Nicolay Gausel
Biographic Data
| ID | 210200 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Nicolay Gausel |
| GIVEN NAMES | Nicolay |
| FAMILY NAME | Gausel |
| SIGNATURE | GAUSEL N |
| AFFILIATIONS | Fredrikstad Energi (Norway) |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7189-9971 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 122 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 16 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
“Back to the Future”
Routine Outcome Monitoring systems have been developed to monitor how clients' lives change over the course of therapy. However, for such systems to be effective, they must possess sufficient construct validity and scale-reliability to warrant their use. In this study, using a sample of 841 Norwegian clients, we performed the first independent test of the construct validity and scale-reliability of the "Individual Problems and Strengths" (IPS) sc…
Making excuses and making sense
Across institutional settings, people who talk about having committed sexual violence often do so in ways that may neutralize their personal culpability for it. These so-called neutralizations may be part of a pro-social forward-looking narrative, but might also obscure information and strengthen attitudes that enable further violence. In this article, we examine how one such neutralization –excuses – is managed turn-by-turn, in research intervie…
Risking the social bond
Our choice to withhold or disclose displeasing information to another can motivate concern about damage to our social bonds. In two experiments, using two different samples of university students in Norway, ( N = 174 and N = 217), we found that withholding unpleasant information led to greater concern for self- image and social-image than did disclosure. We also found that withholding elicited more shame, inferiority and rejection than disclosure…
Seeking revenge or seeking reconciliation? How concern for social‐image and felt shame helps explain responses in reciprocal intergroup conflict
In conflicts with reciprocal violence, individuals belong to a group that has been both perpetrator and victim. In a field experiment in Liberia, West Africa, we led participants ( N = 146) to focus on their group as either perpetrator or victim in order to investigate its effect on orientation towards inter‐group reconciliation or revenge. Compared to a perpetrator focus, a victim focus led to slightly more revenge orientation and moderately les…
Being oneself through time
Self-continuity – the sense that one’s past, present, and future are meaningfully connected – is considered a defining feature of personal identity. However, bases of self-continuity may depend on cultural beliefs about personhood. In multilevel analyses of data from 7287 adults from 55 cultural groups in 33 nations, we tested a new tripartite theoretical model of bases of self-continuity. As expected, perceptions of stability, sense of narrative…
Beyond the ‘east–west’ dichotomy
Markus and Kitayama's (1991) theory of independent and interdependent self-construals had a major influence on social, personality, and developmental psychology by highlighting the role of culture in psychological processes. However, research has relied excessively on contrasts between North American and East Asian samples, and commonly used self-report measures of independence and interdependence frequently fail to show predicted cultural differ…
When majority members exclude ethnic minorities
In recent years, ethnic minorities have experienced an increase in acts of exclusion. In two studies, we demonstrated how ingroup members' felt shame about such immoral behavior explained their desire to pro‐socially object to this immorality by distancing from the perpetrating ingroup and by wanting to support the affected minorities. We showed how the desire to pro‐socially object varies as a function of national identification. As expected, na…
Assessing Natural Language
Recently, researchers in the quantitative, questionnaire tradition have been increasingly interested in the impact of emotion language and the measurement of this. Some of these researchers measure emotion-words within a meaning-giving sentence, others measure them in isolation. Based on semantic theory, we argue that emotion-words presented in isolation should mean less to a participant than emotion-words combined with other words forming a sent…
Wise Desire-Priorities
Although there are several philosophical theories about what constitutes ‘good life’, few focuses on which type of desires pay off for those who entertain them. We therefore investigate empirically how people prioritize among desires through a global assessment of what lives they most want to live. In the current study (N = 154), we presented them with 26 questions about the type of life they could find desirable. Structural Equation Modeling rev…
It’s not our fault! Explaining why families might blame the school for failure to complete a high-school education
Does remembering past ingroup harmdoing promote postwar cross‐group contact? Insights from a field‐experiment in Liberia
In the aftermath of the Liberian civil wars, we investigated whether it is possible to systematically influence how people construe their group's role during the conflict and how this affects intergroup emotions and behavioral intentions. In a field experiment, 146 participants were randomly assigned to think about incidents of violence during the war that were either committed by fellow ingroup members (perpetrator‐focus) or against fellow ingro…
Contextualism as an Important Facet of Individualism-Collectivism
Beliefs about personhood are understood to be a defining feature of individualism-collectivism (I-C), but they have been insufficiently explored, given the emphasis of research on values and self-construals. We propose the construct of contextualism, referring to beliefs about the importance of context in understanding people, as a facet of cultural collectivism. A brief measure was developed and refined across 19 nations (Study 1: N = 5,241), sh…
Facing In-Group Immorality
Even though shame and guilt are two widely investigated emotions, there is no consensus on what people mean when they use the terms ‘shame’ and ‘guilt’. Some researchers argue that they are indicators of focus. That is, shame means a bad self, while guilt means a bad behaviour (Tangney, 1991). However, other researchers have argued that shame and guilt must be understood in the context of ‘the self’ and ‘the other’. Since shame is more unpleasant…
Defend or repair? Explaining responses to in-group moral failure by disentangling feelings of shame, rejection, and inferiority
Research on shame about in-group moral failure has yielded paradoxical results. In some studies, shame predicts self-defensive motivations to withdraw. In other studies, shame predicts pro-social motivations, such as restitution. We think that this paradox can be explained by disentangling the numerous appraisals and feelings subsumed under the label "shame." In 2 studies, we asked community samples of Norwegians about their in-group's discrimina…
The importance of emotions in social work
Concern for self‐image and social image in the management of moral failure
Moral failure is thought to damage self‐image when people appraise it as indicating a global self‐defect. This appraisal is thought to be associated with the feeling of shame and thus self‐defensive motivation. However, a damaged social image better explains self‐defensive motivation to hide from and avoid others. Based on an integrative review of theory and research, we offer a conceptual model of how concern for self‐image and social image guid…
Defend or repair? Explaining responses to in-group moral failure by disentangling feelings of shame, rejection, and inferiority
Research on shame about in-group moral failure has yielded paradoxical results. In some studies, shame predicts self-defensive motivations to withdraw. In other studies, shame predicts pro-social motivations, such as restitution. We think that this paradox can be explained by disentangling the numerous appraisals and feelings subsumed under the label "shame." In 2 studies, we asked community samples of Norwegians about their in-group's discrimina…
Concern for self‐image and social image in the management of moral failure
Moral failure is thought to damage self‐image when people appraise it as indicating a global self‐defect. This appraisal is thought to be associated with the feeling of shame and thus self‐defensive motivation. However, a damaged social image better explains self‐defensive motivation to hide from and avoid others. Based on an integrative review of theory and research, we offer a conceptual model of how concern for self‐image and social image guid…
Contextualism as an Important Facet of Individualism-Collectivism
Beliefs about personhood are understood to be a defining feature of individualism-collectivism (I-C), but they have been insufficiently explored, given the emphasis of research on values and self-construals. We propose the construct of contextualism, referring to beliefs about the importance of context in understanding people, as a facet of cultural collectivism. A brief measure was developed and refined across 19 nations (Study 1: N = 5,241), sh…
Does remembering past ingroup harmdoing promote postwar cross‐group contact? Insights from a field‐experiment in Liberia
In the aftermath of the Liberian civil wars, we investigated whether it is possible to systematically influence how people construe their group's role during the conflict and how this affects intergroup emotions and behavioral intentions. In a field experiment, 146 participants were randomly assigned to think about incidents of violence during the war that were either committed by fellow ingroup members (perpetrator‐focus) or against fellow ingro…
Seeking revenge or seeking reconciliation? How concern for social‐image and felt shame helps explain responses in reciprocal intergroup conflict
In conflicts with reciprocal violence, individuals belong to a group that has been both perpetrator and victim. In a field experiment in Liberia, West Africa, we led participants ( N = 146) to focus on their group as either perpetrator or victim in order to investigate its effect on orientation towards inter‐group reconciliation or revenge. Compared to a perpetrator focus, a victim focus led to slightly more revenge orientation and moderately les…
When majority members exclude ethnic minorities
In recent years, ethnic minorities have experienced an increase in acts of exclusion. In two studies, we demonstrated how ingroup members' felt shame about such immoral behavior explained their desire to pro‐socially object to this immorality by distancing from the perpetrating ingroup and by wanting to support the affected minorities. We showed how the desire to pro‐socially object varies as a function of national identification. As expected, na…
Facing In-Group Immorality
Even though shame and guilt are two widely investigated emotions, there is no consensus on what people mean when they use the terms ‘shame’ and ‘guilt’. Some researchers argue that they are indicators of focus. That is, shame means a bad self, while guilt means a bad behaviour (Tangney, 1991). However, other researchers have argued that shame and guilt must be understood in the context of ‘the self’ and ‘the other’. Since shame is more unpleasant…
Assessing Natural Language
Recently, researchers in the quantitative, questionnaire tradition have been increasingly interested in the impact of emotion language and the measurement of this. Some of these researchers measure emotion-words within a meaning-giving sentence, others measure them in isolation. Based on semantic theory, we argue that emotion-words presented in isolation should mean less to a participant than emotion-words combined with other words forming a sent…
The importance of emotions in social work
Concern for self‐image and social image in the management of moral failure
Moral failure is thought to damage self‐image when people appraise it as indicating a global self‐defect. This appraisal is thought to be associated with the feeling of shame and thus self‐defensive motivation. However, a damaged social image better explains self‐defensive motivation to hide from and avoid others. Based on an integrative review of theory and research, we offer a conceptual model of how concern for self‐image and social image guid…
Facing In-Group Immorality
Even though shame and guilt are two widely investigated emotions, there is no consensus on what people mean when they use the terms ‘shame’ and ‘guilt’. Some researchers argue that they are indicators of focus. That is, shame means a bad self, while guilt means a bad behaviour (Tangney, 1991). However, other researchers have argued that shame and guilt must be understood in the context of ‘the self’ and ‘the other’. Since shame is more unpleasant…
Defend or repair? Explaining responses to in-group moral failure by disentangling feelings of shame, rejection, and inferiority
Research on shame about in-group moral failure has yielded paradoxical results. In some studies, shame predicts self-defensive motivations to withdraw. In other studies, shame predicts pro-social motivations, such as restitution. We think that this paradox can be explained by disentangling the numerous appraisals and feelings subsumed under the label "shame." In 2 studies, we asked community samples of Norwegians about their in-group's discrimina…
Contextualism as an Important Facet of Individualism-Collectivism
Beliefs about personhood are understood to be a defining feature of individualism-collectivism (I-C), but they have been insufficiently explored, given the emphasis of research on values and self-construals. We propose the construct of contextualism, referring to beliefs about the importance of context in understanding people, as a facet of cultural collectivism. A brief measure was developed and refined across 19 nations (Study 1: N = 5,241), sh…
Assessing Natural Language
Recently, researchers in the quantitative, questionnaire tradition have been increasingly interested in the impact of emotion language and the measurement of this. Some of these researchers measure emotion-words within a meaning-giving sentence, others measure them in isolation. Based on semantic theory, we argue that emotion-words presented in isolation should mean less to a participant than emotion-words combined with other words forming a sent…
Wise Desire-Priorities
Although there are several philosophical theories about what constitutes ‘good life’, few focuses on which type of desires pay off for those who entertain them. We therefore investigate empirically how people prioritize among desires through a global assessment of what lives they most want to live. In the current study (N = 154), we presented them with 26 questions about the type of life they could find desirable. Structural Equation Modeling rev…
It’s not our fault! Explaining why families might blame the school for failure to complete a high-school education
Does remembering past ingroup harmdoing promote postwar cross‐group contact? Insights from a field‐experiment in Liberia
In the aftermath of the Liberian civil wars, we investigated whether it is possible to systematically influence how people construe their group's role during the conflict and how this affects intergroup emotions and behavioral intentions. In a field experiment, 146 participants were randomly assigned to think about incidents of violence during the war that were either committed by fellow ingroup members (perpetrator‐focus) or against fellow ingro…
When majority members exclude ethnic minorities
In recent years, ethnic minorities have experienced an increase in acts of exclusion. In two studies, we demonstrated how ingroup members' felt shame about such immoral behavior explained their desire to pro‐socially object to this immorality by distancing from the perpetrating ingroup and by wanting to support the affected minorities. We showed how the desire to pro‐socially object varies as a function of national identification. As expected, na…
Beyond the ‘east–west’ dichotomy
Markus and Kitayama's (1991) theory of independent and interdependent self-construals had a major influence on social, personality, and developmental psychology by highlighting the role of culture in psychological processes. However, research has relied excessively on contrasts between North American and East Asian samples, and commonly used self-report measures of independence and interdependence frequently fail to show predicted cultural differ…
Being oneself through time
Self-continuity – the sense that one’s past, present, and future are meaningfully connected – is considered a defining feature of personal identity. However, bases of self-continuity may depend on cultural beliefs about personhood. In multilevel analyses of data from 7287 adults from 55 cultural groups in 33 nations, we tested a new tripartite theoretical model of bases of self-continuity. As expected, perceptions of stability, sense of narrative…
Seeking revenge or seeking reconciliation? How concern for social‐image and felt shame helps explain responses in reciprocal intergroup conflict
In conflicts with reciprocal violence, individuals belong to a group that has been both perpetrator and victim. In a field experiment in Liberia, West Africa, we led participants ( N = 146) to focus on their group as either perpetrator or victim in order to investigate its effect on orientation towards inter‐group reconciliation or revenge. Compared to a perpetrator focus, a victim focus led to slightly more revenge orientation and moderately les…
Risking the social bond
Our choice to withhold or disclose displeasing information to another can motivate concern about damage to our social bonds. In two experiments, using two different samples of university students in Norway, ( N = 174 and N = 217), we found that withholding unpleasant information led to greater concern for self- image and social-image than did disclosure. We also found that withholding elicited more shame, inferiority and rejection than disclosure…
Making excuses and making sense
Across institutional settings, people who talk about having committed sexual violence often do so in ways that may neutralize their personal culpability for it. These so-called neutralizations may be part of a pro-social forward-looking narrative, but might also obscure information and strengthen attitudes that enable further violence. In this article, we examine how one such neutralization –excuses – is managed turn-by-turn, in research intervie…
“Back to the Future”
Routine Outcome Monitoring systems have been developed to monitor how clients' lives change over the course of therapy. However, for such systems to be effective, they must possess sufficient construct validity and scale-reliability to warrant their use. In this study, using a sample of 841 Norwegian clients, we performed the first independent test of the construct validity and scale-reliability of the "Individual Problems and Strengths" (IPS) sc…
Psychology (13 works) · Social Psychology (11 works) · Emotions and Moral Behavior (10 works) · Shame (6 works) · Social Psychology (6 works) · Cultural Differences and Values (5 works) · Political science (5 works) · Psychology of Social Influence (5 works) · Social and Intergroup Psychology (5 works) · Sociology (5 works)