Lasse Suonperä Liebst

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I am a social-behavioral scientist with a background in sociology. My research is transdisciplinary and spans the areas of micro-sociology, social psychology, criminology, and ethology. Methodologically, my expertise lies in quantitative research, particularly in combination with techniques for naturalistic video observation of interpersonal behavior.

At present, I am engaged in two lines of research: First, I examine the role of bystanders in violent encounters, in particular with respect to how and why bystanders intervene and often successfully de-escalate aggressive situations. Second, I study the extent to which members of the public comply with COVID-19 measures, such as social distancing and face-mask use.  

Besides my affiliation with the University of Copenhagen, I am a Senior Research Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR). Most of my research activities are organized within the Video Violence Group.  

 

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, livstil og hverdagsliv", ”Advanced Culture, Lifestyle and Everyday Life” (with Jakob Demant), ”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.