Hirotaka Imada

Audience costs in the eyes of an adversary - Makito Takei, Chanki Moon, Hirotaka Imada, 2026 Audience cost theory suggests that as a country increases its audience costs, it can send a credible threat to an opponent and prevail in an international crisi...

@makitotakei.bsky.social, Chanki Moon & @hirotakaimada.bsky.social test if target publics see audience costs. US survey (N=1,404): people infer domestic punishment for backing down; credibility is similar for democracies and autocracies.

Read more here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

New paper led by @makitotakei.bsky.social!

We found experimental evidence for one of the key theoretical tenets of audience cost theory - those in the challenged country understand that the challenger’s leader would face a punishment for backing down.

10 days left to apply for the 4-y PhD studentship on ennvironmental behaviours and intergroup relations!

Full details in the original post below.
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

Psych Jobs

Postdoctoral Position in Social Psychology at the University of Bonn (3 years)

Research in moral psychology and related area

I am also hiring a PhD student (4-years, home student only to join the project, starting in September 2026🌏

Please share it widely!
www.royalholloway.ac.uk/studying-her...

I am also hiring a PhD student (4-years, home student only to join the project, starting in September 2026🌏

Please share it widely!
www.royalholloway.ac.uk/studying-her...

Job Opportunity at Royal Holloway University of London: Postdoctoral Research Assistant | Hirotaka Imada 🌍4-Year Postdoc Position Now Open – Climate Change & Intergroup Relations I’m very excited to share that the job advert is now live for a 4-year postdoctoral researcher to work with me on my project ...

Linkedin post about the the job ad (with slightly more deatail and excitment):

www.linkedin.com/posts/hirota...

I am hiring a 4y postdoc for my Leverhulme-funded project on the role of beliefs about what in/outgroup members believe/do about climate change in shaping pro-climate behaviours🌏

Start date: May 2026 at latest
Deadline: Feb 8

Please share it widely!

jobs.royalholloway.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...

Abstract submission deadline is now Jan 12!
Apply and meet fellow scholars working on social identity in Canterbury:)
socialidentitymeeting.org/call-for-pap...

In January, I will be recruiting a PhD student (4y/domestic tuition) and a postdoc (4y) to work on a 5y project about the role of beliefs about what in/outgroups value/do/believe in shaping one's climate action. Please keep an eye out for the job advert if you are interested🙏🔥

Job Opportunity at Royal Holloway University of London: Postdoctoral Teaching Associate Full-Time, Permanent/Fixed-Term - One permanent appointment and one 12-month appointmentApplications are invited for a Post-Doctoral Teaching Associate post in the Department of Psychology, Royal Holl...

FOUR teaching roles available at @rhulpsychology.bsky.social

Interested in joining a large teaching focused group, in a wonderfully supportive, dual excellence department? Check out the job adverts below:

jobs.royalholloway.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...
jobs.royalholloway.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...

🚨Save the date and please help us spread the word!

We are hosting the 2nd Bi-Annual Social Identity Meeting!

Abstract deadline: Dec 20, 2025
Decision: early 2026
Conference: July 7-8, 2026
Location: Canterbury Cathedral Lodge

More info: socialidentitymeeting.org

Job Opportunity at Royal Holloway University of London: Lecturer in Psychology (Research & Teaching) Full-time, PermanentApplications are invited for a post of Lecturer in the Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, starting 1 April 2026. The post is open to ambitious, researc...

🚨We are looking for a scholar to join us as a lecturer (teaching & research contract, full-time, permanent), starting 1 April 2026! The application deadline is 1 December 2025.

jobs.royalholloway.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...

Linking anger and disgust to motives and anticipations of aggression in the East: testing a socio-functional account of moral emotions in Japan Anger and disgust often underlie responses to social transgressions, yet their links to aggressive punishments have been primarily studied in Western populations. Across two studies sampling from J...

🚨New paper led by Lei Fan, with Florian van Leeuwen, @hirotakaimada.bsky.social, and @joshtybur.bsky.social, out in Cognition & Emotion:

🔗 doi.org/10.1080/0269...

In two preregistered studies from Japan 🇯🇵 , we find that anger relates to confrontation while disgust to gossip and social exclusion.

“I once was blind”: experimental manipulation of religious attitudes via choice blindness Given ongoing debates about the nature and consequences of religious belief, effective procedures for experimentally controlling such beliefs are highly desirable. To date, however, there are few r...

Can people be led to defend the opposite of their religious beliefs? A new study by Prof. Ryan McKay and colleagues shows they can, shifting later attitudes too. The paradigm holds real promise for illuminating big questions in the field. Open access: doi.org/10.1080/2153...

Understanding the role of pluralistic ignorance in biodiversity conservation: A research agenda Most people believe that biodiversity loss is human-caused, yet they may not realize how many others share this belief. Such collective misperceptions…

@hirotakaimada.bsky.social, Carya Maharja, Nattavudh Powdthavee, Valeria Vitale, @lei-zhang.bsky.social, Claudio Rosa, Zenith Delabrida, @kristiansn89.bsky.social, @franzessl1.bsky.social, Mathew White, @envpsyvienna.bsky.social, @acee.princeton.edu

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Understanding the role of pluralistic ignorance in biodiversity conservation: A research agenda Most people believe that biodiversity loss is human-caused, yet they may not realize how many others share this belief. Such collective misperceptions…

🌏 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘂𝘀 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

It’s not that people doubt biodiversity is declining—it’s that we underestimate how many others already share this concern.

In our new Perspective, we review work on pluralistic ignorance and set out a research agenda to:

New paper out🌍
Following PRISMA2020, we conducted a systematic literature search and identified/discussed four psychological intervention approaches to engine idling: individual training, offering feedback, community-based interventions, and psychological messaging🚗
doi.org/10.1016/j.je...

Effects of race and political identity on interpersonal cooperation: A secondary analysis and replication The highly polarized nature of American politics today has been attributed, in part, to the power of partisanship as a social identity and the increasing alignment of party affiliation, political ide...

New paper out in Political Psychology (@ispp-pops.bsky.social)🚨
We explored the race x politics crossed-categorisation effect on cooperation - the effect depends on participants' race and politics.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Ingroup favoritism and outgroup derogation in intergenerational cooperation - Communications Psychology Two experimental studies using the intergenerational sustainable dilemma game found that people made more sustainable choices when future beneficiaries were ingroup members, and less when they were ou...

Two experimental studies using the intergenerational sustainable dilemma game found that people made more sustainable choices when future beneficiaries were ingroup members, and less when they were outgroup members.
@hirotakaimada.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Also thank you very much, Robert (@robertboehm.bsky.social) for having me in your lab and for the discussions and mentorship. I’ll be back again with more interesting stuff!

I had an amazing time in Vienna☀️

Thank you Qinyu (@qinyuxiao.bsky.social) very much for hosting me!

It was great to host Hiro @hirotakaimada.bsky.social for a few days in Vienna to discuss research on in-group favouritism, indirect reciprocity, and intergenerational cooperation!

Ingroup favoritism and outgroup derogation in intergenerational cooperation - Communications Psychology Two experimental studies using the intergenerational sustainable dilemma game found that people made more sustainable choices when future beneficiaries were ingroup members, and less when they were ou...

New paper in @commspsychol.nature.com 🚨
We found future ingroup favoritism and outgroup derogation in both minimal and national group contexts: people made more and less sustainable choices when future beneficiaries were ingroup and outgroup members, respectively.
www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Off to Vienna✈️🇦🇹

Runnymede Jazz Orchestra will throw a summer gig at St John’s church in Egham on June 24!🎺🎷🎶☀️😎

www.ticketsource.co.uk/runnymede-ja...

I had the chance to be interviewed by a journalist recently and I asked how they found and approached me. One of the things they said was “I also like jazz”🤣🎺

New paper: Online social identity mapping (oSIM) is now available in Japanese😎
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

When Confidence in Institutions Backfires: Power‐Distance Orientation Moderates the Relationship Between Institutional Trust and Civic Honesty Across Eight Countries Confidence in institutions is a key predictor of civic honesty, yet evidence shows that this relationship varies across contexts and individuals. This study examined whether power-distance orientatio....

New paper orchestrated by @giotravaglino.bsky.social

Using data from 8 countries (🇬🇧🇺🇸🇮🇹🇰🇷🇯🇵🇩🇪🇨🇱🇨🇴), we found that the relationship between institutional confidence and civic honesty is moderated by power distance.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

New work led and orchestrated by @sandrajgeiger.bsky.social🌍 We replicated pluralistic ignorance in climate beliefs in 11 underrepresented countries. Public-consensus intervention? Not really effective. We also looked at cultural differences using secondary data.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...