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Michel J. J. Handgraaf

Michel J. J. Handgraaf

I received my master’s degree in Psychology from the University of Amsterdam and did my Ph.D in Social Psychology at Leiden University. My dissertation deals with the role of fairness in economic situations. After a postdoc at the department of Economic Psychology at Tilburg University, and an assistant professorship at Work and Organizational Psychology at the University of Amsterdam, I recently moved to Wageningen University where I am an associate professor at the department for Economics of Consumers and Households.

In 2006 I visited Columbia University’s Center for Research on Environmental Decisions (CRED), and became an affiliate. After receiving an NSF grant (with Elke Weber) on ‘Environmental decisions by individuals and groups’, I became more involved and I am now a member of the steering committee of CRED.

Most of my research uses (field)experimental methods, can be described as ‘behavioral economics’, and mainly deals with differences between what rational economic theories would predict and the psychology behind deviations from such predictions. Early research focused on preferences people have with regard to fair distributions, and the contextual factors that influence such preferences, as well as on the effect of power on concern for others. More recent research focuses on the psychological aspects of (un)ethical decisions and lying. Most of my current research deals with differences between individual vs. group decisions in the environmental domain, and the effects of feedback and reward on energy consumption and environmental behavior more generally.

Primary Interests:

  • Applied Social Psychology
  • Ethics and Morality
  • Group Processes
  • Helping, Prosocial Behavior
  • Interpersonal Processes
  • Judgment and Decision Making
  • Organizational Behavior

Research Group or Laboratory:

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Journal Articles:

Courses Taught:

  • Cognitive Social Psychology
  • Economic Psychology
  • Group Dynamics
  • Introduction to Work and Organizational Psychology
  • Judgment and Decision Making in Organizations

Michel J. J. Handgraaf
Economics of Consumers and Households Group
Wageningen University
Hollandseweg 1
6706 KN Wageningen
The Netherlands

  • Phone: +31 (0)317 483169
  • Fax: +31 (0)317 484736

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