Lasse Suonperä Liebst

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My research concerns the role of bystander behavior in street violence and robberies, as well as the development and application of statistical methods to the study of face-to-face interactional dynamics. In this work, I combine perspectives from micro-sociology, social psychology, criminology, and behavioral biology. Methodologically, I have expertise in a wide range of quantitative approaches, including coding and estimation of video-recorded behavioral data, as well as analysis of nested data using multilevel or spatial regression tools.

I am a member of the Video Violence Group and the research group Culture and Civil Society. Further, I am an International Fellow at NSCR.

Primary fields of research

• Interpersonal violence
• Bystander helping behavior
• Video data analysis
• Micro-sociology
• Applied statistics
• Open science

Teaching

I teach broadly in micro-sociology, cultural sociology, and applied quantitative methods—including the courses ”Kultur, livsstil, hverdagsliv”, ”Advanced Culture, Lifestyle and Everyday Life” (with Jakob Demant), ”Videnskab og samfund”, ”Social interaktionsprocesser” (fall 2020) and ”Introduktion til Open Science Sociologi” (with Mathias Wullum Nielsen, summer 2021).

My supervision of bachelor and master theses ranges broadly—from micro-sociology to macro-sociology and across quantitative and qualitative methods—and I am happy to facilitate that students can work on our new datasets.

Current research

My current research challenges the traditional view that bystanders to public emergencies tend to remain passive and apathetic—as suggested by the influential ‘bystander effect’ hypothesis. Instead, my research shows that bystanders most often help victims and that group dynamics play a vital role in the decision to intervene. This research has e.g., been published in the top-ranked journal, American Psychologist, and has been featured in, e.g., The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.