Bob M Fennis
Biographic Data
| ID | 205078 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Bob M Fennis |
| GIVEN NAMES | Bob M |
| FAMILY NAME | Fennis |
| SIGNATURE | FENNIS B M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Groningen |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4738-7524 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 66 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 27 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Lay Attributions of Conspiracy Beliefs Predict Intentions to Correct Conspiracy Believers
What do laypeople think causes conspiracy beliefs? In six correlational studies ( N = 2,024) and a qualitative study ( N = 190), we examined laypeople’s attributions of others’ conspiracy beliefs and how these attributions predict their intentions to correct conspiracy believers. Attribution research suggests that dispositional (vs. situational) attributions should dominate lay beliefs and negatively predict correction intentions. Dispositional a…
Are risky driving, health behaviors, and cardiometabolic risk interrelated? Findings from the cooper center longitudinal study
OBJECTIVE: While risky driving behaviors and unhealthy lifestyle behaviors both have deleterious consequences, they are rarely targeted jointly. The present study examines the associations between risky driving behaviors, health-related behaviors, and cardiometabolic risk factors among adults over time. METHODS: Longitudinal examination of 17,846 adults who attended a preventive medicine clinic (Dallas, TX) at least twice (1988-2024). The primary…
Association of psychological and behavioural economic factors with cigarette, water pipe, e-cigarette and heated tobacco use in Israel
Risk-seeking and impatient preferences appear to increase the likelihood of using various tobacco products and e-cigarettes, whereas higher general self-efficacy appears as protective. These behavioural factors should be considered when designing interventions alongside evidence-based policies
In Visceral Control: When Visceral States Facilitate Versus Inhibit Priming Effects
Despite the abundance of priming effects identified in the literature, the replicability of prior findings pertaining to several priming effects has been recently challenged. Therefore, research has focused more extensively on pinpointing boundary conditions under which priming effects might surface or be attenuated. We contribute to this stream of literature, showing how visceral states (“hot” affective states) moderate the effectiveness of prim…
If only I had not fallen down the rabbit hole: Counterfactual thinking reduces engagement with conspiracy theories
The Association between Psychological and Behavioral Economic Factors and the Rapid Assessment Disuse Index (Radi) during the Covid-19 Pandemic
The deleterious health effects of prolonged sitting and physical inactivity are well-established, yet these behaviors are pervasive in modern culture. To inform interventions aimed at reducing sedentary behavior and increasing lifestyle activity, this study examined psychological and behavioral economic factors that may be associated with these behaviors. This cross-sectional study was conducted among 4072 adults in Israel. Participants completed…
Emotional Eating in Adults: The Role of Sociodemographics, Lifestyle Behaviors, and Self-Regulation—Findings from a U.S. National Study
Program planners might need to develop targeted interventions aimed at enhancing emotional regulation skills while addressing these less healthful behaviors (e.g., fast-food intake) with the goal of obesity and chronic disease prevention
Losses tune differently than gains: How gains and losses shape attentional scope and influence goal pursuit
Research on the asymmetric effect of negative versus positive affective states (induced by gains or losses) on scope of attention, both at a perceptual and a conceptual level, is abundant. However, little is known about the moderating effect of anticipating gains or losses versus actually experiencing them and about any downstream consequences of these effects on goal-directed behaviour. In two studies, we show that gains versus losses induce qua…
Health & Wealth: Is weight loss success related to monetary savings in U.S. adults of low-income? Findings from a National Study
Adults who in the past were overweight or obese and who presently exhibit high levels of LTWL, were markedly less successful when it came to their finances. This might stem from significant cognitive-affective resources exerted during the weight loss process coupled with a paucity of financial resources which impede financial decision making. This supposition, however, warrants future research
Cueing healthier alternatives for take-away: A field experiment on the effects of (disclosing) three nudges on food choices
Current findings suggest nudging as an effective strategy for healthy food promotion, and offer implications for topical debate regarding the ethics of nudges
Intense Self-Regulatory Effort Increases Need for Conservation and Reduces Attractiveness of Energy-Requiring Rewards
Exertion of self-control produces distinct motivational consequences: the motivation to conserve energy and the motivation to seek rewards. We propose that heightened conservation inhibits reward-seeking, but only when the pursuit of the reward entails substantial energy expenditure. In two studies, we manipulated self-regulatory effort and then had participants engage in an additional task that was either easy or difficult. In Study 1, we found …
Eating healthy to impress: How conspicuous consumption, perceived self-control motivation, and descriptive normative influence determine functional food choices
The Hunger Games: Using hunger to promote healthy choices in self-control conflicts
A Multilab Preregistered Replication of the Ego-Depletion Effect
Good self-control has been linked to adaptive outcomes such as better health, cohesive personal relationships, success in the workplace and at school, and less susceptibility to crime and addictions. In contrast, self-control failure is linked to maladaptive outcomes. Understanding the mechanisms by which self-control predicts behavior may assist in promoting better regulation and outcomes. A popular approach to understanding self-control is the …
Depletion sensitivity predicts unhealthy snack purchases
It's my party and I eat if I want to. Reasons for unhealthy snacking
Comparing the Impact of Explicit and Implicit Resistance Induction Strategies on Message Persuasiveness: Explicit and Implicit Resistance Strategies
Traditional strategies that help people to resist persuasive communication, such as warnings of persuasive intent, are explicit, effortful, and require cognitive capacity. Typically, however, message recipients are unable or unmotivated to allocate their cognitive resources to adopting resistance strategies that help them withstand persuasive messages. Therefore, this study investigates a more implicit, persuasive intent priming strategy that thw…
When the motivational consequences of ego depletion collide: Conservation dominates over reward-seeking
Trusting others: The polarization effect of need for closure
Because trust-related issues inherently involve uncertainty, we expected individuals' social-cognitive motivation to manage uncertainty--which is captured by their need for closure--to influence their level of trust in others. Through the results of 6 studies, we showed that higher need for closure was related to more polarized trust judgments (i.e., low trust in distant others and high trust in close others) in the case of both chronic and situa…
Less is more: The effect of multiple implementation intentions targeting unhealthy snacking habits
Implementation intentions have been shown to effectively change counter‐intentional habits. Research has, however, almost solely been concerned with the effectiveness of a single plan. In the present research, we investigated the behavioral and cognitive implications of making multiple implementation intentions targeting unhealthy snacking habits and its underlying processes, linking multiple habitual snacking cues to healthy alternatives. Study …
Revisiting the agentic shift: Weakening personal control increases susceptibility to social influence
What happens when people experience a reduced sense of personal control? Among the various strategies to defend against a perception of randomness, people may show an increased acceptance of external sources of control. Indeed, in one of the most classic studies in social psychology, Stanley Milgram referred to an “agentic shift”—the tendency to relinquish personal control to an external agent—to explain his dramatic obedience effects. We propose…
Can't get over me: Ego depletion attenuates prosocial effects of perspective taking
Many studies attest to the beneficial and prosocial effects of perspective taking. The present research tests the notion that such perspective taking is a process involving active self‐regulation and, hence, that effects of perspective taking on prosocial behaviour are more pronounced when self‐control resources are high, rather than low. Results confirmed this hypothesis. Across two experiments using acts of compliance as a specific form of pros…
The pantomime of persuasion: Fit between nonverbal communication and influence strategies
Forewarned is forearmed: Conserving self-control strength to resist social influence
When fit fosters favoring: The role of private self-focus
Acts of Benevolence: A Limited-Resource Account of Compliance with Charitable Requests
Across six field and lab experiments, we found that impaired self-control fosters compliance with charitable requests. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that self-regulatory resource depletion was induced when participants yielded to the initial requests of a foot-in-the-door script aimed at procuring volunteer behavior. Experiment 3 demonstrated that self-regulatory resource depletion mediated the effects of yielding to the initial requests of a foot-i…
It's my party and I eat if I want to. Reasons for unhealthy snacking
Trusting others: The polarization effect of need for closure
Because trust-related issues inherently involve uncertainty, we expected individuals' social-cognitive motivation to manage uncertainty--which is captured by their need for closure--to influence their level of trust in others. Through the results of 6 studies, we showed that higher need for closure was related to more polarized trust judgments (i.e., low trust in distant others and high trust in close others) in the case of both chronic and situa…
Less is more: The effect of multiple implementation intentions targeting unhealthy snacking habits
Implementation intentions have been shown to effectively change counter‐intentional habits. Research has, however, almost solely been concerned with the effectiveness of a single plan. In the present research, we investigated the behavioral and cognitive implications of making multiple implementation intentions targeting unhealthy snacking habits and its underlying processes, linking multiple habitual snacking cues to healthy alternatives. Study …
Forewarned is forearmed: Conserving self-control strength to resist social influence
The Role of the Need for Cognitive Closure in the Effectiveness of the Disrupt-Then-Reframe Influence Technique: Table 1
The disrupt-then-reframe (DTR) influence technique involves confusing consumers with a disruptive message and then reducing ambiguity by reframing the message. Experiment 1 shows that the DTR technique increases retail sales in a supermarket setting. Experiment 2 shows that the DTR technique increases the willingness to pay to join a student interest group. Experiment 3 shows that the DTR technique increases student support for a tuition increase…
When the motivational consequences of ego depletion collide: Conservation dominates over reward-seeking
Revisiting the agentic shift: Weakening personal control increases susceptibility to social influence
What happens when people experience a reduced sense of personal control? Among the various strategies to defend against a perception of randomness, people may show an increased acceptance of external sources of control. Indeed, in one of the most classic studies in social psychology, Stanley Milgram referred to an “agentic shift”—the tendency to relinquish personal control to an external agent—to explain his dramatic obedience effects. We propose…
Can't get over me: Ego depletion attenuates prosocial effects of perspective taking
Many studies attest to the beneficial and prosocial effects of perspective taking. The present research tests the notion that such perspective taking is a process involving active self‐regulation and, hence, that effects of perspective taking on prosocial behaviour are more pronounced when self‐control resources are high, rather than low. Results confirmed this hypothesis. Across two experiments using acts of compliance as a specific form of pros…
Intense Self-Regulatory Effort Increases Need for Conservation and Reduces Attractiveness of Energy-Requiring Rewards
Exertion of self-control produces distinct motivational consequences: the motivation to conserve energy and the motivation to seek rewards. We propose that heightened conservation inhibits reward-seeking, but only when the pursuit of the reward entails substantial energy expenditure. In two studies, we manipulated self-regulatory effort and then had participants engage in an additional task that was either easy or difficult. In Study 1, we found …
The Hunger Games: Using hunger to promote healthy choices in self-control conflicts
Eating healthy to impress: How conspicuous consumption, perceived self-control motivation, and descriptive normative influence determine functional food choices
When fit fosters favoring: The role of private self-focus
The Role of the Need for Cognitive Closure in the Effectiveness of the Disrupt-Then-Reframe Influence Technique: Table 1
The disrupt-then-reframe (DTR) influence technique involves confusing consumers with a disruptive message and then reducing ambiguity by reframing the message. Experiment 1 shows that the DTR technique increases retail sales in a supermarket setting. Experiment 2 shows that the DTR technique increases the willingness to pay to join a student interest group. Experiment 3 shows that the DTR technique increases student support for a tuition increase…
Acts of Benevolence: A Limited-Resource Account of Compliance with Charitable Requests
Across six field and lab experiments, we found that impaired self-control fosters compliance with charitable requests. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that self-regulatory resource depletion was induced when participants yielded to the initial requests of a foot-in-the-door script aimed at procuring volunteer behavior. Experiment 3 demonstrated that self-regulatory resource depletion mediated the effects of yielding to the initial requests of a foot-i…
Forewarned is forearmed: Conserving self-control strength to resist social influence
When fit fosters favoring: The role of private self-focus
Can't get over me: Ego depletion attenuates prosocial effects of perspective taking
Many studies attest to the beneficial and prosocial effects of perspective taking. The present research tests the notion that such perspective taking is a process involving active self‐regulation and, hence, that effects of perspective taking on prosocial behaviour are more pronounced when self‐control resources are high, rather than low. Results confirmed this hypothesis. Across two experiments using acts of compliance as a specific form of pros…
The pantomime of persuasion: Fit between nonverbal communication and influence strategies
Revisiting the agentic shift: Weakening personal control increases susceptibility to social influence
What happens when people experience a reduced sense of personal control? Among the various strategies to defend against a perception of randomness, people may show an increased acceptance of external sources of control. Indeed, in one of the most classic studies in social psychology, Stanley Milgram referred to an “agentic shift”—the tendency to relinquish personal control to an external agent—to explain his dramatic obedience effects. We propose…
Less is more: The effect of multiple implementation intentions targeting unhealthy snacking habits
Implementation intentions have been shown to effectively change counter‐intentional habits. Research has, however, almost solely been concerned with the effectiveness of a single plan. In the present research, we investigated the behavioral and cognitive implications of making multiple implementation intentions targeting unhealthy snacking habits and its underlying processes, linking multiple habitual snacking cues to healthy alternatives. Study …
Comparing the Impact of Explicit and Implicit Resistance Induction Strategies on Message Persuasiveness: Explicit and Implicit Resistance Strategies
Traditional strategies that help people to resist persuasive communication, such as warnings of persuasive intent, are explicit, effortful, and require cognitive capacity. Typically, however, message recipients are unable or unmotivated to allocate their cognitive resources to adopting resistance strategies that help them withstand persuasive messages. Therefore, this study investigates a more implicit, persuasive intent priming strategy that thw…
When the motivational consequences of ego depletion collide: Conservation dominates over reward-seeking
Trusting others: The polarization effect of need for closure
Because trust-related issues inherently involve uncertainty, we expected individuals' social-cognitive motivation to manage uncertainty--which is captured by their need for closure--to influence their level of trust in others. Through the results of 6 studies, we showed that higher need for closure was related to more polarized trust judgments (i.e., low trust in distant others and high trust in close others) in the case of both chronic and situa…
It's my party and I eat if I want to. Reasons for unhealthy snacking
A Multilab Preregistered Replication of the Ego-Depletion Effect
Good self-control has been linked to adaptive outcomes such as better health, cohesive personal relationships, success in the workplace and at school, and less susceptibility to crime and addictions. In contrast, self-control failure is linked to maladaptive outcomes. Understanding the mechanisms by which self-control predicts behavior may assist in promoting better regulation and outcomes. A popular approach to understanding self-control is the …
Depletion sensitivity predicts unhealthy snack purchases
The Hunger Games: Using hunger to promote healthy choices in self-control conflicts
Eating healthy to impress: How conspicuous consumption, perceived self-control motivation, and descriptive normative influence determine functional food choices
Health & Wealth: Is weight loss success related to monetary savings in U.S. adults of low-income? Findings from a National Study
Adults who in the past were overweight or obese and who presently exhibit high levels of LTWL, were markedly less successful when it came to their finances. This might stem from significant cognitive-affective resources exerted during the weight loss process coupled with a paucity of financial resources which impede financial decision making. This supposition, however, warrants future research
Cueing healthier alternatives for take-away: A field experiment on the effects of (disclosing) three nudges on food choices
Current findings suggest nudging as an effective strategy for healthy food promotion, and offer implications for topical debate regarding the ethics of nudges
Intense Self-Regulatory Effort Increases Need for Conservation and Reduces Attractiveness of Energy-Requiring Rewards
Exertion of self-control produces distinct motivational consequences: the motivation to conserve energy and the motivation to seek rewards. We propose that heightened conservation inhibits reward-seeking, but only when the pursuit of the reward entails substantial energy expenditure. In two studies, we manipulated self-regulatory effort and then had participants engage in an additional task that was either easy or difficult. In Study 1, we found …
Losses tune differently than gains: How gains and losses shape attentional scope and influence goal pursuit
Research on the asymmetric effect of negative versus positive affective states (induced by gains or losses) on scope of attention, both at a perceptual and a conceptual level, is abundant. However, little is known about the moderating effect of anticipating gains or losses versus actually experiencing them and about any downstream consequences of these effects on goal-directed behaviour. In two studies, we show that gains versus losses induce qua…
Emotional Eating in Adults: The Role of Sociodemographics, Lifestyle Behaviors, and Self-Regulation—Findings from a U.S. National Study
Program planners might need to develop targeted interventions aimed at enhancing emotional regulation skills while addressing these less healthful behaviors (e.g., fast-food intake) with the goal of obesity and chronic disease prevention
The Association between Psychological and Behavioral Economic Factors and the Rapid Assessment Disuse Index (Radi) during the Covid-19 Pandemic
The deleterious health effects of prolonged sitting and physical inactivity are well-established, yet these behaviors are pervasive in modern culture. To inform interventions aimed at reducing sedentary behavior and increasing lifestyle activity, this study examined psychological and behavioral economic factors that may be associated with these behaviors. This cross-sectional study was conducted among 4072 adults in Israel. Participants completed…
Association of psychological and behavioural economic factors with cigarette, water pipe, e-cigarette and heated tobacco use in Israel
Risk-seeking and impatient preferences appear to increase the likelihood of using various tobacco products and e-cigarettes, whereas higher general self-efficacy appears as protective. These behavioural factors should be considered when designing interventions alongside evidence-based policies
In Visceral Control: When Visceral States Facilitate Versus Inhibit Priming Effects
Despite the abundance of priming effects identified in the literature, the replicability of prior findings pertaining to several priming effects has been recently challenged. Therefore, research has focused more extensively on pinpointing boundary conditions under which priming effects might surface or be attenuated. We contribute to this stream of literature, showing how visceral states (“hot” affective states) moderate the effectiveness of prim…
If only I had not fallen down the rabbit hole: Counterfactual thinking reduces engagement with conspiracy theories
Behavioral Health and Interventions (20 works) · Psychology (20 works) · Social Psychology (18 works) · Medicine (9 works) · Social and Intergroup Psychology (8 works) · Social Psychology (8 works) · Economics (7 works) · Self-control (7 works) · Ego Depletion (6 works) · Cognitive psychology (5 works)