Utrecht University
Social Psychology
Monetary rewards facilitate performance on behavioral and cognitive tasks, even when these rewards are perceived without conscious awareness. Also, recent research suggests that consciously (vs. unconsciously) perceived rewards may prompt... more
In tournaments in various sports that feature one–on–one competition, the trophy is sometimes prominently displayed near the athletes during the final. Based on recent research on subtle reward cues, we propose that such trophies have the... more
Human reward pursuit is often found to be governed by conscious assessments of expected value and required effort. Yet, research also indicates that rewards are initially valuated and processed outside awareness, using rudimentary brain... more
When in pursuit of rewards, humans weigh the value of potential rewards against the amount of effort that is required to attain them. Although previous research has generally conceptualized this process as a deliberate calculation, recent... more
"Objectives. While prejudice has often been shown to be rooted in experiences of threat, the biological underpinnings of this threat-prejudice association have received less research attention. The present experiment aims to test whether... more
In everyday life contexts and work settings, monetary rewards are often contingent on future performance. Based on research showing that the anticipation of rewards causes improved task performance through enhanced task preparation, the... more
The aim of the present studies was to examine the impact of food cues on restrained eaters' attention for food. Previous research has shown that restrained eaters spontaneously activate hedonic thoughts in response to palatable food cues,... more
Studies on implementation intentions so far have mainly pointed towards strengthened cue-behavior associations as the mechanism underlying the effectiveness of this self-regulatory tool. However, we propose that because it triggers people... more
The aim of the present studies was to examine the impact of food cues on restrained eaters' attention for food. Previous research has shown that restrained eaters spontaneously activate hedonic thoughts in response to palatable food cues,... more