Dr Tereza Capelos

Biography

• Ph.D., 2002, Political Science and Electoral Behavior, Stony Brook University. Title: “Reputation, Scandal, and the Puzzle of Immunity: The Role of Personality Traits and Party Affiliation”.
• M.A., 1998, Political Science, Stony Brook University, USA.
• B.A., 1995, Political Communication and Mass Media, University of Athens, Greece [First Class Honors Degree]

Dr. Tereza Capelos is a specialist in political psychology, electoral behavior, and public opinion with a particular interest in American Politics. She joined the university in February 2008, after holding positions as an assistant professor at Leiden University in the Netherlands, Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the Center for Survey Research at Stony Brook University (USA), and visiting lecturer at the Cyprus University of Technology. She holds a PhD in Political Science and Electoral Behavior, and her current research examines the determinants of candidate evaluations and impression formation, reputation management, political scandals and accountability, the role of affect and emotions in politics, political tolerance, political knowledge, mass media and civic competence. She has extensive experience in survey research methodology as well as applied data analysis, experimental design, and content analysis.

Tereza is the co-chair of the ECPR Political Psychology Section, and Director of the International Society of Political Psychology Summer Academy (ISPP-SA). 

Η Τερεζα Καπελου ειναι αναπληρωτρια καθηγητρια στο Τμημα Πολιτικης Επιστημης στο University of Surrey, και προεδρος του τομεα Πολιτικης Ψυχολογιας του European Consortium of Political Research (ECPR). Διδακτωρ του Stony Brook University, ειδικευεται σε θεματα πολιτικης ψυχολογιας, εκλογικης συμπεριφορας και κοινης γνωμης. Συγκεκριμενα ερευνα την αξιολογηση πολιτικων προσωπων και την διαμορφωση εντυπωσεων, τις λειτουργιες γνωστικων διεργασιων και συναισθηματων στην ληψη πολιτικων αποφασεων, πολιτικα σκανδαλα και διαχειριση κατηγοριων, πολιτικη ανεκτικοτητα, ισλαμοφοβια και στερεοτυπα, και τον ρολο των μεσων επικοινωνιας στην διαμορφωση πολιτικης δαημοσυνης και μαθησης. Διδασκει μαθηματα πολιτικης ψυχολογιας, εκλογικης συμπεριφορας, μεθοδολογια πολιτικων ερευνων, και στατιστικη σε προπτυχιακους και μεταπτυχιακους φοιτητες, και αρθρα της εχουν δημοσιευθει σε επιστημονικα περιοδικα τις ΗΠΑ, στην Ευρωπη, και στην Ελλαδα.

Research Interests

Research Grants and Funding

- PIDOP, Work-package coordinator, University of Surrey

- TECHNEAU, Collaborator, University of Surrey

Research Presentations since 2006

· Building Bridges: North American and European Political Psychology today, Lund, 3-4 December 2009 (Keynote speaker, paper presentation) - here please add the hyperlink to this conference:

www.svet.lu.se/polpsy09

· 5th European Consortium for Political Research Conference, Potsdam, 9-12 September 2009 (Section chair, four paper presentations, panel chair)

· International Society of Political Psychology, Paris, France, 9-12 July 2008 (conference chair, two paper presentations, panel chair)

· European Consortium for Political Research, Joint Sessions – Lisbon, Portugal, 14-19 April 2009 (paper presentation)

· Third National Conference on Peace and Conflict Research, Lund University, Lund, Sweden, 2-3 October 2008 (paper presentation).

· International Conference Representing Islam – Comparative Perspectives, Manchester, UK, 5-6 September 2008 (paper presentation)

· Annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Boston, MA, 28-31 August 2008 (paper presentation)

· International Society of Political Psychology, Paris, France, 9-12 July 2008 (conference chair, two paper presentations, panel chair)

· IIS World Congress, Budapest, Hungary, 27-28 June 2008 (paper presentation)

· Workshop, Political Psychology, Lund, Sweden, May 8-9, 2008 (paper presentation).

· Sixty seventh Annual Meeting of the 2008 Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, April 2-6, 2008 (paper presentation, chair)

· 4th European Consortium for Political Research Conference, Pisa, 5-8 September 2007 (Section chair, two paper presentations, panel chair)

· Annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago IL, August 29 – September 2nd, 2007 (paper presentation)

· International Society of Political Psychology, Portland Oregon, July 4-7, 2007 (section organizer, two paper presentations, panel chair)

· Sixty fifth Annual Meeting of the 2007 Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, April 12-15, 2007 (paper presentation, discussant)

· NY Political Psychology Winter Meeting, Manhattan, NY, November 4th 2006 (paper presentation)

· Annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Philadelphia PA, August 30 – September 3rd, 2006 (paper presentation, chair)

· International Society of Political Psychology, Barcelona, Spain, July 12-15, 2006 (one single, and two co-authored paper presentations, chair, discussant)

· Sixty fourth Annual Meeting of the 2006 Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, April 20-23, 2006 (paper presentation, chair, discussant)

· 3rd International Political Marketing Conference, Cyprus College, 6-8 April, 2006 (paper presentation)

Lectures / Invited Talks (since 2006)

Invited talk: “Experimentation in Political Science: Method and practice”, Exeter University, Political Science Department, May 5th 2009.
Invited talk: “Political personality and party bonds as determinants of blame attributions”, UCL School of Public Policy, March 5th 2009
Invited talk - Forum presentation “The 2008 American Election”, Exeter University, November 2008
Invited Lecture Series: “Introduction to Research methods and data analysis” (7 lectures) Department of Communication and Internet studies, Cyprus University of Technology, September – November 2007
Invited talk - Keynote address: “The Significance of Priors: Reputations as Moderator of Scandal Harm”. International Conference on Experimental Methods in Political Sciences, December 14, 2007 Brussels
Invited talk “Affect, Cognition, and Political Judgment”. To the Masters students of the Communications and Mass Media Department, University of Athens, Greece, December 22nd 2006
Invited talk “Emotions, Scandals, and Accountability Attributions”. To Mannheim Center for European Social Research, May 15th, 2006, Mannheim, Germany Invited talk “Women and Politics”. To Dutch International Women’s Conference. May 23rd, 2006, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Political Tolerance

Short description: In this project I focus on the role of anger, fear, and prejudice on expressions of political tolerance. In an experiment I vary the emotional appraisal of interactions with the participant’s least liked group and examine how anger or fear interact with pre-existing prejudices to determine tolerance judgments. Previous studies show that prejudice intensifies the impact of fear but not anger on tolerance towards the out-group. In addition, support for civic values does not mediate tolerance when the target out-group is strongly disliked. On the other hand, citizens with no reported prejudice towards the target group remain tolerant in political situations that generate aversion or anxiety. This political psychology research examines the interaction of the affective and cognitive determinants of tolerance. It is timely in this era of widespread threat perceptions, where tolerance is eroding.

If you are interested to join the research team, contact Tereza Capelos. Paper to be presented at MPSA conference, April 2009, Chicago

Political Parties and Leaders

Short description: In this project we examine how leader trait perceptions determine political parties' images in Britain. Perceptions of leader personality determine citizens’ evaluations and vote preferences and offer significant information about how citizens think of their leaders. However, we do not know much about whether the image of political parties is determined by their leaders reputations. In parliamentary democracies, where citizens vote for particular parties and not particular candidates, understanding the determinants of party perceptions is important. This question is particularly timely in the context of more personalized and candidate centered politics and addresses one of the main puzzles of British electoral behavior: the relative impact of parties and candidates on electoral outcomes. We use survey data collected in Britain examine where in this political system where leaders are not very visible, citizens pay attention to the personality traits of their leaders and can provide distinct evaluations on the basis of competence, leadership, integrity, and warmth. We also test whether the evaluations of leaders are related to how citizens evaluate their political parties.

If you are interested to join the research team, contact Tereza Capelos. Paper to be presented at MPSA conference, April 2009, Chicago

Gender Stereotypes and Candidate Evaluations

Short description: In this project we examine the extent to which gender stereotypes are prominent in the British political arena. In an experimental study we vary the components of fictional profiles of men and women political candidates to examine whether women are more likely to be seen as honest or compassionate than men (based on a trait consistency model of impression formation). We also examine the candidate evaluations in a scandal setting to test whether women benefit from positive gender stereotypes that portray them as more honest and outside the political mainstream (stereotyping model). Prior studies show that the ratings of the male candidate drop more sharply than those of the woman after the scandal. We expect that candidate impression formation is influenced by both individual trait characteristics and group stereotypes and suggest that men are punished more severely for their involvement in a scandal because it is easier to stereotype them as typical self-serving politicians.

If you are interested to join the research team, contact Tereza Capelos. Paper to be presented at ISPP conference, July 2009, Dublin.

Political Learning and Civic IQ

In collaboration with prof. Doris Graber (University of Illinois, Chicago) we investigate the impact of entertainment shows on political information acquisition. This source of political information is often overlooked, in comparison to news broadcasts. In our project, we borrow from learning theories to examine whether TV-dramas can facilitate political learning. We conduct interviews with regular viewers of eight American TV-dramas in different countries (USA, Greece, the Netherlands) to explore how these entertainment offerings affect their political understanding as well as their civic habits. The findings suggest that exposure to TV-dramas leads to acquisition of political insights and practical information and affects viewers’ discussion patterns. These findings show that TV-dramas must be considered an alternative source for explaining how citizens enhance their understanding of the political world, how they formulate their opinions and how they perform their civic tasks.

Research Collaborations

-   PIDOP [Processes Influencing Democratic Ownership and Participation], Work-package coordinator, University of Surrey, FP7- EU Funded project http://www.psy.surrey.ac.uk/PIDOP/

-   TECHNEAU [Technology Enabled Universal Access to Safe Water], Surrey team member, University of Surrey, FP6 - EU Funded project http://techneau.org/

-   Political Learning and Civic IQ, with prof. Doris Graber, University of Illinois, Chicago 

Publications

Refereed Journal Publications

(forthcoming) with Chenoweth, J. Barnett, J., Fife-Schaw, C., and T. Kelay. "Comparison of consumer attitudes between Cyprus and Latvia: an evaluation of the effect of setting on consumer preferences in the water industry" Water Resources Management.

 (2010) Capelos T. “Feeling the Issue: Citizens’ affective reactions and leadership perceptions on policy evaluations. Journal of Political Marketing. vol 9: 9-33.

(2009) Capelos T. and Wurtzer H. “United Nations scandals and media coverage” Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management,vol 17. 2: 75-94

(2009) Capelos T., Demertzis, N., Vadratsikas, K. “Political competence and information: the significant role of TV-Dramas”. Communications Issues, 8: 77-101.

(2008) Capelos, T., and Smilovitz J. “As a matter of feeling: Emotions and the choice of mediator tactics in international mediation” The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, 3: 63-85.

(2005) with Demertzis, N., and P. Tsiligianis. “Covering the Parliament: Television News Broadcast and the image of the Greek Government”, Communications Issues,3: 36-57

(2002) with Huddy, Leonie, Stanley Feldman, and Colin Provost. “The Consequences of Terrorism: Disentangling the Effects of Personal and National Threat” Political Psychology, vol 23, 3:  485-510.

(2002) with Huddy, Leonie and Nadia Khatib. “The Polls – Trends: Reactions to the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001” Public Opinion Quarterly, vol 66, 3: 418-450.

(2000) Capelos T. “Scandal Plagued or Scandal Proof: the role of candidate personality traits as scandal immunity factors” Greek Political Science Review vol. 16,  pp. 147 – 186.

Chapters in Books and Edited volumes

(forthcoming) Capelos T. and van Troost D. “Reason, Passion and Islam: the impact of fear and anger on political tolerance”. In Flood et al (eds), Islam in the Plural: Identities, (Self)Perceptions and Politics, Brill, Netherlands

(2010) Capelos T. “Emotions in Politics”. In Encyclopedia of Political Science (EPS). George T. Kurian (ed), CQ Press.

(2010) Capelos T. “Political Attitudes and Behavior”. In Encyclopedia of Political Science (EPS). George T. Kurian (ed), CQ Press.

(2010) Capelos T. “Scandals and Blame Management”. In Encyclopedia of Political Science (EPS). George T. Kurian (ed), CQ Press.

(2007) Capelos T. “Elite Versus Mass Perspectives on the United States”. In Global Perspectives on the United States. Karen Christensen and David Levinson (eds), Volume 3, p. 93-96 Berkshire Publishing Group LLC.

(2005) Capelos T. “Political Reputation and its Ingredients”. In Polling America: An Encyclopedia of Public Opinion. Samuel Best and Benjamin Radcliff (Eds), vol 2, p.504-513, Greenwood, Connecticut

(2005) Capelos T. “Scandal Proof: the role of personality characteristics and party identification as determinants of scandal immunity”. In Corruption and Scandals in Public Administration and Politics. K. Koutsoukis and P. Sklias (Eds.), Sideris Press, Athens, Greece

(2002) with Huddy, Leonie. “Gender Stereotyping and Candidate Evaluation: Good News and Bad News for Women Politicians”. Social Psychological Applications to Social Issues: Developments in Political Psychology. Vol. 5. Victor Ottati, , Scott R. Tindale, Dan O’Connell, John Edwards, Emil Posavac, Yolanda Suarez-Balcazar, Linda Heath and Fred Bryant (Eds.) p29-53. Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers, New York.

(2002) Capelos T. “A Matter of Competence: the role of sophistication and affect in competence judgments of presidential candidates”. Political Communication in Greece Today. Nicolas Demertzis, Ed(s), p. 413-468. Athens, Greece: Papazisis. 

Editorial Work

(in progress) Capelos, T., Dekker H, and Kinnvall C (eds). Advancements in Political Psychology Research in Europe

 (in progress) Capelos T. and Demertzis N (eds). Translation of Zaller (1992) Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion, Publisher: Papazisis, Athens, Greece.

Other Publications

(2008) Capelos T. “When Women Rule: gender stereotypes and political leader perceptions. Article published in research review. Leiden University.

(2004) Capelos T. “Is Suozzi at Risk”. News article published on Feb 8^th 2004. Newsday.

(2002) with N. Demertzis and P. Tsiligiannis. “The Greek Parliament in Television News”. Research Report presented to the Greek Parliament. Institute of Applied Communication, University of Athens, Department of Communication and Mass Media.

Teaching

Current:

• Political Psychology and Electoral Behavior, B.A Seminar, University of Surrey
• Public Opinion and Political Judgment, B.A Seminar, University of Surrey
• British Politics, B.A. Seminar, University of Surrey
• Research Theories and Methods, B.A. Seminar, University of Surrey
• Introduction to Research, M.A. Seminar, University of Surrey
• Research in Practice, M.A Seminar, University of Surrey

Teaching experience:

• Political Science: Theories and Methods (2005, 2006, 2007), M.A. Seminar, Leiden University
• Political Psychology (2005, 2006) M.A. Seminar, Leiden University
• Mass Media in Politics (2004, 2005), M.A. Seminar, Leiden University
• Cognition and Emotion in Politics (2005), M.A. Seminar, Leiden University
• Public Opinion and Political Judgment (2006) B.A Seminar, Leiden University
• Electoral Behavior (2007), B.A Research Seminar, Leiden University
• Feeling and Thinking in Dutch Politics (2006), B.A Research Seminar, Leiden University
• Candidate Personality and Evaluations (2005), B.A Research Seminar, Leiden University
• Mass Media in American Politics (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002) B.A Seminar, Stony Brook University

Departmental Duties

In House:

• Admissions Tutor, September 2008 – current, University of Surrey
• Outreach and Communications Tutor, September 2008 – current, University of Surrey

External:

• Director: International Society of Political Psychology Summer Academy (ISPP-SA)
• Standing Group co-director: European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) Political Psychology Standing Group(Spring 2006 – present).
• Governing Council Member (elected 2007): International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP)
• Member: American Political Science Association
• Member: Midwest Political Science Association
• Section chair: Political Psychology: Understanding Citizens, Leaders, Passions, and Conflicts (10 panels) 5th European Consortium for Political Research Conference, Potsdam, 9-12 September 2009.
• Conference Program Chair and organizer: International Society of Political Psychology(ISPP) 2008 Conference, Paris (with Cheryl Koopman, Stanford University)
• Section chair: Leadership and Public Opinion Section (8 panels) 4th European Consortium for Political Research Conference, Pisa 5-8 September 2007
• Section Chair: Conflict, Reconciliation and Passions Section (10 panels) 4th European Consortium for Political Research Conference, Pisa 5-8 September 2007
• Section chair: Political Communication section (10 panels) International Society of Political Psychology, Portland Oregon, July 4-7, 2007
• Section chair: Political Psychology (10 panels) of the 3rd European Consortium for Political Research Conference, Budapest, 8-10 September 2005
• Reviewer for: Journal of Politics, European Journal of Political Research, Political Psychology, Political Research Quarterly, The Journal of Elections Public Opinion and Parties, Longman Publishers, Sage Publishers, McGraw-Hill Publishers
• PhD Supervisor, University of Athens, Department of Communication and Mass Media, Greece