Jiayan Mao

Jiayan Mao is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He received his Ph.D. from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, under the supervision of Dr. Jan-Willem van Prooijen and Dr. Paul A. M. Van Lange, where he studied conspiracy theories from an intergroup perspective. He also visited the Social Justice Lab at New York University as a Visiting Academic, collaborating with Prof. John T. Jost.

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His research focused on developing a nuanced categorization of conspiracy theories. Specifically, he examined the psychological antecedents and social consequences of conspiracy beliefs, with an emphasis on distinguishing between ingroup conspiracies (e.g., involving one’s own government) and outgroup conspiracies (e.g., foreign actors).

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Beyond conspiracy theories, Jiayan’s research interests span a wide range of topics in social and political psychology, including system justification theory, economic inequality, and social class. He is committed to advancing cross-cultural and interdisciplinary research, particularly through the use of Large Language Models to study conspiracy theories. He welcomes opportunities for collaboration and encourages interested colleagues to reach out.