Paul van Lange | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Citizenship | Amsterdam |
| Education | University of Groningen |
| Known for | Research on cooperation and trust |
| Awards | Van der Aa Oevre award (Career award) for his contributions to the behavioral sciences from the Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij voor Wetenschappen (Royal Dutch Society for Sciences) (2024) Lifetime Achievement Award from the European Association of Social Psychology (2023) Ig Nobel award (2022), category Peace Ammodo Science Award Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences team award 2020 Kurt Lewin Award (mid career, 2014), European Association of Social Psychology |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Social psychology |
| Institutions | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam |
| Website | www.paulvanlange.com |
Paul A.M. van Lange is a Dutch professor of psychology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, distinguished scholar at the University of Oxford, and holds a global professorship at the University of Cologne.
In his work on trust and human cooperation, he adopts psychological, economic, and ecological approaches to the brighter and darker sides of humankind. In so doing, he studies empathy, altruism, and fairness, as well as competition, norm violations, and hate, as well as broad societal issues such as climate change, refugee crisis, or intergroup conflict (e.g., in soccer). He served as supervisor for more than 40 PhD students and Post-Docs, who completed research on topics such as cooperation in social dilemmas, gossip, bystander-effect, social mindfulness, and social relations (Vitamin S).
He has (co)authored around 250 articles in journals such as Behavioral and Brain Sciences , PNAS , Nature Human Behavior , Psychological Bulletin , and Perspectives on Psychological Science , and received various awards such as the Ig Nobel award, Ammodo Science Prize (for teams) by the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Kurt Lewin Award (mid-career), Lifetime Achievement Award by the European Association of Social Psychology, and a Lifetime Achievement Award (Van der Aa) for his contributions to behavioral science by the Dutch Royal Society of Science.
He has also (co)edited or authored 13 books on a variety of topics, including social dilemmas, how to publish, cheating and corruption, and power and politics, including Handbook of theories of social psychology (2012) and Handbook of social psychology: Basic principles (see "official website"). He is involved in many outreach activities, including contributions to (inter)national media, advice to national campaigns (SIRE, #DOESLIEF), and providing annual workshops for mayors and other professionals in the Netherlands and Europe. He has previously served as president of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology and scientific director of the Kurt Lewin Institute, is the founding editor of Current Opinion in Psychology and Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, and served as associate editor for, among others, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and Psychological Science.
Eric Lansdown Trist was an English scientist and leading figure in the field of organizational development (OD). He was one of the founders of the Tavistock Institute for Social Research in London.

Kurt Lewin was a German-American psychologist, known as one of the modern pioneers of social, organizational, and applied psychology in the United States. During his professional career Lewin applied himself to three general topics: applied research, action research, and group communication.
Stephen J. Ceci is an American psychologist at Cornell University. He studies the accuracy of children's courtroom testimony, and he is an expert in the development of intelligence and memory. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the prestigious Lifetime Contribution Awards from the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Association for Psychological Science (APS) as well as many divisional and smaller society awards.
Harold Kelley was an American social psychologist and professor of psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. His major contributions have been the development of interdependence theory, the early work of attribution theory, and a lifelong interest in understanding close relationships processes. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Kelley as the 43rd most cited psychologist of the 20th century.
Morton Deutsch was an American social psychologist, psychoanalyst, and researcher in conflict resolution. Deutsch was one of the founding fathers of the field of conflict resolution. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Deutsch as the 63rd most cited psychologist of the 20th century.
Cultural-historical psychology is a branch of psychological theory and practice associated with Lev Vygotsky and Alexander Luria and their Circle, who initiated it in the mid-1920s–1930s. The phrase "cultural-historical psychology" never occurs in the writings of Vygotsky, and was subsequently ascribed to him by his critics and followers alike, yet it is under this title that this intellectual movement is now widely known. The main goal of Vygotsky-Luria project was the establishment of a "new psychology" that would account for the inseparable unity of mind, brain and culture in their development in concrete socio-historical settings and throughout the history of humankind as socio-biological species. In its most radical forms, the theory that Vygotsky and Luria were attempting to build was expressed in terms of a "science of Superman", and was closely linked with the pronouncement for the need in a new psychological theory of consciousness and its relationship to the development of higher psychological functions. All this theoretical and experimental empirical work was attempted by the members of the Vygotsky Circle.
Mahzarin Rustum Banaji FBA is an American psychologist of Indian origin at Harvard University, known for her work popularizing the concept of implicit bias in regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, and other factors.
Nancy L. Segal is an American evolutionary psychologist and behavioral geneticist, specializing in the study of twins. She is the Professor of Developmental Psychology and Director of the Twin Studies Center, at California State University, Fullerton. Segal was a recipient of the 2005 James Shields Award for Lifetime Contributions to Twin Research from the Behavior Genetics Association and International Society for Twin Studies.
Gregory M. Herek is a researcher, author, and professor of psychology at the University of California at Davis (UCD). He has conducted extensive research on prejudice against sexual minorities, and coined the term sexual prejudice as a replacement for homophobia to describe this phenomenon. Herek argued that using the term homophobia incorrectly assumes that negative responses to lesbian, gay, and bisexual people are founded in pathological, irrational fear, whereas psychological research indicates they are more accurately regarded as a form of prejudice. Herek is an openly and prominent gay psychologist. Herek is considered one of the most influential scholars of sexual minorities.
John Terrence Cacioppo was the Tiffany and Margaret Blake Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago. He founded the University of Chicago Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience and was the director of the Arete Initiative of the Office of the Vice President for Research and National Laboratories at the University of Chicago. He co-founded the field of social neuroscience and was member of the department of psychology, department of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience, and the college until his death in March 2018.
Mark van Vugt is a Dutch evolutionary psychologist who holds a professorship in evolutionary psychology and work and organizational psychology at the VU University Amsterdam. Van Vugt has affiliate positions at the University of Oxford, Institute for Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology (ICEA).
The Vygotsky Circle was an influential informal network of psychologists, educationalists, medical specialists, physiologists, and neuroscientists, associated with Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) and Alexander Luria (1902–1977), active in 1920-early 1940s in the Soviet Union. The work of the Circle contributed to the foundation of the integrative science of mind, brain, and behavior in their cultural and bio-social development also known under somewhat vague and imprecise name of cultural-historical psychology.
Interdependence theory is a social exchange theory that states that interpersonal relationships are defined through interpersonal interdependence, which is "the process by which interacting people influence one another's experiences"(Van Lange & Balliet, 2014, p. 65). The most basic principle of the theory is encapsulated in the equation I = ƒ[A, B, S], which says that all interpersonal interactions (I) are a function (ƒ) of the given situation (S), plus the actions and characteristics of the individuals in the interaction. The theory's four basic assumptions are 1) The Principle of Structure, 2) The Principle of Transformation, 3) The Principle of Interaction, and 4) The Principle of Adaption.
John Widdup Berry is a psychologist known for his work in two areas: ecological and cultural influences on behavior; and the adaptation of immigrants and indigenous peoples following intercultural contact. The first is broadly in the domain of cross-cultural psychology; the second is in the domain of intercultural psychology.
Arie W. Kruglanski is a social psychologist known for his work on goal systems, regulatory mode, and cognitive closure. He is currently a distinguished professor of psychology at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Richard M. Ryan is a professor at the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education at the Australian Catholic University and a research professor at the University of Rochester. He earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University for Rochester and his B.A. from the University of Connecticut. Ryan is a clinical psychologist and co-developer with Edward L. Deci, of Self-Determination Theory (SDT), one of the most influential theories of human motivation. SDT is a macrotheory of motivation, psychological development and wellness. The theory has spawned basic research on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and the facilitation and undermining of volitional motivation. SDT has been widely applied on research and interventions in work organizations, schools, clinical settings, virtual environments and sports, among other areas of application.

Mahlon Brewster Smith was an American psychologist and past president of the American Psychological Association. His career included faculty appointments at Vassar College, New York University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Chicago and University of California, Santa Cruz. Smith had been briefly involved with the Young Communist League as a student at Reed College in the 1930s, which resulted in a subpoena by the U.S. Senate in the 1950s. That activity caused him to be blacklisted by the National Institute of Mental Health for ten years without his knowledge.
Dean Keith Simonton is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus based in Davis, California, affiliated with the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Davis. Simonton is known for his research in the fields of genius, creativity, leadership, and aesthetics. His work focus into the cognitive, personal, developmental, social, and cultural factors contributing to eminence, giftedness, and talent across various domains such as science, philosophy, literature, music, art, cinema, politics, and war.
Terence J. G. Tracey is an American psychologist, author and researcher. He is professor emeritus of counseling and counseling psychology at Arizona State University. He is also a visiting professor at University of British Columbia. He has served in many administrative positions at Arizona State University including department head and associate dean. He is the former editor-in-chief of Journal of Counseling Psychology.
The Department of Human Development was a multidisciplinary department at Cornell University from 1925 to 2021. During its lifetime, the Department led research on developmental science to simultaneously advance theory and improve life. The department emphasized an ecological perspective of human development that examined social, cultural, biological, and psychological processes and mechanisms of growth and change throughout the life cycle and across diverse contexts. Many significant social science scholars of the 20th and 21st century, including Urie Bronfenbrenner and Kurt Lewin, were among the department's faculty. A number of the department's graduate students became significant figures in the social sciences with their work tending toward interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary approaches.