Dr. Leen Nasser graduated with a PhD from the SPP lab. She joined the lab after completing a B.A. degree in psychology and cognitive science at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, and an M.A. degree in psychological science at Ryerson University.
Leen’s dissertation work examined collective action, which refers to actions taken on behalf of a person’s group to improve the position of the group; such actions can be normative (peaceful) or non-normative (destructive). Social identity models of collective action have dominated the literature to date. The social identity model of collective action integrates three primary motivators of collective action: perceived injustice, perceived efficacy, and social identity. Recently, models have begun to include ideology as a driver of collective action. For example, the System Justification Model of Collective Action integrates system justifying ideology into traditional social identity models. In her dissertation, Leen used this model to examine identity-, ideology-, and emotion-based predictors of normative and non-normative collective across three studies in the context of the presidential transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden, and the Capitol Hill Insurrection, as well as the context of attitudes about reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples in Canada, and their attitudes on the toppling of the Egerton Ryerson statue, the former namesake of the university. Leen also conducted a qualitative analysis regarding participants’ attitudes toward the toppling of the Ryerson statue. Findings from across the three studies support the notion that identity (e.g. political identity, allyship), ideology, and system emotions predict normative and non-normative collective action.
Leen currently works as a Behavioural Scientist at the Debut Group in Toronto (https://www.debutgroup.com/).