Jonas R. Kunst is Professor of Communication at BI Norwegian Business School (Department of Communication and Culture) and Professor II of Cultural and Community Psychology at the University of Oslo. He completed his PhD in Social Psychology at the University of Oslo (2016). He has held postdoctoral fellowships at Yale University, in addition to being a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Harvard University. In 2019, he became Associate Professor and in 2020 Full Professor of Psychology at the University of Oslo.
His work has garnered multiple honors, including the Rising Star Designation and the Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions from the Association for Psychological Science, an Early Career Award from the International Academy of Intercultural Research, and a Fellowship in the Society of Experimental Social Psychology and the Association of Psychological Science.
Professor Kunst’s research focuses on acculturation, misinformation (and how organizations can address it), prejudice, violent extremism, and environmental psychology, with a growing interest in the implications of artificial intelligence. He will be teaching courses on persuasion.
Jonas R. Kunst serves as Editor-in-Chief of advances.in/psychology. He is also a Consulting Editor for the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and serves on the editorial boards of Personality and Social Psychology Review, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, and the International Journal of Intercultural Relations.
There has been much interest recently in implicit artificial intelligence (AI)-based approaches for geostatistical facies modeling. New generative machine learning constructions such as latent diffusion models (LDMs) appear to be competitive with traditional geostatistical approaches for facies characterization. Going beyond visual inspection of predictions, this study examines properties of the statistical distribution of samples generated by an LDM trained to generate facies models. The study uses a traditional truncated Gaussian random field (TGRF) model as a reference data-generating process and as the ground truth for benchmarking the LDM results. The distributions of realizations drawn from the LDM and TGRF models are compared using metrics including bias, variance, higher-order statistics, transiograms and Jensen–Shannon divergence for both marginal and joint (volume) distributions. Comparisons are made with and without conditioning on facies observations in wells for both stationary and nonstationary TGRF models with different covariance functions. The observed distributional differences are modest, and LDMs are regarded as a very promising approach here. Even so, some systematic artifacts are observed, such as underrepresentation of variability by the LDM. Moreover, the performance of the LDM is found to be sensitive to the training data.
Petterson, Aino Lilja & Kunst, Jonas R. (2025)
Understanding Diversity in Norway: Ethnicity, Gender, Religion, and Social Class
Genkova, Petia; Flynn, Matt, Morley, Michael & RAŠTICOVÁ, Martina (red.). Handbook of Diversity Competence - European Perspectives
Michal, Piksa; Magdalena, Zaniewska, Agata, Cieslik-Starkiewicz, Kunst, Jonas R., Mikolaj, Morzy, Jan, Piasecki & Rafal, Rygula (2025)
The link between tobacco smoking and susceptibility to misinformation
This study investigates the relationship between tobacco smoking and susceptibility to misinformation, an area that has been underexplored despite its potential implications for public health and media literacy. Smoking behavior, along with the pharmacological components present in tobacco, is often associated with habitual and cognitive patterns that may influence an individual's ability to critically evaluate and discern false information. By examining this potential link, the present study aims to shed light on the broader implications of smoking for societal challenges, such as the spread of misinformation.
This cross-cultural study examines the relationship between perceived COVID-19 changes due to the impacts on everyday life by the pandemic with social exclusion and across 32 cultures and their levels in collectivism. With data from the start of the first outbreak from March 2020 to June 2020 (N = 9245), multilevel analysis indicated that as individuals perceive greater daily life changes induced by the pandemic, they experience heightened levels of social exclusion, with this association being particularly pronounced in less collectivistic cultures. These findings underscore the importance of considering cultural context in understanding responses to crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, with implications for culturally sensitive interventions aimed at promoting social inclusion across diverse cultural contexts.
Kunst, Jonas R. (2025)
Redefining the Mainstream: A Review and Meta-Analysis of the Evolving Dynamics of Majority-Group Acculturation
Socio-historical factors – including coloniality – have perpetuated the long-standing neglect of cultural change among majority groups but also recently catalysed a paradigm shift. After outlining the theoretical pillars of majority-group acculturation, a meta-analysis of 37 studies (11,024 participants, 445 effects) is presented, demonstrating that majority-group members on average tend to maintain their own culture more than they adopt other cultures. The relationship between these acculturation orientations is more positive in settler society contexts than in nation-state and former colonial power contexts. Intercultural sensitivity, pro-diversity orientations, intergroup contact, and global identity are key correlates of higher other culture adoption. Whereas own culture maintenance is related to more national inclinations, unwelcoming ideologies, and threat perceptions, it does not seem to generally reflect a rejection of other cultures. Critical limitations in the current literature accentuate the necessity of integrating power dynamics, distinguishing genuine cultural adoption from cultural appropriation, and transcending static, two-dimensional models of acculturation.
Ozer, Simon; Obaidi, Milan & Kunst, Jonas R. (2025)
Globalization, immigrant acculturation expectations, and extremism
In contemporary globalized societies, intercultural relations have become central to maintaining social stability and cohesion. That is, reactions toward the transformative power of globalization as well as acculturation expectations for immigrants have emerged as important topics vis-à-vis social attitudes and activism. In two studies, we examined how reactions to globalization can shape acculturation expectations toward immigrants and in turn radicalization. In correlational Study 1, global orientations were examined regarding aspects of extremism (extremist attitudes, extremist violent intention, and opposing peaceful dialogue) through immigrant acculturation expectations among an American majority sample (N = 312). Results indicated that multicultural acquisition and ethnic protection were positively associated with both extremism and extremist violent intentions. However, multicultural acquisition was also positively linked with peaceful dialogue reflecting the endorsement of positive and harmonious cross-national relations. Moreover, the immigrant acculturation expectations of individualism mediated the relationship between multicultural acquisition and both ethnic protection and peaceful dialogue. Additionally, integrationism-transformation and segregationism mediated the relationship between multicultural acquisition and extremism. In experimental and preregistered Study 2, we focused on how negative versus positive perceptions of globalization affect hostile acculturation expectations toward immigrants and in turn extremism and extremist violent intentions in a British majority sample (N = 522). Our results indicated that globalization perceived as a threat can increase assimilationism and exclusionism and in turn extremism. These results are discussed in the context of globalization and acculturation dynamics vis-à-vis violent extremism, and the studies provide better insights into how globalized connectivity may motivate hostility against immigrants and radicalization trajectories among majority groups.
Kunst, Jonas R. & Bierwiaczonek, Kinga (2025)
Toward a Parsimonious Framework for Understanding Emotional Reactions to Conspiracy Theories Across Cultures
Conspiracy theories have the capacity to evoke intense emo-tions that can serve as catalysts for behavioral propensities,even those of the most extreme nature (Bierwiaczonek et al.,2024), underscoring the paramount importance of a psycho-logical understanding of this intricate process. While a num-ber of studies have investigated the role of emotions in thiscontext (e.g., Prooijen, 2022; van Prooijen et al., 2022;Wabnegger et al., 2024), a comprehensive framework to eluci-date how different conspiracy theories elicit distinct emotionsbased on their appraisal has been notably absent. This lacunain the literature makes the contribution by Pummerer et al.(this issue) all the more invaluable and timely. In theirreview, the authors put forward the Appraisal Model ofConspiracy Theories (AMCT) to understand the diverse emo-tional and behavioral consequences of conspiracy beliefs. Themodel posits that different features of conspiracy theories,when made salient, elicit specific combinations of appraisalsrelated to certainty, control, and pleasantness. These appraisalpatterns are thought to be associated with distinct emotionssuch as fear, anger, disgust, pride, and schadenfreude, whichin turn are connected to different action tendencies rangingfrom withdrawal, confrontation, aggression aimed at exclu-sion, to community-building. The model can be considered aseminal contribution to the field and generates many testablehypotheses for future research.However, one potential limitation that we wish to addresshere deals with the extent to which the model is suited toexplain reactions to conspiracy theories across cultures andcontexts. Why is this important? Given the strong Western-centrism in psychological research (Henrich et al., 2010;Thalmayer et al., 2021), it is crucial to ensure that generaltheories and models have value to the majority world(Gurven, 2018). As we will argue below, the challenge of theAMCT is its complexity and reliance on discrete emotionsthat are notorious for lacking cross-cultural validity, possiblyundermining the model’s cross-cultural generalizability.Therefore, we propose that a more parsimonious model ofvalence and arousal may be better suited to explain emo-tional reactions to conspiracy theories across world regions,while also noting that this alternative approach may comewith its own tradeoffs.
Benningstad, Nora Cornelia Glerud; Rothgerber, Hank & Kunst, Jonas R. (2024)
Development of the Passive and Active Meat-Animal Dissociation Scale (MADS)
Many individuals like eating meat but condemn causing harm to animals. Dissociating meat from its animal origins is one way to avoid the cognitive dissonance this ‘meat paradox’ elicits. While the significance of meat-animal dissociation for meat consumption is well-established, a recent literature review suggested that it consists of two distinct tendencies. First, people may differ in the degree to which they passively disassociate meat from its animal origins. Second, they may differ in the extent to which they actively dissociate to decrease dissonance. By developing and validating a scale in three pre-registered studies using samples of American and British meat-eaters, the present investigation aimed to quantitatively establish whether these two proposed tendencies constitute distinct constructs with different relations to dietary preferences, meat-related cognition, and affect. Study 1 (n = 300) provided initial support for a normally-distributed scale with two orthogonal dimensions that were systematically and differently related to a range of individual differences and dietary preferences. In Study 2 (n = 628), both dimensions were non-responsive to short-term cues that highlight the animal-meat link but predicted dietary preferences independent of them. Finally, Study 3 (n = 231) showed that the dissociation dimensions predict dietary preferences even in people working in the meat industry who have long-term exposure to cues that connect meat with its animal origins. Together, the results of the three studies supported the notion that people’s dissociation tendencies can be divided into two qualitatively distinct tendencies. Implications and avenues for future research are discussed.
Gundersen, Aleksander Bjørge; van der Linden, Sander, Piasecki, Jan, Rygula, Rafal, Noworyta, Karolina & Kunst, Jonas R. (2024)
Predicting Misinformation Beliefs Across Four Countries: The Role of Narcissism, Conspiracy Mentality, Social Trust, and Perceptions of Unsafe Neighborhoods
Kleppestø, Thomas Haarklau; Czajkowski, Nikolai Olavi, Vassend, Olav Mandt, Røysamb, Espen, Eftedal, Nikolai Haahjem, Sheehy-Skeffington, Jennifer, Ystrøm, Eivind, Kunst, Jonas R., Gjerde, Line Cecilie & Thomsen, Lotte (2024)
Attachment and Political Personality are Heritable and Distinct Systems, and Both Share Genetics with Interpersonal Trust and Altruism
Kleppestø, Thomas Haarklau; Czajkowski, Nikolai Olavi, Sheehy-Skeffington, Jennifer, Vassend, Olav, Røysamb, Espen, Eftedal, Nikolai Haahjem, Kunst, Jonas R., Ystrøm, Eivind & Thomsen, Lotte (2024)
The genetic underpinnings of right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation explain political attitudes beyond Big Five personality
Gundersen, Aleksander Bjørge; van der Linden, Sander, Piksa, Michal, Morzy, Mikołaj, Piasecki, Jan, Rygula, Rafal, Gwiaździński, Paweł, Noworyta, Karolina & Kunst, Jonas R. (2023)
The role of perceived minority-group status in the conspiracy beliefs of factual majority groups
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures for each experimental study, a general questionnaire examining health prevention behaviors and COVID-19 experience, geographical and cultural context characterization, and demographic information for each participant. Each participant started the study with the same general questions and then was randomized to complete either one longer experiment or two shorter experiments. Data were provided by 73,223 participants with varying completion rates. Participants completed the survey from 111 geopolitical regions in 44 unique languages/dialects. The anonymized dataset described here is provided in both raw and processed formats to facilitate re-use and further analyses. The dataset offers secondary analytic opportunities to explore coping, framing, and self-determination across a diverse, global sample obtained at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which can be merged with other time-sampled or geographic data.
Fluit, Sam; Kunst, Jonas R., Bierwiaczonek, Kinga & von Soest, Tilmann (2023)
Self-esteem trajectories over three decades predict opposition to social equality in midlife
Eldor, David S.; Lindholm, Karine, Chavez, Maria H., Vassanyi, Sander, Badiane, Michelle O. I., Yaldizli, Kemal, Frøysa, Petter, Palacios Haugestad, Christian Andres & Kunst, Jonas R. (2022)
Resilience against radicalization and extremism in schools: Development of a psychometric scale
Abstract Purpose Physically less attractive job applicants are discriminated against in hiring decisions. In a US context, the authors tested whether appearance-altering photo-filters can exploit this bias, focusing on the moderating role of job type, gender and race as well the mediating role of two major dimensions of person perception (warmth and competence). Design/methodology/approach In study 1, 223 managers evaluated White mock applicants presented with or without a beautifying filter for either a position as a social worker or an IT specialist. In study 2, 212 managers evaluated Black and White mock applicants with or without beautifying filters for an HR specialist position. Findings In study 1, beautifying filters increased perceived hireability irrespective of job type, but especially when applicants were female. Both male and female applicants whose photos were filtered were perceived as more competent, but only male applicants were perceived as warmer. In study 2, beautifying filters increased the hireability only slightly for White female applicants, followed by White and Black male applicants but substantially for Black female applicants. The filters increased the perceived competence of Black (and especially Black female) applicants but not of White applicants and increased the perceived warmth of all groups except for White females. Warmth and competence partially mediated the observed effects on hireability in both studies. Originality/value In the context of widely available technological advances, the authors show that beautifying photo-filters can exploit attractiveness biases, at least at an early hiring stage. The results emphasize the importance of intersecting factors such as gender and race.
Bierwiaczonek, Kinga; Gundersen, Aleksander Bjørge & Kunst, Jonas R. (2022)
The role of conspiracy beliefs for COVID-19 health responses: A meta-analysis
Eskelinen, Viivi; Renvik, Tuuli Anna, Pauha, Teemu, Jetten, Jolanda, Kunst, Jonas R., van der Noll, Jolanda, Rohmann, Anette & Jasinskaja-Lahti, Inga (2021)
Disentangling national and religious identification as predictors of support for religious minority rights among Christian majority groups
Revisiting the Integration Hypothesis: Correlational and Longitudinal Meta-Analyses Demonstrate the Limited Role of Acculturation for Cross-Cultural Adaptation
The #FridaysForFuture movement has attracted young activists around the world. In the present mixed-method, socio-cultural psychological research, we investigate people's motivations for joining the movement in the privileged yet paradoxical context of Norway – a country that has gathered most of its wealth through oil production (i.e., the Norwegian Paradox). In Study 1, from a thematic analysis of in-depth ethnographic fieldwork from a series of major strikes and interviews with protestors (N = 93) it emerged that attributing responsibility for climate change, a necessity for shared action to mitigate the effects of climate change, and a shared sense of collective identity, helped to galvanize the prolonged social movement. These inductive and ecologically valid findings, combined with existing theory, in Study 2, partially confirmed and extended the Social Identity Model of Collective Action (SIMCA; van Zomeren et al., 2008) with survey data from high school students (N = 362). Collective guilt, environmental threat, past protest participation, organized environmentalism, political orientation, and social capital predicted future protest intentions, whereas activist identification and group efficacy mediated these effects. We discuss how the understanding of global environmental movements from the perspective of participants, who are both structurally responsible for the crisis and will experience most of its consequences themselves, can contribute to the broader discussion on facilitating climate action within privileged contexts.
Simon, Ozer; Kunst, Jonas R. & Schwartz, Seth J. (2021)
Investigating direct and indirect globalization-based acculturation
Pauha, Teemu; Tuuli, Anna Renvik, Eskelinen, Viivi, Jetten, Jolanda, van der Noll, Jolanda, Kunst, Jonas R., Rohmann, Anette & Jasinskaja-Lahti, Inga (2020)
The Attitudes of Deconverted and Lifelong Atheists Towards Religious Groups: The Role of Religious and Spiritual Identity
Kleppestø, Thomas Haarklau; Czajkowski, Nikolai Olavi, Vassend, Olav, Røysamb, Espen, Eftedal, Nikolai Haahjem, Sheehy-Skeffington, Jennifer, Kunst, Jonas R. & Thomsen, Lotte (2019)
Correlations between social dominance orientation and political attitudes reflect common genetic underpinnings
People with mental disorders often face prejudices that can further deteriorate their condition. We tested whether Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), Right‐Wing Authoritarianism (RWA), and Belief in a Just World (BJW), and characteristics of the mentally ill predict such prejudices. Both in a general population sample and a sample of health professionals and trainees, SDO, but not RWA and BJW, predicted more prejudice, although this pattern was less pronounced among health professionals/trainees. BJW interacted with the targets' gender in Study 1, predicting less empathy toward a male but not toward a female mentally ill person. In Study 2, depressed individuals were blamed more for their illness than those with schizophrenia or cancer. Implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed.
Zickfeld, Janis Heinrich; Kunst, Jonas R. & Hohle, Sigrid Møyner (2017)
Too sweet to eat: Exploring the effects of cuteness on meat consumption
Islamophobic sentiments in the Western world have gained scientific attention, particularly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. However, the effects of religious stigma on Muslim minorities’ identity formation have rarely been studied. Using structural equation modeling, this cross-sectional study examined direct and indirect effects of different forms of religious stigma on the national affiliation of 210 Norwegian-Pakistani and 216 German-Turkish Muslims. Furthermore, the study examined the mediator role of religious identity. Our results suggest that being a Muslim in Norway is more reconcilable with affiliating with the nation than being a Muslim in Germany. However, across the samples, the results indicated that various forms of religious stigma affected Muslims’ national identity and engagement in the public and private sphere in distinct ways. These effects were both positive and negative, differed between the two samples, and in Germany, were mediated by the participants’ religious identity. The findings indicated that the ways in which religious stigma influences Muslims’ national affiliation is context and culture bound.
Kunst, Jonas R. & Lefringhausen, Katharina (1)
Investigating the forgotten side of acculturation: Introduction to the special issue
International Journal of Intercultural Relations [Kronikk]
Kunst, Jonas R. (1)
Reinventing Academic Publishing
advances.in/psychology [Kronikk]
Kunst, Jonas R. (2025)
From reactive interventions to preventive epistemology: Identifying systemic psychological vulnerabilities to misinformation and conspiracy theories
[Academic lecture]. Challenges to human vulnerability in the rapidly changing world (NEC Forum).
Kunst, Jonas R. (2025)
Reframing Acculturation – The Neglected Aspects of Majority Group Change
[Academic lecture]. Lecture Series in Political Communication.
Kunst, Jonas R. (2025)
Rethinking Acculturation – The Neglected Side of Cultural Change in Majority Groups
[Academic lecture]. Social Psychology Lecture Series.
Kunst, Jonas R. (2025)
From Response to Prevention: Addressing Root Psychological Factors in Misinformation Susceptibility
[Academic lecture]. Truth, Trust, and Technology Conference.
Palacios Haugestad, Christian Andres; Skauge, Anja Duun, Kunst, Jonas R. & Power, Seamus (2021)
Imagining the future in social movements as a driver for social change
[Academic lecture]. Conference on Environmental Psychology 2021.
Skauge, Anja Duun; Kunst, Jonas R. & Power, Seamus (2019)
“They say the youth is the future yet they won´t listen to them” A mixed-method cultural psychological study of #FridaysForFuture in the Norwegian context.
[Academic lecture]. Conference on Environmental Psychology 2019.
Kleppestø, Thomas Haarklau; Czajkowski, Nikolai Olavi, Vassend, Olav, Røysamb, Espen, Eftedal, Nikolai Haahjem, Kunst, Jonas R., Sheehy-Skeffington, Jennifer & Thomsen, Lotte (2019)
Social dominance orientation has both genetic and unique environmental influences, but only genetic pleiotropy accounts for its correlation with political attitudes.
[Academic lecture]. Human Behaviour and Evolution Society.
Palacios Haugestad, Christian Andres & Kunst, Jonas R. (2018)
A cross-cultural demonstration on the effects of dissociation on willingness to eat meat and how they are moderated by exposure to unprocessed meat
[Academic lecture]. The 19th Conference on Social and Community Psychology.
Kunst, Jonas R. & Sam, David Lackland (2013)
A Critical Investigation of Marginalization as an Acculturation Strategy in a Globalized World
[Academic lecture]. Biennial conference of the International Academy for Intercultural Research.
Kunst, Jonas R.; Tajamal, Hajra, Sam, David Lackland & Ulleberg, Pål (2012)
The influences of religious stigma on Muslim minorities’ national affiliation and engagement
[Academic lecture]. IACCP 21st International Congress.
