Welcome to the Political Attitudes and Cognition (PAC) Lab
at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln!
The PAC Lab studies political attitudes and beliefs, decision making, and behavior and how they are influenced by a variety of social and contextual factors, including emotion and social identity. We focus mainly on political psychology and political neuroscience in the context of American Politics or International Relations. We are affiliated with the Department of Political Science and the Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior at UNL.
Please check out the above links to learn more about us, and feel free to contact Dr. Haas with any questions or comments.
Join the Lab
The lab is always looking for bright, motivated students who share our research interests and are interested in being part of the research process.
Potential graduate students should consider applying to the M.A. or Ph.D. program in the Department of Political Science at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For more information, you can check out the Political Science Graduate Admissions page. We have a number of faculty interested in political psychology, biopolitics, and political neuroscience, and are especially interested in recruiting students who share our interest in doing interdisciplinary work. Please check out the Research and Publications pages to learn more about the PAC Lab, and feel free to contact Dr. Haas directly if you're interested in applying. Graduate students already enrolled at UNL are welcome to contact me about potential research collaborations or lab involvement.
Undergraduate students at University of Nebraska-Lincoln are welcome to contact the lab about research assistant opportunities. Working in the lab you'll gain experience with literature reviews, research design and methodology (including behavioral data collection and fMRI), data collection and analysis, and data presentation. We generally look for students with a strong academic record (at least a 3.3 GPA) who are interested in pursuing or are considering graduate education, but no previous research experience is required. Research assistants in the lab are often volunteers, but there are opportunities for course credit (through Political Science or Psychology), or funding through university programs like UCARE.
News and Updates
December 11, 2023
Drs. Haas and Mehta receive grant from Carnegie Corporation to study nuclear weapons policy. Read more here.
September 2, 2023
Lab presentation on neuroscience and international security at the American Political Science Association meeting in Los Angeles
July 12, 2023
Graduate student Noelle Troutman successfully defended her dissertation