Dr. Nicholas Valentino

Biography

Nicholas Valentino is the Donald R. Kinder Collegiate Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan's College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, as well as a Research Professor at the Center for Political Studies within the Institute for Social Research. He serves as the Principal Investigator for the American National Election Studies (ANES) and has been the President of the International Society of Political Psychology for the term 2019-2020. Previously, Valentino held the position of Associate Principal Investigator for ANES. His research specializes in political psychological approaches to understanding public opinion formation, socialization, information seeking, and electoral participation. Utilizing experimental methods, surveys, and content analyses, his work looks into the intersecting roles of racial attitudes and public emotions, particularly focusing on the dynamics of anger versus fear. Valentino has extensively written on the causes and consequences of empathy towards ethnic outgroups and has contributed to several notable journals and publications in the field. His book 'Seeing Social Divisions: Politics, Group Empathy' co-authored with Cigdem Sirin and Jose Villalobos has garnered multiple awards, including recognition by the American Political Science Association. Valentino is currently investigating the evolving nature of racial rhetoric in the U.S. and how empathy may mitigate excessive responses to perceived threats in a multicultural context.

Research Interests