The many faces of GESIS
Vita
I am a political scientist and Senior Researcher at GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences. I received my M.A. and Dr. phil. in political science from the University of Mainz and was a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Bamberg. Prior to joining GESIS, I worked as a polling expert and project manager for an international survey company.
- Since 2015 | GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences | Senior Researcher
- 2012 until 2015 | Ipsos | Survey Project Manager
- 2010 until 2012 | University of Bamberg | Postdoctoral Researcher
- 2010 | University of Landau | Research Associate
- 2008 until 2010 | Technical University of Kaiserslautern | Research Associate
- 2005 until 2007 | University of Mainz | Adjunct Lecturer
Research
My research focuses on the psychological underpinnings of political attitudes and behavior. More specifically, my research agenda covers three main topics: (1) The role of ethnic prejudice and outgroup attitudes in political thinking. (2) The cognitive-motivational correlates of political ideologies and how they shape social and economic policy preferences. (3) The relationship between conspiracy beliefs and political attitudes.
Current Projects
- Data Portal for Research on Racism and Right-Wing Extremism (DP-R|EX)
- Psychological Profiles of Contemporary Right-wing Extremist Groups in Germany
- Causes and Consequences of COVID-19 Conspiracy Beliefs
Publications
Journal article
Jedinger, Alexander, and Pascal Siegers. 2024. "Religion, spirituality, and susceptibility to conspiracy theories: examining the role of analytic thinking and post-critical beliefs." Politics and Religion online first. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755048324000130.
Jedinger, Alexander, and Simone Kaminski. 2024. "The association between system-justifying ideologies and attitudes toward the social market economy in Germany." Current Psychology 43 (4): 3562-3572 . doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-04483-7.
Jedinger, Alexander, Lena Masch, and Axel Burger. 2023. "Cognitive reflection and endorsement of the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory." Social Psychological Bulletin 18 (23. June 2023): 1-12. doi: https://doi.org/10.32872/spb.10825.
Jedinger, Alexander, and Axel Burger. 2022. "Do smarter people have more conservative economic attitudes? Assessing the relationship between cognitive ability and economic ideology." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 48 (11): 1548–1565. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672211046808.
Jedinger, Alexander. 2021. "Conspiracy mentality predicts public opposition to foreign trade." Frontiers in Psychology 12 658919. doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.658919.
Siegers, Pascal, and Alexander Jedinger. 2021. "Religious immunity to populism: Christian religiosity and public support for the Alternative for Germany." German Politics 30 (2): 149-169. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/09644008.2020.1723002.
Jedinger, Alexander, and Marcus Eisentraut. 2020. "Exploring the Differential Effects of Perceived Threat on Attitudes toward Ethnic Minority Groups in Germany." Frontiers in Psychology 10 2895. doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02895.
Jedinger, Alexander, and Axel Burger. 2020. "The ideological foundations of economic protectionism: Authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and the moderating role of political involvement." Political Psychology 41 (2): 403-424. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12627.
Eder, Christina, and Alexander Jedinger. 2019. "FAIR national election studies: How well are we doing?" European Political Science 18 651–668. doi: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41304-018-0194-3.
Jedinger, Alexander, and Axel M. Burger. 2019. "The role of right‐wing authoritarianism and political sophistication in shaping attitudes toward redistribution." European Journal of Social Psychology 49 (3): 560-573. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2524.
Jedinger, Alexander, and Alexandra Schoen. 2018. "Anti-Americanism and Public Attitudes toward Transatlantic Trade." German Politics 27 (3): 317-338. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/09644008.2017.1332181.
Jedinger, Alexander, Oliver Watteler, and André Förster. 2018. "Improving the quality of survey data documentation: A total survey error perspective." Data 3 (4): 45. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/data3040045. http://www.mdpi.com/2306-5729/3/4/45/pdf.
Jedinger, Alexander. 2018. "The Effects of Rating Scale Format on the Measurement of Policy Attitudes in Web Surveys." Electoral Studies 51 49-57. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2017.10.007.
Heizmann, Boris, Alexander Jedinger, and Anja Perry. 2018. "Welfare chauvinism, economic insecurity and the asylum seeker "crisis"." Societies 8 (3): 83. doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/soc8030083.
Jedinger, Alexander. 2017. "Review of Berinsky, Adam J. (Hrsg.): New Directions in Public Opinion. New York: Routledge 2016." Politische Vierteljahresschrift 58 (2): 324-326. doi: https://doi.org/10.5771/0032-3470-2017-2-319.
Jedinger, Alexander, and Matthias Mader. 2015. "Predispositions, Mission-Specific Beliefs, and Public Support for Military Missions: The Case of the German ISAF Mission in Afghanistan." International Journal of Public Opinion Research 27 (1): 90-110. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edu013.
Chapter in an edited book
Jedinger, Alexander, and Tobias Michael. 2022. "Interviewereffekte." In Handbuch Methoden der empirischen Sozialforschung, edited by Nina Baur, and Jörg Blasius, 985-996. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-37985-8_65.
Jedinger, Alexander. 2020. "Kognitive Prozesse und Wählerverhalten." In Politikwissenschaftliche Einstellungs- und Verhaltensforschung: Handbuch für Wissenschaft und Studium, edited by Thorsten Faas, Oscar W. Gabriel, and Jürgen Maier, 527-553. Baden-Baden: Nomos. doi: https://doi.org/10.5771/9783845264899-527.
Jedinger, Alexander, and Tobias Michael. 2019. "Interviewereffekte." In Handbuch Methoden der empirischen Sozialforschung , edited by Nina Baur, and Jörg Blasius, 365-376. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-21308-4_25.
Jedinger, Alexander. 2018. "Metadata Documentation at the Study Level." In Data Processing and Documentation: Generating High Quality Research Data in Quantitative Social Science Research , edited by Sebastian Netscher, and Christina Eder, GESIS Papers 22, 41-44. Cologne: GESIS – Leibniz-Institute for the Social Sciences. doi: https://doi.org/10.21241/ssoar.59492.
Bathelt, Severin, Alexander Jedinger, and Jürgen Maier. 2016. "Politische Kenntnisse in Deutschland: Entwicklung und Determinanten, 1949–2009." In Bürgerinnen und Bürger im Wandel der Zeit, edited by Sigrid Roßteutscher, Thorsten Faas, and Ulrich Rosar, 181-207. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-11276-9_8.
Working and discussion paper
Struminskaya, Bella, Britta Gauly, Jessica Daikeler, Julia Khorshed, and Alexander Jedinger. 2018. Survey Data Documentation. GESIS – Survey Guidelines. doi: https://doi.org/10.15465.
Other article
Jedinger, Alexander, and Miriam Feldhausen. 2024. "Data Spotlight #2: Special data collection on Ukraine." In GESIS Blog, doi: https://doi.org/10.34879/gesisblog.2024.75.
Jedinger, Alexander, and Markus Steinbrecher. 2024. "Data Spotlight #3: Thematic data collection on foreign and security policy." In GESIS Blog, doi: https://doi.org/10.34879/gesisblog.2024.77.
Jedinger, Alexander, and Miriam Feldhausen. 2024. "Data Spotlight #4: Thematic data collection on Environment and Climate." In GESIS-Blog, doi: https://doi.org/10.34879/gesisblog.2024.80.
Jedinger, Alexander, and Miriam Feldhausen. 2023. "Data Spotlight #1: Surveys by the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government." In GESIS Blog, doi: https://doi.org/10.34879/GESISBLOG.2023.69.
Presentation at a conference
Jedinger, Alexander, and Marlene Hilgenstock. 2024. "Factors Associated with Support for Right-wing Sovereignist Movements:The Case of the Imperial Citizens." Annual Meeting of the Working Group on "Elections and Political Attitudes" of the German Political Science Association, University of Siegen, 2024-06-07.
Eisentraut, Marcus, Alexander Jedinger, and Lena Masch. 2024. "The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Search for Scapegoats: Examining the Link between COVID-19 Conspiracy Beliefs and Ethnic Prejudice." Joint conference of the section "Social Inequality and Social Structure Analysis" of the German Sociological Association and the Research Institute for Social Cohesion, Bremen, 2024-03-06.
Burger, Axel, Alexander Jedinger, and Tobias Rothmund. 2022. "Psychological predictors of hostility in online political communication: Comparing measures of epistemic preferences." 52th Congress of the German Psychological Society, Universität Hildesheim, Hildesheim, 2022-09-13.
Burger, Axel, Tobias Rothmund, and Alexander Jedinger. 2021. "Psychological Predictors of Using Online Social Networks and Instant Messaging Apps for Political Communication." 24 hours of Political Psychology: Scientific Online Meeting of the German Political Psychology Network, Friedrich Schiller Universität Jena, Virtual, Munich, 2021-02-25.
Jedinger, Alexander, and Lena Masch. 2021. "The Fear of the "Great Replacement": Conspiracy Beliefs Predict Support for Anti-Migration Policies." 24 hours of Political Psychology: Scientific Online Meeting of the German Political Psychology Network, Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, Virtual, Munich, 2021-02-26.
Jedinger, Alexander, and Axel M. Burger. 2019. "Psychological Bases of Economic Protectionism: Authoritarianism, Social Dominance Orientation, and the Moderating Role of Political Involvement." Annual Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP), 2019-07-12.
Eisentraut, Marcus, and Alexander Jedinger. 2019. "The Differential Effects of Symbolic and Realistic Threat on Ethnic Prejudice toward Minority Groups in Germany." ESRA 2019: 8th Conference of the European Survey Research Association, Zagreb (Croatia), 2019-07-19.
Jedinger, Alexander, and Axel M. Burger. 2018. "Poster on The Role of Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Political Sophistication in Shaping Attitudes toward Redistribution." Congress of the German Psychological Society (DGP), 2018-09-19.
Jedinger, Alexander, and Marcus Eisentraut. 2018. "The Differential Effects of Symbolic and Realistic Threat on Ethnic Prejudice toward Minority Groups in Germany." GESIS-IEDI Conference on Migration and Interethnic Relations, 2018-10-11.
Blumenberg, Johannes N., and Alexander Jedinger. 2018. "The Proximate Effects of TV-Debates: A Comparative Analysis of the German TV-Debates 2009, 2013 and 2017." Annual Conference of the International Association for the Study of German Politics (IASGP), 2018-05-29.
Burger, Axel M., and Alexander Jedinger. 2017. "How Temporal Distance Influences the Affective and Cognitive Bases of Candidate Evaluations in Political Campaigns." General Meeting of the European Association of Social Psychology (EASP), 2017-07-04.
Jedinger, Alexander, and Oliver Watteler. 2017. "Improving the Quality of Methodological Reports in Survey Research: Practical Guidelines and a Content Analysis of Published Reports." ESRA 2017: 7th Conference of the European Survey Research Association, 2017-07-17.
Jedinger, Alexander. 2017. "Poster on Capitalism in Crisis? Public Satisfaction with the Social Market Economy in Germany, 2006-2016." 40th Anniversary Symposium of the Politbarometer Survey, 2017-11-23.
Jedinger, Alexander, Jonas Recker, and Natascha Schumann. 2017. "Poster on Open Science Services at the GESIS Data Archive for Social Sciences." DINI-Jahrestagung 2017: Forschungsdaten - von der Produktion bis zur Langzeitarchivierung, 2017-10-04.
Siegers, Pascal, Alexander Jedinger, and Hanna Mentges. 2017. "Religiosity and Support for Right-wing Populist Parties in Germany." Annual Meeting of the Working Group on Religion and Politics of the German Political Science Association (GPSA), 2017-09-21.
Jedinger, Alexander. 2016. "Racial Prejudice, Emotions and Candidate Evaluations in the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election: Assessing the Role of Affective-Cognitive Ambivalence." Annual Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP).
Presentation not at a conference
Jedinger, Alexander. 2016. "Authoritarianism and Social Dominance as Determinants of Economic System Support." Chair of Microsociology and Social Psychology, University of Mannheim.
Seminar
Jedinger, Alexander. 2024. "Vorurteile: Theorien, Befunde und politische Implikationen." Universität Mainz, Mainz. Wintersemester 2024/25: 2 SWS.
Jedinger, Alexander. 2023. "Verschwörungserzählungen in Politik und Gesellschaft." Universität Mainz, Mainz. Wintersemester 2023/24: 2 SWS.