change lab
From individual choices to social movements, we study how people and groups pursue change
We investigate what drives people to pursue social change and why the same motivations can lead to both peaceful activism and violent extremism. See the Projects section for more.
Commitment to political goals
We treat social and political engagement as a goal-directed process, investigating how people’s perceptions of importance and expectancy of the cause as well as the relations between their goals shape their willingness to act for political causes—even in the face of likely failure.
Choice of peaceful vs. violent means
We investigate why the pursuit of political goals sometimes leads to peaceful activism and other times to violence. We show that experiences threatening personal worth can motivate radicalization, but that ideology and social context determine whether this motivation is expressed constructively or destructively.
the role of social context
We study political engagement as a interdependent process, where perceptions of others’ actions and norms shape motivation to get involved. Our work shows that normative contexts determine whether political actors mobilize or alienate, and how support for extreme actors depends on polarized environments.
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katarzyna jaśko at the kraków conference on misinformation and polarization
Katarzyna Jaśko gave a presentation at the Kraków Conference on Misinformation and Polarization, held on 13–15 May 2026.
During the conference, she presented findings from research on the perception of social norms and political opinions.
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anna potoczek’s lecture during interdisciplinary seminar of the zajonc institute
On 26 March 2026, the Institute for Social Studies at the University of Warsaw hosted a meeting of the Interdisciplinary Seminar of the Zajonc Institute. The seminar featured a presentation by Anna Potoczek from the Change Lab titled “What Shapes Political Support? Psychological Mechanisms Behind Evaluations of Politicians and Political Parties”.
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new chapter publication of our lab members
The Handbook of the Psychology of Terrorism was published in March 2026 and includes a chapter authored by members of our lab, Katarzyna Jaśko and Agnieszka Kuhny.
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science meets society
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research reports
Explore summaries and reports of our studies. Here we share key findings, data-driven insights, and project outcomes.
media
A collection of interviews, podcasts, and news articles featuring our work.
open science
Here we share our activities that support collaboration and open knowledge.
…a researcher
interested in collaboration in terms of social change research.
…a student
who is curious about research on social change, or open science and would like to gain experience in research projects.
…an activist
who is happy to collaborate and share with us their experience.