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Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab

Department of Psychology
 

Dr Rakoen Maertens

Now a Junior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford (New College), Rakoen served as the first Lab Manager of the CSDMLab while completing his work as a Postdoctoral Research Associate and Bye-Fellow at Downing College funded by the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He acquired his PhD at the University of Cambridge on "The Long-Term Effectiveness of Inoculation Against Misinformation", funded by the ESRC and the Cambridge Trust, after graduating with an MSc (summa cum laude with honours) in Experimental Psychology from Ghent University. Rakoen is a scientist with an international outlook seeking to harness psychological science to tackle real-world problems and global issues. At Cambridge he focused on misinformation and polarisation, the long-term effectiveness of interventions, and methodological issues. Outside of the academic world, Rakoen is entrepreneurially and diplomatically engaged in projects related to the United Nations and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Publications

Key publications: 

 

Götz, F. M.*, Maertens, R.*, & van der Linden, S. (2022). Let the algorithm speak: How to use neural networks for automatic item generation in psychological scale development. Psychological Methods. Accepted for publication. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/m6s28

Maertens, R.*, Götz, F. M.*, Schneider, C. R., Roozenbeek, J., Kerr, J. R., Stieger, S., McClanahan, W. P., Drabot, K., & van der Linden, S. (2022). The Misinformation Susceptibility Test (MIST): A psychometrically validated measure of news veracity discernment. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/gk68h

Roozenbeek, J., Maertens, R., Herzog, S. M., Geers, M., Kurvers, R. H., Sultan, M., & van der Linden, S. (2022). Susceptibility to misinformation is consistent across question framings and response modes and better explained by myside bias and partisanship than analytical thinking. Judgment and Decision Making, 17(3), 547–573. https://journal.sjdm.org/22/220228/jdm220228.pdf

Uenal, F., Sidanius, J., Maertens, R., Hudson, S. T. J., Davis, G. K., & Ghani, A. (2022). The roots of ecological dominance orientation: Assessing individual preferences for an anthropocentric and hierarchically organized world. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 81, Article 101783. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101783

Maertens, R., Roozenbeek, J., Basol, M., & van der Linden, S. (2021). Long-term effectiveness of inoculation against misinformation: Three longitudinal experiments. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 27(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000315 [Altmetric score > 900] [Selected for APA Spotlight]

Maertens, R., & van der Linden, S. (2021). A psychological vaccine against fake news. Microbiologist, 22(1), 14–17.

Roozenbeek, J., Maertens, R., McClanahan, W., & van der Linden, S. (2021). Disentangling item and testing effects in inoculation research on online misinformation: Solomon revisited. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 81(2), 340–362. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164420940378

van der Linden, S., Cook, J., Maertens, R., Goldberg, M. H., Kerr, J. R., Lewandowsky, S., Maibach, E., & Leiserowitz, A. (2021). Do climate change consensus messages cause reactance? A comment on Chinn and Hart (2021). PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/kqsfz

van der Linden, S., Goldberg, M. H., Maertens, R., Kerr, J. R., Maibach, E., & Leiserowitz, A. (2021). The effects of consensus messages and the importance of a pre-test: A comment on Chinn and Hart (2021). PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/6fua5

van der Linden, S., Roozenbeek, J., Maertens, R., Basol, M., Kácha, O., Rathje, S., & Steenbuch Traberg, C. (2021). How can psychological science help counter the spread of fake news? Spanish Journal of Psychology, 24, Article e25. https://doi.org/10.1017/SJP.2021.23

Maertens, R., Anseel, F., & van der Linden, S. (2020). Combatting climate change misinformation: Evidence for longevity of inoculation and consensus messaging effects. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 70, Article 101455. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101455

 

Other publications: 

 

Conference Contributions

Maertens, R., & Hall, A. (2022, February). Belief science: Misinformation susceptibility, science attitudes, and social motives. Symposium chaired at the 2022 Annual Convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), San Francisco, CA, USA. [best attended symposium of SPSP 2022]

Maertens, R. (2022, February). The Misinformation Susceptibility Test (MIST): A psychometrically validated measure of news veracity discernment. Talk presented at the 2022 Annual Convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), Austin, TX, USA.

van der Linden, S., & Maertens, R. (2021, February). Fake news: Novel interventions to tackle the spread of misinformation. Symposium co-chaired at the 2021 Annual Convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), Austin, TX, USA. [best attended symposium of SPSP 2021]

Maertens, R. (2021, February). Long-term effectiveness of inoculation against misinformation: Three longitudinal experiments. Talk presented at the 2021 Annual Convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), Austin, TX, USA.

Maertens, R. (2021, February). Automated item generation: Using neural network based language models for scale development. Talk presented at the 2021 Annual Convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), Austin, TX, USA.

Maertens, R. (2021, January). Pre-bunking: Long-term effectiveness of psychological inoculation against misinformation in two applied interventions. Talk presented at the 2021 Annual Conference of the University of Cambridge Economic and Social Research Council Doctoral Training Programme, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Maertens, R. (2020, May). Combatting climate change misinformation: Longevity of inoculation and consensus messaging effects. Talk presented at the 2020 Annual Meeting of the ​Belgian Association of Psychological Sciences (BAPS), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.

Maertens, R. (2020, February). Inoculation theory: Long-term effectiveness of fake news vaccine; Two longitudinal experiments. Poster presented at the 2020 Annual Convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), New Orleans, LA, USA.

Maertens, R. (2020, February). Combatting climate change misinformation: Longevity of consensus and inoculation messaging effects. Talk presented at the 2020 Annual Convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), New Orleans, LA, USA.

Maertens, R. (2020, January). Long-term effectiveness of the fake news vaccine: Two longitudinal experiments. Poster presented at the 2020 Conference on Research on Online Political Hostility (ROPH), Aarhus, Denmark.

Maertens, R. (2019, December). Falsaj novaĵoj: Vakcino kontraŭ misinformado. Talk presented at the 7th African Congress of Esperanto (AKE), Bujumbura, Burundi.

 

Books (Editor)

Tonkin, H., & Maertens, R. (Eds.). (2020). Gvidilo al la 17 celoj por daŭripova evoluigo de Unuiĝintaj Nacioj. Mondial. ISBN 9781595694102

 

Teaching and Supervisions

Teaching: 

 

Supervising

2019 - 2020

  • PBS5: Research Dissertation
  • PBS7: Influence and Persuasion in the Digital Age

2020 - 2021

  • PBS3: Social and Developmental Psychology
  • PBS7: Influence and Persuasion in the Digital Age
  • PBS7: Applied Behavioural Insights
  • 3E6: Organisational Behaviour

2021 - 2022

  • PBS3: Social and Developmental Psychology
  • PBS7: Influence and Persuasion in the Digital Age
  • PBS7: Applied Behavioural Insights

2022 - 2023

  • PBS3: Social and Developmental Psychology
  • PBS5: Research Dissertation
  • PBS7: Influence and Persuasion in the Digital Age
  • PBS7: Applied Behavioural Insights
  • 3E6 & MS1: Organisational Behaviour

 

Lecturing

2022 - 2023

  • PBS7: Influence and Persuasion in the Digital Age

 

Postdoctoral Research Affiliate

Affiliations

Classifications: 
Postdoctoral Research Affiliates

Study at Cambridge

About the University

Research at Cambridge