Stress, anxiety and adapting to uncertainty in everyday life

Our world may seem unpredictable and uncertain, especially when others are involved. When interacting with others, we cannot know for sure what they may be thinking or planning to do, but we do a good job guessing. This may not be so easy for everyone…

Selin Topel • March 21, 2022

No need to be scared; appealing to fear to change behavior

Showing gory pictures of cancerous lungs, videos of forest fires, and graphs of exponentially increasing infection rates are familiar tactics to scare people into different behavior. But how effective are fear appeals? Six decades of research provides some answers.

Lotte van Dillen • December 14, 2020

Putting the numbers to the COVID test

A proper assessment of test results involves the consideration of the test’s reliability in light of the prevalence (risk) of Covid-19 in the population. This leads to some surprising insights.

Lotte van Dillen • July 02, 2020

The rewarding feeling of saying 'I told you so'

Have you ever experienced a feeling of satisfaction and an impulse to say “I told you so”? In our recently published fMRI study, we demonstrated the rewarding effect of being right, even in the case of a negative outcome like monetary loss.

Sandy Overgaauw • June 04, 2018

The Fear of Missing Out: why doing nothing is ridiculously difficult

“Oh if only I could go back to being 25, it was the best time of my life! Nothing to worry about, nothing to fear”. Indeed, your twenties are great, there’s a world of possibilities right in front of you! You only have to make the right decisions…

Michelle Achterberg • August 10, 2016

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Blogs

Stress, anxiety and adapting to uncertainty in everyday life

No need to be scared; appealing to fear to change behavior

Putting the numbers to the COVID test

The rewarding feeling of saying 'I told you so'

The Fear of Missing Out: why doing nothing is ridiculously difficult