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Gerben van Kleef

Gerben van Kleef

Gerben van Kleef is professor of social psychology at the University of Amsterdam. His primary research interests revolve around emotion, power, and conflict. In studying these topics he looks at basic social psychological processes and effects, and explores their implications for organizational behavior and society. His research on emotion centers around the interpersonal effects of discrete emotions in various social and organizational contexts, including conflict, negotiation, leadership, and persuasion. His research on power focuses on the consequences of elevated power for social information processing, interpersonal sensitivity, and pro-social versus egoistic behavior. His work on conflict addresses different levels of analysis, including negotiation dynamics at the dyadic level, issues of diversity at the group level, and social identity processes at the intergroup level.

Gerben van Kleef conducted his dissertation research at the Department of Work and Organizational Psychology of the University of Amsterdam (Ph.D. in 2004, cum laude). He then moved to the department of Social Psychology. In 2005 he received the biannual Best Dissertation Award of the International Association for Conflict Management (IACM) and the Best Dissertation Award of the Dutch Association for Social Psychology (ASPO) for his dissertation on the role of emotions in social conflict. In 2006 he received a 3-year research grant ("Veni") from the Innovational Research Incentives Scheme of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), which enabled him to work at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2008 he received the early career award of the European Association of Social Psychology (EASP). Back in Amsterdam, his research is currently supported by a "Vidi" grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (2010-2015).

Primary Interests:

  • Emotion, Mood, Affect
  • Group Processes
  • Helping, Prosocial Behavior
  • Intergroup Relations
  • Interpersonal Processes
  • Judgment and Decision Making
  • Organizational Behavior
  • Persuasion, Social Influence

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Journal Articles:

  • De Dreu, C. K. W., Greer, L. L., Handgraaf, M. J. J., Shalvi, S., Van Kleef, G. A., Baas, M., Ten Velden, F. S., Van Dijk, E., & Feith, S. W. W. (2010). The neuropeptide oxytocin regulates parochial altruism in intergroup conflict among humans. Science, 328, 1408-1411.
  • Greer, L. L., & Van Kleef, G. A. (2010). Equality versus differentiation: The effects of power dispersion on group interaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95, 1032-1044.
  • Homan, A. C., van Knippenberg, D., Van Kleef, G. A., & De Dreu, C. K. W. (2007). Bridging faultlines by valuing diversity: Diversity beliefs, information elaboration, and performance in diverse work groups. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 1189-1199.
  • Keltner, D., Van Kleef, G. A., Chen, S., & Kraus, M. (2008). A reciprocal influence model of social power: Emerging principles and lines of inquiry. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 40, 151-192.
  • Steinel, W., Van Kleef, G. A., & Harinck, F. (2008). Are you talking to me?! Separating the people from the problem when expressing emotions in negotiation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 362-369.
  • Van Dijk, E., Van Kleef, G. A., Steinel, W., & Van Beest, I. (2008). A social functional approach to emotions in bargaining: When communicating anger pays and when it backfires. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 600-614.
  • Van Kleef, G. A. (2010). The emerging view of emotion as social information. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 4/5, 331-343.
  • Van Kleef, G. A. (2009). How emotions regulate social life: The emotions as social information (EASI) model. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18, 184-188.
  • Van Kleef, G. A., Anastasopoulou, C., & Nijstad, B. A. (2010). Can expressions of anger enhance creativity? A test of the emotions as social information (EASI) model. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 1042-1048.
  • Van Kleef, G. A., & Côté, S. (2007). Expressing anger in conflict: When it helps and when it hurts. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 1557-1569.
  • Van Kleef, G. A., & De Dreu, C. K. W. (2010). Longer-term consequences of anger expression in negotiation: Retaliation or spill-over? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 753-760.
  • Van Kleef, G. A., De Dreu, C. K. W., & Manstead, A. S. R. (2010). An interpersonal approach to emotion in social decision making: The emotions as social information model. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 42, 45-96.
  • Van Kleef, G. A., De Dreu, C. K. W., & Manstead, A. S. R. (2006). Supplication and appeasement in conflict and negotiation: The interpersonal effects of disappointment, worry, guilt, and regret. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 124-142.
  • Van Kleef, G. A., De Dreu, C. K. W., & Manstead, A. S. R. (2004). The interpersonal effects of anger and happiness in negotiations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 57-76.
  • Van Kleef, G. A., De Dreu, C. K. W., & Manstead, A. S. R. (2004). The interpersonal effects of emotions in negotiations: A motivated information processing approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 510-528.
  • Van Kleef, G. A., Homan, A. C., Beersma, B., & Van Knippenberg, D. (2010). On angry leaders and agreeable followers: How leaders' emotions and followers' personalities shape motivation and team performance. Psychological Science, 21, 1827-1834.
  • Van Kleef, G. A., Homan, A. C., Beersma, B., van Knippenberg, D., van Knippenberg, B., & Damen, F. (2009). Searing sentiment or cold calculation? The effects of leader emotional displays on team performance depend on follower epistemic motivation. Academy of Management Journal, 52, 562-580.
  • Van Kleef, G. A., Oveis, C., Van der Löwe, I., LuoKogan, A., Goetz, J., & Keltner, D. (2008). Power, distress, and compassion: Turning a blind eye to the suffering of others. Psychological Science, 19, 1315-1322.
  • Van Kleef, G. A., Steinel, W., Van Knippenberg, D., Hogg, M., & Svensson, A. (2007). Group member prototypicality and intergroup negotiation: How one’s standing in the group affects negotiation behaviour. British Journal of Social Psychology, 46, 129-154.
  • Van Kleef, G. A., & Van Lange, P. A. M. (2008). What other's disappointment may do to selfish people: Emotion and social value orientation in a negotiation context. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 1084-1095.

Courses Taught:

  • Advanced Topics in Affect and Emotion
  • Applied Social Psychology
  • Interpersonal, Intra- and Intergroup Processes
  • Social Categorization
  • Social Nature of Emotion
  • Social Psychology of Emotion

Gerben van Kleef
Department of Social Psychology
University of Amsterdam
Weesperplein 4
1018 XA Amsterdam
The Netherlands

  • Phone: +31 20 525 6894
  • Fax: +31 20 639 1896

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