Dr. Bethany Albertson (PhD, MA, University of Chicago; BA, Loyola Marymount University) is an Associate Professor in the Government Department at The University of Texas at Austin, the Faculty Director for the Archer Fellowship Program, and a Faculty Fellow at the PRE Lab. As a political psychologist, her expertise centers on American public opinion, the role of emotion in politics, and experimental research methods.

Prof. Albertson’s research investigates political attitudes and persuasion, with a particular focus on how emotions shape political cognition and behavior. Her current research employs surveys and experiments to examine the impact of religious appeals in American politics and the influence of anxiety on immigration attitudes.

Her book, Anxious Politics: Democratic Citizenship in a Threatening World (co-authored with Shana Kushner Gadarian), was awarded the 2016 Robert E. Lane Award for Best Book in Political Psychology and the 2021 Doris Graber Award for Best Book in Political Communication in the Past Decade, both from the American Political Science Association.

Prior to her current roles, Prof. Albertson was a pre-doctoral fellow at the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics at Princeton University and a Harrington Faculty Fellow at UT Austin.