Roosje (Roos) Vonk (
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...
, 4 November 1960) is a Dutch
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...
(Dutch title: "hoogleraar") of
social psychology
Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the ...
at the
Radboud University
Radboud University (abbreviated as RU, nl, Radboud Universiteit , formerly ''Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen'') is a public research university located in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The university bears the name of Saint Radboud, a 9th century D ...
in
Nijmegen author, and motivational speaker.
Life and work
Vonk studied psychology at
Leiden University. She received her PhD in 1990 for her dissertation ''The cognitive representation of persons: A multidimensional study of Implicit Personality Theory, impression formation, and person judgments''. In 1999 she became professor at the
Radboud University Nijmegen
Radboud University (abbreviated as RU, nl, Radboud Universiteit , formerly ''Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen'') is a public research university located in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The university bears the name of Saint Radboud, a 9th century ...
. In addition to her work at the university, she popularized psychology by means of books, articles, and lectures for the general public.
Vonk published on
ingratiation
Ingratiating is a psychological technique in which an individual attempts to influence another person by becoming more likeable to their target. This term was coined by social psychologist Edward E. Jones, who further defined ingratiating as "a cla ...
, vulnerable
egos,
impression formation
Impression formation in social psychology refers to the processes by which different pieces of knowledge about another are combined into a global or summary impression. Social psychologist Solomon Asch is credited with the seminal research on impr ...
,
intimate relationship
An intimate relationship is an interpersonal relationship that involves physical or emotional intimacy. Although an intimate relationship is commonly a sexual relationship, it may also be a non-sexual relationship involving family, friends, or ...
s, power and leadership,
self-esteem and
self-knowledge. In her research on ingratiation, she showed that we are all very sensitive to this and often do not notice when we are being flattered, even when there is a lot at stake. Because people typically ingratiate those with higher status and can be less friendly towards subordinates (the kiss-up and kick-down pattern), the behavior of people towards those with lower status is seen as more informative about how someone really is - a finding that is applied in recruitment and selection of personnel by
Laszlo Bock
Laszlo Bock is a Romanian-born American businessman, who is co-founder and CEO of Humu (software), Humu. He was formerly the Senior Vice President of People Operations at Google, Inc.
Early life and career
He was born in 1972 in Romania to et ...
, head of HR at Google. Vonk also wrote about human weaknesses, such as overconfidence and "emotional incontinence", and ways to facilitate self-improvement. She worked with
Kristin Neff
Kristin Neff is an associate professor in the University of Texas at Austin's department of educational psychology. Dr. Neff received her doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley, studying moral development. She did two years o ...
, a pioneer in the field of empirical research on self-compassion, and she translated Neff's test for self-compassion to Dutch.
From 2005 till 2008 Vonk was chairperson of animal welfare organisation
Wakker Dier. Vonk also regularly writes opinion pieces with criticism on intensive livestock farming in Dutch newspapers. In 2010, she was the initiator and coordinator of a plea for more sustainable livestock farming by more than hundred Dutch professors from all disciplines. The plea described in detail the problems of greenhouse gas emissions, nitrogen, animal diseases, and animal welfare.
In August 2011, a press release was issued by Vonk, Marcel Zeelenberg and
Diederik Stapel
Diederik Alexander Stapel (born 19 October 1966) is a Dutch former professor of social psychology at Tilburg University. In 2011 Tilburg University suspended Stapel for fabricating and manipulating data for his research publications. This scie ...
of
Tilburg University
Tilburg University is a public research university specializing in the social and behavioral sciences, economics, law, business sciences, theology and humanities, located in Tilburg in the southern part of the Netherlands.
Tilburg University h ...
about an investigation into the psychological meaning of meat. In this they concluded that meat eaters are less social and more selfish than non-meat eaters. A few weeks later, Vonk offered her apologies about the press release, because professor Stapel had used falsified data. Professor Stapel was put on administrative leave on 7 September After an internal investigation, the Radboud University concluded that Vonk was not guilty of fraudulent behavior. However, she was reprimanded for
publishing premature conclusions related to data she had not verified.
Berisping voor professor Vonk vanwege onzorgvuldig professioneel handelen
22 november 2011. Radboud Universiteit.
Selected scientific publications
* ''The cognitive representation of persons. A multivariate study of implicit personality theory, impression formation, and person judgments'' ( dissertation University of Leiden), 1990
* Neff, K. D., & Vonk, R. (2009). Self‐compassion versus global self‐esteem: Two different ways of relating to oneself. ''Journal of personality'', 77(1), 23-50.
* Vonk, R., Radstaak, M., De Heus, P., & Jolij, J. (2019). Ironic effects of feedback on contingency of self-worth: Why self-reports of contingency are biased. ''Self and Identity'', 18(2), 183-200.
* Stel, M., Van Baaren, R. B., & Vonk, R. (2008). Effects of mimicking: Acting prosocially by being emotionally moved. ''European journal of social psychology'', 38(6), 965-976.
* Vonk, R. (1996). Negativity and potency effects in impression formation. ''European Journal of Social Psychology'', 26(6), 851-865.
* Vonk, R. (1999). Impression formation and impression management: Motives, traits, and likeability inferred from self-promoting and self-deprecating behavior. ''Social Cognition'', 17(4), 390-412.
* Vonk, R. (2001). Aversive self-presentations. In R.M. Kowalski (Ed.), ''Behaving badly: Aversive interpersonal behaviors'', pp. 79–155. Washington, DC: APA.
* Vonk, R. (2002). Self-serving interpretations of flattery: Why ingratiation works. ''Journal of Personality and Social Psychology'', 82, 515-525.
* Vonk, R. (2002). Effects of stereotypes on attitude inference: Outgroups are black and white, ingroups are shaded. ''British Journal of Social Psychology'', 41, 157-167.
* Vonk, R. & Ashmore, R.D. (2003). Thinking About Gender Types: Cognitive Organization of Female and Male Types. ''British Journal of Social Psychology'', 41, 157-167.
* Vonk, R. & Smit, H. (2012). Optimal self-esteem is contingent: Intrinsic versus extrinsic, and upward versus downward contingencies. ''European Journal of Personality Psychology'', 26, 182-193.
Selected popular scientific books
* ''De eerste indruk'' (1998; revised seventh edition 2015). Amsterdam: Maven Publishing.
* ''Je bent wat je doet''. (2014; revised edition 2019). Amsterdam: Maven Publishing.
Study books
* ''Sociale psychologie'' (2005; third revised edition 2018). (Red.) Amsterdam: Boom.
Other publications
* Vonk, R. (2008). Wijsheid van het hart. Psychologie Magazine, maart 2008
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vonk, Roos
1960 births
Living people
Dutch psychologists
Dutch columnists
Dutch women psychologists
Dutch women columnists
People from Leiden
Leiden University alumni
Academic staff of Radboud University Nijmegen