Recent news
War and peace require different leaders
02-17-12Times of war seem to require a different type of leader than times of peace. A team of researchers led by Brian R. Spisak and Mark Van Vugt from VU University argue that there is a biologically based hormonal connection between leadership behavior and corresponding facial characteristics. Surprisingly, not the actual biological sex, but masculine or feminine traits matter for leaders to be chosen as good warriors or peacekeepers.
Registration periods and fees for courses
11-22-11Soon all students will receive this letter with information on registration periods for courses and possible administration fees.
Not men, but women come from Mars
09-30-11Women are not more cooperative then men, VU researchers discovered.
William James Graduate School receives NWO Funding
09-16-11The William James Graduate School will receive a funding of 800,000 euro’s as part of the NWO Graduate Programme.
Two ERC Starting Grants for FPP
08-18-11The European Union has freed a substantial budget with the ERC grants (1.5 million euro each grant) for ground-breaking research that is initiated by excellent researchers themselves.
Dorret I. Boomsma receives a 'Distinguished Investigator' grant
08-17-11Dorret I. Boomsma (Netherlands Twin Register VU University, Amsterdam) received a “Distinguished Investigator” grant from the “Brain and Behavior Research Foundation” (formerly NARSAD) .
Punishment works as well as rewards
07-12-11To encourage people to cooperate in a group they can choose to either punish or reward certain behaviors. Researchers from the department of Social and Organizational Psychology discovered that these incentives work best when someone has to pay a price to punish or reward another person.
Self control affects trust
07-11-11Research by Francesca Righetti and Catrin Finkenauer shows that the level of self-control one perceives others to have, influences the level of trust: the higher the level of self-control we see in each other, the more we trust each other.
Heart rate promotes trust
04-04-11Researchers from VU University Amsterdam have discovered that the measurement of heart rate (using electrodes attached to a bare body) can cause a strong effect to the trust in other people.
Roy Baumeister special Professor
03-11-11As of November 2010 Roy Baumeister is attached to the department of Social and Organizational Psychology as Special Professor. His chair is titled: “The Regulation of Social Interaction”.
Paul van Lange elected as Chairman SESP
03-11-11Recently the Society of Experimental Social Psychology (SESP) has elected Paul van Lange as chairman. In 2011 he will act as vice-chairman and in 2012 as chairman. He is the first social-psychologist from Europe to be Chairman for SESP.
NWO-grant for Cognitive Psychology
01-17-11NWO has awarded the department of Cognitive psychology a grant of € 200.000 for research on attention.
Science: Loneliness is unhealthy and influenced by genetic factors
01-17-11Loneliness is a risk factor for health problems. Loneliness also is influenced by genetic factors say Prof. John Cacioppo and Prof. Dorret Boomsma in an interview in Science.
US Navy funds research-pilot in leadership
01-10-11The ONRG (Office of Naval Research Global of the US Department of the Navy) has awarded a grant for conducting research on leadership.
Blog on Psychology Today
11-29-10Prof. Mark van Vugt keeps us updated through his blog on Psychology Today, a well known website in the field of psychology (7 million page views per month).
