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Column by Wilco van Dijk about 'Internationalization'
Aspo News
Internationalization among Aspo members

Column by Wilco van Dijk about 'Internationalization'

Frankly, I have never been a huge fan of the ASPO ‘going English’. So it is a bit ironic that I’m the first to write in its English newsletter. For me, the ASPO represented one of the last stronghold against the rising tide of Anglicisation of social psychology in the Netherlands—and its yearly conference in December was a haven to present, discuss, and write about social psychological research in my first language. But the walls of this stronghold are tumbling down. After last year’s English conference, this year’s English newsletter, and an upcoming English website, ASPO’s complete transition from Dutch to English seems inevitable. Is this a good or a bad development? Actually, I don’t know, but it raises some interesting questions. For instance, do we—as an association—want to appeal to a wider international audience? And if so, how will our conference be different from other international conferences (e.g., EASP, SPSP)? ‘Going English’ also raises the more fundamental question of whether there is still a need for a Dutch Association of Social Psychological Researchers. On the 50^th anniversary of the ASPO, it is perhaps time for us—its members—to discuss the future of our dear association. As a dedicated member, I will contribute to this discussion and I hope you will do as well.

Wilco van Dijk (member since 1994 and board member from 2002-2015)

Aspo news

Recent promotions

On June 25, Hedy Greijdanus successfully defended her thesis "Intragroup communication in intergroup conflict: Influences on social perception and cognition" in Groningen. She was supervised by Tom Postmes, Ernestine Gordijn, and Martijn van Zomeren.

New appointments

University of Groningen

Since September 1st, Hedy Greijdanus works as teacher/researcher in Groningen Leiden University

Leiden University

Since September 2015, Florien Cramwinckel works as an assistant professor at Leiden University.

Maastricht University

Dr. Philippe Verduyn has been appointed as assistant professor at the Department of Work and Social Psychology at Maastricht University per October 1, 2015.
Dr. Sarah Stutterheim has been appointed as lecturer at the Department of Work and Social Psychology at Maastricht University per September 1, 2015.

Radboud University Nijmegen

Since September 1, Barbara Müller is assistant professor in Nijmegen.
Two new PhD students just started in Nijmegen under the supervision of Barbara Müller and Rick van Baaren: Sari Nijssen en Shuang Li. Sari will be doing research on human/non-human interactions in children. Shuang will study social influence techniques in cultural perspective.

Tilburg University

Seger Breugelmans (Tilburg) was appointed Associate Professor.
Michael Bender has recently been appointed Honorary Associate Professor of Psychology at the newly established Gratia Christian College, Hong Kong PRC.
Bastian Jaeger started his PhD project in October under the supervision of Ilja van Beest, Tony Evans, and Marielle Stel titled: Trust and Deception in Social Decision-Making
Cong Peng started his PhD project in October under the supervision of Ilja van Beest and Rob Nelissen titled: The recipient’s reactions to aid: How to distinguish gratitude from indebtedness. This project is funded by a Chinese Scholarship Council Grant.
Nina Spälti started her PhD project in September under the supervision of Marcel Zeelenberg and Mark Brandt titled: Why is the Status Quo so Sticky? An Information Processing Approach
Joeri Wissink started his PhD project in September under the supervision of Ilja van Beest, Niels van de Ven, and Tila Pronk titled: Understanding the Strength-is-Weakness effect in coalition formation.

Utrecht University

From January 2016, Ruud Custers will be back as associate professor at Utrecht University. For the last four years, Ruud was a senior lecturer in experimental psychology at University College London.
Since September 2015, four new PhD students have started at the Social and Organizational Psychology department: Lianne Aarntzen, Melissa Vink, Samantha Antusch, and Wiebren Jansen.

Wageningen University

Per September 2014, Ilona de Hooge (formerly Tilburg University) works as assistant professor at the Marketing & Consumer Behaviour group at Wageningen University.

Prices and Awards

University of Groningen

After winning the Aspo dissertation award, Namkje Koudenburg received two more international awards for her dissertation "Conversational Flow: The Emergence and Regulation of Solidarity Through Social Interaction", namely the Best Dissertation Award by the American Psychological Association (APA), devision 49 - Group Psychology & Group Psychotherapy and the Best Dissertation Award by the Society of Experimental Social Psychology.

Tilburg University

Nina Spälti received the Unilever Research Award for her Research Master thesis.

Events and Symposia

Catholic University Leuven

On November 5-7, 2015 an EASP/SSPI small-group meeting will take place in Leuven, Belgium, entitled "Times are a-Changing but Men’s Roles are Slow to Change: Developing a Research Agenda on the Underrepresentation of Men in Communal Roles”. This meeting is organized by Professor Colette van Laar (Centre for Social and Cultural Psychology, University of Leuven, Belgium) and Professor Toni Schmader (Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Canada). The aim is to create a forum for developing emerging research on men in counter-stereotypic and communal roles and invigorate scientific collaborations. More information can be found on: http://ppw.kuleuven.be/home/english/research/cscp/conferences/malecommunalroles.
In the days prior to the above conference, there will be a special PhD student/young scholar seminar on Sex and Sexism led by Professor Peter Glick (November 4-5th). Junior researchers interested can find more information on the following page: http://ppw.kuleuven.be/cscp/symposium (but note that spaces are limited).

Utrecht University

On 12 and 13 November, Utrecht University organizes a conference on Institutions for Moral Behavior. This two-days conference aims to address recent insights on morality by focusing on three levels of analysis: 1. the neurobiological and cognitive implementation of moral behavior in primates and humans; 2. the control of moral behavior in social interactions and dilemmas; and 3. the way in which the institutional context regulates and mobilizes moral behavior through norms and rules. More info about the registration and program can be found here: http://www.uu.nl/en/events/conference-institutions-for-moral-behavior-0

Internationalization among Aspo members

Free University Amsterdam

Jan-Willem van Prooijen is "president elect" of the International Society for Justice Research (ISJR). His Presidency starts on the ISJR conference in Kent, 2016, and will last until the next ISJR conference in 2018.

Recently, Jan-Willem van Prooijen was briefly interviewed about his research on conspiracy theorizing by Time: http://time.com/3997033/conspiracy-theories/

In 2016 Jan-Willem van Prooijen's book will be published by Cambridge University Press: Van Prooijen, J.-W., & Van Lange, P. A. M. (Eds.) (in press). Cheating, corruption, and concealment: The roots of dishonesty. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Mariko Visserman will be visiting the University of Toronto Mississauga in Canada from April to August 2016, to closely work together with Dr. Emily Impett, who is a world wide expert in research on the phenomenon of sacrifice in close relationships. Among other topics, they will investigate how perceived motives underlying a partner's sacrifice are related to gratitude.

Leiden University

Since September 2015, Marlon Mooijman is postdoctoral researcher at the University of Southern California. He studies with Dr. Jesse Graham (among others) the moralization of self control.

Free University / University of Amsterdam

Seval Gündemir (VU/UvA) got an NWO Rubicon-grant and since August 1 2015 works at Columbia Business School, Management Division, as postdoctoral researcher.

Radboud University Nijmegen

Simone Ritter is in Sydney from half September to half December 2015, doing research on creativity (University of Technology Sydney, Creativity and Cognition Studios, Australia) in the context of her Veni project.

Simone Ritter works with other scholars on an EU Marie Curie Initiative CogNovo (University of Plymouth, UK).

In January 2016, a new PhD student of Ap Dijksterhuis and Simone Ritter - Xiaoping Gu - will start with a project on the role of education in creativity ("How do different types of education influence the development of creative thinking?"). Xiaoping Gu is from China and together with Ap and Simone she received a grant from the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC).

Tilburg University

Tilburg University offers two different international double degree programs: one in Applied Social Psychology and one in Cross-Cultural Economic Psychology. The double degree program of Applied Social Psychology is a two-year program, taught at both the Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Russia) and Tilburg University. After successful completion of the program students will graduate with two degrees: MSc in Psychology, awarded by Higher School of Economics in Moscow and a MSc in Social Psychology, awarded by Tilburg University. The double degree program of Cross-cultural Economic Psychology is an international Double Degree program offered jointly by University of Osnabrück and Tilburg University. After successful completion of the program the student will graduate with two degrees: MSc in Psychology: emphasis Cross-Cultural Psychology, awarded by University of Osnabrück and MSc in Social Psychology, awarded by Tilburg University.

The summer school on “Cultural Diversity: Theory and Practice” (Coordinator: Michael Bender) has been offered in July/August of 2015 at Tilburg University, featuring hands-on experiences, roleplaying games, and an interview assignment. The course is about globalization, migration, and internationalization and clarifies what psychology has to say about societies that become more multicultural, international students, and diverse teams in organizations and at the workplace. Due to its success, the course will be offered again next year (check the summer school website for updates later this year).

For the fourth time, the Master course “Intercultural Communication” has been offered at Tilburg University (course coordinator: Michael Bender), featuring a joint virtual classroom via video conferencing between Tilburg University and our partner course at ESAN, in Lima, Peru as an example of "Internationalization at Home". The course has been featured in NUFFIC’s Transfer magazine here (p.14) and here (p.26), and will be presented in a workshop during the NUT (Nederlandstalige Universitaire Talencentra) symposium on the 15th of January at the TU Delft. The course will again be given in Spring 2016.

On the 26th and the 27th of November, the Hofstede Centre and Tilburg University will host the joint workshop “How to Do Good-quality Cross-cultural Research in Psychology and Culture”, combining a conceptual and a statistical approach. The focus is twofold, on cross-cultural analysis in psychology at the level of individuals (Fons van de Vijver, Michael Bender) and societies (Michael Minkov). Information and registration here.

Over 30% of staff members at the department of social psychology in Tilburg is non-Dutch representing 5 different nationalities.

Utrecht University

From September through January, Joshua Greene, professor of Psychology at Harvard University, is a visiting professor at the Social and Organizational department in Utrecht. Joshua Greene's research focuses on moral judgment and decision-making, primarily using behavioral experiments and functional neuroimaging (fMRI). The goal of his research is to understand how moral judgments are shaped by automatic processes (such as emotional “gut reactions”) and controlled by cognitive processes (such as reasoning). He is known for his work on the distinction between deontological moral judgments (judgments associated with concerns for "rights") and utilitarian moral judgments (judgments aimed at promoting the "greater good") in shaping moral behavior.

De nieuwsbrief staat onder redactie van Madelijn Strick (UU)
M.Strick@uu.nl