Jeroen Andre Filip Vaes

2014 : Associate professor, University of Trento, Italy

2006 : Assistant professor, University of Padova, Italy (Ricercatore)

2002 : Post-doc position, University of Padova, Italy (Assegno di ricerca)

2001 : Ph. D. in Psychology at the Catholic University of Louvain at Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

My research mainly focuses on the study of humanness as a fundamental dimension of social judgment. People tend to scale their fellow human beings on the human dimension giving full humanness to some, while seeing others as lesser human beings.

I study this dimension in different contexts like intergroup relations (i.e., processes of infrahumanization and dehumanization), in the realm of female sexual objectification and in the relationship between health care workers and patients.

In my work, the aim is to understand both the cognitive and motivational processes that underlie processes of dehumanization and its consequences.

La mia ricerca si concentra principalmente sulla dimensione umana e il ruolo che gioca nel giudizio sociale. Le persone tendono a vedere altri esseri umani attribuendo piena umanità ad alcuni, mentre vedono gli altri come esseri umani inferiori. Questo processo almeno in modo sottile si verifica molto più regolarmente di quello che pensiamo.  Per questo motivo, studio questa dimensione in contesti diversi, come le relazioni intergruppi (ad esempio, processi di infra e de-umanizzazione) ed interpersonali, l'oggettivazione sessuale femminile e nel rapporto tra operatori sanitari e pazienti. 

Nel mio lavoro, l'obiettivo è quello di comprendere i processi cognitivi e motivazionali che stano alla base della de-umanizzazione e le sue conseguenze.

Membership in professional organizations

• Full member of the European Association of Social Psychology (EASP)
• Member of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP)
• Member of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI)
• Member of the Associazione Italiana di Psicologia (AIP)

Editorial activities

Associate Editor: British Journal of Social Psychology (2010 – 2013),  Giornale Italiano di Psicologia (2012 – present), Psychologica Belgica (2009 – 2013)

Consulting Editor:  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (2005 - 2009), Social Psychological and Personality Science (2009 – 2012), European Journal of Social Psychology (2006 – 2012)

Grant appraisals: Ad hoc reviewer for Israelian (ISF), Portughese (FCT), Canadian (SSHRC) and US (NSF) research institutions.

Ad hoc reviewer of the following journals: British Journal of Social Psychology, Cognition and Emotion, European Journal of Social Psychology, European Psychologist, Group processes and Intergroup Relations, Giornale Italiano di Psicologia, International Journal of Psychology, International Review of Social Psychology, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Psychological Science, Psicologia Sociale, Sex Roles, Social Cognition, Social Psychology, Social Justice Research, Swiss Journal of Psychology, Western Journal of Communication.

• The article of Vaes et al., (2003) entitled “On the behavioral consequences of infrahumanization: The implicit role of uniquely human emotions in intergroup relations”, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, was recognized with an honorable mention in the realm of the SPSSI Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Prize 2003 - 2004 prizing the best article of the year in inter-group relations.
• Selected among the 6 best candidates (who could compete at the European level) across all sciences by the Italian Center for National Research (CNR) in the realm of the 2006 EURYI (EURopean Young Investigators) award (http://www.cnr.it/sitocnr/IlCNR/Attivita/PromozioneRicerca/EURYIcomunicazioni.html).
• Winner of the 2008 European Association of Social Psychology Jos Jaspars Early Career Award recognizing early career scientific achievements in Social Psychology.
• Awarded the qualification of Full Professor in Social Psychology (Abilitazione Nazionale Professore di Prima Fascia settore M-PSI/05, 18 dicembre 2013)
• Awarded the qualification of Associate Professor in Social Psychology (Abilitazione Nazionale Professore di Seconda Fascia settore M-PSI/05, 18 dicembre 2013)