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About us Practical matters How to find us prof. dr. M. (Martijn) van Zomeren

Research interests

Research statement


My theorizing and research has focused mainly on the psychology of collective action against collective disadvantage, exemplified by peaceful demonstations and petitions (e.g., against cuts on higher education), but also violent uprisings and revolts (e.g., Egypt, Tunesia, Libya). In my and my collaborators' theorizing and research in this domain, I seek to integrate different theoretical perspectives. As a consequence, I seek to model the relationships between four core motivations for engagement in collcetive action: group identity, emotion, efficacy, and morality. The core theme in this line of theorizing and research thus revolves around the question how individuals can become more active and involved in groups, and in society at large.

My current theorizing and research moves beyond the realm of collective action, however. It focuses instead on the psychology of human motivation in general and connects aspects of my earlier thinking with the accumulating insight that humans are fundamentally relational beings. I have written a monograph that reconsiders and replaces the implicit axiom of individuality in theories and research on motivation with one that is grounded in social relationships. In the book I show that it becomes possible to reinterpret the psychology of motivation in an integrative and even consilient way, which emphasizes the relational essence of motivational processes.

Publications

Toward an integrative social identity model of collective action: A quantitative research synthesis of three socio-psychological perspectives

Protesters as "passionate economists": A dynamic dual pathway model of approach coping with collective disadvantage

Four Core Social‐Psychological Motivations to Undertake Collective Action

Synthesizing individualistic and collectivistic perspectives on environmental and collective action through a relational perspective

Metaphors of Protest: A Classification of Motivations for Collective Action

On conviction's collective consequences: Integrating moral conviction with the social identity model of collective action

Beliefs About the Malleability of Immoral Groups Facilitate Collective Action

Politicization During the 2012 U.S. Presidential Elections: Bridging the personal and the political through an identity content approach

Threat by association: Do distant intergroup threats carry-over into local intolerance?

Believing That We Can Change Our World for the Better: A Triple-A (Agent-Action-Aim) Framework of Self-Efficacy Beliefs in the Context of Collective Social and Ecological Aims

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Press/media

social protest

What Kinds of Protests Actually Work?

Does it help to hope?

https://www.ukrant.nl/magazine/een-stem-een-doel-een-beweging/

Interview with Quest Magazine

Curing an overdose of individualism in psychology through a relational perspective

: http://www.lc.nl/plus/oranjegek-is-zo-gestoord-nog-niet-17220823.html

http://socialscienceexplorer.org/2014/06/believing-making-difference-makes-difference/

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