Mabelle Kretchner is a PhD student in Political Science supervised by Eran Halperin, Julia Elad-Strenger & Sivan Hirsch-Hoefler, affiliated with Bar Ilan University, Hebrew University, and Reichman University. Holding an MA in Social Psychology from Reichman University under the supervision of Prof. Gilad Hirschberger, her research focuses on the emotional basis of the political divide and extremism, specifically exploring the emotions underlying Affective Polarization and their social and political outcomes. Kretchner has developed the 'Motivated Helplessness' hypothesis with Dr Uri Lifshin & Prof. Mario Mikulincer and published three papers on that. She is involved in the Hope Road Map project led by Dr Oded Leshem, examining the relationship between past disappointments, future hopes, future-oriented perceptions, and political behaviours within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict context. Additionally, Kretchner was involved in the Political Extremism project led by Prof. Sivan Hirsch-Hoefler and Dr Julia Elad-Strenger, aiming to enhance understanding of individual characteristics, intergroup relations, emotions, and threat perceptions in promoting extremist attitudes and behaviours towards minorities. She has presented her work at various conferences and has received the President's Award for Academic Excellence (first class honors) from Reichman University Herzliya and The President’s Scholarship for Outstanding Doctoral Students for the Academic Year 2024. Academic expertise includes Intergroup Relations, Political Psychology, Social Emotions, Affective Polarization, and Motivated Helplessness.
Academic expertise
Intergroup Relations, political psychology, social emotions, affective polarisation, and motivated helplessness
Topic for press interviews
Affective polarisation, emotion, and ideological conflict