Bio

After I was born, followed primary and secondary education, and tried to study civil engeneering (for which I lacked the talent), I went to the University of Utrecht to study psychology. I became very intrested in social psychology and also quickly realized that my calling was to become an academic researcher. So I followed the specialization "social psychological reseacher." I finished my master thesis (1995) under supervision of Wolfgang Stroebe and Hein Lodewijkx.

 

Wolfgang and Hein (together with Reinhard Wippler) also supervised my PhD, which I persued within the ICS graduate school. I received my PhD in 2000 (cum laude), and for my thesis I received the dissertation award of the ASPO ("Associatie voor Sociaal Psychologisch Onderzoekers"; Dutch Social Psychologists) and SESP (Society of Experimental Social Psychology). The topic of the thesis was performance of brainstorming groups, which created an interest in both creativity and in group dynamics and group performance. After my PhD I went to the University of Amsterdam, department of work and organizational psychology, first as a postdoc, and later as an assistant and associate professor. At the UvA (2004) I received an NWO VIDI grant to study individual and group indecision. In 2009 I came to the University of Groningen as a full profssor of "decision making and organizational behavior".

 

On March 29th, I gave my inaugural lecture (in Dutch), which was about difficult decisions. The text can be found here [PDF].

 

 ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

April 2009 – present: Full Professor, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Groningen. Chair in “Decision making and organizational behavior in business and economics”

January 2005 – March 2009: Associate professor, Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam

January 2003 – December 2004: Assistant professor, Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam

March 2000 – December 2002: Postdoctoral researcher, Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam

August 1998 - October 1998: Visiting scholar at the Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Arlington. Host: Paul B. Paulus.

 

EDUCATION

1995 - 2000: PhD student, Utrecht University (PhD September 2000, cum laude). Title of thesis: How the group affects the mind: Effects of communication in idea-generating groups.

1990 - 1995: Psychology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands (BA 1991; MA 1995)

1989 - 1990: Civil Engineering, Delft Technical University, The Netherlands

1983 - 1989: High school, Christelijk College Groevenbeek, Ermelo, The Netherlands

 

HONORS AND AWARDS

2011. NIP (Nederlands Instituut voor Psychologen) best paper award (third prize) for: De Pater, I, Schinkel, S. & Nijstad, B. A. (2007). De Nederlandse vertaling van de core self-evaluations scale: Betrouwbaarheid en validiteit. Gedrag & Organisatie, 20, 82-100.

2010. KLI best paper award for student authored paper for: Baas, M., De Dreu, C. K. W. & Nijstad, B. A. (2008). The mood-creativity link reconsidered: A meta-analysis of 25 years of research. Psychological Bulletin, 134 , 779-806 .

2008. ASPO best paper award for: Baas, M., De Dreu, C. K. W., & Nijstad, B. A. (2008). Sluimerend leed en uitputtend ongenoegen: De invloed van verdriet en boosheid op creativiteit. ASPO congres, Amsterdam, december 2008.

2001. Winner, dissertation award of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology (SESP)

2001. Finalist, dissertation award of the APA Division 49 (Group Processes and Group Psychotherapy)

2000. Winner, Dissertation award of the Dutch Association of Social Psychological Researchers (ASPO)

1996. Winner, David van Lennepprijs: Master’s Thesis Award of the Dutch Foundation for Psychotechnics (NSvP)