Lana Pehar

Lana Pehar's research interests are primarily in the field of social psychology, specifically in the area of intergroup relations between members of the majority and minority in multiethnic communities and the factors that influence their complex dynamics. In her PhD research, she examined the effects of different types of intergroup contact and group norms, as well as their interplay in the prediction of intergroup attitudes and behavior of adolescents, members of the Croatian majority, and the Serbian, Hungarian, Czech, and Italian national minorities in the multi-ethnic communities of Vukovar-Srijem, Osijek - Baranja, Bjelovar-Bilogora and Istria counties. Additionally, she is interested in different theoretical approaches to the determinants of intergroup prejudice and discrimination, as well as environmental influences on the development of the ethnic identity of children and youth.

Projects

2015. – 2019. - Integracijski procesi većine i manjine u etnički mješovitim zajednicama: Uloga međuetničkog kontakta, percipirane prijetnje i socijalnih normi (IntegraNorm)
Link (ENG): http://psiho-wg.ffzg.hr/en/research/integranorm 

IntegraNorm is a project funded by the Croatian Science Foundation (IP-2014-09-4499) aimed at examining the longitudinal effects of interethnic contact, perceived threat, and social norms on ideological and interethnic attitudes and behaviors of children, adolescents, and their parents, members of the majority and minorities, in four multi-ethnic communities in the Republic of Croatia. As a project assistant, Lana Pehar participated in the planning, organization, and implementation of qualitative (focus groups and interviews with students and school staff, systematic observation of school spaces) and two waves of longitudinal quantitative research on interethnic relations on a sample of over 1,500 students and 2,000 parents. members of the majority and the Serbian, Czech, Hungarian, and Italian national minorities in four multiethnic communities in the Republic of Croatia.

Publications:

• Pehar, L. i Čorkalo Biruški, D. (2018). (Zanemarena) uloga i važnost društvenih normi u poticanju međugrupnog kontakta: Pregled dosadašnjih nalaza i istraživački izazovi. Psihologijske teme, 27(2), 221-244. https://doi.org/10.31820/pt.27.2.5 
• Čorkalo Biruški, D., Pehar, L., Jelić, M., Pavin Ivanec, T. i Tomašić Humer, J. (2020). Obrazovni izbori i stavovi prema multikulturalizmu i asimilacionizmu većine i manjine u četiri hrvatske višeetničke zajednice. Društvena istraživanja, 29 (1), 23-47. https://doi.org/10.5559/di.29.1.02 
• Pehar, L., Čorkalo Biruški, D., & Pavin Ivanec, T. (2020). The role of peer, parental, and school norms in predicting adolescents’ attitudes and behaviours of majority and different minority ethnic groups in Croatia. PLoS ONE 15(1): e0227512. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227512 
• Pavin Ivanec, T., Čorkalo Biruški, D. & Pehar, L. (2023) Effects of intergroup contact norms and school climate on youth self-reported outgroup prosocial behaviour in school. Curr Psychol 42, 7284–7296. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01714-7 
• Pehar, L., Čorkalo Biruški, D., & Jelić, M. (2023). Longitudinal effects of direct and extended intergroup contact in multi-ethnic communities in Croatia. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 26(8), 1909-1930. https://doi.org/10.1177/13684302221138340 
   

2022. – 2024. - EUROGRADUATE Survey 2022
Link (ENG): https://www.eurograduate.eu/ 

Eurogradute is a project funded by the European Commission as part of the Erasmus + program, under the lead of the Ministry of Science and Education for the Republic of Croatia. The project is implemented in 17 European countries with the goal of monitoring the career development and employability of persons with a higher education degree across Europe. As a project assistant, Lana Pehar participated in the translation, development, and implementation of an online survey questionnaire, as well as the analyses of collected data on educational experiences and the impact of these experiences on the development of professional careers and the lives of individuals with a higher education diploma obtained one and five years before the start of the research.