Maria Paola Paladino

2000 Ph.D. in Social Psychology, Università di Padova

1998 Participant of the EAESP Summer School, Leuven, Belgium.

1992 Master equivalent degree (laurea) in Psychology, Università di Padova

2006 - present  Associate Professor, Social Psychology, University of Trento
2000 - 2006      Assistant Professor, Social Psychology, University of Trento

My research originates in response to real-world social issues or scientific debate and is aimed to generate new scientific knowledge and to apply them to improve society. Within this perspective, I investigated the process of dehumanization and its behavioral outcomes in several social contexts (e.g. national identities, gender relations, people’s interactions with social robots), social phenomenon as the gaydar or the consequences of social exclusion in early adolescents. More recently my attention was drawn by social issues that are related to gender-related discrimination and violence and to socio-economic and educational inequalities that I started to study relying on a social identity approach.

Research group

SMaB Lab

At the Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, I coordinate (in collaboration with Jeroen Vaes) a research group denominated Social Mind and Behavior Lab (SMaB Lab). The research group includes post-doctoral fellows, PhD students, Master and Bachelor students, and internship fellows. For a full description of SMaB Lab: https://sites.google.com/g.unitn.it/smablab

Member of the European Association of Experimental Social Psychology
Member of the Italian professional association of Psychologists (Albo degli Psicologi della Regione Veneto)

Editorial activity

Editorial Board (associate editor):

2021 - 2022 European Journal of Social Psychology

2018 - 2021 Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

2010 - 2013 Psicologia Sociale

Editorial Board (consulting editor):

2009 - 2022 present European Journal of Social Psychology

2017 - present Psicologia Sociale

2017 – present Review International de Psycologie Sociale

2017 – 2018 Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

2022 – 2024     “StandByMe 2.0: STop gender-bAsed violeNce by aDdressing masculinities and changing Behaviour of Young people through huMan rights Education” project funded by the EU under CERV-2021-DAPHNE - Total budget 987K - Role: PI of the University of Trento Unit

2021 – 2023     ICAN-COVID19 – A behavioral Intervention to foster compliance with COVID-19 prevention guidelines at the University of Trento - Progetto strategico di Ateneo

2020 - EASP Collaboration Grant - Does the endorsement of different COVID-19 conspiracy theories predict different social behaviours in the context of the pandemic? Empirical evidence from Italy – European Association of Social Psychology –  Role: participant

2018 - 2018: Miur-FFABR 17.

2017 – 2019 “How can early adolescent cope with social exclusion at school? A test of emotion regulation strategies”, Scientific supervision.

2015 – 2018 ACANTO: A CyberphysicAl social NeTwOrk using robot friends" project funded by the EU under the H2020-EU.3.1. Team member.

2012 – 2014 Progetto Caritro “Omofobia, stereotipi sessuali e informazioni veicolate dalla voce. Leader of the Trento research unit.

2008 - 2012 PRIN, The Spatial Bias Agency, grant received by MIUR (Ministero dell’Istruzione, Università e Ricerca). PI of the Trento research unit.

2006 – 2010 KOLIPSI: South Tyrolean students and the second language from a linguistic, psychological and social perspective. Institute of Specialized Communication and Multilingualism, EURAC, Bozen, Italy. Scientific supervision.

2005 - 2007 PRIN, “The extended contact hypothesis” grant received by MIUR (Ministero dell’Istruzione, Università e Ricerca). PI of the Trento research unit.

2003 – 2005 PRIN, “Stereotype and social stigma” grant received by MIUR (Ministero dell’Istruzione, Università e Ricerca). Team member of the Trento unit.

2002 “Secondary emotions and intergroup interactions”, grant received by UNITN.

(Last 5 years)

Paladino, M.P (invited speaker). Fear of social robots? Investigating the motivational and cognitive underpinnings of a threat to distinctiveness account. Keynote speaker at the 12ème édition du Congrès International de Psychologie Sociale en Langue Française, 4-6 July, 2018.

Paladino, M.P. (invited speaker). Fear of social robots? Investigating the motivational and cognitive underpinnings of a threat to distinctiveness account. Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, 22 January, 2018.

Paladino, M.P., Mazzurega, M., Pavani, F., Schubert, T., & Lombardi, L.. What divides us brings us together: Establishing the role of synchronous stimulation in social cognition. 18th General Meeting of the EASP, Granada, Spain, July 2017.

Paladino, M.P. (invited speaker). Are we ready for it? An intergroup relations perspective to the social acceptance of social robots. Workshop Groups Human-Robot Interaction, Part 1. 25th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication. 27 August 2016

Paladino, M.P. (invited speaker). Fear of social robots: A threat to distinctiveness account. EASP Summer School, Exeter, August 2016.

Paladino, M.P. (invited speaker). “On synchrony and social relations: Synchronous multisensory stimulation fosters social bonding”. Presentation at the Symposium in honor of Manos Tsakiris, EPS Prize ” Self Reloaded: From Body Parts to Social Identity'.University of Lincoln, UK, July 2015.

Paladino, M.P., Ferrari, F., Jetten. J. Blurring human-machine distinction: Anthropomorphic appearance in social robots as threat to human distinctiveness. 44 Annual Conference of Australasian Social Psychologists, Newcastle, Australia, April 2015.

Paladino, M.P., Ferrari, F., Jetten. J. (invited speaker). Fear of social robots: A threat to distinctiveness account. Center for Research in Social Psychology (CRISP), School of Psychology, Queensland University, Brisbane, 19 March, 2015.

Paladino, M.P., Mazzurega, M., Bonfiglioli, C., (invited speaker). Women positioned up and left: Using spatial symbol of leadership to encourage female leadership aspirations. Seminar at Social Identity and Group Network (SIGN), School of Psychology, Queensland University, Brisbane, 6 March, 2015.

Paladino, M.P. (invited speaker). Women positioned up and left: Using spatial symbol of leadership to influence the construal of leader role and female leadership aspirations. Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway, 28 April 2014.

Paladino, M.P. (invited speaker). Group dehumanization: an overview. Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway 22 April 2014.

Main accademic roles

Doctoral School in Psychological Science and Education/Cognitive Science

2016 – 2022 Coordinator

2009 – 2016 Vice-coordinator

2008 – present Member

2014 – 2017 Coordinator of the Bachelor in Sciences and Techniques in Cognitive Psychology

Department committee

2019 - present Delegate SAR

2012 – 2019 Member of the Improving quality of teaching committee (Innovazione didattica)

2012 – 2016 Member of Criteria for Recruitment and Career progression committee (Criteri Reclutamento e Upgrade)

2015 – 2016 Percorso di Eccellenza (Bachelor)

2015 – 2016 “Giunta di dipartimento”