After graduating from high school in 2008, Larissa started her Ba Sc. in Psychology at the University of Maastricht (Netherlands), with a concentration in cognitive psychology. A study trip to South India (“Easter vs. Western Psychology”) in 2010 was followed by semester abroad 2011 at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul (Turkey). End 2011 Larissa then started her Ma Sc. in Health & Social Psychology at the University of Maastricht. She completed her master thesis (“Towards a common ingroup identity: The role of perceived attitude homophily on intergroup contact”) in the context of an obligatory research internship at the University of Cape Town (South Africa). In May 2013 Larissa took up a position as a research assistant at the Social Psychology Department at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. Her dissertation is part of a trilateral (Palestine, Israel, Germany) research project on reconciliation, funded by the German research foundation (DFG). Her research concentrates on empirical as well as theoretical investigations on the social psychological role of respect within and between groups.

Articles:

Kessler, T., Proch, J., Hechler, S., & Nägler, L. (2014), Political diversity versus stimuli diversity: Alternative ways to improve
Social Psychological Science. Behavioral Brain Sciences (in press).

Kessler, T., Harth, N.S., & Nägler, L. A. (2014), Prejudice and extremism: Explanations based on ingroup projection, perspective divergence, and minimal standards. Zeitschrift für Internationale Strafrechtsdogmatik, 19, 424-434.

Nägler, L.A., Harth, N.S., & Kessler, T. (2015), Fostering positive relations through respectful encounters: The role of respect in reconciliation. Manuscript in preparation.

Academic conference presentations:

Nägler, L.A., Harth, N.S., & Kessler, T., “Investigating the Role of Respect in Group Life”, 56. Tagung experimenall arbeitender Psychologen (TeaP), Giessen März 2014

Nägler, L.A., Harth, N.S., & Kessler, T., “R-E-S-P-E-C-T…find out what it means to me”, EASP Grand Meeting, Amsterdam July 2014

Nägler, L.A., Harth, N.S., & Kessler, T., “When do we feel respected? The role of perceived respect for groups
in conflict”, Respect Research Group Colloquium, Hamburg October 2014

Nägler, L.A., Harth, N.S., & Kessler, T., “Fostering positive relations through respectful encounters: The role of respect in reconciliation.” EASP Small Group Meeting Budapest, Hungary June 2015

Nägler, L.A., Harth, N.S., & Kessler, T., “Fostering positive relations through respectful encounters: The role of respect in reconciliation.” 17th Jena Workshop on Intergroup Processes, Oppurg June 2015

There are two daily observations that keep me pondering since the very start of my research on respect: Respect is not granted to all persons (equally). In a very passive manner, we often deny diverse groups of people our (horizontal) respect. Sometimes this happens because we may not really know how to respect others, but at other times we are possibly just blind for the need for respect of other persons. This concerns individuals with a low as well as high status.
Thus, two central but widely unexplored questions in respect research center around 1) the motivation and obstacles to respect others as well as 2) the psychological experience of respect and its consequences. Is respect contagious? What psychological resources are needed in order to respect others? Is giving or experiencing respect beneficial for our health or is disrespect health-damaging?