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Project 4: Social-cognitive processes underlying the persistence of (un)trustworthiness expectations

Prof. Dr. Mario Gollwitzer

PhD Student: Merle Buchholz

This subproject investigates how a dispositional sensitivity to injustice from a victim’s perspective ("victim sensitivity") is related to the persistence of (un)trustworthiness expectations, and which social-cognitive processes (e.g., avoidance learning) underlie this relationship. In addition, it will be examined in which way these social-cognitive processes in turn contribute to stabilizing individual differences in victim sensitivity. Laboratory studies will be carried out using a computer as well as in an immersive (i.e. "virtual reality”) environment.

Publications

Kube, T., Rief, W., Gollwitzer, M., Gärtner, T., & Glombiewski, J. A. (2019). Why dysfunctional expectations in depression persist – Results from two experimental studies investigating cognitive immunization. Psychological Medicine, 49, 1532-1544. 

Gollwitzer, M., Thorwart, A., & Meissner, K. (2018). Editorial: Psychological responses to violations of expectations. Frontiers in Psychology, 8:2357. 

Kube, T., Rief, W., Gollwitzer, M., & Glombiewski, J. A. (2018). Introducing an EXperimental Paradigm to investigate Expectation Change (EXPEC). Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 59, 92-99. 

Süssenbach, P., Gollwitzer, M., Mieth, L., Buchner, A., & Bell, R. (2016). Trustworthy tricksters: Violating a negative social expectation affects source memory and person perception when fear of exploitation is high. Frontiers in Psychology, 7:2037. 

Rief, W., Glombiewski, J. A., Gollwitzer, M., Schubö, A., Schwarting, R., & Thorwart, A. (2015). Expectancies as core features of mental disorders. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 28(5), 378-385.

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