Leiden Psychology Blog

Locked in or locked out?

Can you be happy when you are completely paralyzed? When you can think and feel, but can only blink your eyes? Surprisingly, most people with the locked-in syndrome can be happy. What is devastating is when you are locked out of society.

Femke Nijboer • 29-03-2015

Why can teens be such drama queens?

Maybe you remember your own social life in your mid-teens as dynamic and, most of all, dramatic. Why? Does drama serve a purpose?

• 23-03-2015

Is Alexander Pechtold the Dutch Michael Dukakis of 2015?

At the close of the pre-election debate, a poll by RTL news showed Alexander Pechtold, leader of the opposition party D66, narrowly in the lead over prime minister Mark Rutte (VVD). But from a psychological point of view Rutte was the clear winner...

Willem van der Does • 16-03-2015

The Psychology of Putin

Whether in politics or in daily life, we all encounter conflicts: between colleagues, relations, or neighbours. Often these seems to stem from conflicting interests or the allocation of scarce resources.

Naomi Ellemers • 09-03-2015

Pay it forward!

Receiving help makes people feel dependent and inadequate. But recent research reveals a remedy: paying help forward. Read on to see how this works.

Esther van Leeuwen • 26-02-2015

Empathy in adolescence: convenient or key?

Not everybody is equally competent at reading intentions, sharing emotions, and in estimating the needs of others. Sandy Overgaauw investigated the role of individual differences in empathy. How and why do we differ from a brain and behavioral perspective?

Sandy Overgaauw • 16-02-2015

Resolutions

When it comes to resolutions, people can be extremely hard on themselves. We firmly resolve ‘I must never gain weight again', or tell ourselves 'I am a bad person to spend that much money'. But is that really the best way to change?

Naomi Ellemers • 12-02-2015

Does the option to reverse a decision really make us happy?

Return policies, temporary contracts, cancellation insurances…they all allow us to change our minds about choices we’ve made. We tend to expect that the option to reverse will yield optimal decision outcomes, but research shows this is not always true.

Lottie Bullens • 26-01-2015

Children have no self-control?

Do children have self-control? MRI research shows they just need a little more neural activation to control their own behaviour than adults. Watch the video blog on intentional inhibition in normally developing children.

Margot Schel • 21-01-2015

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