Adi Wiezel
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Department: Psychology
Email: awiezel@elon.edu
Phone number: (336) 278-6505
Professional Expertise
Brief Biography
Adi Wiezel is a social (and political) psychologist whose research emphasizes the structure of political attitudes as well as the emotional, motivational, social mechanisms of attitude change and intergroup relations. She also has strong interests in leadership preferences, and has studied the influence of emotion on motivation and engagement in educational settings. She earned her PhD in social psychology, as well as a master's degree in political science, at Arizona State University.
She is also the director/principal investigator of the (Wiezel) Behavior, Opinions, and Relations between Groups (BORG) lab, launched in Fall 2024. You can learn more about the lab here: https://awiezel.wixsite.com/wiezelborglab
Links
News & Notes
Education
Ph.D., Psychology, Arizona State University
- Dissertation: Using the psychology of immediate rewards to improve intergroup contact across the political divide.
M.A., Psychology, Arizona State University
- Thesis: Socially motivated economic attitudes? Examining the impact of status desire on economic and social political attitudes.
M.A., Political Science, Arizona State University
- Thesis: Is political science raising politicians?: The influence of civic education on political ambition.
B.A., Political Science, Arizona State University
- Thesis: Putting the “AP” in the gender gap: A content analysis exploring the differential treatment of women in regular and AP high school civics textbooks.
Courses Taught
Social Psychology - PSY 350, PSY 2200
Experimental Research Methods & Statistics - PSY 2970
Stereotyping/Prejudice - PSY 3540
Careers in Psychology - PSY 4100
Research Methods - PSY 290
Political Psychology - PSY 394
Freshman Success/First Year Seminar - ASU 101
Publications
Laustsen, L., Sheng, X., Ahmad, M. G., Al-Shawaf, L., Banai, B., Banai, I. P., Barlev, M., Bastardoz, N., Bor, A., Cheng, J. T., Chmielinska, A., Cook, A., Fousiani, K., Garfield, Z. H., Ghossainy, M., Ha, S. E., Ji, T., Jones, B. C., Kandrik, M., … Wiezel, A, & van Vugt, M. (2025). Cross-cultural evidence that intergroup conflict heightens preferences for dominant leaders: A 25-country study. Evolution and Human Behavior, 46(3), 106674. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106674
Wiezel, A., Barlev, M., & Kenrick, D. T. (2024). Beyond stereotypes versus preferences: Sex, dominance, and the functions of leadership. Evolution and Human Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2024.04.013
Wiezel, A., Barlev, M., Martos †, C. R. Kenrick, D. T. (2024). Stereotypes versus preferences: Revisiting the role of alpha males in leadership. Evolution and Human Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2024.01.00
Wiezel, A. & Wagner, J. K. (2023). The dual nature of partisan affect: Examining the impact of inparty affinity and outparty animosity on unique forms of political behavior. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 11(1), 272-290. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.8135
Wagner, J. K.* & Wiezel, A.* (2022). Do partisans always like their inparty and dislike their outparty? An analysis of partisans across the affective spectrum. American Politics Research, 51(3), 373-380. https://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X221139475
Pick, C. M., Ko, A., Kenrick, D. T., Wiezel, A., … (and 72 international collaborators). (2022). Fundamental social motives measured across forty-two cultures in two waves. Scientific Data, 9(1), 499. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01579-w
Pick, C. P., Ko, A., Wormley, A. S., Wiezel, A., … (and 63 international collaborators). (2022). Family still matters: Human social motivation during a global pandemic. Evolution and Human Behavior.
Middleton, J. A., Wiezel, A., Smith, E., & Jansen, A. (2022). Tracing mathematics engagement in the first year of high school: Relationships between prior experience, classroom climate, and task-level emotion and motivation. ZDM – Mathematics Education.
Ambrose, L. E.†*, Wiezel, A.*, Pages, E. B., & Shiota, M. N. (2021). Images of nature, nature-self representation, and environmental attitudes. Sustainability, 13(14), 8025. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13148025
Headrick, L., Wiezel, A., Tarr, G., Zhang, X., Cullicott, C. E., Middleton, J. A., & Jansen, A. (2020). Engagement and affect patterns in high school mathematics classrooms that exhibit spontaneous problem posing: An exploratory framework and study. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 105(3), 435–456. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-020-09996-7
Wiezel, A., Middleton, J. A., & Jansen, A. (2019). Mathematics learning experiences: The practice of happiness and the happiness of practice. In Chamberlin, S. A. & Sriraman, B. (Eds.), Affect in Mathematical Modeling. New York, New York: Springer.
*: indicates shared first authorship
†: indicates undergraduate student collaborator