The research at our department is devoted to experimental and field research methods to study human behavior and its underlying cognitive and neurophysiological processes. The department consists of three sections, which are placing emphasis on different research areas.
Cognitive Psychology
Research in the Cognitive Psychology group focuses on the general theme of attention and performance. We investigate top-down and bottom-up control of visual selection, the relation between attention and eye movement, visual search and marking, attention in 3-D, nonspecific preparatory processes in reaction time tasks and task switching. We also conduct applied research in the area of information processing, traffic behavior and human decision-making.
Methodologies include behavioral RT tasks, eye movement recording, EEG, MEG and fMRI, and neural network modeling to study the behavioral components and neural bases of attention, information processing and decision-making.
Organizational Psychology
The Organizational Psychology group focuses on various research themes including behavior in organizations, membership of organizations, team work, leadership and personality, neural and hormonal correlates of status, and evolutionary and cognitive neuroscience approaches to study leadership. Our groups draws from a broad range of research methods such as surveys, assessments and observations, games and interactions analysis, and cognitive neuroscience methods.
We are a team of international teachers and scientists dedicated to research and our educational program in Organizational Psychology, seeking to move the field of organizational psychology forward.
Social Psychology
Research in the Social Psychology group spans the three interrelated research themes trust, emotion, and human cooperation. We investigate the role of trust in dyads and groups, cooperation within and between groups, the development and impact of conspiracy theories, myths of self-interest, and feelings of superiority, and the role of emotions across these fields.
Our group draws from a broad range of research methods and approaches, including economic games, interaction analysis, experience-sampling, modeling, cross-national data, big data, meta-analysis, and cognitive and neuroscientific methods (e.g., fMRI, neuroendocrinology).
For up-to-date information on news, events, and research activities in our department, please visit the website VUpsy.