January 2022 - Maria Alonso-Ferres joined us as a Post-doc
After visiting our lab for few months during her PhD, Maria is now back working with us in 2022 as a Post-doc. She will work on how emotions affect relationship dynamics and well-being. Welcome back Maria!
September 2021 - Mirna Duric joined us as a PhD student
Mirna Duric joined our project on Ambivalence in close relationships as a PhD student. We are happy to welcome her!
October 2020 - Francesca Righetti won the Caryl Rusbult Early Career Award
Francesca Righetti has received the The Caryl Rusbult Close Relationships Early Career Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. This prestigious award is given to a young investigator who has made original and important contributions to relationship science. The recipient of this award will be invited to give an award address at the 2021 SPSP Close Relationships Preconference.
Caryl Rusbult was an inspiring scholar, colleague and mentor who made many important contributions to the social psychology of close relationships through her research and through the young scholars whom she encouraged. To honor Professor Rusbult's dedication to training top scholars, the Relationship Researchers Interest Group and the Foundation for Personality and Social Psychology launched the Caryl E. Rusbult Young Investigator Award. This award is presented annually to an investigator who has made important contributions to relationship science.
February 2020 - We are looking for a new PhD student
One PhD position of four years for 1.0 fte is available at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam under the supervision of Dr. Francesca Righetti. The PhD position is funded by the VIDI grant for a project on “Torn between love and contempt: Ambivalence in close relationships". Please apply here https://werkenbij.vu.nl/ad/phd-position-on-ambivalence-in-romantic-relationships/f9x2y2 and upload your curriculum vitae and cover letter before the 15 March 2020.
October 2019 - Francesca Righetti joined the Amsterdam Young Academy.
Francesca Righetti has recently been appointed as a new member of the Amsterdam Young Academy (AYA). AYA is an independent platform where talented young scientists from the VU Amsterdam and the University of Amsterdam meet to discuss and develop initiatives on science policy, interdisciplinarity and contact between science and society. Francesca is especially interested in contributing to the theme of diversity and internationalization in science and education.
October 2019 - Francesca Righetti was promoted to Associate Professor
September 2019 - Giulia Zoppolat joined us as a PhD student
After her Research Master in Social Psychology at the VU Amsterdam, Giulia Zoppolat joined the VIDI project on Ambivalence in Close Relationships as a PhD student. We are happy to welcome her!
May 2019 - Francesca Righetti was awarded of the VIDI grant (€ 800.000) for the project:
“Torn between love and contempt: Ambivalence in close relationships “
It is an irony of life that the people we love the most, such as our romantic partners, are also the people towards which we can feel very strong negative emotions. When people hold strong mixed feelings (positive and negative) towards their partner, they are in a state called ‘Ambivalence’. However, while the experience of ambivalence in romantic relationships is pretty frequent, research on this phenomenon is extremely scarce. The Ambivalence in Romantic Relationship takes the challenge to develop a systematic study of the effects of ambivalence in romantic relationship. Specifically, with the use of different methodologies, the current project will: 1) examine the different types of ambivalence that individuals can experience in their relationship to understand how each type of ambivalence affect the relationship dynamics between partners and people’s well-being; 2) examine how each type of ambivalence unfolds over time and under which conditions they are a precursor of relationship instability and dissolution; 3) test an intervention to reduce the aversive intra and interpersonal effects of the most malignant form of ambivalence.
July 2018 - Grace Larson joined us as a Post-Doc
Grace Larson joined the ORA project on “Implicit partner evaluations: How they form and what they do to relationships" as a Post-Doc. We are happy to welcome her!
May 2018 - Mariko Visserman obtained her PhD, cum laude
On May 24th Mariko Visserman has successfully defended her PhD dissertation entitled "The art of sacrifice. Self-Other dilemmas, Biased Perceptions, and the Emergence of Gratitude" . She received the distinction cum laude. She is now continuing her work as a Post-doc at the University of Toronto with Dr. Emily Impett and Dr. Amy Muise. Congratulations Mariko!
April 2018 - Mariko Visserman won another award!
Mariko Visserman has won the KLI Best Paper Award for her paper titled “It’s the Motive That Counts: Perceived Sacrifice Motives and Gratitude in Romantic Relationships”. Congratulations again Mariko!
November 2017 - Mariko Visserman won an award!
Mariko Visserman has won the RRIG (Relationship Researchers Interest Group) Graduate Student Paper Award for her paper titled “It’s the Motive That Counts: Perceived Sacrifice Motives and Gratitude in Romantic Relationships”. Congratulations Mariko!
November 2017 - We are looking for a Post-Doc!
The Social Cognition Center Cologne at the University of Cologne invites applications for a Postdoctoral Researcher Position for 12 months. The ideal starting date is April 2018 (starting date is flexible).
The postdoctoral position is funded by the ORA grant for a project on “Implicit partner evaluations: How they form and what they do to relationships”, a bilateral project of the University of Cologne (Prof. Wilhelm Hofmann) and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Prof. Francesca Righetti).
Applicants should have a strong interest in relationship research and excellent knowledge of methodology and statistics, particularly multilevel modelling.
A description of the position and the job specification can be found using the link below.
http://soccco.uni-koeln.de/sites/SoCCCo/Groups/HO_Group/PostdocORA2018.pdf
November 2017 - call for data on sacrifice for a meta-analysis
We are conducting a meta-analytic review on the association between sacrifice and personal and relationship well-being in close relationships. Specifically, we're interested in how willingness to sacrifice or actual sacrifice (e.g., which is defined as either giving up something pleasant or of value for the partner/relationship - including giving up personal goals, hobbies etc.- or doing something unpleasant for the partner/relationship) is related to any index of personal well-being (i.e., any measure on Positive and Negative emotions - including Stress, Subjective well-being, Happiness, Life Satisfaction, Depression and Anxiety) and relationship well-being (e.g., any measure of relationship satisfaction or relationship quality – such as the Couples Satisfaction Index, the Quality of Marriage Index, the Relationships Assessment Scale, the relationship satisfaction item of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale; and the relationship satisfaction subscale of the PRQC). Importantly, other constructs such as commitment, closeness, and intimacy are NOT considered. If You Have Collected Data that Can Be Used to Calculate Unpublished Correlations between Sacrifice and Personal or Relationship Well-being, please contact us (f.righetti@vu.nl) and we will correspond with you to determine the eligibility of your data, and to devise a method that works for you to share these raw data—or the correlations—with us, in such a way that your personal inconvenience can be minimized.