaching and supervision
Current teaching responsibilities
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Experiencing Emotion (PS103)
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Advanced employability skills and career progression (PS492)
Publications
Publications (1)
Zarzeczna, N., Većkalov, B., Hoffstadt, M. and Rutjens, BT., (2022). Psychological distance to science: Decreasing distance reduces science scepticism
Journal articles (19)
Zarzeczna, N. and Preston, JL., Meaning in science as a response to existential threat. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality
Zarzeczna, NJ., Hanel, PHP., Rutjens, B., Bono, SA., Chen, Y-H. and Haddock, G., (2024). Scientists, speak up! Source impacts trust in health advice across five countries. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. 30 (3), 430-441
van der Lee, R., Ellemers, N., Zarzeczna, N. and Scheepers, D., (2024). Threatened by the immoral, challenged by the incompetent: Cardiovascular responses to intragroup morality vs. competence evaluations. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations. 27 (1), 62-75
Zarzeczna, N., Preston, JL., Samekin, A., Reinhardt, C., Bolatov, A., Mussinova, Z., Selteyev, U., Topanova, G. and Rutjens, BT., (2024). The feeling is not mutual: Religious belief predicts compatibility between science and religion, but scientific belief predicts conflict. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality
Većkalov, B., Zarzeczna, N., McPhetres, J., van Harreveld, F. and Rutjens, BT., (2024). Psychological Distance to Science as a Predictor of Science Skepticism Across Domains.. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 50 (1), 18-37
Zarzeczna, N., Bertlich, T., Rutjens, BT., Gerstner, I. and von Hecker, U., (2024). Space as a mental toolbox in the representation of meaning. Royal Society Open Science. 11 (11), 240985-
Zarzeczna, N., Većkalov, B. and Rutjens, BT., (2023). Spirituality and intentions to engage in Covid‐19 protective behaviours. Social and Personality Psychology Compass. 17 (8)
Proulx, T., Costin, V., Magazin, E., Zarzeczna, N. and Haddock, G., (2023). The Progressive Values Scale: Assessing the Ideological Schism on the Left. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 49 (8), 1248-1272
Hanel, PHP. and Zarzeczna, N., (2023). From multiverse analysis to multiverse operationalisations: 262,143 ways of measuring well-being. Religion, Brain and Behavior. 13 (3), 309-313
Hoogeveen, S., Sarafoglou, A., Hanel, PHP. and et al, (2023). A many-analysts approach to the relation between religiosity and well-being. Religion, Brain & Behavior. 13 (3), 1-47
Zarzeczna, N., Bertlich, T., Većkalov, B. and Rutjens, BT., (2023). Spirituality is associated with Covid-19 vaccination scepticism. Vaccine. 41 (1), 226-235
Rutjens, BT., Zarzeczna, N. and van der Lee, R., (2022). Science rejection in Greece: Spirituality predicts vaccine scepticism and low faith in science in a Greek sample. Public Understanding of Science. 31 (4), 428-436
Sharp, CA., Leicht, C., Rios, K., Zarzeczna, N. and Elsdon-Baker, F., (2022). Religious diversity in science: Stereotypical and counter-stereotypical social identities. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations. 25 (7), 1836-1860
Leicht, C., Sharp, CA., LaBouff, JP., Zarzeczna, N. and Elsdon-Baker, F., (2022). Content Matters: Perceptions of the Science-Religion Relationship. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion. 32 (3), 232-255
Zarzeczna, N., Većkalov, B., Gligorić, V. and Rutjens, BT., (2022). Letter to the Editors of Psychological Science: Boosting Understanding is Unlikely to Correct False Beliefs About Most Science Domains: Regarding van Stekelenburg et al. (2021)
Bojana, V., Zarzeczna, N., Esther, N., Jonathon, M. and Bastiaan T., R., (2021). A matter of time… consideration of future consequences and temporal distance contribute to the ideology gap in climate change scepticism
Rutjens, BT., van der Linden, S., van der Lee, R. and Zarzeczna, N., (2021). A group processes approach to antiscience beliefs and endorsement of “alternative facts”. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations. 24 (4), 513-517
Zarzeczna, N., von Hecker, U., Proulx, T. and Haddock, G., (2020). Powerful men on top: Stereotypes interact with metaphors in social categorizations.. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. 46 (1), 36-65
Hanel, PHP., Zarzeczna, N. and Haddock, G., (2019). Sharing the Same Political Ideology Yet Endorsing Different Values: Left- and Right-Wing Political Supporters Are More Heterogeneous Than Moderates. Social Psychological and Personality Science. 10 (7), 874-882
Grants and funding
2024
Meaning in science as a response to existential threat
John Templeton Foundation
