Dr. Elena Stephan
CV
2016-Present: Senior Lecturer (tenured)– Bar-Ilan University – Psychology Department (Social/Organizational area).
Elena Stephan received her Ph.D. in social psychology from Tel-Aviv University, Israel in 2006. She then joined the School of Psychology, University of Southampton, England, as a post-doctoral research fellow. Since 2011, Elena is at the Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University: Director of the Social Cognition and Motivation Lab, Head of the Social and Organizational Area (2016-2019). In 2019, Elena was a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Social Psychology, University of Basel, Switzerland.
Publications
Stephan, E., & Walker, M. (2024). The true self in reflections? Visual self‐recognition and the Big Five. European Journal of Social Psychology.
Walker, M., & Stephan, E. (2024). The effect of approach and avoidance motivation on self-perception. Acta Psychologica, 248, 104391.
Albath, E.A., Stephan, E., & Greifeneder, R. (2024). Ostracizers’ Mark of Disgrace: Ostracism Increases the Actor-Observer Difference. European Journal of Social Psychology, 54(2), 610-628.
Stephan, E., & Sedikides, C. (2024). Mental Time Travel as Self-Affirmation. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 28(2), 181-208.
Hepper, E., Sedikides, C., Wildschut, T., Cheung, W. Y., Stephan, E.,..& Zatsepin, A. S. (2023). Pancultural nostalgia in action: Prevalence, triggers, and psychological functions of nostalgia across cultures. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.
Stephan, E., Shidlovski D., Shanetzki, M., Agajany, K., & Mashal, N (2022). The role of vividness of imagery in metaphors use in language. European Journal of Social Psychology,53(1), 212-229.
Amit, E., Rim, S.Y., Halbeisen, G., Cohen Priva, U., Stephan, E., & Trope, Y. (2019). Distance-dependent memory for pictures and words. Journal of Memory and Language,105, 119-130.
Sedikides, C., Wildschut, T. & Stephan, E. (2018). Nostalgia Shapes and Potentiates the Future. In J. P. Forgas & R. F. Baumeister (Eds.) The Social Psychology of Living Well. New York: Routledge.
Stephan, E., Shidlovski, D. & Sedikides, C. (2018). Self-Prospection and Energization: The Joint Influence of Time Distance and Consideration of Future Consequences. Self and Identity, 17(1), 22-36
Stephan, E., Faust, M., & Borodkin, K. (2018). The role of Psychological Distancing in Appreciation of Art: Can Native versus Foreign Language Context Affect Responses to Abstract and Representational Paintings? Acta Psychologica, 186, 71-80
Stephan, E. (2017). The Influence of a Foreign versus Native Language on Creativity. Creativity Research Journal, 4, 426-432
Stephan, E., Shidlovski, D. & Heller, D. (2017). Distant Determination and Near Determinism: The Role of Temporal Distance in Prospective Attributions to Will. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 68, 113-121
Stephan, E., Sedikides, C., Wildschut, Cheung, W.Y., Routledge, C., & Arndt, J. (2015) Nostalgia-Evoked Inspiration: Mediating Mechanisms and Motivational Implications. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41(10), 1395-1410.
Stephan, E. Sedikides, C. & Heller, D., Shidlovski, D. (2015). My Fair Future Self: The Role of Temporal Distance and Self-enhancement in Prediction. Social Cognition, 33 (2), 149-168.
Stephan, E., Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., Zhou, X., He, W., Routledge, C, Cheung, W., & Vingerhoets, A.(2014). The Mnemonic Mover: Nostalgia Regulates Avoidance and Approach Motivation. Emotion, 14(3), 545-561.
Hepper, E. G., Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., Ritchie, T., Yung, Y.-F., Hansen, N., Abakoumkin, G., Arikan, G., Cisek, S., Demassosso, B. D., Gebauer, J., Gerber, J. P., Gonzales, R., Kusumi, T., Misra, G., Rusu, M., Ryan, O., Stephan, E., Vingerhoets, A., & Zhou, X. (2014). Pancultural nostalgia: Prototypical conceptions across cultures. Emotion, 14(4), 733-747.
Stephan, E., Sedikides, C., & Wildschut, T. (2012) Mental travel into the past: differentiating recollections of nostalgic, ordinary, and positive events. [in special issue: Mental time travel: social psychological perspectives on a fundamental human capacity] European Journal of Social Psychology, 42, (3), 290-298.
Heller, D., Stephan, E., Kifer, Y., & Sedikides., C. (2011). What Will I Be? The Role of Temporal Perspective in Predictions of Affect, Traits, and Self-Narratives. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47 (3), 610 - 615.
Stephan, E., Liberman, N., & Trope, Y. (2011). The Effects of Time Perspective and Level of Construal on Social Distance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47 (2), 397-402.
Stephan, E., Liberman, N., Trope, Y. (2010). Politeness and Psychological Distance: A Construal Level Perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98 (2), 268-280.
Liberman, N., Trope, Y., & Stephan, E. (2007). Psychological Distance. In E. T. Higgins and A. Kruglanski (Eds.) Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles (Vol. 2). New York: Guilford Press.
Kluger A. N., Stephan, E., Ganzach Y., & Hershkovitz , M. (2004). The Effect of Regulatory Focus on the Shape of Probability-Weighting Function: Evidence from a Cross- Modality Matching Method. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 95, 20-39.
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Courses
| Number | Name | Year |
| 6091201 | Social Psychology (MA) |
2013-25 |
| 6049501 | Psychological Distance Aspects in Interpersonal Relations (BA) | 2011-24 |
| 6075701 | Social Cognition: Understanding the Self and Others (MA, PhD) | 2011-12 |
| 6091301 | Advanced Research in Social Psychology (MA) | 2011-24 |
| 6057801 | Social Cognition and Interpersonal Processes (BA) | 2013-14 |
| 6092101 | Social & Organizational Psychology seminar (MA) | 2011-22 |
| 6097801 | Language, Cognition and Interpersonal Communication (MA, PhD) | 2012-14, 2023-24 |
| 6058001 | Self and Identity (BA) | 2025 |
| 6020901 | Introduction to Social Psychology (BA) | 2011-13 |
Research interests
Social cognition and motivation: I examine the effects of psychological distance (e.g., temporal distance, social distance) on representations of the self, other people and events and address predictions, evaluations and decisions individuals make. My central research themes include:
- Cognitive, motivational and emotion consequences (and their interrelations) of psychological perspective on the Self. For example, I study the effects of temporal distance on predictions about future Self; coping with psychological threat; mental representation of emotionally distinct autobiographical recollections (nostalgia research).
- Psychological distance aspects in interpersonal relationships. I study the effects of using native versus second language on perception and task performance; the role of metaphors in language use. I am also interested in examining distance-related aspects in close relationships.
Grants
Stephan E. (2019-2025). From Self-Prospection to Self-Regulation: How Distance of the Future Self Impacts Representation and Regulation of the Self. Israel Science Foundation.
Stephan, E. (2013-2017). The Role of Psychological Distance in Coping with Self-threat, Israel Science Foundation.
Last Updated Date : 04/09/2024
