Social Psychology Network

Maintained by Scott Plous, Wesleyan University

Ilja van Beest

Ilja van Beest

My main research interests are coalition formation, social exclusion, negotiation, and symptom attribution. The general theme of my research on coalition formation is that coalition behavior can only be truly understood when researchers take into account that self-interest is only part of the story. The other part is that fairness considerations determine whether a coalition is actually formed. This line of research is sumarized in an overview article that introduces a social utility model of coalition formation (Van Beest & Van Dijk, 2007). A provocative finding in this line of research is that players rather form a fair coalition that does not maximize their individual payoff than an unfair coalition that maximizes their individual payoffs.

Another major research line is social exclusion. Different than coalition formation this area does not focus on the choice of exclusion but on the consequences of exclusion. In my first attempt to investigate social exclusion I focused on the agents of exclusion. The main finding was that ignoring others leads to guilt and impaired cognitive abilities. This is an interesting finding because it suggests that exclusion may actually hurt the one who excludes. Subsequent studies focused more on the victims of exclusion. In a line of experiments I show that people are hurt when ostracized even when it is financial beneficial. In fact, just as much as when it is financially harmful (Van Beest & Williams, 2006).

Apart from coalition formation and social exclusion, I have always had an interest in how people that suffer from a severe disease attribute physical symptoms. A dominant theme in this research is that people are likely to attribute negative physical states to their illness even if this is objectively not the case. For example, children with asthma that are put under stress may misattribute their stress to having an asthma attack (Rietveld & Van Beest, 2006).

Primary Interests:

  • Aggression, Conflict, Peace
  • Emotion, Mood, Affect
  • Group Processes
  • Interpersonal Processes
  • Judgment and Decision Making

Journal Articles:

  • De Waal-Andrews, W., & Van Beest, I., (2012). When you don’t quite get what you want: psychological and interpersonal consequences of claiming inclusion. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38, 1367-1377.
  • Harinck, F., Van Dijk, E., Van Beest, I., & Mersmann, P. (2007). When gains loom larger than losses: Loss aversion and small amounts of money. Psychological Science, 18, 1099-1105.
  • Lelieveld, G. J., Gunther Moor, B., Crone, E. A., Karremans, J. C., & Van Beest, I. (2013). A penny for your pain? The financial compensation of social pain after social exclusion. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4, 206-214.
  • Leliveld, M. C., Van Beest, I., & Van Dijk, E. (2012). Punishing and compensating others at your own expense: The role of empathic concern on reactions to distributive injustice. European Journal of Social Psychology, 42, 135-140.
  • Rietveld, S., & Van Beest, I. (2006) Rollercoaster asthma: When positive emotional stress interferes with dyspnea perception. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45, 997-987.
  • Swaab, R., Postmes, T., Van Beest, I., & Spears, R. (2007). Perceived shared cognition as a product of, and precursor to, shared identity in negotiations. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 187-199
  • Van Beest, I., Andeweg, R., Koning, L., & Van Lange, P. A. M. (2008). Do groups exclude others more readily than individuals in coalition formation? Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 11, 69-81.
  • Van Beest, I., Carter-Sowell, A., Van Dijk, E., & Williams, K. D. (2012). Groups being ostracized by groups: Is the pain shared, is recovery quicker, and are groups more likely to be aggressive? Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 16, 241-254
  • Van Beest, I., & Van Dijk, E. (2007). Self-interest and fairness in coalition formation: A social utility approach to understanding partner selection and payoff allocations in groups. European Review of Social Psychology, 18, 132-174.
  • Van Beest, I., Van Dijk, E., De Dreu, C. K. W., & Wilke, H. A. M. (2005). Do-no-harm in coalition formation: Why losses inhibit exclusion and promote fairness cognitions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
  • Van Beest, I., Van Dijk, E., & Wilke, H. (2004). Resources and alternatives in coalition formation: the effects on payoff, self-serving behavior, and bargaining length. European of Journal of Social Psychology, 34, 713-728.
  • Van Beest, I., Van Dijk, E., & Wilke, H. (2003). The excluded player in coalition formation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 237-247.
  • Van Beest, I., & Van Kleef, G., & Van Dijk, E. (2008). Get angry, get out: The interpersonal effects of anger communication in multiparty negotiation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 993-1002.
  • Van Beest, I., Wilke, H., & Van Dijk, E. (2004). The interplay of self-interest and equity in coalition formation. European of Journal of Social Psychology, 34, 547-565.
  • Van Beest, I., & Williams, K. D. (2011) “Why hast thou forsaken me?” The effect of thinking about being ostracized by God on well-being and prosocial behavior. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2, 379-386.
  • Van Beest, I., & Williams, K. D. (2006). When inclusion costs and ostracism pays, ostracism still hurts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 918-928.
  • Van Dijk, E., Van Kleef, G. A., Steinel, W., & Van Beest, I. (2008). Emotions in bargaining: When communicating anger pays and when it backfires. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 600-614.
  • Van Prooijen J. W., De Cremer, D., Van Lange, P. A. M., Van Beest, I., & Stahl, T. (2008). The egocentric nature of procedural justice: Social value orientations as moderator of reactions to decision making procedures. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 1303-1315.
  • Van Prooijen, J. W., Karremans, J., & Van Beest, I. (2006). Procedural justice and the hedonic principle: How approach motivation influences the psychology of voice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 686-697.
  • Çelik, P., Van Beest, I., Lammers, J., & Bekker, M. H. J. (2013). Implicit threat vigilance among violent offenders diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder: the impact of ostracism and control threat. International Journal of Developmental Science, 7, 47-55.

Courses Taught:

  • Advanced Social Influence
  • Conflict and cooperation
  • Interpersonal behavior
  • Leadership
  • Social Influence
  • Social Psychology

Ilja van Beest
Tilburg University
Warandelaan 2
P.O. Box 90153
5000 LE Tilburg
The Netherlands

  • Phone: +31 13 466 2472

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