Stress, Islamophobic/Antisemitic Instagram Posts, and Linked Fate

Summary

This mirrored study seeks to examine the relationship between Instagram posts exhibiting religious hatred (antisemitism or Islamophobia) and physiological stress, as well as the relationship between Instagram posts that exhibit religious hatred and the belief in linked fate within corresponding religious demographics. These studies were developed to better understand the harmful effects of individual Instagram posts on physiological stress, and to explore how social media influences different demographics’ beliefs in linked fate.

Team

Ayesha Syed (PI), Psychology

Yarin (Yareen) Hagay Nevel profile picture

Yarin Hagay Nevel (PI), Psychology

Yarin (Yareen) Hagay Nevel is a third-year psychology student with a minor in Israel Studies in the Honors College. In 2023, Yarin served as the Head of International Admissions for BINA: The Jewish Movement for Social Change, a progressive Israeli liberal arts program with emphases in social work-oriented volunteering and Israeli-Palestinian dual narrative studies. Yarin’s research experience includes Psi Beta’s National Honor Society’s study, titled “What Factors Predict Beliefs in Psychological Myths?” which received a first-place prize for research; her research assistant position studying critical consciousness with UCLA’s SPHERE Lab, and, intervention development and implementation for Israeli-American teenagers in Palo Alto, California. In the future, Yarin hopes to pursue her research interests in inter-group relations and international conflict resolution by completing a doctorate, and would be the first in her family to do so.

Cecelia (Celie) Fischer profile picture

 Cecelia Fischer, undergraduate Student, History, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures (Arabic)

Cecelia (Celie) Fischer is a third-year undergraduate history and Arabic student at UCLA. She is a team leader at BruinCorps, is involved in the UCLA Dialogue Across Difference Student Leadership Program, has received a fellowship award from the Undergraduate Research Center to study the historical consciousness of Christian missionaries, and is currently researching 20th century Jewish-Christian relations for her history honors thesis.