Damla Ergun

Research Analyst Damla Ergun, Ph.D., comes to Langer Research from Omnicom Media Group’s BrandScience unit, where she used statistical modeling to develop media strategies in fields ranging from fast-moving consumer goods to insurance. She is an expert in conducting segmentation studies and estimating brand and message awareness.

Ergun completed her doctoral degree in social and political psychology at the University of Minnesota, where she studied the psychological bases of ideology and public opinion. Her dissertation investigated the role of people’s emotions and moral dispositions in driving attitude polarization on moral issues.

Ergun has extensive experience in design and analysis of surveys and experiments; attitude measurement; statistical methods such as multiple regression, hierarchical linear modeling and structural equation modeling; and exploratory methods including factor, cluster and correspondence analysis. She has taught university classes including Social Psychology, Attitudes and Social Behavior, Research Methods and Statistics and Psychological Testing and Assessment, among others.

With collaborators, Ergun has published five articles that have appeared in peer-reviewed journals, one of which won the Morton Deutsch Award for the best article published in Social Justice Research.

Before receiving her Ph.D., Ergun completed her B.A. at Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey, and her M.A. in counseling and student personnel psychology at the University of Minnesota. Ergun belongs to the Society of Personality and Social Psychology, the International Society for the Study of Political Psychology and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.