Dr Aleksandra Cichocka

About

Dr Aleksandra Cichocka received her PhD in Psychology from the University of Warsaw in 2013. During her doctoral studies, she was a Fulbright Fellow at New York University. After completing her PhD, she joined Kent, where she leads the Political Psychology Lab. She currently serves as Vice President of the International Society of Political Psychology.

Research interests

Aleksandra works primarily in the area of political psychology. She investigates how the ways individuals feel about themselves and the social groups they belong to affect their political attitudes and behaviours.

In one line of work, she investigates links between narcissism and various political attitudes, including ideology, conspiracy beliefs and support for democracy. She is also interested in the dynamics of self-worth.

In another line of research, she focuses on collective narcissism—a defensive group identification, characterized by an emotional investment in an unrealistically positive image of the in-group. Aleksandra examines political and social consequences of collective narcissism, as well as factors that contribute to strengthening this form of in-group identification.

She also studies psychological factors underlying political engagement and perceptions of legitimacy of the socio-political systems.

To see more of Aleksandra's publications, please visit: https://www.kent.ac.uk/psychology/people/219/cichocka-aleksandra

Supervision

Current research students:

Michael Biddlestone (1st supervisor)
Irem Eker (1st supervisor)
Ricky Green (2nd supervisor)
Orestis Panayiotou (1st supervisor)
Aife Hopkins-Doyle (2nd supervisor)
Alvaro Rodriguez (2nd supervisor)