After her Social Sciences bachelor at University College Roosevelt, Charlotte was searching for a master’s that really went into the depth of one discipline. “I really like psychology, social psychology in particular. Some people ask me ‘Why didn’t you do clinical psychology?’ I think that normal people are odd enough.”
She found her new home at the Research Master Social Psychology at VU. “There was so much enthusiasm. Discussions in the classrooms. People were really involved”. She laughs when thinking back of her fellow students. “It was an international group, full of strong personalities. The cultural differences were funny; when the Dutch went on their coffee break, we came back after 10 minutes, but apparently in other countries they are a lot less strict about time. I remember one girl even buying a calendar for the first time. It was a group dynamic-study on its own.”
Subliminal Prejudice
Luckily teachers knew how to handle the tough crowd by giving inspiring lectures. “I remember being hungry for their knowledge”. Charlotte feels fortunate to have studied with David Amodio, the renowned social neuroscientist from New York University. “He was a lecturer at VU in one of the courses on social neuroscience. He did a lot of studies on subconscious prejudices and their influence on behavior.” Because of the connection with Amodio during the VU course (“I must have impressed him somehow”), Charlotte was able to have her master thesis on subliminal prejudice supervised by him. “I have always been interested in situations where people feel uncomfortable about something because it clashes with their personal interest.”
After her master’s she went to Leiden to pursue her PhD in Social Psychology which she received in 2015. After her PhD Charlotte decided to leave science. “Personally I missed variation and diversity in in science, something I díd experience during my research master. Collaborating in groups, feeding off each other’s qualities on a daily basis. I experienced science as more solitary. And other people give me energy”
Climate Policy
Charlotte now works as a policy advisor for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy. Where she’s mainly occupied with the question how to involve citizens more with Dutch Climate policy, through public participation and community engagement. In her current role she also advises the minister on the engagement of younger generations. “Young people are known for their ambitious way of approaching climate change. They have a new way of looking at issues, different than people who are older, going into retirement. It’s important to keep an ongoing conversation with younger generations, because climate is something that concerns the future.”
Considering the Research Master Social Psychology? “If you like diving in the deep, high quality lectures and getting a quality look into the theory” Charlotte would recommend it. “If you like a challenge, this is a good one!”
