Pierce Ekstrom
Assistant Professor Political Science University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Contact
- Address
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OLDH 518
Lincoln NE 68588-0328 - Phone
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402-472-2343 On-campus 2-2343
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pierce.ekstrom@unl.edu
Dr. Pierce Ekstrom joined the Department of Political Science in Fall 2020. He studies the causes and consequences of political disagreement. On the "cause" side, he is particularly interested in how psychological individual differences give rise to diverse political preferences and in how individuals' moral values and politicized identities create outright conflict from these differences of opinion. As for "consequences," he is interested in both the desirable and undesirable effects of political disagreement. On the one hand, disagreement can push people (and even whole societies) to critically re-evaluate their existing beliefs and practices. On the other hand, the conflicts that generally accompany disagreement can bias how people interact with each other, share information, and evaluate political leaders.
Education
- 2018 Ph.D. in Social Psychology. University of Minnesota
- 2012 B.A. in Psychology and Political Science. University of Chicago
Research Areas
- Political Psychology
- Political disagreement and conflict
- Moral beliefs, values, and convictions
- Social identity