Emma Bäck
PhD
I am a researcher at the Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, where I defended my thesis in 2011.
My research focuses mainly on social psychology. I am currently interested in social- and person perception, political psychology and decision making. My current project “Investigating the Challenger bias” has shown that individuals who want to change the status quo display more stereotyping against both their allies and opponents, than do individuals who want to preserve the status quo. This research is highly applicable in many levels of society and touches upon both work- and organizational psychology, political psychology as well as political science.
I am also involved in an upcoming project on “Extreme activism”, which is a multidisciplinary project with associate professor Hanna Bäck, Dept. of Political Science, Lund University, Professor Henry Montgomery, Dept. of Psychology, Stockholm University, and Dr. Neda Kerimi, Dept. of Psychology, Uppsala University. In this project we will study the psychological mechanisms involved in protest activity. For more information, please visit the project web site.
Earlier research has concerned problematic eating behavior among adolescents and relations to both general and specific child rearing practices. This was the research area of my bachelor- and master theses.
Teaching
My teaching has mainly concerned statistics and methodology, and social psychology, on all undergraduate levels. I recently received an award for my pedagogical skills as a statistics teacher.
Publications
Bäck, E. A. (2011). Social and cognitive biases in large group decision settings. Doctoral Dissertation in Psychology, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University.
Bäck, E. A. Position towards the status quo: Explaining differences in intergroup perceptions between left- and right-wing affiliates. Submitted.
Bäck, E. A., & Lindholm, T. Defending or Challenging the Status Quo: Position Effects on Biased Intergroup Perceptions. Submitted.
Bäck, E. A., Esaiasson, P., Gilljam, M., Svenson, O., & Lindholm, T. (2011). Post-decision consolidation in large group decision-making. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 52, 320-328.
Bäck, E. A. (2011). Effects of parental relations and upbringing in troubled adolescent eating behaviours. Eating Disorders, 19, 1-22.
Bäck, E., Esaiasson, P., Gilljam, M., & Lindholm, T. (2010). Biased attributions regarding the origins of preferences in a group decision situation. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40, 270-281.
Presentations (selection)
Defending or Challenging the Status Quo: Position Effects on Biased Intergroup Perceptions.
Emma A. Bäck & Torun Lindholm. Oral presentation held at the European Association for Social Psychology's general meeting in Stockholm, 2011.
General Parental Relationship Quality or Specific Parenting practices: Effects on Troubled Adolescent Eating Attitudes.
Emma A. Bäck. Poster presented at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) meeting in San Antonio, 2011.
Social identity and gender: A Swedish version of the gender collective self-esteem scale.
Hanna L. Kusterer, Emma A. Bäck, & Torun Lindholm. Poster presented at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) meeting in Las Vegas, 2010.
The importance of issue importance: Judging others´ origins of preferences in a group decision situation.
Emma Bäck, Peter Esaiasson, Mikael Gilljam, & Torun Lindholm. Poster presented at the European Association of Experimental Social Psychology (EAESP) general meeting, Opatija, 2008.
Attributional biases about the origins of preferences in a group-decision situation.
Emma Bäck. Oral presentation held at the European Group for Process Tracing Studies in Decision Making, Barcelona, 2007.
Decision-making in large groups: Group membership and post-decision consolidation.
Torun Lindholm, Emma Bäck, Ola Svenson, Mikael Gilljam, & Peter Esaiasson. Poster presented at the SPSP meeting in Memphis 2007.
Miscellaneous
Member of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, SPSP (www.spsp.org)
Member of European Association of Social Psychology, EASP (www.easp.eu)
Member of Social Psychology Network, SPN (www.socialpsychology.org)
Member of the Association for Psychological Science, APS (www.psychologicalscience.org)
Member of the International Society for Political Psychology, ISPP (ispp.org)
