I obtained my PhD at Utrecht University in April 2012, under supervision of prof. dr. Denise de Ridder and dr. Catharine Evers. My dissertation entitled “Tricky treats: How and when temptations boost self-control” evolved around counteractive control theory and explored under what conditions food temptations may or may not activate the conflicting weight watching goal. We found that temptation strength was an important moderator for counteractive control processes: self-control behavior was activated upon confrontation with strong but not weak temptations. In addition, we found that facilitative temptation-goal associations could be created in unsuccessful dieters by using implementation intentions, and that this cognitive outcome translated into behavior by yielding less indulgence during one-week follow-up.
Besides my work on food temptations, I have been involved in a project investigating a self-management intervention for type 2 diabetes patients. In this project, we investigated the added value of booster sessions to an existing intervention program and found that it was, at best, questionable. Furthermore, as a post-doc researcher (2012-2014) I worked on a project about bedtime procrastination together with a team of philosophers: notably, we were the first to introduce bedtime procrastination – going to bed later than intended – as a self-regulation perspective on getting insufficient sleep.
My current research interests are procrastination, temptations, and self-control, and I have a particular fascination for the mechanisms underlying self-regulatory success.
Projects
Project
10 Years Up
01.09.2018
to 01.09.2028
General project description
Role
Researcher
Funding
No information available
Completed Projects
Project
WINK: Welfare Improvement through Nudging Knowledge
01.09.2014
to 01.09.2018
General project description
The WINK project investigates the merits of nudging as a promising and innovative approach to public health and welfare. ‘Nudging’ translates insights from behavioral research on decision-making to policy-relevant individual choices in order to gently suggest desired choices without infringing upon autonomy of individuals. It is based on the understanding that individual choices are generally driven by heuristic processes to which the presentation of alternatives can be attuned. Nudging refers to a variety of techniques with which governments and other agents (‘choice architects’) may guide individual choices in order to improve decision outcomes. Nudging is based on ‘libertarian paternalism’, which respects
individual free choice (libertarian) but suggest the most sensible choices to individuals (paternalistic). The program focuses on public health and healthy lifestyle choices. Nudging is a highly promising alternative to existing policies, as it may be more effective, less intrusive and less costly. However, systematic research is lacking that investigates the effectiveness of various nudges, their normative acceptability and practical feasibility for public policies. This research program is a systematic empirical investigation of these three issues by a multidisciplinary research team, featuring psychologists and communication, ethics and public administration scholars. We collaborate in a consortium with five of the most important policy actors in the field of public policy, public health and welfare: Netherlands School for Public Policy, Council for Health & Society, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy, and Municipal Public Health Service Utrecht.
Role
Co-promotor
Funding
NWO grant TOP-subsidie
Project members UU
External project members
- Prof. dr. Emely de Vet (WUR)
- Prof. dr. Marcel Verweij (WUR)
- Anastasia Vugts (WUR)
- Gemeente Utrecht
- NSOB
- RIVM
- WRR
- RV&S