معرفی
Maaike Homan is a postdoctoral researcher in the Organisational Behaviour Group at Utrecht University's Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, working within the Department of Social, Health and Organisational Psychology under the chair of Prof. Naomi Ellemers. She completed her PhD at the Hot Politics Lab at the University of Amsterdam, where she focused on emotional communication of politicians and voter responses.
Dr. Homan's research examines the interplay between physiological changes in the body and subjective feelings in response to societal challenges, political issues, and politicians. Her current postdoc project investigates how societal challenges like immigration, climate crisis, and gender equality elicit physiological stress responses in individuals and how these responses influence opinion formation. She employs a variety of physiological measurements in both laboratory and field settings, including facial electromyography (fEMG), skin conductance, eye-tracking, and EEG.
Her publication record reveals a strong focus on political psychology, particularly examining how emotional displays of politicians affect voter responses. Her work often combines physiological and self-report measures to understand the complex relationship between emotional expression, physiological responses, and political judgment. A recurring theme across her research is the investigation of how nonverbal emotional cues in politics influence perception, cognition, and behavior.
Dr. Homan has engaged with the public through media appearances, including organizing a combined research project and public engagement event 'Blood, Sweat and Talk' at Lowlands Festival in 2024 and providing expert commentary on political nonverbal communication for NRC in 2023.
She actively collaborates with researchers including Bakker, Schumacher, and Rooduijn, and her work spans multiple methodologies from experimental laboratory studies to field research. Her research group utilizes advanced psychophysiological techniques to measure emotional responses that may not be captured through self-report alone, providing a more comprehensive understanding of political emotional processing.
