Esther Van Leeuwen
Biographic Data
| ID | 3596552 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Esther Van Leeuwen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Esther |
| FAMILY NAME | Van Leeuwen |
| SIGNATURE | VAN LEEUWEN E |
| AFFILIATIONS | Leiden University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3048-1127 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 78 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Can’t Live With Them, Can’t Live Without Them: The Ambivalent Effects of Existential Outgroup Threat on Helping Behavior
Social comparison theories suggest that ingroups are strengthened whenever important outgroups are weakened (e.g., by losing status or power). It follows that ingroups have little reason to help outgroups facing an existential threat. We challenge this notion by showing that ingroups can also be weakened when relevant comparison outgroups are weakened, which can motivate ingroups to strategically offer help to ensure the outgroups’ survival as a …
Addressing Barriers to Action: Increasing Cat Guardians' Compliance with Professional Environmental Enrichment Advice
Guardians of domestic cats may seek advice from a veterinarian or professional cat behavior advisor to address problematic cat behaviors. This advice typically involves a degree of environmental enrichment, which guardians sometimes experience as an encroachment on their personal lives and living environment. This may explain why compliance with enrichment advice is often poor and problem behaviors persist. The aim of this study was to investigat…
The psychological antecedents of resistance to humanitarian aid
Victims of natural or humanitarian disasters sometimes resist aid offered to them, resulting in slower recovery among victims, and feelings of rejection among aid offerers. We present two studies conducted in Indonesia that investigated motives for spurning offers of humanitarian aid. Both studies showed that beliefs in developed countries’ conspiracies lead participants to see humanitarian aid as guided by strategic rather than prosocial motives…
Promoting reconciliation in separatist conflict: The effect of morality framing
In separatist conflict, the majority group and the separatist group alternate in their roles as victim and perpetrator. We examined how framing prior ingroup wrongdoings in terms of violations of moral ideals or violations of moral obligations affects the majority’s willingness to reconcile with the separatist group. We conducted a field experiment ( N = 208) in the Republic of Indonesia, where separatist conflict is rife. As expected, among memb…
The Impact of Intergroup Helping on Third Parties’ Perceptions of Group Reputation
We investigated the consequences of intergroup helping for both the offering and the receiving group’s reputation in the eyes of third parties. In two experiments (N = 116 and N = 78), observers were presented with a group that offered versus requested help. Observers’ status beliefs confirmed the emergence of a status hierarchy that favored the group that offered help. Study 2 demonstrated that the newly emerged status differential quickly solid…
How morality threat promotes reconciliation in separatist conflict: A majority group perspective
We examined how the perception that separatist groups threaten the majority’s moral identity impacts the latter group’s support for reconciliation in separatist conflict. Two studies were conducted in Indonesia, where separatist conflict is rife. Javanese students (representing the nonseparatist majority) responded surveys regarding separatist conflicts in Aceh (Study 1, N = 679) or West Papua (Study 2, N = 500). As expected, perceived threat to …
Altering Perceived Cultural and Economic Threats can Increase Immigrant Helping
We report two experimental studies in which we investigated the effects of perceived economic and cultural threat on positive interactions between a host society and immigrants. Study 1 showed that people who perceived immigrants as less of a threat to their society's economy were more willing to provide immigrants with empowerment help and less likely to expect immigrants to solve their own problems (group change). In Study 2, we found that high…
The Effects of Negative Images on Young People's Willingness to Help Elderly People
We examined the effect of confronting young people with an image depicting them as unhelpful on their willingness to help elderly people. As expected, helpfulness increased when this image reflected the elderly's view of young people but decreased when it reflected objective information. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Pain reduces discrimination in helping
Because of their shared neurobiological underpinnings, factors increasing physical pain can also increase feelings of social disconnection (“social pain”). Feelings of connection with a social group are reflected in the term social identification, and social identity is commonly associated with intergroup discrimination. In two experiments, we examined the notion that physical pain would reduce social identification and subsequently inhibit inter…
Of saints and sinners: How appeals to collective pride and guilt affect outgroup helping
We examined how appeals to collective guilt and pride can motivate people to help members of a disadvantaged outgroup. Results from two experiments supported the prediction that appeals to collective pride are more effective than appeals to collective guilt in prompting high identifying group members’, but not low identifying group members’ willingness to help the outgroup. Study 2 demonstrated that, as expected, pride appeals generated more empa…
When Common Identities Reduce Between-Group Helping
Emphasizing a common group identity is often suggested as a way to promote between-group helping. But recently, researchers have identified a set of strategic motives for helping other groups, including the desire to present the own group as warm and generous. When the motive for helping is strategic, a salient common identity should reduce the willingness to help another group, because the help no longer communicates a quality of the ingroup (on…
When High Group Status Becomes a Burden: Requesting Outgroup Help and Spying by Members of High and Low Status Groups
The present paper investigates the strategic motives that guide the quest for outgroup resources. Resources can be retrieved through spying and requesting help. Whereas both methods are means of obtaining valued resources from the outgroup, spying secures the ingroup's public image, while requesting help potentially damages this image by displaying the ingroup as incompetent and dependent. Two experiments (N = 99 and N = 99) supported the predict…
To teach or to tell? Consequences of receiving help from experts and peers
Previous research has stressed the positive effects of receiving autonomy-oriented help over dependency-oriented help but has overlooked a potential downside in terms of recipients' evaluations of the helper. Participants in the current experiment (n = 77) requested help while working on difficult puzzles and received either autonomy- or dependency-oriented help from either an expert or a peer. In line with previous findings, receiving autonomy-o…
Dealing with deviants: The effectiveness of rejection, denial, and apologies on protecting the public image of a group
Public transgressions by group members threaten the public image of a group when outside observers perceive them as representative of the group in general. In three studies, we tested the effectiveness of rejection of a deviant group member who made a racist comment in public, and compared this to several other strategies the group could employ to protect their image. In Study 1 ( N = 75) and Study 2 ( N = 51), the group was judged less racist af…
Demonstrating knowledge: The effects of group status on outgroup helping
Who Do We Inform? The Role of Status and Target in Intergroup Whistle-blowing
In two experiments ( n = 87 and n = 90), we showed that strongly identifying members of a low status group are more likely to actively inform the ingroup rather than the outgroup about an outgroup transgression, and consider it as more loyal to the ingroup to do so. Moreover, strongly identifying members of a high status group are more likely to actively inform the outgroup rather than the ingroup about an outgroup transgression, and consider thi…
The effect of linguistic abstraction on interpersonal distance
It is well known that people describe positive behaviors of others close to them (e.g., in‐group member, friend) in abstract terms, but with concrete terms in the case of people who they are not close to (e.g., out‐group member, enemy). In contrast, negative behaviors of people who we are close to are described in concrete terms, but in abstract terms for people who are distant. However, the communicative impact of such subtle differences in lang…
Restoring identity through outgroup helping: Beliefs about international aid in response to the December 2004 tsunami
In this paper, the December 2004 tsunami tragedy was used as a background to investigate beliefs about intergroup helping. The general aim of the research was to test the proposal that helping can be used to reaffirm a threatened social identity. Two experiments conducted with Dutch participants ( N = 78 and N = 73) tested the hypothesis that a threatened Dutch national identity would result in stronger preferences for help to the victims of the …
Distributive Justice and the Allocation of Costs, Losses, and Profits
Of saints and sinners: How appeals to collective pride and guilt affect outgroup helping
We examined how appeals to collective guilt and pride can motivate people to help members of a disadvantaged outgroup. Results from two experiments supported the prediction that appeals to collective pride are more effective than appeals to collective guilt in prompting high identifying group members’, but not low identifying group members’ willingness to help the outgroup. Study 2 demonstrated that, as expected, pride appeals generated more empa…
Demonstrating knowledge: The effects of group status on outgroup helping
Restoring identity through outgroup helping: Beliefs about international aid in response to the December 2004 tsunami
In this paper, the December 2004 tsunami tragedy was used as a background to investigate beliefs about intergroup helping. The general aim of the research was to test the proposal that helping can be used to reaffirm a threatened social identity. Two experiments conducted with Dutch participants ( N = 78 and N = 73) tested the hypothesis that a threatened Dutch national identity would result in stronger preferences for help to the victims of the …
Altering Perceived Cultural and Economic Threats can Increase Immigrant Helping
We report two experimental studies in which we investigated the effects of perceived economic and cultural threat on positive interactions between a host society and immigrants. Study 1 showed that people who perceived immigrants as less of a threat to their society's economy were more willing to provide immigrants with empowerment help and less likely to expect immigrants to solve their own problems (group change). In Study 2, we found that high…
When High Group Status Becomes a Burden: Requesting Outgroup Help and Spying by Members of High and Low Status Groups
The present paper investigates the strategic motives that guide the quest for outgroup resources. Resources can be retrieved through spying and requesting help. Whereas both methods are means of obtaining valued resources from the outgroup, spying secures the ingroup's public image, while requesting help potentially damages this image by displaying the ingroup as incompetent and dependent. Two experiments (N = 99 and N = 99) supported the predict…
The effect of linguistic abstraction on interpersonal distance
It is well known that people describe positive behaviors of others close to them (e.g., in‐group member, friend) in abstract terms, but with concrete terms in the case of people who they are not close to (e.g., out‐group member, enemy). In contrast, negative behaviors of people who we are close to are described in concrete terms, but in abstract terms for people who are distant. However, the communicative impact of such subtle differences in lang…
Distributive Justice and the Allocation of Costs, Losses, and Profits
Dealing with deviants: The effectiveness of rejection, denial, and apologies on protecting the public image of a group
Public transgressions by group members threaten the public image of a group when outside observers perceive them as representative of the group in general. In three studies, we tested the effectiveness of rejection of a deviant group member who made a racist comment in public, and compared this to several other strategies the group could employ to protect their image. In Study 1 ( N = 75) and Study 2 ( N = 51), the group was judged less racist af…
The psychological antecedents of resistance to humanitarian aid
Victims of natural or humanitarian disasters sometimes resist aid offered to them, resulting in slower recovery among victims, and feelings of rejection among aid offerers. We present two studies conducted in Indonesia that investigated motives for spurning offers of humanitarian aid. Both studies showed that beliefs in developed countries’ conspiracies lead participants to see humanitarian aid as guided by strategic rather than prosocial motives…
How morality threat promotes reconciliation in separatist conflict: A majority group perspective
We examined how the perception that separatist groups threaten the majority’s moral identity impacts the latter group’s support for reconciliation in separatist conflict. Two studies were conducted in Indonesia, where separatist conflict is rife. Javanese students (representing the nonseparatist majority) responded surveys regarding separatist conflicts in Aceh (Study 1, N = 679) or West Papua (Study 2, N = 500). As expected, perceived threat to …
Who Do We Inform? The Role of Status and Target in Intergroup Whistle-blowing
In two experiments ( n = 87 and n = 90), we showed that strongly identifying members of a low status group are more likely to actively inform the ingroup rather than the outgroup about an outgroup transgression, and consider it as more loyal to the ingroup to do so. Moreover, strongly identifying members of a high status group are more likely to actively inform the outgroup rather than the ingroup about an outgroup transgression, and consider thi…
Promoting reconciliation in separatist conflict: The effect of morality framing
In separatist conflict, the majority group and the separatist group alternate in their roles as victim and perpetrator. We examined how framing prior ingroup wrongdoings in terms of violations of moral ideals or violations of moral obligations affects the majority’s willingness to reconcile with the separatist group. We conducted a field experiment ( N = 208) in the Republic of Indonesia, where separatist conflict is rife. As expected, among memb…
To teach or to tell? Consequences of receiving help from experts and peers
Previous research has stressed the positive effects of receiving autonomy-oriented help over dependency-oriented help but has overlooked a potential downside in terms of recipients' evaluations of the helper. Participants in the current experiment (n = 77) requested help while working on difficult puzzles and received either autonomy- or dependency-oriented help from either an expert or a peer. In line with previous findings, receiving autonomy-o…
Distributive Justice and the Allocation of Costs, Losses, and Profits
The effect of linguistic abstraction on interpersonal distance
It is well known that people describe positive behaviors of others close to them (e.g., in‐group member, friend) in abstract terms, but with concrete terms in the case of people who they are not close to (e.g., out‐group member, enemy). In contrast, negative behaviors of people who we are close to are described in concrete terms, but in abstract terms for people who are distant. However, the communicative impact of such subtle differences in lang…
Restoring identity through outgroup helping: Beliefs about international aid in response to the December 2004 tsunami
In this paper, the December 2004 tsunami tragedy was used as a background to investigate beliefs about intergroup helping. The general aim of the research was to test the proposal that helping can be used to reaffirm a threatened social identity. Two experiments conducted with Dutch participants ( N = 78 and N = 73) tested the hypothesis that a threatened Dutch national identity would result in stronger preferences for help to the victims of the …
Who Do We Inform? The Role of Status and Target in Intergroup Whistle-blowing
In two experiments ( n = 87 and n = 90), we showed that strongly identifying members of a low status group are more likely to actively inform the ingroup rather than the outgroup about an outgroup transgression, and consider it as more loyal to the ingroup to do so. Moreover, strongly identifying members of a high status group are more likely to actively inform the outgroup rather than the ingroup about an outgroup transgression, and consider thi…
Dealing with deviants: The effectiveness of rejection, denial, and apologies on protecting the public image of a group
Public transgressions by group members threaten the public image of a group when outside observers perceive them as representative of the group in general. In three studies, we tested the effectiveness of rejection of a deviant group member who made a racist comment in public, and compared this to several other strategies the group could employ to protect their image. In Study 1 ( N = 75) and Study 2 ( N = 51), the group was judged less racist af…
Demonstrating knowledge: The effects of group status on outgroup helping
To teach or to tell? Consequences of receiving help from experts and peers
Previous research has stressed the positive effects of receiving autonomy-oriented help over dependency-oriented help but has overlooked a potential downside in terms of recipients' evaluations of the helper. Participants in the current experiment (n = 77) requested help while working on difficult puzzles and received either autonomy- or dependency-oriented help from either an expert or a peer. In line with previous findings, receiving autonomy-o…
When Common Identities Reduce Between-Group Helping
Emphasizing a common group identity is often suggested as a way to promote between-group helping. But recently, researchers have identified a set of strategic motives for helping other groups, including the desire to present the own group as warm and generous. When the motive for helping is strategic, a salient common identity should reduce the willingness to help another group, because the help no longer communicates a quality of the ingroup (on…
When High Group Status Becomes a Burden: Requesting Outgroup Help and Spying by Members of High and Low Status Groups
The present paper investigates the strategic motives that guide the quest for outgroup resources. Resources can be retrieved through spying and requesting help. Whereas both methods are means of obtaining valued resources from the outgroup, spying secures the ingroup's public image, while requesting help potentially damages this image by displaying the ingroup as incompetent and dependent. Two experiments (N = 99 and N = 99) supported the predict…
Of saints and sinners: How appeals to collective pride and guilt affect outgroup helping
We examined how appeals to collective guilt and pride can motivate people to help members of a disadvantaged outgroup. Results from two experiments supported the prediction that appeals to collective pride are more effective than appeals to collective guilt in prompting high identifying group members’, but not low identifying group members’ willingness to help the outgroup. Study 2 demonstrated that, as expected, pride appeals generated more empa…
The Effects of Negative Images on Young People's Willingness to Help Elderly People
We examined the effect of confronting young people with an image depicting them as unhelpful on their willingness to help elderly people. As expected, helpfulness increased when this image reflected the elderly's view of young people but decreased when it reflected objective information. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Pain reduces discrimination in helping
Because of their shared neurobiological underpinnings, factors increasing physical pain can also increase feelings of social disconnection (“social pain”). Feelings of connection with a social group are reflected in the term social identification, and social identity is commonly associated with intergroup discrimination. In two experiments, we examined the notion that physical pain would reduce social identification and subsequently inhibit inter…
How morality threat promotes reconciliation in separatist conflict: A majority group perspective
We examined how the perception that separatist groups threaten the majority’s moral identity impacts the latter group’s support for reconciliation in separatist conflict. Two studies were conducted in Indonesia, where separatist conflict is rife. Javanese students (representing the nonseparatist majority) responded surveys regarding separatist conflicts in Aceh (Study 1, N = 679) or West Papua (Study 2, N = 500). As expected, perceived threat to …
Altering Perceived Cultural and Economic Threats can Increase Immigrant Helping
We report two experimental studies in which we investigated the effects of perceived economic and cultural threat on positive interactions between a host society and immigrants. Study 1 showed that people who perceived immigrants as less of a threat to their society's economy were more willing to provide immigrants with empowerment help and less likely to expect immigrants to solve their own problems (group change). In Study 2, we found that high…
The Impact of Intergroup Helping on Third Parties’ Perceptions of Group Reputation
We investigated the consequences of intergroup helping for both the offering and the receiving group’s reputation in the eyes of third parties. In two experiments (N = 116 and N = 78), observers were presented with a group that offered versus requested help. Observers’ status beliefs confirmed the emergence of a status hierarchy that favored the group that offered help. Study 2 demonstrated that the newly emerged status differential quickly solid…
The psychological antecedents of resistance to humanitarian aid
Victims of natural or humanitarian disasters sometimes resist aid offered to them, resulting in slower recovery among victims, and feelings of rejection among aid offerers. We present two studies conducted in Indonesia that investigated motives for spurning offers of humanitarian aid. Both studies showed that beliefs in developed countries’ conspiracies lead participants to see humanitarian aid as guided by strategic rather than prosocial motives…
Promoting reconciliation in separatist conflict: The effect of morality framing
In separatist conflict, the majority group and the separatist group alternate in their roles as victim and perpetrator. We examined how framing prior ingroup wrongdoings in terms of violations of moral ideals or violations of moral obligations affects the majority’s willingness to reconcile with the separatist group. We conducted a field experiment ( N = 208) in the Republic of Indonesia, where separatist conflict is rife. As expected, among memb…
Can’t Live With Them, Can’t Live Without Them: The Ambivalent Effects of Existential Outgroup Threat on Helping Behavior
Social comparison theories suggest that ingroups are strengthened whenever important outgroups are weakened (e.g., by losing status or power). It follows that ingroups have little reason to help outgroups facing an existential threat. We challenge this notion by showing that ingroups can also be weakened when relevant comparison outgroups are weakened, which can motivate ingroups to strategically offer help to ensure the outgroups’ survival as a …
Addressing Barriers to Action: Increasing Cat Guardians' Compliance with Professional Environmental Enrichment Advice
Guardians of domestic cats may seek advice from a veterinarian or professional cat behavior advisor to address problematic cat behaviors. This advice typically involves a degree of environmental enrichment, which guardians sometimes experience as an encroachment on their personal lives and living environment. This may explain why compliance with enrichment advice is often poor and problem behaviors persist. The aim of this study was to investigat…
Psychology (18 works) · Social and Intergroup Psychology (15 works) · Social Psychology (15 works) · Social Psychology (11 works) · Political science (10 works) · Ingroups and outgroups (9 works) · Outgroup (7 works) · Social group (7 works) · Cultural Differences and Values (6 works) · Social identity theory (6 works)