Felipe Vilanova won the Graduate Travel Award of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology
Photo: Mariana Haupenthal
Felipe Vilanova, a student in the Graduate Program in Psychology (PPGP), won the Graduate Travel Award 2019, awarded by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP). Vilanova is the first Brazilian to win the award since it was created in 2016. In order to be eligible for it, students must have consistent international productions and have a high evaluation record. Winners will be entitled to funding resources to attend the company’s annual convention, in Feb 2020, in the US and will have their production shared on the Society’s social media.
Vilanova submitted the paper Evidence for cultural variability in Right-Wing Authoritarianism factor structure in a politically-unstable context. He monitored a number of individuals for a period of 3 years (2016- 2018) and looked at their views on politics. “We reckoned that in Brazil, unlike in the rest of the world, governments and laws tend to be seen as things that do not deserve respect or obedience. Even when the government and the laws change, as in 2016 and 2018, people’s perceptions of them was highly stable”, Vilanova says. The full article has been recently accepted in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. It should be published in early 2020.
Under the supervision of School of Health and Life Sciences professor, Dr Ângelo Brandelli Costa, and co-advised by professor Dr Taciano Lemos Milfont, from the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, Vilanova believes that the partnership of the Graduate Program with the New Zealand university has made it possible for him to win the award. Moreover, because of the relevance of SPSP as a reference for the promotion of social psychology worldwide, the student believes that the award will earn the national scientific production some degree of visibility.
