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Psychology Research Institute Psychology Research Institute

Dr Z. (Zak) Witkower

Assistant Professor
Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences
Programme group Social Psychology
Area of expertise: Nonverbal behavior, Emotion expression, Sovcial hierarchy, face perception, leadership
Visiting address
  • Nieuwe Achtergracht 129
  • Room number: 2.33
Postal address
  • Postbus 15900
    1001 NK Amsterdam
Contact details
Social media
  • Personal Website

    I examine how subtle movements of the body, head, and face communicate social rank, emotion, and personality, influencing decision-making and leadership emergence. I rely on complex quantitative methods, automated and manual behavioral coding, and psychophysiological measurements to reveal how nonverbal behavior shapes social perception and guides social interactions. To ensure the generalizability of my research findings, I conduct research around the globe and across age groups, including recruiting participants from six continents, adults from non-Western and small-scale traditional societies, and children as young as two years old.

    Research expertise

    • Nonverbal behavior
    • Emotion expression
    • Sovcial hierarchy
    • face perception
    • leadership

    Media appearances

    • The New York Times (2023): Test yourself: Which faces were made by AI?
    • The Guardian (2023): White faces generated by AI are more convincing than photos
    • The Toronto Star / The Kit (2020). How to read faces now that we’re all wearing masks
    • The Toronto Star (2019). What did Chrystia Freeland and Jason Kenney’s body language say about their first meeting?
    • The Daily Beat podcast (2019). Head tilt and dominance with Zak Witkower 
    • BrainBuzz Podcast (2018). Dominance or prestige: Nonverbal communication
    • Global BC Morning News (2017). Analyzing the body language from the leaders’ debate. 
    • Vancouver Magazine (2017). Perfecting the candidate.
  • Research

    Research grants & honours

    • Witkower, Z. (Principal Investigator), & Khanna, S. (Co-Investigator). (2024). An accessible web app to revolutionize face research, and democratize objective face measurement [Grant]. University of Amsterdam, Social and Behavioral Data Science Center, Interdisciplinary Data Science Project Grant. (€10,000).
  • Teaching

    BA

    • Doing Research
    • Statistics and Research Methods for Psychology
    • Master's Internship 
    • Emotion
    • Bachelor's Thesis (PPLE)
    • Bachelor's Thesis (Psychology)

    MA

    • Applying Research Methods
    • Master's Thesis (Psychology)
  • Publications

    2024

    2023

    • Mercadante, E. J., Witkower, Z., Hohm, I., & Tracy, J. L. (2023). Beyond the fearful ape hypothesis: Humans are also supplicating and appeasing apes. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 46, Article e72. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X22001765
    • Miller, E. J., Steward, B. A., Witkower, Z., Sutherland, C. A. M., Krumhuber, E. G., & Dawel, A. (2023). AI Hyperrealism: Why AI Faces Are Perceived as More Real Than Human Ones. Psychological Science, 34(12), 1390-1403. https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976231207095
    • Witkower, Z., Rule, N. O., & Tracy, J. L. (2023). Emotions Do Reliably Co-Occur With Predicted Facial Signals: Comment on Durán and Fernández-Dols (2021). Emotion, 23(3), 903-907. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001162

    2022

    • Schmid, I., Witkower, Z., Götz, F. M., & Stieger, S. (2022). Registered report: Social face evaluation: ethnicity-specific differences in the judgement of trustworthiness of faces and facial parts. Scientific Reports, 12(1), Article 18311. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-22709-9
    • Witkower, Z., & Tracy, J. L. (2022). How and Why Head Position Changes the Perception of Facial Expressions of Emotion. Emotion, 22(5), 931-944. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000846
    • Witkower, Z., Hill, A. K., Koster, J., & Tracy, J. L. (2022). Is a downwards head tilt a cross-cultural signal of dominance? Evidence for a universal visual illusion. Scientific Reports, 12, Article 365. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-04370-w
    • Witkower, Z., Mercadante, E., & Tracy, J. L. (2022). The Chicken and Egg of Pride and Social Rank. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 13(2), 382-389. https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506211023619

    2021

    • Martin, J. D., Wood, A., Cox, W. T. L., Sievert, S., Nowak, R., Gilboa-Schechtman, E., Zhao, F., Witkower, Z., Langbehn, A. T., & Niedenthal, P. M. (2021). Evidence for Distinct Facial Signals of Reward, Affiliation, and Dominance from Both Perception and Production Tasks. Affective Science, 2(1), 14-30. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42761-020-00024-8
    • Mercadante, E., Witkower, Z., & Tracy, J. L. (2021). The psychological structure, social consequences, function, and expression of pride experiences. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 39, 130-135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.03.010
    • Witkower, Z., Hill, A. K., Koster, J., & Tracy, J. L. (2021). Beyond Face Value: Evidence for the Universality of Bodily Expressions of Emotion. Affective Science, 2(3), 221-229. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42761-021-00052-y
    • Witkower, Z., Tracy, J. L., Pun, A., & Baron, A. S. (2021). Can Children Recognize Bodily Expressions of Emotion? Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 45(4), 505-518. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-021-00368-0

    2020

    • Tracy, J. L., Mercadante, E., Witkower, Z., & Cheng, J. T. (2020). The evolution of pride and social hierarchy. In Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (pp. 51-114). (Advances in Experimental Social Psychology; Vol. 62). Universal Academic Press, Inc.. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.aesp.2020.04.002
    • Witkower, Z., Mercadante, E. J., & Tracy, J. L. (2020). How affect shapes status: distinct emotional experiences and expressions facilitate social hierarchy navigation. Current Opinion in Psychology, 33, 18-22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.06.006
    • Witkower, Z., Tracy, J. L., Cheng, J. T., & Henrich, J. (2020). Two signals of social rank: Prestige and dominance are associated with distinct nonverbal displays. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 118(1), 89-120. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000181

    2019

    • Witkower, Z., & Tracy, J. L. (2019). A Facial-Action Imposter: How Head Tilt Influences Perceptions of Dominance From a Neutral Face. Psychological Science, 30(6), 893-906. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619838762
    • Witkower, Z., & Tracy, J. L. (2019). Bodily Communication of Emotion: Evidence for Extrafacial Behavioral Expressions and Available Coding Systems. Emotion Review, 11(2), 184-193. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073917749880

    2017

    • Barlett, C., Chamberlin, K., & Witkower, Z. (2017). Predicting cyberbullying perpetration in emerging adults: A theoretical test of the Barlett Gentile Cyberbullying Model. Aggressive Behavior, 43(2), 147-154. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21670

    2016

    • Barlett, C., Witkower, Z., Mancini, C., & Saleem, M. (2016). Breaking the link between provocation and aggression: The role of mitigating information. Aggressive Behavior, 42(6), 555-562. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21650

    2020

    Prize / grant

    • Witkower, Z. (2023). CAGS/ProQuest Dissertation Award; Best PhD Dissertation in Canada across the Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities,.
    This list of publications is extracted from the UvA-Current Research Information System. Questions? Ask the library or the Pure staff of your faculty / institute. Log in to Pure to edit your publications. Log in to Personal Page Publication Selection tool to manage the visibility of your publications on this list.
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