Wolfgang Stroebe
Biographic Data
| ID | 189209 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Wolfgang Stroebe |
| GIVEN NAMES | Wolfgang |
| FAMILY NAME | Stroebe |
| SIGNATURE | STROEBE W |
| AFFILIATIONS | Utrecht University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2767-2838 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 113 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 736 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 104 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 9 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1970 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 17 |
The Myth of the Need for Diversity Among Subjects in Theory-Testing Research: Comments on “Racial Inequality in Psychological Research” by Roberts et al. (2020)
Roberts and colleagues focus on two aspects of racial inequality in psychological research, namely an alleged underrepresentation of racial minorities and the effects attributed to this state of affairs. My comment focuses only on one aspect, namely the assumed consequences of the lack of diversity in subject populations. Representativeness of samples is essential in survey research or applied research that examines whether a particular intervent…
If Student Evaluations of Teaching Are Invalid, Why Are They Still Being Used? Comments on Uttl (2023)
Why Americans increasingly claim to own guns for self-protection: A modern culture of social-psychological threat defense
This article addresses two questions: (a) why do Americans believe that they need guns to defend themselves and their families and (b) why has the number of Americans who share this belief increased dramatically in recent decades? To address the first question, we describe a model of defensive gun ownership that assumes that Americans’ perceived need of a gun for self-defense is not only determined by their perceived lifetime risk of being assaul…
Passion for guns and beliefs in a dangerous world: An examination of defensive gun ownership
This research examines the notion of defensive gun ownership using the Dualistic Model of Passion. We hypothesized that an obsessive (vs. harmonious) passion for guns would be associated with a belief in a dangerous world (BDW). We expected this relationship to intensify in threatening contexts, leading to a more expansive view on defensive gun ownership. We tested this hypothesis across three threat contexts: a gun‐control message (Study 1, N = …
Impact of National Pandemic Lockdowns on Perceived Threat of Immigrants: A Natural Quasi-Experiment Across 23 Countries
Xenophobia and anti-immigrant attacks rose during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet this may not be solely due to the disease threat. According to theories of frustration and scapegoating, situational obstructions and deprivation can motivate prejudice against outgroups. Using a global natural quasi-experimental design, this study tests whether the restrictiveness of national lockdowns can explain higher individual-level perceptions of immigrant threat.…
Pandemic boredom: Little evidence that lockdown-related boredom affects risky public health behaviors across 116 countries
Some public officials have expressed concern that policies mandating collective public health behaviors (e.g., national/regional "lockdown") may result in behavioral fatigue that ultimately renders such policies ineffective. Boredom, specifically, has been singled out as one potential risk factor for noncompliance. We examined whether there was empirical evidence to support this concern during the COVID-19 pandemic in a large cross-national sampl…
Is the energy balance explanation of the obesity epidemic wrong
There is a striking discrepancy in both U.S and the U.K data between obesity rates, which are increasing, and self-reported food consumption rates, which are decreasing. There are two possible explanations for this discrepancy, namely that the widely accepted energy balance interpretation of obesity is wrong or that food consumption data are somehow biased. In a comment entitled "Obesity-an unexplained epidemic", Mozaffarian (2022) challenged the…
Could implementation intentions improve the efficacy of behavioral weight-loss treatment
Although behavioral weight loss treatment can result in health benefits, the effects on weight loss are generally disappointing, with lost weight regained within a few years. Because these problems appear to be due to a failure to execute the strong weight control intentions formed during treatment, the use of implementation intentions is suggested to bridge that intention-behavior gap. In contrast to behavioral intentions, implementation intenti…
Identifying important individual‐ and country‐level predictors of conspiracy theorizing: A machine learning analysis
Psychological research on the predictors of conspiracy theorizing—explaining important social and political events or circumstances as secret plots by malevolent groups—has flourished in recent years. However, research has typically examined only a small number of predictors in one, or a small number of, national contexts. Such approaches make it difficult to examine the relative importance of predictors, and risk overlooking some potentially rel…
We are all in the same boat’: How societal discontent affects intention to help during the Covid ‐19 pandemic
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused a global health crisis. Consequently, many countries have adopted restrictive measures that caused a substantial change in society. Within this framework, it is reasonable to suppose that a sentiment of societal discontent, defined as generalized concern about the precarious state of society, has arisen. Literature shows that collectively experienced situations can motivate people to hel…
Student Evaluations of Teaching Encourages Poor Teaching and Contributes to Grade Inflation: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis
Student Evaluations of Teaching (SETs) do not measure teaching effectiveness, and their widespread use by university administrators in decisions about faculty hiring, promotions, and merit increases encourages poor teaching and causes grade inflation. Students need to get good grades, and faculty members need to get good SETs. Therefore, SETs empower students to shape faculty behavior. This power can be used to reward lenient-grading instructors …
Frustration-affirmation? Thwarted goals motivate compliance with social norms for violence and nonviolence
whereby thwarted goals increase compliance with perceived norms for behavior, which can increase endorsement of violent means such as guns and war, but also nonviolent charitable actions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)
Mass shootings and the salience of guns as means of compensation for thwarted goals
Between 2016 and 2017, Americans suffered 3 of the deadliest mass shootings in modern history by a lone gunman: the Orlando nightclub shooting, the Las Vegas strip shooting, and the Texas church shooting. We studied American gun owners in the wakes of these tragedies, theorizing that a byproduct of the salience of mass shootings is to increase the salience of guns as means of individual empowerment and significance. We hypothesized that this incr…
Is It a Dangerous World Out There? The Motivational Bases of American Gun Ownership
Americans are the world’s best armed citizens and public polling suggests protection/self-defense is their main reason for gun ownership. However, there is virtually no psychological research on gun ownership. The present article develops the first psychological process model of defensive gun ownership—specifically, a two-component model that considers both the antecedents and consequences of owning a gun for protection/self-defense. We demonstra…
A Lifespan Perspective on Creativity and Innovation at Work
In this review, we address the relationship of aging with creativity and innovation at work. Organizing our review around the triad of person, environment, and behavior, we first discuss relevant theories and empirical findings from the creativity/innovation and aging literatures, and then review meta-analytical and primary studies on the aging-creativity/innovation relationship. In contrast to prevalent age stereotypes, we show that the empirica…
Are most published social psychological findings false
Sozialpsychologie
The Alleged Crisis and the Illusion of Exact Replication
There has been increasing criticism of the way psychologists conduct and analyze studies. These critiques as well as failures to replicate several high-profile studies have been used as justification to proclaim a “replication crisis” in psychology. Psychologists are encouraged to conduct more “exact” replications of published studies to assess the reproducibility of psychological research. This article argues that the alleged “crisis of replicab…
Sozialpsychologie (Springer-Lehrbuch) (German Edition)
Targeting impulsive processes of eating behavior via the internet. Effects on body weight
Jacob Max Rabbie (1927–2013)
Jacob Max Rabbie, an internationally renowned social psychologist and a founding member of the European Association of Social Psychology (EASP), died on June 29, 2013. Jaap was born in Haarlem, the Netherlands, on October 4, 1927. Jaap studied social psychology at the University of Amsterdam and became the face of Dutch social psychology. His later research focused on aggression between individuals and groups, his early work attempted to isolate …
Why most dieters fail but some succeed: A goal conflict model of eating behavior.
Theories of eating regulation often attribute overweight to a malfunction of homeostatic regulation of body weight. With the goal conflict model of eating, we present a new perspective that attributes the difficulty of chronic dieters (i.e., restrained eaters) in regulating their food intake to a conflict between 2 incompatible goals-namely, eating enjoyment and weight control. This model explains the findings of previous research and provides no…
Amerikaner über Deutschland und Die Deutschen: Urteile und Vorurteile
The Rise and Fall of Self-Control: Temptation-Elicited Goal Activation and Effortful Goal-Directed Behavior
Environmental cues of temptation generally frustrate people’s long-term goal attainment. However, recent research suggests that temptation cues promote, rather than hamper long-term goal congruent effects in successful self-regulators. While previous work has started to shed light on the cognitive features of this rise and fall of self-control, the present research aims to significantly advance this study by exploring important implications for a…
Sozialpsychologie: Eine Einführung
Broken hearts or broken bonds: Love and death in historical perspective
Psychological theories and practices frequently neglect the extent to which their subject matter is historically and culturally defined. This issue is explored in the context of theories and therapies related to bereavement. Contemporary orientations emphasize the importance of breaking bonds with the deceased and the return of survivors to autonomous lifestyles. Placing the orientation in cultural and historical context reveals that it is largel…
Why dieters fail: Testing the goal conflict model of eating
The role of loneliness and social support in adjustment to loss: A test of attachment versus stress theory
A longitudinal study of a matched sample of 60 recently widowed and 60 married men and women tested predictions from stress and attachment theory regarding the role of social support in adjustment to bereavement.Stress theory predicts a buffering effect, attributing the impact of bereavement on well-being to stressful deficits caused by the loss and assuming that these deficits can be compensated through social support.In contrast, attachment the…
Productivity loss in brainstorming groups: Toward the solution of a riddle
We conducted four experiments to investigate free riding, evaluation apprehension, and production blocking as explanations of the difference in brainstorming productivity typically observed between real and nominal groups. In Experiment 1, we manipulated assessment expectations in group and individual brainstorming. Although productivity was higher when subjects worked under personal rather than collective assessment instructions, type of session…
Pleasure in the mind: Restrained eating and spontaneous hedonic thoughts about food
Targeting impulsive processes of eating behavior via the internet. Effects on body weight
Who suffers more? Sex differences in health risks of the widowed
The allure of forbidden food: On the role of attention in self-regulation
Productivity loss in idea-generating groups: Tracking down the blocking effect
Through the eyes of dieters: Biased size perception of food following tempting food primes
Risk Factors for Bereavement Outcome: A Multivariate Approach
Bereavement increases the risk of ill health, but only a minority of bereaved suffers lasting health impairment. Because only this group is likely to profit from bereavement intervention, early identification is important. Previous research is limited, because of cross sectional designs, small numbers of risk factors, and use of a single measure of bereavement outcome. Our longitudinal study avoids these pitfalls by examining the impact of a larg…
Implementation intentions as goal primes: Boosting self‐control in tempting environments
People often forget their long‐term strivings because their environment confronts them with attractive temptations. Previous research suggests that self‐control failures can be prevented by reminding people of their higher‐order goal. Therefore, we hypothesized that using implementation intentions as a tool to directly re‐activate people's higher‐order goal in tempting situations would effectively enhance self‐control. We tested this in the domai…
The selection of creative ideas after individual idea generation: Choosing between creativity and impact
It is commonly assumed that successful innovation depends on creative idea generation: the more ideas are generated, the higher the probability of selecting a very good idea should be. However, research has shown that people do not perform optimally at idea selection and that ideational output may not contribute much to creative idea selection. The present studies aim to explain this phenomenon. We identified the strong tendency of our participan…
Successful restrained eating and trait impulsiveness
Relative accessibility of domain knowledge and creativity: The effects of knowledge activation on the quantity and originality of generated ideas
Productivity is not enough: A comparison of interactive and nominal brainstorming groups on idea generation and selection
Effects of physical attractiveness, attitude similarity, and sex on various aspects of interpersonal attraction
Beyond Vicary’s fantasies: The impact of subliminal priming and brand choice
Production blocking and idea generation: Does blocking interfere with cognitive processes
Cognitive stimulation and interference in groups: Exposure effects in an idea generation task
Are most published social psychological findings false
Who likes it more? Restrained eaters’ implicit attitudes towards food
Social Psychological Factors in Lifestyle Change and Their Relevance to Policy
Crises in obesity and changes in the environment illustrate the need to change problematic behaviors and lifestyles in large segments of the population. This article uses social psychological theory and research to understand methods for facilitating lifestyle change. A basic assumption in the social psychological perspective is that the environment and the person interact to determine behavior. Both factors are important for understanding “upstr…
The graying of academia: Will it reduce scientific productivity
The belief that science is a young person's game and that only young scientists can be productive and publish high-quality research is still widely shared by university administrators and members of the scientific community. Since the average age of university faculties is increasing not only in the United States but also in Europe, the question arises as to whether this belief is correct. If it were valid, the abolition of compulsory retirement …
Mediating processes in bereavement: The role of rumination, threatening grief interpretations, and deliberate grief avoidance
Balance and differentiation in the evaluation of linked attitude objects
Some situational determinants of the motives attributed to the person who performs a helping act 1
S ummary Two studies were directed at the assessment of donor motives for and appropriateness and evaluation of an unsolicited helping act directed at a high versus a low power person by self or other Results of the first study demonstrated no differences between self and other, but highly significant differences between high and low power on all three dependent measures, with an act directed at a high power person being seen as more self‐seeking…
The effect of judges' attitudes on ratings of attitude statements. A theoretical analysis
Judgments of attitude statements with the method of equal‐appearing intervals have been found to vary as a function of the judges' attitudes. In this paper explanations of the relationship between judges' attitudes and judgments of attitude statements in terms of models of psychophysical judgment are discussed. It is argued that psychophysical models such as adaptation‐level theory, the range‐frequency model, and the ‘rubber‐band’ model and its d…
The relationship between riskiness and confidence in choice dilemma decisions
The relationship between riskiness of decisions and confidence in decisions was examined using Choice Dilemma items. Graphs show a clear curvilinear relationship between riskiness and confidence; on both risky items and cautious items greater confidence is associate with extremely risky and extremely cautious decisions than with moderate ones. it was also demonstrated that individual subjects have more confidence in their extreme decisions than i…
Effects of physical attractiveness, attitude similarity, and sex on various aspects of interpersonal attraction
Implied evaluation and the similarity-attraction effect
In Experiment I, manipulations of similarity (high or low), implied evaluation (positive, negative, or none), sex of other, and physical attractiveness of other (high or low) produced main effects for similarity, implied evaluation, and physical attractiveness as well as a similarity by implied-evalu ation interaction. The similarity-dissimilarity effect was greater in the no-evaluation condition than in the positive- and negative-evaluation cond…
Is social psychology really that complicated? A review of Martin Irle's Lehrbuch der Sozialpsychologie
Friendly or just polite? The effect of self‐esteem on attributions
Studied the effect of a person's self‐esteem on his inferences about another person's feelings toward him. Fifty‐six mule and female college student subjects of high or low chronic self‐esteem (median split; modified version of Janis and Field's ‘Feelings of Inadequacy Scale’) received either a negative or a positive evaluation of themselves. They were told that the evaluation had been written by another subject who had acted either under ‘sincer…
Conformity and counterattitudinal behavior: The effect of social support on attitude change
The Broken Heart: Reality or Myth
The hypothesis that the death of a spouse results in high mortality risk for the remaining mate is gaining credence. Further, it is held, this risk recedes with the age of the couple, and is elevated in the male population. The validity of these views is assessed. Direct evidence for this “loss effect” has been derived from cross-sectional and longitudinal research. In the former case, plausible alternative explanations exist for virtually all fi…
Henri Tajfel (1919‐1982)
Who suffers more? Sex differences in health risks of the widowed
Amerikaner über Deutschland und die Deutschen
Bereavement and Health: The Psychological and Physical Consequences of Partner Loss
Does the popular notion of a 'broken heart' have some grounding in reality? How can grief affect the body in ways that necessitate medical care and may even be life-threatening? Bereavement and Health constitutes a comprehensive review of what is known about the impact of bereavement on surviving partners. Drawing on the work of psychologists, sociologists, epidemiologists, and psychiatrists, Wolfgang and Margaret Stroebe offer a theoretically co…
Productivity loss in brainstorming groups: Toward the solution of a riddle
We conducted four experiments to investigate free riding, evaluation apprehension, and production blocking as explanations of the difference in brainstorming productivity typically observed between real and nominal groups. In Experiment 1, we manipulated assessment expectations in group and individual brainstorming. Although productivity was higher when subjects worked under personal rather than collective assessment instructions, type of session…
The social psychology of intergroup conflict: Theory, research and applications
Bereavement Research: An Historical Introduction
Early research in the field of bereavement and widowhood was often problem generated and focused on intrapersonal issues such as health consequences. More recent research has emphasized that, to understand the grieving individual, we must also understand the social context in which the bereavement occurred and in which recovery must progress. This introduction traces the historical development of theory, empirical research, and methodology in the…
Individual and Situational Differences in Recovery from Bereavement: A Risk Group Identified
The Tübingen Longitudinal Study of Bereavement was designed to provide information on (a) health deterioration and recovery following bereavement, (b) risk factors in bereavement, and (c) selection and social desirability as potential biases in health findings in this type of research. A sample of widows and widowers were interviewed three times during the first two years following their loss. Measures of their health and well‐being were compared…
In Conclusion: Current Themes in Bereavement and Widowhood Research
A number of important themes and controversies emerged from the preceding papers. These include (a) what kinds of losses lead to grief; (b) how long grief lasts; (c) how to conceptualize “recovery,” (d) the nature of “normal” grief; (e) whether bereavement has lasting effects on health; and (f) what characteristics of the individual, the relationship, or the nature of the death create a greater risk for poor outcome of bereavement. Consideration …
Stereotyping and Prejudice: Changing Conceptions
Americans about Germany and the Germans: Judgments and Prejudices
The two social psychologies or whatever happened to the crisis
Social psychology at Epistemological cross‐roads: On Gergen's choice
Productivity loss in idea-generating groups: Tracking down the blocking effect
Sozialpsychologie
Psychology (96 works) · Social Psychology (71 works) · Social Psychology (33 works) · Developmental psychology (30 works) · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health (27 works) · Medicine (27 works) · Behavioral Health and Interventions (24 works) · Social and Intergroup Psychology (23 works) · Computer Science (22 works) · Psychiatry (18 works)