Welcome!

You will find some details here about my research. Please get in touch!

About me

I am a doctoral candidate at Central European University in Vienna. I deal with questions in political psychology using experiments & other tools for causal inference. My dissertation investigates various aspects of political group behavior: the compound emotional and policy opinion effects of winning and losing elections, or the temporary effect of other group identity salience on partisan behavior such as affective polarization. My other projects look at the limits of citizen accountability on complex or controversial issues such as drug regulation or political scandals. I am a serious hobby cyclist. My academic hobby is reading about animal behavior.

Recent publications

Hamrak, B., Simonovits, G., Rusnak, A., & Szucs, F. (2024). Why Politicians Won’t Apologize: Communication Effects in the Aftermath of Sex Scandals. British Journal of Political Science. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123424000292
Hamrak, B., Simonovits, G. & Szucs, F. (2024). Equilibrium communication in political scandals. European Journal of Political Economy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2024.102580

Current research

Door to door campaigns in an electoral autocracy: Evidence from Hungary (with Gabor Simonovits, Ferenc Szucs) Conditionally accepted ABSTRACT
Status quo bias drives preferences about drug policy (with Gabor Simonovits)
Post-election shifts in affective polarization Under review
Can football reduce out-party hate? Evidence from 142 games played by the English national team
Descriptive representation and local-level political engagement: Evidence from breaking the highest glass ceiling in Slovakia (with Daniel Kovarek)