Biography

• Professor of Behavioral Economics, Center for Experimental Economics and Political Decision Making (CREED), University of Amsterdam (since 2015)
• Professor of Psychology, University of Amsterdam (since 1998);
• Specialized in neurobiological and psychological foundations of cooperation, conflict, group decision making, and creativity in humans
• Fellow, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences; Association for Psychological Science; Past President European Association for Social Psychology (2008-2011)
• Editor, J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. (Associate, 2011 - 2013); J. Org. Behav. (2001 - 2005)
• H-index: 66; Total citations > 17,000 (Harzing/Google Scholar); > 3.5M Euro in External Funding; 25 PhD Students
• Published > 170 research articles (e.g., Science, PNAS, Psych Bull, J Pers Soc Psych, J Appl Psych, Proc Royal Soc Biology); > 50 review chapters (e.g., Hndb Soc Psych, Adv Exp Soc Psych, Pers Soc Psych Rev)

• click here to download full curriculum vitae

Conflict and Creativity Lab

Many decisions are made in groups. Political action is the result of decisions made by groups of politicians and advisors, international dispute resolution involves teams of negotiators, and top management teams jointly decide on business strategies affecting the lives of numerous employees and customers. But even many more mundane decisions are the result of group processes. Think about what marketing strategy a cross-functional product team proposes to upper management, or what type of party to organize for a retiring colleague.

Sometimes group decisions are of high quality, reflecting creative problem solving by individuals or groups and yielding new insights, ideas, products and services. Sometimes, however, these decisions are of quite poor quality and the result of poor regulation of conflicting perspectives and interests.

In our Conflict and Creativity Lab, we investigate these and related issues to further understand the neurobiological, psychological, and social-contextual antecedents and consequences of decisions made by individuals and groups.

We develop and use game-experimental models of group decision making, including so-called information-pooling paradigms and bargaining games of trust, cooperation and competition, along with a variety of well-established tasks to gauge creative cognition.

We measure not only behavioral tendencies and human performance, but also psychological and neurophysiological variables that enable us to understand why individuals and their groups (fail to) achieve creative solutions, regulate conflict of interest, and integrate diverse perspectives into high quality judgments and decisions.

Recent Work on Neurobiology of Cooperation

• In-group favoritism and cooperation: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin (2014)
• Oxytocin boosts group-serving dishonesty. Proceedings National Academy of Sciences USA (2014)
• The neuropeptide oxytocin regulates parochial altruism in intergroup conflict among humans. Science ( 2010).
• Oxytocin promotes human ethnocentrism, Proceedings National Academy of Sciences USA (2011).
• Oxytocin modulates selection of allies in intergroup conflict . Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences (2012)

Recent Work on Psychology of Creativity

• Motivated information processing, epistemic social tuning, and group creativity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (2010).
• When prevention promotes creativity: The role of mood, regulatory focus and regulatory closure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (2011)
• The cognitive cost and functionality of creativity under approach vs. avoidance motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (2012)
• Working Memory benefits creative insight, musical improvisation and original ideation through maintained task-focused attention. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (2012).

Recent Work on Conflict and Group Decision Making

• Now you see it, now you don't: Interests, issues, and psychological distance in integrative negotiation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (2010).
• Social value orientation moderates in-group love but not out-group hate in competitive intergroup conflict. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations (2010)
• In competitive interaction displays of red increase actors' competitive approach and perceivers' withdrawal. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology (2012)
• Interest (mis)alignments in representative negotiations: Do pro-social agents fuel or reduce inter-group conflict? Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes (2012)
• Parochial cooperation in humans: Forms and functions of self-sacrifice in intergroup conflict. Advances in Motivation Science (2014).

Media Coverage (in Dutch)

• Climate Gate en Tunnelvisie in de Wetenschap

• Artsen Straffen Helpt Niet: NRC May 2007

• Sociale Verbindingen (Idee66; 2010)

• Liever Polderen dan Polariseren

• Blije Bedrijven: NRC 2009

• Illusie van de Zelfzucht: Groene Amsterdammer 2009

• Besluitvorming NZ-lijn; Het Parool 2010

• Denkfouten over Diversiteit inOrganisaties

Past and Present PhD Students

• Ernestine Gordijn (1998)

• Ellen Giebels (1999)

• Fieke Harinck (2001)

• Bianca Beersma (2002)

• Marjolein de Best (2004)

• Gerben van Kleef (2004)

• Wolfgang Steinel (2004)

• Maria Dijkstra (2006)

• Irene de Pater (2005)

• Eric Rietzschel (2005)

• Astrid Homan(2006)

• Lotte Scholten (2007)

• Femke ten Velden (2008)

• Mauro Giacomantonio (2009)

• Matthijs Baas (2010)

• Ilona McNeill (2011)

• Shaul Shalvi (2011)

• Marieke Roskes (2013)

• Daniel Sligte (2013)

• Hillie Aaldering (2014)

• Seval Gundemir (2015)

• ozum saygi (2015)

• Tim de Wilde

• Yuie Cheng

• Nathalie Boot

• No ancillary activities