Marika Landau-Wells

Research Expertise and Interest

political psychology, conflict, national security, public opinion, foreign policy

Research Description

Marika Landau-Wells' research is broadly concerned with the effects of cognitive processes – including perception, attention, concept formation, learning, and memory – on political behavior.  Specifically, she focuses on understanding: (1) national security decision-making; and (2) the beliefs ordinary citizens hold about contentious public policies (e.g., immigration policy, climate change policy) and how those beliefs change.  Landau-Wells adopts an interdisciplinary approach to research by incorporating insights and tools from cognitive science, and neuroscience in particular. 

In the News

Shock, insecurity and endless war: How 9/11 changed America and the world

For tens of millions of Americans alive on Sept. 11, 2001, the images are indelible: Flames exploding from a tower of the World Trade Center against a brilliant blue sky. In the shock that followed those terror attacks, it was common to imagine that the world had changed forever. Just how, exactly, no one could know. Twenty years later, after so many other turns of history, the ragged withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan is a reminder of how the nation has struggled to answer the attacks.
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