How can insights from political psychology help us improve the debate between the right and the left? In this episode we spoke with Prof. Gilad Hirschberger, an experimental social and political psychologist who studies collective threats and their relevance to group survival concerns and to intergroup relations. Based on a multidimensional existential threat (MET) model that he developed, he studies how the shadow of past threats, such as the Holocaust, and the specter of threats looming in the future can influence attitudes, behaviors, and cognitions.
In our conversation, we spoke about how his MET model can provide us with a different lens through which we see politics, and how his framework can help create a healthier dialogue, allowing the right and the left to work through disagreements, recognize each other's value, and to overall help us make progress and get out of the political rut in which we find ourselves.

Gilad received his BA in psychology from Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Bar-Ilan University. He then went back to Berkeley to complete his post-doctorate. Currently, Gilad is an Associate Professor of psychology at IDC.

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Ep. 4 - Prof. Gilad Hirschberger: Political Psychology & Existential Threats