Research

Research

My work centers on affective polarization: how to conceptualize it as a genuinely affective phenomenon, how to measure it well in multi-party democracies, how it emerges as young people come of age politically, and what to do about it. A full list, including talks, is in my CV; on Google Scholar and ORCID.

Peer-reviewed publications

  • Kasper, J., Schumacher, G., & Bakker, B. N. (2025). Establishing the construct and predictive validity of brief measures of affective polarization. European Journal of Political Research. DOI Shiny app

  • Laffineur, C., Kasper, J., te Brinke, L., Bakker, B. N., & Schumacher, G. (2025). Political interest, activism, and affective polarization: Dutch adolescents and adults are not that different. Tijdschrift voor Communicatiewetenschap. DOI

  • Kasper, J., & Gilovich, T. (2025). Do people prefer to share political information that boosts their ingroup or derogates the outgroup? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. DOI

  • Kasper, J., & Bakker, B. N. (2025). Book review of Alexa Bankert, When politics becomes personal: The effect of partisan identity on anti-democratic behavior. Public Opinion Quarterly. DOI

  • Kasper, J., Fiedler, K., Kutzner, F., & Harris, C. (2023). On the role of exploitation and exploration strategies in the maintenance of cognitive biases: Beyond the pursuit of instrumental rewards. Memory & Cognition. DOI

Under review

  • Kasper, J., Bakker, B. N., Lelkes, Y., & Schumacher, G. (under review). Beyond valence: Arousal as a core dimension of affective polarization. Preprint

  • Schumacher, G., Kasper, J., Van der Velden, M. A. C. G., Zaslove, M., Rooduijn, M., & Bakker, B. N. (under review). Strengthening democracy with interventions: A conceptual replication of a megastudy in the Netherlands. Preprint

  • Kasper, J., Schumacher, G., te Brinke, L., Crone, E., & Bakker, B. N. (under review). Coming of age in polarized times: Affective polarization across adolescence. Preprint

  • Kasper, J., Lee, R. T., Pennycook, G., Binnendyk, J., & Sezer, O. (under review). People overestimate support for “cancellation”. Preprint

In preparation

  • van de Wetering, J., Bakker, B. N., van den Bos, W., te Brinke, L., Green, K., van de Groep, S., Kasper, J., Ma, I., Schumacher, G., Sweijen, S., & Crone, E. (in prep). Youth perspectives on polarization: Concerns and intervention pathways.

  • Tsakiris, M., Arahal, I., Kasper, J., Kegel, J., Nika, C., & Niraki, M. (in prep). Coming of age at the ballot: Public and expert attitudes towards the ideal voting age.