World-renowned Dutch psychologist Jan-Wilem van Prooijen will visit Bratislava at the end of September 2023. On this occasion, on Wednesday 27 September 2023 at 9.00 a.m. at the Centre for Scientific and Technological Information of the Slovak Republic (CVTI SR), his lecture will be held in conjunction with a scientific symposium on conspiracy theories, radicalism and populism. Our colleagues Barbara Lášticová and Xenia Daniela Poslon will also take part in the event.
Prof. Dr. Jan-Willem van Prooijen is based at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Maastricht University and the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement. He specializes in the field of radicalization, extremism and conspiratorial thinking. He is interested in the dark side of human beings, especially in the context of politics, law and society. His research has three main thematic pillars: conspiracy theories, unethical behaviour and radical ideologies.
The main topic of his lecture in Bratislava will be the belief in conspiracy theories and extremism, and he will present their negative consequences. Conspiracy theories, once they emerge, promote extremism and polarisation by reducing people’s willingness to follow rules and regulations, deteriorating the quality of their social relationships, increasing inter-group conflicts and polarising people’s political beliefs. All of these processes can in turn give apparent legitimacy to potential violence against other groups.
The symposium will include presentations by experts from the Slovak Academy of Sciences:
- Xenia Daniela Poslon and Barbara Lášticová from the Institute for Research in Social Communication
- Dominik Želinský from the Institute of Sociology
- Zuzana Panczová and Vladimír Bahna from the Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology
- Jakub Šrol and Vladimíra Čavojová from the Institute of Experimental Psychology
The event will be held in English. The lecture will be broadcast live and will be available online after the lecture.
The scientific symposium is organized by the Centre of Social and Psychological Sciences of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, v. v. i., the Institute of Experimental Psychology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, v. v. i., in cooperation with the CSTI SR.
You are cordially invited!