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Dr M. (Myrto) Pantazi

Assistant Professor
Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences
Programme group Social Psychology

Visiting address
  • Nieuwe Achtergracht 129
Postal address
  • Postbus 15900
    1001 NK Amsterdam
  • Profile

    I am a social psychologist studying basic psychological mechanisms of human belief and behaviour. My work covers the areas of social and political psychology, and social cognition while I have a broad background and am particularly open to interdisciplinary approaches.

    My research focuses on the psychology of misinformation, belief in conspiracy theories and other aspects of digital citzenship. 

    I am particularly interested in the Truth bias in linguistic communication –a tendency to believe by default information communicated to us, even if it is false– which was also the topic of my PhD thesis. If you want to find out more about the truth-bias and its effects, you can have a look at this video or even participate in an online study.

    I am also interested in explaining conspiracy and anti-scientific beliefs through the lense of political attitudes and other socio-political variables, as well as in documenting the effects of misinformation, problematic content and unfounded beliefs.

    I obtained my PhD from the Université libre de Bruxelles. During postdoctoral researcher positions I held at the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, and the Université libre de Bruxelles, I also worked on literacy, social influence in public opinion and sustainable decisions. For one year I worked at the Competence Center for Behavioural Insights of the European Commission as a policy researcher.

    I am a member of the International Society for Political Psychology (ISPP), the European Association of Social Psychology (EASP) and the Association for Psychological Science (APS), and I currently chair the Early Career Committee of the ISPP. 

  • Publications

    2023

    2022

    • Imhoff, R., Zimmer, F., Klein, O., António, J. H. C., Babinska, M., Bangerter, A., Bilewicz, M., Blanuša, N., Bovan, K., Bužarovska, R., Cichocka, A., Delouvée, S., Douglas, K. M., Dyrendal, A., Etienne, T., Gjoneska, B., Graf, S., Gualda, E., Hirschberger, G., ... van Prooijen, J. W. (2022). Conspiracy mentality and political orientation across 26 countries. Nature Human Behaviour, 6(3), 392-403. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01258-7
    • Pantazi, M., Gkinopoulos, T., Witkowska, M., Klein, O., & Bilewicz, M. (2022). “Historia est magistra vitae”? The impact of historical victimhood on current conspiracy beliefs. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 25(2), 581-601. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430220968898
    • Pantazi, M., Papaioannou, K., & van Prooijen, J. W. (2022). Power to the People: The Hidden Link Between Support for Direct Democracy and Belief in Conspiracy Theories. Political Psychology, 43(3), 529-548. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12779

    2021

    • Adam-Troian, J., Wagner-Egger, P., Motyl, M., Arciszewski, T., Imhoff, R., Zimmer, F., Klein, O., Babinska, M., Bangerter, A., Bilewicz, M., Blanuša, N., Bovan, K., Bužarovska, R., Cichocka, A., Çelebi, E., Delouvée, S., Douglas, K. M., Dyrendal, A., Gjoneska, B., ... van Prooijen, J. W. (2021). Investigating the Links Between Cultural Values and Belief in Conspiracy Theories: The Key Roles of Collectivism and Masculinity. Political Psychology, 42(4), 597-618. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12716
    • Pantazi, M., Hale, S., & Klein, O. (2021). Social and Cognitive Aspects of the Vulnerability to Political Misinformation. Political Psychology, 42(S1), 267-304. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12797

    2020

    • Fiedler, K., Schott, M., Kareev, Y., Avrahami, J., Ackerman, R., Goldsmith, M., Mata, A., Ferreira, M. B., Newell, B. R., & Pantazi, M. (2020). Metacognitive Myopia in Change Detection: A Collective Approach to Overcome a Persistent Anomaly. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition, 46(4), 649–668. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000751
    • Pantazi, M., Klein, O., & Kissine, M. (2020). Is justice blind or myopic? An examination of the effects of meta-cognitive myopia and truth bias on mock jurors and judges. Judgment and Decision Making, 15(2), 214-229.

    2019

    • Bilewicz, M., Witkowska, M., Pantazi, M., Gkinopoulos, T., & Klein, O. (2019). Traumatic rift: How conspiracy beliefs undermine cohesion after societal trauma? Europe's Journal of Psychology, 15(1), 82-93. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v15i1.1699

    2018

    • Lantian, A., Muller, D., Nurra, C., Klein, O., Berjot, S., & Pantazi, M. (2018). Stigmatized beliefs: Conspiracy theories, anticipated negative evaluation of the self, and fear of social exclusion. European Journal of Social Psychology, 48(7), 939-954. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2498
    • Nera, K., Pantazi, M., & Klein, O. (2018). "These are just stories, Mulder": Exposure to conspiracist fiction does not produce narrative persuasion. Frontiers in Psychology, 9(MAY), Article 684. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00684
    • Pantazi, M., Kissine, M., & Klein, O. (2018). The power of the truth bias: False information affects memory and judgment even in the absence of distraction. Social Cognition, 36(2), 167-198. https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2018.36.2.167

    2018

    • Pantazi, M., Kissine, M., & Klein, O. (2018). Erratum: The Power of the Truth Bias: False Information Affects Memory and Judgment even in the Absence of Distraction (Social Cognition 36:2 (167-198) DOI: 10.1521/soco.2018.36.2.167). Social Cognition, 36(3), 381. https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2018.36.3.381
    This list of publications is extracted from the UvA-Current Research Information System. Questions? Ask the library or the Pure staff of your faculty / institute. Log in to Pure to edit your publications. Log in to Personal Page Publication Selection tool to manage the visibility of your publications on this list.
  • Ancillary activities
    • Université libre de Bruxelles
      Research and project management