We’re incredibly proud of all 30 researchers who took part in the 2025–2026 Besample Dissertation Grant 🎓 Congratulations to the winners, finalists, and every researcher who made this cohort so special! 🎉🎉🎉 We can’t wait to see where their work goes next 🌍

Just 2 days left 🚀 This Friday, August 7, we'll be hosting the Besample Dissertation Grant Final Pitch Event. Everyone attending the public final will have the chance to vote for the Audience Choice Award. 👉 Learn more and register for the event: besample-dissertation-grant-…

Join us to hear about some awesome scientific discoveries firsthand, long before they get published - and vote for the best multi-cultural dissertation projects as part of the Audience Choice Award! The second portion of the event is free, and everyone is welcome to attend!

We're happy to support Zahrah's research, supervised by Prof. Dr. Manuel Spitschan (@mspitschan)! We look forward to seeing how their project expands our understanding of light exposure across cultures and climates ☀️🌍 Read more: linkedin.com/feed/update/urn…

What makes someone “high status”? Is it wealth, large social network, popularity? Or something else entirely? Status impacts our lives in powerful ways, from material to psychological well-being (Adler et al., 1994; Laurin & Engstrom, 2020). So who has status, and why? And how do people actually judge status in their everyday lives? Most research on status assumes economic resources (e.g., income) as a primary indicator (Geyer & Peter, 2000). Some researchers also include social resources like network size or popularity (Anderson et al., 2012; Cheng et al., 2014; Xu et al., 2023). But, as you may be already guessing from our series, much of this work has been built on Western samples. What's more, this research typically takes a top-down approach, relying on researchers' own definitions of what status means. What if social cues and people’s judgments about status differ across cultures? Existing cross-cultural research suggests they might. In some non-Western contexts, people have been found to place greater value on indicators such as other-orientation, self-effacement, and food versus money (Amir et al., 2019; Kim & Pettit, 2019; Miyamoto et al., 2018). For Wicia Fang, a Psychology Ph.D. Candidate at @Cornell, working with Dr. Vivian Zayas, this question is also personal. “Growing up in the diverse diaspora of the Bay Area and embedded within immigrant communities, I noticed early on that what earns someone status in one social context can look very different in another, and that those differences have real consequences,” Wicia shares. “Who's perceived to have status shapes who people want to spend time with, who gets included or excluded, and how information and opportunities flow. I've also seen how mismatched status cues across cultural backgrounds can create barriers to social connection.” Wicia will examine what status indicators organically emerge within samples across Brazil, India, Japan, Kenya, and Turkey, and whether country-level factors (e.g., economic inequality, globalization, cultural norms) predict which indicators matter most. Her research takes a bottom-up approach: rather than telling research participants what “status” means, the study asks people to describe the everyday cues they naturally use to judge someone’s status. These responses will then inform a second phase, where participants evaluate a broader set of status indicators drawn from both existing literature and responses collected in the first phase. We’re excited to support Wicia’s project and look forward to seeing how it expands our understanding of status beyond Western perspectives. P.S. Read more about research from Dr. Zayas's lab on their webpage: blogs.cornell.edu/paclab/our… #PhDResearch #PhDGrant #CrossCulturalResearch #GlobalResearch #BesampleDissertationGrant #Besample

🏆 Join us for the Pilot Results & Main Funding Competition of the Besample Dissertation Grant 🎓 Selected from more than 100 applicants, 30 doctoral researchers will pitch the results of their pilot studies and compete for 3 fully funded dissertation grants. Each grant covers international data collection with N = 3,000, as well as translation, localization, and demographic targeting. These finalists represent a new generation of scholars who are pushing behavioral science beyond the West. Their projects challenge Western-centric assumptions and address research gaps across psychology, political science, public health, linguistics, and other fields in diverse cultural contexts. The competition has two stages: Stage 1 – Jury Pitch Sessions (Closed Door) Finalists pitch their research in small-group sessions, followed by Q&A and jury deliberation. Stage 2 – Final Presentations (Open to the Public) The top projects advance to the public final, where the jury selects the three overall winners of the 2026 Besample Dissertation Grant. 📅 The public final will take place online on August 7: 9:45 AM — California (PDT) 12:45 PM — New York (EDT) 5:45 PM — London (BST) 12:45 AM (August 8) — Singapore (SGT) 👉 Register for the event: besample-dissertation-grant-… We warmly invite you to attend the public final and discover the next generation of cross-cultural researchers and their remarkable projects! @anisha0singh | @syuuqing | @AmandaRoyka | Arsen Martyshchuk | @i_montini | Senna Singh | Olena Vitkovska | Jonathan Lee | @rodriguezNina_ | Dan-Mircea Mirea | @fealingc | Wicia Fang | Carla Garcia | @OvgunSs | @brkzmyilmaz | @DanaKulz | Manali Pathare | @FaustineCo76701 | AnnaLise Hoopes | @IreinThomas | Zahrah Alwi Alkaff | @MarcusTrenfield | @ReismanSamantha | @NiveditaJhunjh2 | Tyler Salley | Kristopher Nichols | @TeulingsIrene | Paul McKee | Kara Findlay | Krystina Boyd-Frenkel 👏 #PhDResearch #PhDGrant #CrossCulturalResearch #GlobalResearch #BesampleDissertationGrant #Besample

Imagine a woman trying to escape an abusive partner. Who would she turn to for protection? Most research assumes such claims are ultimately directed at state authorities, in this case the police. Claim-making is thought of as "the citizen-led work of realizing the state's rights commitments" (Gallagher et al., 2024). And, contrary to expectations (at least ours), this literature is not merely a Western export: there is data from the Global South on how the poor engage the government in solving their local problems. But one thing in this research is still overlooked: in many cities across the Global South, the state is not the only authority. Criminal organizations and other armed groups regulate daily life, settle disputes, and provide protection — alongside the state. For example, roughly 25% of Brazil's population lives under some form of criminal governance (Uribe et al., 2026). In practice, a woman experiencing domestic violence may turn not to the police but to a local drug faction. Existing theories largely overlook this, assuming claim-making is always directed toward the state. Brokers and neighborhood associations appear in these accounts mostly as conduits to the state, not as authorities in their own right (Auerbach and Thachil, 2018; Cooperman, 2024). For Isabella Montini (@i_montini), a PhD candidate with Dr. Alison Post at the University of California, Berkeley (@UCBerkeley), this is not an abstract puzzle. Born and raised in São Paulo, she has long been drawn to understanding how the combination of state and criminal violence shapes the daily lives of people in urban peripheries. That motivation has already grounded six months of fieldwork in São Paulo’s favelas. Montini's research asks: When people need help, for anything from a broken water pipe to domestic violence, who do they turn to, and why? To answer it, she combines fieldwork with survey data, modeling how people move from experiencing a problem to recognizing it, choosing which authority to approach, deciding whether to go directly or through an intermediary, making a claim and evaluating the outcome. Which authority they turn to comes down to three questions, often in tension: who should solve it, who actually can, and what it might cost to ask. A pilot survey Isabella fielded in São Paulo showed that residents see the state as the authority that ought to be responsible. Yet in neighborhoods under stronger criminal control, they trust the state less, rely more on the faction, and feel less safe approaching the police. They view the faction as just as capable of solving problems as the state — but far riskier to approach. Security concerns are more likely to be directed toward non-state actors, while services such as water remain associated with the state. The pilot sets the stage for the full in-person surveys to come. We're excited to support Isabella's research and see what it reveals about how people navigate overlapping systems of authority in the Global South. #PhDResearch #PhDGrant #CrossCulturalResearch #GlobalResearch #BesampleDissertationGrant #Besample

“It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism,” wrote cultural theorist Fredric Jameson (Jameson, 2003). Capitalism is usually studied as an economic system. But what if it also shapes how we think about ourselves? Scientists have long argued (rather theoretically) that capitalism encourages people to treat the self as a business (Bröckling, 2016; Brown, 2015; Gershon, 2011; Kelly, 2013; Scharff, 2016). This form of selfhood is known as the entrepreneurial self. Someone with an entrepreneurial self thinks and acts as if they're a CEO managing a company: they build personal brands, network strategically, and view education and social relationships as investments (Adams, 2019; Foucault, 1979; Kasser, 2016; Whitmer, 2019). Yet despite decades of theoretical discussion, the entrepreneurial self hasn't been studied empirically. That is what Irein Thomas (@IreinThomas), working with Dr. Kristin Laurin at the University of British Columbia (@UBC), is setting out to change. For Irein, this question is also personal: “I was raised across Saudi Arabia, India, and North America, and that experience continues to shape my research. Coming from collectivist cultures, I was struck by how much modern Western culture emphasizes self-focus and self-optimization. Philosophers and sociologists helped me see that this obsession with optimizing and branding the self did not emerge out of nowhere. It probably reflects how deeply capitalism has become integrated into our minds.” The West is distinctive in its emphasis on individualism and market-oriented values. The United States, for example, tends to be more individualistic than about 95% of countries worldwide (Pelham et al., 2022). Some data suggests that materialistic values have also increased substantially over time, while civic and community-oriented values have stagnated or declined (Twenge & Kasser, 2013). Do such contexts provide fertile ground for the entrepreneurial self? In contrast, in more collectivistic societies, where relationships and interdependence are prioritized, will this self-concept create tension with prevailing cultural norms? To investigate this, Irein developed the first psychological scale measuring entrepreneurial selfhood. Drawing on psychology, sociology, philosophy, critical theory, and humanist scholarship, she examines how strongly people view themselves through an entrepreneurial lens. Early findings from Western samples reveal an intriguing paradox. People with a stronger entrepreneurial self report higher life satisfaction, happiness, and meaning — but also greater work addiction, leisure guilt, and perfectionism. Irein is now examining whether this self-concept exists beyond Western societies and whether its psychological benefits and costs are similarly experienced across cultures. We’re excited to support Irein through the Besample Dissertation Grant and look forward to seeing what this research reveals about living in a market-driven world across cultures. #PhDResearch #PhDGrant #CrossCulturalResearch #GlobalResearch #BesampleDissertationGrant #Besample

Does satisfaction with your romantic relationship depend on sexual satisfaction? Or is it the other way around? Or both? One of the most consistent findings in relationship science is that people who are more satisfied with their sex lives also tend to be more satisfied with their romantic relationships (Maxwell & McNulty, 2019; Muise et al., 2016). But what drives what? ❓Does satisfying sex strengthen relationships? ❓Do strong relationships improve sexual satisfaction? ❓Or do both processes reinforce each other over time? The answer may be more complicated than we think. Some studies find evidence for both directions, while others find only one (Byers, 2005; Fallis et al., 2016; McNulty et al., 2016; Quinn-Nilas, 2020; Vowels & Mark, 2020; Zhao et al., 2022). This inconsistency suggests that the connection between sexual and relationship satisfaction may depend on factors scientists have not fully considered yet. This gap drives the research of Kara Findlay, a Ph.D. student at Florida State University (@FloridaState), working with Dr. Andrea Meltzer. “Through conversations with students and researchers about their personal experiences, and the privilege of learning directly from Elena’s research during her graduate training, I became increasingly aware of how strongly culture shapes social behavior,” Kara explains. “People's beliefs about love, intimacy, and commitment are deeply influenced by social norms and expectations. I hope this work will help move relationship science beyond its traditional Western focus and contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the factors that support satisfying relationships across diverse populations and cultural settings.” Despite romantic relationships being a nearly universal human experience, most research on this topic comes from WEIRD societies. Yet cultural differences in autonomy, social connectedness, and thinking styles may be important. Compared to Western focus on individual happiness and independence, many non-Western cultures place greater emphasis on relationships and interconnectedness (Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Singelis, 1994), which may encourage more holistic processing of social information (Ji et al., 2000; Kitayama et al., 2003). To study this, Kara is collecting longitudinal data from partnered adults in Ghana and India. Research participants report both their sexual satisfaction and relationship satisfaction over time, allowing researchers to analyze how changes in one predict changes in the other. Kara also explores whether factors such as stress, attachment insecurity, and neuroticism strengthen or weaken these associations. Finally, findings will be compared with data from Western samples to determine whether the relationship between sexual satisfaction and relationship satisfaction is similar across cultures — or potentially stronger in Ghana and India. We're excited to support Kara as part of the first cohort of Besample Dissertation Grant and follow where this research leads! #PhDResearch #PhDGrant #CrossCulturalResearch #GlobalResearch #BesampleDissertationGrant #Besample

The ongoing war in Ukraine has exposed millions of people to chronic stress, uncertainty, displacement, and loss. Under such conditions, access to comprehensive psychological support is limited – but likely much needed. How can we psychologically support people who are living through a full-scale war right now? One approach involves brief psychological interventions designed to change how people interpret difficult experiences. Known as WISE (Wise Interventions to Shift Explanations), they help people reframe adversity, social challenges, or negative emotions in more adaptive ways, for example, focusing on personal strength and resilience. The WISE framework has shown promising results – but as usual, the data overwhelmingly comes from Western countries (Walton & Wilson, 2018). Ukraine’s cultural and social context has been underrepresented in psychological research, meaning standard Western models do not automatically apply. So the question is: can the same approach work in Ukraine? Can reflecting on personal strength help Ukrainians cope with the psychological impact of war? These questions drive the research of Olena Vitkovska, a Ph.D. researcher at the University of Vienna (@univienna), working with Dr. Veronika Job and Dr. Christina Bauer (@ChristinaBauerA). Olena shares: “I’m originally from Ukraine and witnessed the invasion firsthand, waking up to the sound of explosions in my hometown of Kyiv on February 24, 2022. Since then, I moved to Vienna to study and conduct research, but many of my close family members remain in Ukraine. I’ve seen the toll the war continues to take on people, and I felt that if my research could help in any way, I should try.” Olena developed a 15-minute online reframing intervention designed to enhance people’s psychological adaptation. Participants read quotes from other Ukrainians who shared their experiences overcoming challenges during the ongoing war. They are then prompted to reflect on their own growth experiences in a short writing exercise. During the study, researchers measure: – Trauma-coping self-efficacy: People's confidence in their ability to deal with adversity (Benight et al., 2015). – Flourishing: A broader measure of psychological well-being, meaning, purpose, and positive functioning (Diener et al., 2010). The study examines both immediate effects – and whether any benefits remain weeks later. Olena plans to follow up with participants after two weeks and one month to gain a clearer picture of how robust the intervention's effects are. It remains a task for future research to understand the full magnitude of the psychological turmoil Ukrainians must overcome, and how it might change local society and culture. We are proud to support Olena’s project, which not only closes research gaps but also aims to support people during the devastating realities of war. #PhDResearch #PhDGrant #CrossCulturalResearch #GlobalResearch #BesampleDissertationGrant #Besample

What is well-being? In the West, the “gold standard” of well-being is individual happiness and life satisfaction. In public policy and global rankings (like the World Happiness Report), this complex concept is often measured with single-item life satisfaction measures, such as Cantril’s Ladder, where people are asked to rate their life from 0 to 10. But do these measures actually capture what matters to people in a good life? Research shows that well-being is multidimensional, involving health, meaning, autonomy, and personal growth (Ryff, 1989; Seligman, 2011; Linton et al., 2016; Ruggeri et al., 2020; VanderWeele & Johnson, 2025), as well as engagement, harmony, and social relationships (Nilsson et al., 2024; Vittersø & Teulings, 2025). Yet in practice it is usually measured using extremely short indicators. Moreover, cross-cultural research shows that some aspects of well-being, such as maximizing individual happiness and autonomy, are in fact “WEIRD” ideals (Krys et al., 2024; Martela et al., 2025). In many non-Western contexts, harmony, family, social relationships, morality, and collective well-being can be more central (Uchida et al., 2004; Delle Fave et al., 2016). Take Indonesia as an example. When measured using the one-item 0–10 Cantril’s Ladder, it ranks 89th in life satisfaction. However, when measured using a multidimensional index covering happiness, health, purpose, and relationships, it ranks 10th (Shiba et al., 2022). Irene Teulings (@TeulingsIrene) investigates this contradiction as part of her Ph.D. research at the University of Oslo (@UniOslo), working with a team of research advisors and collaborators: Espen Røysamb (@EspenRoysamb), Joar Vittersø, Ragnhild Bang Nes (@ragnhildbangnes), and Ludvig Daae Bjørndal (@ludvigdbj). “I’ve had the privilege of meeting people from a wide variety of cultures around the world, and many describe a ‘good life’ in ways that are richer than simply being ‘satisfied’ or ‘happy’,” Irene shares. “This made me increasingly curious about whether our most widely used well-being measures truly reflect what people themselves care about.” Irene compares the UK and Japan to test whether well-being domains carry different weights across cultural contexts. Participants report (1) overall life satisfaction and happiness, (2) experiences across 16 wellbeing domains (e.g., meaning, relationships, calmness, autonomy, health, engagement, prosociality), (3) their ideal levels, and (4) how important each domain is to them. Irene then uses machine learning models to examine which domains best predict life satisfaction, whether these patterns align with people’s priorities, and how results vary across countries and measures. Yet another fascinating project from the Besample Dissertation Grant 2026 cohort! We are looking forward to seeing what Irene discovers – and to a better understanding of what “well-being” means across cultures. #PhDResearch #PhDGrant #CrossCulturalResearch #GlobalResearch #BesampleDissertationGrant #Besample

Would you want to know your coworker’s political views — or would you rather not? If you’re unsure, this is not surprising. Finding out that you disagree politically with a colleague can change workplace relationships pretty drastically — especially if you live in a Western country. Research suggests that, in Western societies, political disagreements can reduce trust, collaboration, and willingness to openly share ideas (Bermiss & McDonald, 2018). Employees become more cautious around colleagues who are politically dissimilar; many self-censor to avoid interpersonal tension (Detert & Edmondson, 2011). Political identity has become one of the strongest social divides in some Western societies. In the U.S., Democrats and Republicans report increasingly distrusting and avoiding each other socially. They express discomfort with cross-party friendships and even marriages (Iyengar et al., 2012; Finkel et al., 2020). Tyler Salley, one of Besample’s Dissertation Grantees, once lost a friendship over political disagreement: “During the 2016 U.S. election cycle, my good friend and I found ourselves on the opposite sides of the political spectrum. An increasingly charged political media climate began to affect how we saw each other. The conflict escalated when he expressed violent sentiments toward a political figure online. I confronted him, and our friendship abruptly ended when he cut me out of his life. I was left trying to understand how such a deep bond could fracture over politics. This led me to connect this experience to my training in organizational psychology and to wonder how similar dynamics might unfold in workplaces where people have to interact despite political differences”. As painful as it was, this story inspired Tyler to dedicate his doctoral research to the effects of political divide. He works with Dr. Felix Danbold at @ucl, investigating how people navigate political identity at work. Basically, he asks: Do we really want to know what our coworkers identify with politically? Tyler's research brings together theories of social identity and uncertainty reduction (Tajfel & Turner, 1979; Hogg, 2007), blending them with newer approaches which suggest that people sometimes actively avoid information when it may create emotional or social costs (Sharot & Sunstein, 2020; Ho et al., 2021). Unlike mainstream research, Tyler is taking a global-first approach. While Western political identity maps onto a relatively familiar liberal-conservative spectrum (Bermiss & McDonald, 2018; Iyengar et al., 2019), in countries like Turkey, India, or Argentina, political conflict may center less on “left vs. right” and more on religion, nationalism, caste, or historical memory (Carothers & O'Donohue, 2019). Tyler’s research explores whether the same patterns hold beyond the West, where political and moral divisions look different. Yet another exciting research project supported by the Besample Dissertation Grant – stay tuned for more! #PhDResearch #PhDGrant #CrossCulturalResearch #GlobalResearch #BesampleDissertationGrant #Besample

Say you and your friend won $100 playing a game together. Your friend takes $30 and leaves you with $70. Does that feel nice… or a little weird? Many people in the West would say it feels unfair — even though they got the larger share (see Kahneman et al., 1986; Henrich et al., 2001). People in many non-Western societies (such as Kenya, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Fiji) would be more comfortable with unequal splits that favor themselves (e.g., Henrich et al., 2005). Fairness is a global issue — from gender-based pay gaps (Blau & Kahn, 2003) to income inequality (Wagstaff & van Doorslaer, 2000), yet most research on it comes from the West and assumes that unfairness feels the same way everywhere. This gap in knowledge drives the research of Samantha Reisman (@ReismanSamantha), a Ph.D. student in cognitive science at Brown University (@BrownUniversity), working with Dr. Julia Marshall. But Samantha takes a fascinating developmental twist: instead of focusing only on adults, she studies how these cultural norms emerge in the first place — by comparing how children and adults respond to unfairness. “Growing up in the U.S., I saw family and friends navigate the aftermath of hurricanes and floods. When neighbors offered help, they found it surprising and even uncomfortable to accept,” Samantha explains. “In communities abroad, I saw a different response: neighbors shared openly with each other, even when they themselves had very little, redistributing resources without the emotional weight that accompanies that type of exchange at home. That made me wonder: what if unfairness doesn’t carry the same emotional meaning everywhere?” Indeed, research has established that children across cultures respond differently to unequal resource splits. In the US, Canada, and Uganda, children tend to dislike having more than others, while in India, Senegal, and Peru, kids often do not (Blake et al., 2015). Samantha's question is what particular kinds of emotions children and adults across these cultures feel when observing unfairness. To investigate this, she studies people in Brazil, Japan, Nigeria, Indonesia, and Mexico. These countries differ in how individualistic or collectivistic their cultures are — shaping expectations about how resources should be distributed (Vandello & Cohen, 1999). They also span different language families, where emotions themselves may be structured and interpreted differently (Jackson et al., 2019). Participants will play a behavioral economics task known as the Dictator Game. But instead of deciding how to split resources, they will be on the receiving end — getting more, less, or an equal share. After each round, participants report their emotions in two ways: labels (guilt, jealousy, surprise, excitement) and valence + arousal (Russell, 1980). Samantha will analyze cultural and developmental patterns in these emotional responses. We’re excited to support Samantha with Besample Dissertation Grant and see what her research uncovers about fairness across cultures. #PhDResearch #PhDGrant #CrossCulturalResearch #GlobalResearch #BesampleDissertationGrant #Besample

One of the most fascinating questions in psychology is this: ❓ How do we understand what other people are thinking? Psychologists call this ability Theory of Mind — our capacity to infer other people’s thoughts, intentions, and perspectives (Premack & Woodruff, 1978). It’s what allows us to communicate, cooperate, avoid misunderstandings, and navigate social life. Most Western research treats Theory of Mind as a relatively stable ability. Besides, classic findings suggest that people are somewhat egocentric by nature: we often default to our own perspective even when trying to understand others (Keysar et al., 2003; Epley et al., 2004). ❓But what if perspective-taking is more flexible than we are used to thinking? This is the question that inspired Manali Pathare, a PhD student working with Dr. Andrew Conway at New Mexico State University (@ASNMSU). Her idea is both simple and profound: what if the way we read the minds of other people can shift — depending on the cultural environment we are placed into. Research from some non-WEIRD countries already hints at this possibility. Compared to Western populations, people in collectivist societies often show: -> greater sensitivity to social relationships, -> reduced egocentric bias in communications (Wu & Keysar, 2007), -> different developmental trajectories of perspective-taking (Callaghan et al., 2005; Lecce & Hughes, 2010). There is also evidence that even brief exposure to different cultural mindsets can shift attention and reasoning (Oyserman & Lee, 2008; Jiang & Sui, 2022). But most studies have compared different people across cultures. Manali’s work asks an even more interesting question: ❓ Can the same person temporarily shift or adjust their theory of mind ability — simply by being exposed to a different cultural mindset? In Manali's study, participants will be exposed to different “cultural rule systems” based on frameworks such as individualism vs. collectivism (Triandis, 1995; Singelis et al., 1995). They will then complete Theory of Mind tasks such as the Director Task (Dumontheil et al., 2012). Manali is one of the finalists of the Besample Dissertation Grant, and I’m excited to follow where this research leads! #PhDResearch #PhDGrant #CrossCulturalResearch #GlobalResearch #BesampleDissertationGrant #Besample

When state authorities check your ID or scan your belongings, does it make you feel safer? If you live in a Western context, you will likely say yes: more security, less danger. What you may not realize is that it can be linked to the level of trust in government. In the Western worlds, security checks are relatively contained — we pretty much only experience them at airports, when crossing borders, or at major events. But in some non-Western countries, checkpoints are part of everyday life — they can suddenly pop up in city centers or on ordinary roads. This changes how people experience state authority. While restrictive security measures can increase perceived safety, they can also reduce perceptions of fairness, economic well-being, and trust in government. Research shows that security policies indeed involve trade-offs: measures intended to improve security also impose costs on civilians: by limiting movement, disrupting daily routines, and making rules seem arbitrary (Kalyvas, 2006; de Mesquita & Dickson, 2007; Kocher et al., 2011). Sometimes this affects whether people trust authorities or are willing to cooperate with them (Condra & Shapiro 2012; Shaver & Shapiro, 2021). Decreased trust relates to something even bigger: do people see the state as legitimate — and are they willing to cooperate with it? This matters in multiple ways; one of them is that, in conflict settings, governments usually rely on civilians sharing information, following rules, and cooperating (Berman et al., 2011; Balcells, 2010; Carter, 2016). When trust or legitimacy weakens, such cooperation can break down. So whether or not you impose additional security checkpoints is, in a way, a tradeoff between public security and public trust. This tradeoff is the main focus of doctoral research for Burak Kazim Yılmaz, working with Dr. Danielle Jung (@daniellefjung) at Emory University (@EmoryUniversity): “I became interested in how security policies are experienced in daily life, not just as formal policy tools,” Burak explains. “Even when the intention is protection, the lived experience can be very different. For some people, checkpoints feel routine or even reassuring. For others, especially those who expect to be stopped more often, they can feel arbitrary or unfair.” To study this, Burak runs a survey experiment in Turkey. Participants evaluate scenarios involving either counterterrorism checkpoints (where vehicles are stopped and identities checked) vs. routine inspections that involve oversight without restricting movement. They then report how these policies affect everyday life, including safety, economic activity, fairness, trust in authorities, and willingness to cooperate with the state. Burak then analyzes how the tradeoff between security and trust plays out for different types of checkpoints in a non-WEIRD context. We are excited to support Burak's dissertation research and see what it uncovers! #PhDResearch #PhDGrant #CrossCulturalResearch #GlobalResearch #BesampleDissertationGrant #Besample

📰 In a new Behavior Scientist (@behscientist) article, our founder Elena Brandt (@lenajbrandt) shares lessons we’ve learned at Besample over the past three years while supporting researchers in their studies across the globe 🌍 This experience has taught us that to overcome the WEIRD bias in science, it is not enough to merely sample more countries. For truly diverse and globally representative research, we need to unlearn the Western defaults embedded in our methods — and in our expectations about how research participants are supposed to think and behave. We’re grateful to the Behavioral Scientist team, and especially to Editor-in-Chief Evan Nesterak, for their support in bringing this piece to life! 👉 Read the article here: behavioralscientist.org/help… See what we’ve learned about study localization, data quality, demographics, financial and technical infrastructure — and feel free to share your own lessons from researching beyond the West in the comments. #BehavioralScience #CrossCulturalResearch #GlobalResearch #Besample