Chiara Vargiu, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor in Political Communication · Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

I am an Assistant Professor in Political Communication at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. I hold a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Lausanne and previously worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR).

My research sits at the intersection of political communication and political psychology and focuses on political conflict: how people perceive hostile political communication, when they find it acceptable, and what this means for democracy. Read more about my research here.

My work has appeared in Political Psychology, The Journal of Politics, Public Opinion Quarterly, and the International Journal of Communication, among others. I am also co-author, with Alessandro Nai and Lukas P. Otto, of The Psychology of Attack Politics (Routledge, 2025). See all publications here.

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Portrait of Chiara Vargiu

My Research

My research examines political conflict through three interconnected lines of work: how citizens perceive and evaluate hostile political communication, what drives support for political violence, and how elite rhetoric shapes political conflict.

Illustration for the research section

Perceptions and Evaluations of Elite Incivility

What do citizens consider uncivil, why do perceptions differ across people and contexts, and how does incivility affect evaluations of candidates and the persuasiveness of their messages?

Psychological and Social Antecedents of Support for Political Violence

Which psychological dispositions and social circumstances make people more willing to endorse political violence, and how do these differ across partisan groups?

The Role of Elite Rhetoric in Shaping Political Conflict

How does the way political elites talk about opponents fuel or defuse conflict among the public?

Curriculum Vitae

Chiara Vargiu, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor in Political Communication, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Last updated: June 2026

Download CV (PDF)

Publications

Books

  1. Nai, A., Otto, L., & Vargiu, C. (2025). The Psychology of Attack Politics: Perceptions, Evaluations, and Effects. Routledge. [Link]

Peer-reviewed articles

  1. Vargiu, C., & Nai, A. (forthcoming). Partisan differences in support for political violence: Results from a natural experiment in the United States. Public Opinion Quarterly. doi:10.1093/poq/nfag043
  2. Nai, A., Vargiu, C., & Garzia, D. (forthcoming). You must like me for me. New experimental evidence on the interplay between musical preferences and ideological attitudes. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion & Parties.
  3. Vargiu, C., Nai, A., & Garzia, D. (2024). Stage 2 Registered Report: Incivility does not exist: An experimental assessment on the drivers of incivility perceptions and their effects on candidate evaluations. The Journal of Politics. doi:10.1086/735437
  4. Vargiu, C., Nai, A., & Valli, C. (2024). Uncivil yet persuasive? Testing the persuasiveness of political incivility and the moderating role of populist attitudes and personality traits. Political Psychology, 00, 1–20. doi:10.1111/pops.12969
  5. Vargiu, C. (2022). It's all relative: Perceptions of (comparative) candidate incivility and candidate sympathy in three multiparty elections. Politics and Governance, 10(4), 261–274. doi:10.17645/pag.v10i4.5677
  6. Vargiu, C., & Nai, A. (2022). Sincerity over accuracy: Epistemic preferences and the persuasiveness of uncivil and simple rhetoric. International Journal of Communication, 16, 1–24. [Link]

Chapters in edited books

  1. Vargiu, C. (2025). Perceived incivility. In A. Nai, M. Grömping, & D. Wirz (Eds.), Elgar Encyclopedia of Political Communication. Edward Elgar Publishing. [Link]
  2. van Dijk, R., van der Goot, E., Runderkamp, Z., Turkenburg, E., & Vargiu, C. (2024). Verruwing in de politiek: Hoe kiezers conflict en geweld in de politiek ervaren. In R. Voogd, K. Jacobs, & M. Lubbers (Eds.), Van onderstroom naar doorbraak: Onvrede en migratie (pp. 46–54). SKON. [Link]

Media

  1. Vargiu, C., & Nai, A. (December 2025). Chatbots can persuade voters. Nature, News & Views.
  2. Vargiu, C., Nai, A., & Valli, C. (May 2024). Uncivil yet persuasive? Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) Blog.

Contact

Chiara Vargiu, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor in Political Communication

Department of Communication Science

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Address
Main Building, De Boelelaan 1101
1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Email
c.vargiu@vu.nl