How to cure an overdose of individualism in psychology: A relational perspective on what moves and motivates us

In many ways, psychology suffers from an overdose of individualism. This is problematic because this dominant view conceptualizes social relationships as external to the isolated individual. In his new book, Martijn van Zomeren develops an essentially relational theory of motivation, which assumes that, in essence, we are moved and motivated by others.

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Psychology starts 5 new international master’s tracks

In September 2016, the Department of Psychology starts five new international master’s tracks. These tracks link psychological knowledge to particular fields of application, to prepare students in the best possible way for the job market in their respective fields. All tracks seem promising, but how do you pick the track that is right for you?

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Foreign news, nearby consequences: How media portrayals of distant situations affect local group relations

This Thursday, Thijs Bouman will defend his doctoral thesis in which he explains the influence of foreign news on how we perceive groups within our nearby surroundings. Generalizations from global to the local situations seem to specifically occur for negative news and rely on often trivial and unconscious associations between the foreign and nearby groups.

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Duo-Interview: Perspectives on Social Coordination

People tend to coordinate their actions, feelings, and thoughts with others in social situations. But how does this work? We asked two experts of our department, Dr. Ralf Cox (Developmental Psychology) and Dr. Pontus Leander (Organizational Psychology), who examine this intriguing topic from two different perspectives.

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Becoming your own fortune teller: what hands can tell you

Who says you need fortune tellers to tell you how we will feel in the future, or how you will behave? Maybe you don’t need them: there is literature to suggest you can basically become your own fortune teller, by simply taking a closer look at your hands. Your future is not written in the stars, but in your hands.

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