Psychology

Hartmut Blank

Dr. Hartmut Blank

Reader in Experimental and Social Psychology

Psychology

hartmut.blank@port.ac.uk

Profile

Background

1991 Diploma in Psychology and 1995 Dr. rer soc. (in Psychology), both University of Konstanz (Germany); 1996 – 2005 Assistent / Oberassistent (Lecturer / Senior Lecturer) in Social Psychology, University of Leipzig (Germany); 2002 Habilitation (Dr. rer soc. habil.) and Privatdozent in Psychology. I joined the department in September 2005.

Teaching Responsibilities

Unit coordinator for 'Introduction to Experimental Psychology' (1st year unit), 'Hindsight Bias' (3rd year option) and 'Research Methods and Data Analysis: Strategies and Skills' (MSc Forensic Psychology).

Research

My research interests cluster around memory and social psychology, including implications for forensic settings. I am a member of the Portsmouth-based International Centre for Research in Forensic Psychology (ICRFP).

A long-standing research interest of mine is to look at memory and remembering from a social psychological point of view. This means not only investigating various forms of social influence on memory but also trying to theoretically integrate the perspectives of social and memory psychology. In terms of memory phenomena, I am particularly interested in social influence on eyewitness memory (for example, the stability and reversibility of memory distortions caused by misleading post-event information, or the effect of audiences on eyewitness recall) and in the hindsight bias (a distorted representation of the foreseeability and inevitability of event outcomes, once they have happened). The latter was the topic of a recent research project (see below), and I am currently collaborating with Steffen Nestler (University of Leipzig, Germany), trying to develop and empirically investigate an integrative theoretical perspective on this phenomenon.

I am also interested in the theoretical analysis of memory processes, particularly in the conversion stage (Tulving, 1983) of memory retrieval, where accessed memory information is transformed into an observable response. I think that much of social influence on memory takes place at this stage.

A social psychological topic I’m particularly interested in is Fritz Heider’s (1946, 1958) cognitive balance theory. In collaboration with Eva Walther (University of Trier, Germany) and Bertram Gawronski (University of Western Ontario, Canada), we investigate how cognitive balance, or more generally speaking, cognitive consistency, works at an implicit level, going beyond cognitive rule-based explicit judgments. Apart from that, I’m also interested in effects of cognitive balance on memory.

Research Grants

  • 2004 – 2005 Grant from the German Research Foundation (Project: A component model of the hindsight bias incl. a “living meta-analysis”; 45.000 £)
  • 2005 Grant from the German Research Foundation (International workshop on the hindsight bias; 11.500 £)

Recent Publications

 

More recent publications

 

Publications Before 2006

  • Blank, H. (2005). Publikumseffekte bei Zeugenaussagen [Audience effects in eyewitness testimony]. Zeitschrift für Sozialpsychologie, 36, 161-174. (Abstract)
  • Blank, H. (2005). Another look at retroactive and proactive interference: A quantitative analysis of conversion processes. Memory, 13, 200-224. (Abstract)
  • Gawronski, B., Walther, E. & Blank, H. (2005). Cognitive consistency and the formation of interpersonal attitudes: Cognitive balance affects the encoding of social information. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 41, 618-626. (Abstract)
  • Schyns, B., Paul, T., Mohr, G. & Blank, H. (2005). Comparing antecedents and consequences of leader-member exchange in a German working context to findings in the US. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 14, 1-22. (Abstract)
  • Blank, H. (2004). Conversation logic effects in the minimal group paradigm: Existent but weak. Current Research in Social Psychology, 10, 84-103. (Abstract)
  • Walther, E. & Blank, H. (2004). Entscheidungsprozesse im Falschinformationsparadigma: Die Rolle von Unsicherheit, Metakognition und sozialem Einfluss [Decision processes in the misinformation paradigm: The role of uncertainty, metacognition, and social influence]. Psychologische Rundschau, 55, 72-81. (Abstract)
  • Blank, H. (2003). Identifying dominant allocation strategies of individuals in the minimal group paradigm. Current Research in Social Psychology, 9, 75-95. (Abstract)
  • Blank, H., Fischer, V. & Erdfelder, E. (2003). Hindsight bias in political elections. Memory, 11, 491-504. (Abstract)
  • Petersen, L.-E. & Blank, H. (2003). Ingroup bias in the minimal group paradigm shown by three-person groups with high or low state self-esteem. European Journal of Social Psychology, 33, 149-162. (Abstract)
  • von Collani, G. & Blank, H. (2003). Persönlichkeitsmerkmale, soziale Überzeugungen und politische Parteienpräferenzen: Eine Internetbefragung zur Bundestagswahl 2002. [Personality traits, social beliefs, and political party preferences: An internet survey on the occasion of the German parliamentary election 2002.] Zeitschrift für Politische Psychologie, 11, 307-324. (Abstract)
  • Blank, H. (2002). The role of horizontal categorization in retroactive and proactive interference. Experimental Psychology, 49, 196-207. (Abstract)
  • Blank, H. (2002). Evaluating reviews: A possible means for quality control and reward allocation in the review process. Cortex, 38, 408-410.
  • Petersen, L.-E. & Blank, H. (2001). Reale Gruppen im Paradigma der minimalen Gruppen: Wirkt die Gruppensituation als Korrektiv oder Katalysator sozialer Diskriminierung? [Real groups in the minimal group paradigm: Does the group context work as a corrective or catalyst of social discrimination?] Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie, 48, 302-316. (Abstract)
  • Blank, H. & Fischer, V. (2000). "Es mußte eigentlich so kommen": Rückschaufehler bei der Bundestagswahl 1998 [„It had to turn out that way“: Hindsight bias in the German parliamentary elections in 1998.]. Zeitschrift für Sozialpsychologie, 31, 128-142. (Abstract)
  • Blank, H. (1998). Memory states and memory tasks: An integrative framework for eyewitness memory and suggestibility. Memory, 6, 481-529. (Abstract)
  • Blank, H. (1997). Cooperative participants discriminate (not always): A logic of conversation approach to the minimal group paradigm. Current Research in Social Psychology, 2, 38-49. (Abstract)
  • Gigerenzer, G., Hell, W. & Blank, H. (1988). Presentation and content: The use of base rates as a continuous variable. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 14, 513-525. (Abstract)