Roos Vonk

Last updated
Roos Vonk
Born4 November 1960
Leiden
Scientific career
Fields Psychology
Institutions Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen
Website http://www.roosvonk.nl

Roosje (Roos) Vonk (Leiden, 4 November 1960) is a Dutch professor (Dutch title: "hoogleraar") of social psychology at the Radboud University in Nijmegen [1] author, [2] and motivational speaker. [3]

Contents

Life and work

Vonk studied psychology at Leiden University. She received her PhD in 1990 for her dissertation The cognitive representation of persons: A multidimensional study of Implicit Personality Theory, impression formation, and person judgments. In 1999 she became professor at the Radboud University Nijmegen. In addition to her work at the university, she popularized psychology by means of books, articles, and lectures for the general public.

Vonk published on ingratiation, [4] vulnerable egos, impression formation, [5] intimate relationships, power and leadership, self-esteem [6] and self-knowledge. In her research on ingratiation, she showed that we are all very sensitive to this and often do not notice when we are being flattered, even when there is a lot at stake. Because people typically ingratiate those with higher status and can be less friendly towards subordinates (the kiss-up and kick-down pattern), the behavior of people towards those with lower status is seen as more informative about how someone really is - a finding that is applied in recruitment and selection of personnel by Laszlo Bock, head of HR at Google. [7] Vonk also wrote about human weaknesses, such as overconfidence and "emotional incontinence", and ways to facilitate self-improvement. [8] She worked with Kristin Neff, [9] a pioneer in the field of empirical research on self-compassion, and she translated Neff's test for self-compassion to Dutch.

From 2005 [10] till 2008 Vonk was chairperson of animal welfare organisation Wakker Dier. Vonk also regularly writes opinion pieces with criticism on intensive livestock farming in Dutch newspapers. In 2010, she was the initiator and coordinator of a plea for more sustainable livestock farming by more than hundred Dutch professors from all disciplines. The plea described in detail the problems of greenhouse gas emissions, nitrogen, animal diseases, and animal welfare. [11]

In August 2011, a press release was issued by Vonk, Marcel Zeelenberg and Diederik Stapel of Tilburg University about an investigation into the psychological meaning of meat. [12] In this they concluded that meat eaters are less social and more selfish than non-meat eaters. [13] A few weeks later, Vonk offered her apologies about the press release, [14] because professor Stapel had used falsified data. Professor Stapel was put on administrative leave on 7 September [15] After an internal investigation, the Radboud University concluded that Vonk was not guilty of fraudulent behavior. However, she was reprimanded for publishing premature conclusions related to data she had not verified. [16]

Selected scientific publications

Study books

Other publications

Related Research Articles

Self-esteem is confidence in one's own worth, abilities, or morals. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs about oneself as well as emotional states, such as triumph, despair, pride, and shame. Smith and Mackie define it by saying "The self-concept is what we think about the self; self-esteem, is the positive or negative evaluations of the self, as in how we feel about it ."

Impression management is a conscious or subconscious process in which people attempt to influence the perceptions of other people about a person, object or event by regulating and controlling information in social interaction. It was first conceptualized by Erving Goffman in 1959 in The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, and then was expanded upon in 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Self-handicapping</span> Cognitive strategy

Self-handicapping is a cognitive strategy by which people avoid effort in the hopes of keeping potential failure from hurting self-esteem. It was first theorized by Edward E. Jones and Steven Berglas, according to whom self-handicaps are obstacles created, or claimed, by the individual in anticipation of failing performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radboud University Nijmegen</span> Public research university in Nijmegen, Netherlands

Radboud University (abbreviated as RU, Dutch: Radboud Universiteit, formerly Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen) is a public research university located in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. It is considered one of the best traditional, general universities in the Netherlands. RU has seven faculties and more than 24,000 students.

Isolation is a defence mechanism in psychoanalytic theory first proposed by Sigmund Freud. While related to repression, the concept distinguishes itself in several ways. It is characterized as a mental process involving the creation of a gap between an unpleasant or threatening cognition, and other thoughts and feelings. By minimizing associative connections with other thoughts, the threatening cognition is remembered less often and is less likely to affect self-esteem or the self concept. Freud illustrated the concept with the example of a person beginning a train of thought and then pausing for a moment before continuing to a different subject. His theory stated that by inserting an interval the person was "letting it be understood symbolically that he will not allow his thoughts about that impression or activity to come into associative contact with other thoughts." As a defense against harmful thoughts, isolation prevents the self from allowing these cognitions to become recurrent and possibly damaging to the self-concept.

Johannes (Jan) Maria van der Lans was a Dutch professor in the psychology of religion at the Catholic University of Nijmegen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roy Baumeister</span> American social psychologist (born 1953)

Roy Frederick Baumeister is an American social psychologist who is known for his work on the self, social rejection, belongingness, sexuality and sex differences, self-control, self-esteem, self-defeating behaviors, motivation, aggression, consciousness, and free will.

In psychology, self-compassion is extending compassion to one's self in instances of perceived inadequacy, failure, or general suffering. American psychologist Kristin Neff has defined self-compassion as being composed of three main elements – self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness.

According to Alberts, Elkind, and Ginsberg the personal fable "is the corollary to the imaginary audience. Thinking of themselves as the center of attention, the adolescent comes to believe that it is because they are special and unique.” It is found during the formal operational stage in Piagetian theory, along with the imaginary audience. Feelings of invulnerability are also common. The term "personal fable" was first coined by the psychologist David Elkind in his 1967 work Egocentrism in Adolescence.

Ingratiating is a psychological technique in which an individual attempts to influence another person by becoming more likeable to their target. This term was coined by social psychologist Edward E. Jones, who further defined ingratiating as "a class of strategic behaviors illicitly designed to influence a particular other person concerning the attractiveness of one's personal qualities." Ingratiation research has identified some specific tactics of employing ingratiation:

Impression formation in social psychology refers to the processes by which different pieces of knowledge about another are combined into a global or summary impression. Social psychologist Solomon Asch is credited with the seminal research on impression formation and conducted research on how individuals integrate information about personality traits. Two major theories have been proposed to explain how this process of integration takes place. The Gestalt approach views the formation of a general impression as the sum of several interrelated impressions. As an individual seeks to form a coherent and meaningful impression of another individual, previous impressions significantly influence the interpretation of subsequent information. In contrast to the Gestalt approach, the cognitive algebra approach asserts that individuals' experiences are combined with previous evaluations to form a constantly changing impression of a person. A related area to impression formation is the study of person perception, making dispositional attributions, and then adjusting those inferences based on the information available.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Neuberg</span>

Steven L. Neuberg is an American experimental social psychologist whose research has contributed to topics pertaining to person perception, impression formation, stereotyping, prejudice, self-fulfilling prophecies, stereotype threat, and prosocial behavior. His research can be broadly characterized as exploring the ways motives and goals shape social thought processes; extending this approach, his later work employs the adaptationist logic of evolutionary psychology to inform the study of social cognition and social behavior. Neuberg has published over sixty scholarly articles and chapters, and has co-authored a multi-edition social psychology textbook with his colleagues Douglas Kenrick and Robert Cialdini.

Diederik Alexander Stapel is a Dutch former professor of social psychology at Tilburg University. In 2011 Tilburg University suspended Stapel for fabricating and manipulating data for his research publications. This scientific misconduct took place over a number of years and affected dozens of his publications. By 2015, fifty-eight of Stapel's publications had been retracted. He has been described in coverage by the New York Times as "the biggest con man in academic science".

Relationship contingent self-esteem (RCSE) is a type of self-esteem that derives from the outcomes, process, and nature of one's romantic relationship. Like other types of contingent self-esteem, it is generally linked with lower levels of self-esteem and well-being. It can be unhealthy for the relationship because it paves the way for excessive bias for negative interpretations of relationship events. Past research has shown that relationship-contingent self-esteem is independent of feelings of commitment to one's relationship, closeness to one's partner, and satisfaction in the relationship. Also, this research showed that it was linked to “obsessive immersion or preoccupation” with the romantic relationship.

Dr. Jennifer Crocker is a professor and Ohio Eminent Scholar in Social Psychology at Ohio State University. She is also a former president of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Her publications are on the subject of self-esteem and the contingencies and interpersonal goals that individuals have that are a clear reflection of their level of self-esteem.

Mark Richard Leary is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University. His research has made significant contributions to the fields of social psychology and personality psychology.

Harry J.G. Kempen was a Dutch cultural psychologist, and associate professor at the Nijmegen Cultural Psychology Group (NCPG) of the Radboud University Nijmegen, known for his work with Hubert Hermans on the Dialogical self theory.

Albert Jan "Ap" Dijksterhuis is a Dutch Social Psychologist at Radboud University Nijmegen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naomi Ellemers</span> Dutch social and organizational psychologist

Naomi Ellemers is a distinguished professor of social psychology at Utrecht University since September 2015.

Alexander Todorov is a Bulgarian professor of psychology at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Before his current position, he was a professor at Princeton University. His research is focused on how humans perceive, evaluate, and make sense of the social world. Todorov's research on first impressions has received media coverage from the New York Times, The Guardian, The New Yorker, The Daily Telegraph, Scientific American, National Geographic, BBC, PBS, and NPR.

References

  1. ↑ (in Dutch) Prof. dr. R. Vonk, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen
  2. ↑ (in Dutch) Columns by Roos Vonk in Intermediair
  3. ↑ (in Dutch) Website by Roos Vonk
  4. ↑ Vonk, R. The slime effect: Suspicion and dislike of likeable behavior toward superiors, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 74(4), Apr 1998, 849-864.
  5. ↑ Vonk, R. Trait inferences, impression formation, and person memory: Strategies in processing inconsistent information about persons, In W. Stroebe & M. Hewstone (Eds.), European Review of Social Psychology, 5, pp.111-149. New York: Wiley.
  6. ↑ Vonk, R., Radstaak, M., Heus, P. de & Jolij, J.F. Ironic effects of feedback on contingency of self-worth: Why self-reports of contingency are biased, Self and Identity, 1-18. doi: 10.1080/15298868.2017.1406400
  7. ↑ Bock, L. Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead, Hachette UK, 2015
  8. ↑ (in Dutch) Interview with Roos Vonk, Elsevier 20 Februari 2010.
  9. ↑ Neff, K. D., & Vonk, R. Self‐compassion versus global self‐esteem: Two different ways of relating to oneself, Journal of personality, 77(1), 23-50
  10. ↑ (in Dutch) Prof. dr. roos vonk nieuwe voorzitter wakker dier Stichting Wakker Dier, 25 June 2005
  11. ↑ Pleidooi voor een duurzame veehouderij, Duurzameveeteelt.nl
  12. ↑ (in Dutch) 'Denken aan vlees maakt mensen asociaal en eenzaam', Radboud Universiteit, 26 Augustus 2011
  13. ↑ (in Dutch) 'Vleeseters egoïstisch, minder sociaal', De Gelderlander, 25 August 2011
  14. ↑ (in Dutch) 'Verbijsterd - Onderzoek naar 'psychologie van vlees' berust op fraude' Archived 2011-10-11 at the Wayback Machine , Roos Vonk on her personal website, 7 September 2011
  15. ↑ (in Dutch) Nijmeegse prof: excuses voor onderzoek, De Gelderlander, 7 September 2011
  16. ↑ (in Dutch) Berisping voor professor Vonk vanwege onzorgvuldig professioneel handelen, 22 november 2011. Radboud Universiteit.
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