
Wijnand A. P. Van Tilburg
- Media Contact
- SPN Mentor
I received my Bachelors and Research Masters degrees in social psychology from Tilburg University in 2006 and 2008, respectively. In 2011, I completed my PhD degree at the University of Limerick, investigating the psychological signature and consequences of boredom in collaboration with Dr. Eric Igou. This was followed by a post as lecturer (assistant professor) in psychology, lecturing mainly on statistics and economic psychology. In April 2013, I joined the School of Psychology of the University of Southampton as Research Fellow working primarily with Prof. Constantine Sedikides and Dr. Tim Wildschut. Since September 2015 I am lecturer at King's College London.
I am a social cognition researcher. My research mainly concerns decision making, emotion, and motivation, using experimental methods. A major part of my research involves the study of nostalgia and boredom, and how these experiences affect phenomena such as economic behaviour, intergroup processes, and self-regulation. In addition to the above, I am also involved in research on game theory and existential psychology.
Primary Interests:
- Emotion, Mood, Affect
- Group Processes
- Helping, Prosocial Behavior
- Intergroup Relations
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Motivation, Goal Setting
- Person Perception
- Personality, Individual Differences
- Self and Identity
- Social Cognition
Research Group or Laboratory:
- Experimental And Social psYhology research group (EASY)
Journal Articles:
- Maher, P. J., Igou. E. R., & Van Tilburg, W. A. P. (2018). Brexit, Trump, and the polarizing effect of disillusionment. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 9, 205-213. doi: 10.1177/1948550617750737
- Mohnihan, A. D., Igou, E. R., & Van Tilburg, W. A. P. (2017). Boredom increases impulsiveness: A meaning-regulation perspective. Social Psychology, 48, 293-309. doi: 10.1027/1864-9335/a000317
- Moynihan, A. B., Igou, E. R., & Van Tilburg, W. A. P. (in press). Lost in the crowd: Conformity as escape following disbelief in free will. European Journal of Social Psychology. doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2499
- Moynihan, A. D., Van Tilburg, W. A. P., Igou, E. R., Wisman, A., Donnelly, A., & Mulcaire, J. (2015). Eaten up by boredom: Unhealthy eating alleviates a lack of sensation and aversive self-awareness under boredom. Frontiers in Psychology, 6. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00369
- Van Tilburg, W. A. P., Bruder, M., Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., & Göritz, A. (in press). An appraisal profile of nostalgia. Emotion. doi: 10.1037/emo0000417
- Van Tilburg, W. A. P., & Igou, E. R. (2017). Boredom begs to differ: Differentiation from other negative emotions. Emotion, 17, 309-322. doi: 10.1037/emo0000233
- Van Tilburg, W. A. P., & Igou, E. R. (2017). Can boredom help? Increased prosocial intentions in response to boredom. Self and Identity, 16, 82-96. doi: 10.1080/15298868.2016.1218925
- Van Tilburg, W. A. P., & Igou, E. R. (2016). Going to political extremes in response to boredom. European Journal of Social Psychology, 46, 687–699. doi: 10.1002/ejsp.2205
- Van Tilburg, W. A. P., & Igou, E. R. (2014). From Van Gogh to Lady Gaga: Artist eccentricity increases perceived artistic skill and art appreciation. European Journal of Social Psychology, 44, 93-103.
- Van Tilburg, W. A. P., & Igou, E. R. (2014). Moving onwards: An action continuation strategy in finding the way. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 27, 408-418. DOI: 10.1002/bdm.1817
- Van Tilburg, W. A. P., & Igou, E. R. (2014). The Impact of Middle Names: Middle Name Initials Enhance Evaluations of Intellectual Performance. European Journal of Social Psychology, 44, 400-411.
- Van Tilburg, W. A. P., & Igou, E. R. (2013). On the meaningfulness of behavior: An expectancy x value approach. Motivation and Emotion, 37, 373-388. DOI: 10.1007/s11031-012-9316-3
- Van Tilburg, W. A. P., & Igou, E. R. (2012). On boredom: Lack of challenge and meaning as distinct boredom experiences. Motivation and Emotion, 36, 181-194. DOI: 10.1007/s11031-011-9234-9
- Van Tilburg, W. A. P., & Igou, E. R. (2011). On boredom and social identity: A pragmatic meaning-regulation approach. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, 1679-1691. DOI: 10.1177/0146167211418530
- Van Tilburg, W. A. P., Igou, E. R., Maher, P. J., Moynihan, A. B., & Martin, A. (in press). Bored like hell: Religiosity reduces boredom and tempers the quest for meaning. Emotion. doi: 2018-18547-001
- Van Tilburg, W. A. P., Igou, E. R., & Sedikides, C. (2013). In search of meaningfulness: Using nostalgia as an antidote to boredom. Emotion, 13, 450-461. DOI: 10.1037/a0030442
- Van Tilburg, W. A. P., Sedikides, C., & Wildschut, T. (in press). Adverse weather evokes nostalgia. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. doi: 10.1177/0146167218756030
- Van Tilburg, W. A. P., Sedikides, C., & Wildschut, T. (2015). The mnemonic muse: Nostalgia fosters creativity through openness to experience. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 59, 1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jesp.2015.02.002
- Van Tilburg, W. A. P., Wildschut, T., & Sedikides, S. (2018). Nostalgia’s place among self-relevant emotions. Cognition and Emotion, 32, 742-759. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2017.1351331
- Wildschut, T., Bruder, M., Robertson, S., Van Tilburg, W. A. P., & Sedikides, C. (2014). Collective nostalgia: A group-level emotion that confers unique benefits on the group. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 107, 844-863. doi: 10.1037/a0037760
Courses Taught:
- Bachelor & Major Thesis
- Cognitive Psychology and Psycholinguistics
- Economic Psychology
- Empirical Psychology
- Research Methods & Statistics
- Social Psychology
Wijnand A. P. Van Tilburg
Department of Psychology
King's College London
London SE1 3QD
United Kingdom