In an educational setting, every individual may not have equal access to opportunities (such as educational or financial resources) or outcomes (such as grades or evaluations), which could create a...Show moreIn an educational setting, every individual may not have equal access to opportunities (such as educational or financial resources) or outcomes (such as grades or evaluations), which could create a sense of inequality in the individual. Individuals may then attribute these inequalities to their personal efforts and abilities or to their circumstances. Past studies have focused on associations between inequalities (such as social or gender inequality) and educational aspirations (e.g., Guyon & Huillery, 2017; Chen et al., 2022). The present study assesses the main effects of perceived inequality and the attribution of outcomes to internal or external factors (also known as locus of control) on educational aspirations. The study also assesses whether the academic locus of control significantly moderates the impact of perceived inequality on educational aspirations. Utilizing a 1 (continuous measure of academic locus of control) x 3 (inequality: control vs. perception of inequality of outcome vs perception of inequality of opportunity) study design, participants’ aspiration scores were assessed. The participants included N= 190 students enrolled in an undergraduate program. The results from a moderated multiple regression analysis indicated that perceived inequality did not significantly affect educational aspirations. Academic locus of control significantly positively affected aspirations. Academic locus of control also has a significant moderating effect on the impact of inequality. Specifically simple effects analysis indicated that perceived inequality has a significant positive effect on educational aspirations when there is an external locus of control. The study provides an understanding that inequality in an educational context may not impact every individual in the same manner and may differ according to specific factors (such as locus of control).Show less
The present study experimentally investigated how perceptions of educational inequality impact students' aspirations and the moderating role of locus of control in the relationship between the two....Show moreThe present study experimentally investigated how perceptions of educational inequality impact students' aspirations and the moderating role of locus of control in the relationship between the two. Drawing on prior research, we hypothesised that educational aspirations would be negatively affected by educational inequality of both outcomes and opportunities, whereas it would be positively influenced by internal locus of control. Moreover, we expected locus of control to play a moderating role in the relationship between perceived inequality and aspirations, mitigating the adverse impact of inequality on the latter. Finally, based on previous findings, we expected the impact of perceived inequality of opportunities on aspirations to be comparatively weaker for students with internal academic locus of control when contrasted with perceived inequality of outcomes. A sample of 190 U.S. college students were randomly assigned to watch one of three educational inequality manipulation videos (i.e. opportunities, outcomes, and control). They were then given a questionnaire which assessed their perceptions of inequality, their academic locus of control and their educational aspirations. Only one of our hypotheses was supported by our results. While our findings align with existing evidence that internal locus of control positively affects educational aspirations, there was no main effect of perceived inequality on students’ goals. Notably, our study suggests that higher perceptions of inequality may have motivating effects, which, however, appear exclusive to students with an external locus of control. Given these unexpected findings, further research is warranted for a deeper understanding of the psychological dynamics behind students’ goal-setting processes.Show less
Previous research showed that a growth mindset, the belief that human skills and traits can be developed, is positively related to academic success. Other research shows a positive relation between...Show morePrevious research showed that a growth mindset, the belief that human skills and traits can be developed, is positively related to academic success. Other research shows a positive relation between a lifelong learning mindset, where someone is focused on learning opportunities, and career success. The current study investigated the relation between a growth mindset and subjective and objective career success. This would be useful for career success interventions. In addition, we expected that subjective and objective career success would be related. 96 graduates from the Master of Psychology of Leiden University filled in a survey. The results showed no relation between a growth mindset and subjective and objective career success. However, we found a small positive relationship between subjective and objective career success. Future research could investigate the relation between a growth mindset and career success, by taking career stages, learning from error, and the controllability belief into account.Show less
Humans frequently need to cooperate, especially when facing collective threats such as natural disasters, pandemics or climate change. Recent scientific findings suggest that the model response to...Show moreHumans frequently need to cooperate, especially when facing collective threats such as natural disasters, pandemics or climate change. Recent scientific findings suggest that the model response to threats is not, as previously thought, characterized by selfishness, but rather prosocial in nature. The current study aims to replicate a previously observed positive effect of threat on cooperation, and investigates whether the effect of threat is comparable to the cooperation-inducing effect of peer punishment. During a public goods game, participants in groups of three were exposed to the threat of an electric shock, while their heart rate and skin conductance were recorded to verify the successful induction of the neurophysiological freezing response. Additionally, half of the groups were given the option to utilize costly peer punishment to enforce cooperation. The analysis suggests that the freezing response was successfully induced and that peer punishment facilitated cooperation. However, contrary to our expectations, threat did not have a significant positive effect on cooperation.Show less
This experimental study examines the effects of social value orientation and accountability on the choices made in a volunteer’s dilemma. This is a dilemma in which at least one person must...Show moreThis experimental study examines the effects of social value orientation and accountability on the choices made in a volunteer’s dilemma. This is a dilemma in which at least one person must sacrifice their time and effort for everyone to have the benefits. In the experiment I used 156 participants (N = 156). 88 of them were men. The participants in this study were divided in groups of three before being presented with the volunteer’s dilemma. A logistic regression analysis showed that being prosocial did not have a significant influence on participants’ choice to volunteer and that being held accountable for this choice did not either. This outcome is different from what would be expected based on existing literature. At the end of this thesis, theoretical and practical implications are discussed and suggestions for follow-up research are considered.Show less
The social dilemma called the anticommons dilemma represents a context in which a scarce resource has multiple owners who can exclude one another from harvesting from that resource. Not much...Show moreThe social dilemma called the anticommons dilemma represents a context in which a scarce resource has multiple owners who can exclude one another from harvesting from that resource. Not much attention has been paid to factors that lead to non-cooperative decisions in this context. Consequently, the present study investigates how the salience of collective consequences (externalities awareness) influences (non-)cooperative choice behavior in people differing in social value orientations (SVO). After SVO was measured and one of the two externalities awareness conditions was presented, the participants (N = 168) had to indicate a minimum price to give a co-owner access to the resource (WTA) in a modified anticommons paradigm. It was expected that when externalities were made salient individuals would display higher levels of cooperation, by indicating lower WTA’s, compared to when externalities were not made salient. Moreover, it was expected that when externalities were not made salient prosocials would display higher levels of cooperation than proselfs, whereas when externalities were made salient this difference would be smaller. Although the effect of externalities awareness and the interaction effect of this factor with SVO was non-significant, exploratory analyses indicated severe underuse of the common resource. The limitations of this study and suggestions for future research are discussed.Show less
Previous research suggests that both observability and dependence (having a reliant other subgroup in a collective) are influential factors, in promoting prosocial behaviour in social dilemmas....Show morePrevious research suggests that both observability and dependence (having a reliant other subgroup in a collective) are influential factors, in promoting prosocial behaviour in social dilemmas. This study explores the influence of observability, dependence and a combination of both, on volunteering within the Volunteer’s Dilemma (VoD). It was hypothesized that observation and dependence would increase volunteering, with the combination of both factors being the most effective in increasing volunteering. For the dependence conditions, it was further hypothesized, based on previous research, that participants would identify more with a superordinate identity, and that this would correlate with increased volunteering. However, both the observability and dependence conditions did not significantly increase volunteering behaviour, when compared to a control, whilst the observability & dependence condition had a negative correlation with volunteering. Participants also identified more with the subordinate identity, which was found to be significantly negatively correlated to volunteeringShow less
Currently social media is used daily by a lot of people it is important to know what influences people’s social media behavior. This study investigates which variables influence people’s sharing...Show moreCurrently social media is used daily by a lot of people it is important to know what influences people’s social media behavior. This study investigates which variables influence people’s sharing behavior of videos of someone’s misfortune. The hypotheses are based on the stereotype content model which categorizes people on warmth vs cold and competent vs incompetent. The hypothesis are researched by showing 4 videos to 150 participants. There were four different conditions, each unique for the quadrants of the stereotype content model. The results show that schadenfreude is positively related with sharing videos. Schadenfreude arises when people feel envious about the person in the video and when the misfortune is felt as deserved. Besides this, there is also more schadenfreude felt in the condition in which the persons are perceived as cold and competent rather than warm and competent. In the discussion implications and further research are discussed.Show less
Videos of someone who has an accident are frequently shared on social media, but why do people share these? We expected schadenfreude and video sharing to be related, based on the need to share and...Show moreVideos of someone who has an accident are frequently shared on social media, but why do people share these? We expected schadenfreude and video sharing to be related, based on the need to share and talk about it. In addition, we expected envy, deservedness, and expectancy to correlate with schadenfreude. We looked at the interaction of warmth and competence, to see in which quadrant of the Stereotype Content Model (Fiske et al., 2002) the most schadenfreude is experienced. We manipulated the conditions using the SCM, resulting in a two (warm, cold) by two (incompetent, competent) model. The results showed that schadenfreude is related to video sharing, envy, and deservedness, but not to expectancy. Besides this, an interaction of warmth and competence has been found on the variable schadenfreude, which shows that the warm incompetent group (e.g. elderly) and the cold competent group (e.g. wealthy people) evoke more schadenfreude.Show less
The present study explores the effect of externalities awareness and Social Value Orientation (SVO) in anticommons dilemmas. Making participants of an anticommons game aware of externalities was...Show moreThe present study explores the effect of externalities awareness and Social Value Orientation (SVO) in anticommons dilemmas. Making participants of an anticommons game aware of externalities was expected to increase cooperation, by decreasing their willingnessto-accept (WTA) values, i.e. the amount they would be willing to accept in order to allow other individuals to make use of the resource. The results of the computer-based anticommons game (N = 167) did not support this hypothesis. However, the results did show, as predicted, that the more prosocial participants were, the more easily they allowed access to the resource by setting lower willingness-to-accept (WTA) values. Additionally, the hypothesized interaction effect between externalities awareness and Social Value Orientation (SVO) was not confirmed. Proselfs’ behavior did not change significantly more than prosocials’, after they got aware of the externalities. Finally, the negative effects of uncertainty in cooperation are discussed.Show less
In everyday life, people have developed tendencies to either approach or avoid certain stimuli. Approach tendencies are elicited by positive stimuli, while avoidance tendencies are elicited by...Show moreIn everyday life, people have developed tendencies to either approach or avoid certain stimuli. Approach tendencies are elicited by positive stimuli, while avoidance tendencies are elicited by negative stimuli. This is called the approach-avoidance effect. In high-performance environments, approach and avoidance tendencies play a decisive role in succeeding or failing, or, in extreme cases, in living or dying. Moreover, in these environments, approach and avoidance tendencies are often present under self-relevant pressure. Hence, this research studied the effects of self-relevant pressure on approach and avoidance tendencies. Based on existing literature from the field of decision-making psychology and performance psychology, we hypothesized that we would replicate the approach-avoidance effect. Also, we expected that pressure would impair participants’ performance and would influence the approach-avoidance effect. Fifty-one participants completed the mobile approach-avoidance task (AAT), once with and once without pressure, and filled out a pressure questionnaire after each mobile AAT. In the mobile AAT, participants were shown pictures of happy and sad faces and were asked to push or pull them according to specific instructions. We indeed replicated the approach-avoidance effect (p < .001). However, our pressure manipulation was unsuccessful. Hence, participants did not perform worse under self-relevant pressure. Subsequently, we did not find that pressure influenced the approach-avoidance effect. Although most of the hypotheses were rejected due to the failed pressure manipulation, the present study is a springboard for future research on decision-making under self-relevant pressure. Finally, implications are discussed and directions for future research are provided.Show less
This study (N = 313) aimed to investigates the influence of (moral) emotional frames in an online discussion on moralization and attitude polarization. It is hypothesized that anger and disgust...Show moreThis study (N = 313) aimed to investigates the influence of (moral) emotional frames in an online discussion on moralization and attitude polarization. It is hypothesized that anger and disgust frames result in more attitude polarization than neutral frames, while anxiety frames are hypothesized to do the opposite. Felt emotions and moralization are hypothesised to mediate the effect, because experiencing moral emotions should makes people moralize an issue, which in turn can cause attitude polarization. However, the results did not support the hypotheses, as the frames did not impact attitude polarization, neither by mediation through moralization and felt emotions.. However, when conveyed emotions were used instead of the frames, anger, disgust and even fear and anxiety predicted attitude polarization through mediation by moralization and felt emotions. The results also indicate that moralization predicts attitude polarization. The study provides opportunities for future research that are elaborated on in the discussion.Show less
Since the use of social media networks has strongly increased, people have the opportunity to easily discuss their opinions (Kim et al., 2013). Discussions on moral issues, such as abortion and...Show moreSince the use of social media networks has strongly increased, people have the opportunity to easily discuss their opinions (Kim et al., 2013). Discussions on moral issues, such as abortion and meat consumption, often take place online. In the current research (N = 310), the effect of moral emotional framing on attitude polarization was examined. It was predicted that moral emotional frames would lead to more attitude polarization compared to nonmoral frames and that this effect was mediated by moralization of the issue. Additionally, it was investigated whether a higher moral identity centrality would lead to a stronger effect of moral emotional frames on moralization. The results only partly supported these expectations. The results showed that the higher someone’s moral identity centrality, the stronger that person tends to moralize issues. Also, moralization was directly and positively related to attitude polarization. This study may serve as a solid basis for future research.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
open access
In public areas, people often encounter situations of close proximity to others where it is likely that an individual’s personal space (PS) gets intruded. PS is the area surrounding an individual...Show moreIn public areas, people often encounter situations of close proximity to others where it is likely that an individual’s personal space (PS) gets intruded. PS is the area surrounding an individual that includes the intimate and personal domain (within 1.50 meters of a person). We aimed to investigate the role of PS in seating behavior and to extend previous research by distinguishing an immediate PS consideration (i.e., considering PS in the immediate situation) from an anticipated PS consideration (i.e., considering PS also in a possible future situation). We conducted an observational study (N = 237), an open-ended question study (N = 40), and an experimental online study using a mixed-design (N = 325) in the context of choosing a seat in a railway station concourse. The results revealed that most participants chose a seat outside their intimate and personal domain. We concluded that people try to safeguard their PS. Furthermore, immediate and anticipated PS considerations both play a role in seating behavior; however, both are merely facets of PS rather than two exclusive concepts. With our results, we hope to extend the theory of PS as well as inform and possibly influence the design of seating arrangements to optimize people’s well-being in public areas.Show less
