Morality, the extent to which people are (perceived as) honest, sincere, and trustworthy, is central to who they are and how they view themselves and others. It is an important part of people’s self-views and their social identity.

Morality is of utmost importance in social perception and evaluation, for how people define themselves and how they form impressions of others—for instance when estimating one’s intentions and purpose. Moreover, morality can be the common ground for collaboration, as well as for disagreement, or hostility: Moral values can bring people together, but they can also cause divide and strengthen opposing views, potentially resulting in social conflict.

I examine the role of morality in social judgments, how moral motives affect behavior, and how people respond to and deal with moral threats—in their daily lives and in their workplace in particular. Examples of research questions I investigate are: What social motives underlie people’s willingness to be loyal to their group members or the organization they identify with, and how is that associated with the manifestation and rationalization of (un)ethical behavior? How do social norms affect rule-breaking behavior or norm-violations? Why are people reluctant to reflect on their own past moral failures, and how can defensive responses to moral criticism be explained? And why is social change often perceived as (morally) threatening? In addition, I examine research questions like: What social contexts increase rule-compliance? What can help facilitate open-mindedness towards morally-loaded topics such as integrity and responsibility, diversity and inclusion, or sustainability? And how can perceived (moral) threat be addressed?

Since people may not always be able or willing to report their true attitudes about moral issues or to reflect on their (im)moral intentions, I complement the use of self-report questionnaires with (explicit or implicit) behavioral measures and psychophysiological or neuroscientific research methods (e.g., ECG/EEG/ERP). This psychophysiological and/or neuroscientific approach allows me to examine people’s (implicit or automatic) behavioral tendencies, as well as the affective and cognitive processes underlying these inclinations. Furthermore, my goal is to provide insights in these more fundamental psychological processes associated with (im)moral issues, behavior and decision-making to complement applied scientific research on, for instance, ethical climates in organizations or the implementation of organizational and public policies.

I work in the Organizational Behavior Group, where I collaborate with several PhD students and research associates on projects related to the topics described above. See also: https://www.uu.nl/en/research/organisational-behaviour 

Examples of research:

-    Red flags in our brain? The influence of social norms on cognitive error-detection

-    Social perception in the workplace

-    Social responsibility: Can an astronauts perspective on Earth affect peoples treatment of nature?
 

PhD supervision:

-     Inga Rösler - Hear me out: How to create an open mind towards moral criticism (defense: April 1st, 2022)

-     Miriam Wickham - Gender identification and categorization beyond the binary

-     Marty Colombo - Coping with the threat of social change

-     Ömer Ergün - Should I? How appeals to moral responsibility affect individual-level behavioral change

-     Mandy Muller - Should we? How appeals to moral responsibility affect group-level behavioral change