I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Psychology at Tilburg University. I studied at the University of Cologne (B.Sc. Social Sciences) and the University of St Andrews (MRes Psychology) before completing my PhD at Tilburg University in 2020.

My research focuses on three topics:

Moral psychology & Altruism

Most of my work explores the psychology of Big Moral Issues.

Although people disagree on just about any important moral issue, most people would probably agree that reducing suffering and promoting well-being are among the most important goals that we should collectively strive for. So how can we make the world a better place for everyone? This is a difficult question because there are so many problems in the world – inequality, climate change, cancer and other diseases, the threat of nuclear war and pandemics, to name just a few – and we have limited time and resources to tackle them. We can use evidence and reason to figure out which issues to prioritize and how to do the most good possible.

But research shows that prosocial behavior is often driven by emotions and intuitions. For example, many people donate to local charities even though their contributions have a much larger impact abroad. People are more likely to help someone in need if they look similar. Hearing about the suffering of a single person can move people more than hearing about the suffering of thousands. I study the psychological factors that make us care about some individuals, but not others, why our altruistics acts often fail to reduce suffering in an effective way, and how we can promote more impactful altruism. You can listen to an introduction to effective altruism, featuring some of my research, here.

My ultime goal is to understand how we can reduce suffering in the world – no matter where it occurs or who experiences it. For example, a tremendous amount of suffering is experienced by non-human animals (trillions are killed every year). My work explores how people reason about the moral standing of animals and other non-human beings. On the more practical side, my work focuses on how we can prevent animal suffering, for example, by changing attitudes toward animals and by reducing meat consumption. I also co-created LIME, a website for exploring and analyzing the results of different interventions aimed at reducing meat consumption. 

First impressions & Social biases

Despite the old maxim to not “judge a book by its cover”, people are very quick in judging others based on their looks. My research explores the antecedents and consequences of first impressions. How do we form impressions of others, that is, which facial features make a person look trustworthy or competent? How accurate are our first impressions? How do first impressions influence our decisions? Why is the influence of first impressions so persistent and difficult to suppress? How can we reduce the influence of first impressions? You can watch a 10-minute video on this topic here.

Meta-science & Research methods

The social and behavioral sciences are undergoing a fundamental change at the moment. Many prominent research findings fail to replicate, questioning established theories and their practical usefulness. A critical examination of scientific research methods shows that questionable practices (e.g., p-hacking) and serious methodological shortcomings (e.g., small sample sizes) are widespread. My goal is to understand and improve the way we do science. I contribute to projects that aim to promote collaboration, test the (cross-cultural) replicability of important theories, or understand how the outcomes of studies are shaped by differences in study design and differences in analytic approaches.

Click here for my courses.

• Courses: Rational Thinking and Decision-Making
• Supervision: Master and Research Master theses