dr. Rob Nelissen

Bio

I am a behavioral scientist with a background in evolutionary biology. My research takes an adaptive approach to understand how environmental and social factors affect social exchange processes. I believe that people are perfectly capable of engaging in relations and organizing communities in ways that promote collective well-being in a sustainable fashion. Modern societies, however, expose us to conditions (e.g. resource abundance, competitive status markets, marketing messages, and neoliberal belief systems) that inhibit our natural constraints against selfishness and greed. It is my scientific ambition to identify the factors that pervert our prosocial proclivities at the expense of myopic decisions that harm collective interests.   

Expertise

I have supervised several PhD students, and took part in different research projects exploring the motivational properties of complex emotional states, like guilt, gratitude, vengeance, and hope. Recently, I started to study greed as a consequence of reduced social constraints across resource-abundant environments. My research is characterized by a  varied methodological approach, encompassing experimental studies, survey research, modeling and theoretical analyses. 

Teaching

Education should be an activity that challenges students to question prevailing views on social issues, including their own, even – or especially – if that means exploring uncommon views. To have real impact, education should not just aim to transfer academic knowledge and skills but invite students to develop their own, genuine view regarding the subject of their study and in doing so also foster related values. The best approach to achieve that is by departing from or at least relating to a practical problem, question or phenomenon to explore and come to appreciate the multifaceted nature of complex phenomena such as sustainability and inequality. 

Courses

• Evolutionary Psychology
• Research Skills in Psych. (Dutch Progr.(
• The Psychology of Economics
• Psychology and Marketing
• Consumer Analytics Using Big Data
• Master's Internship Economic Psychology
• Master's Internship Work & Org.Psych.
• Master's Internship Work & Org.Psych.
• Master's Thesis Work & Organization Psy.
• Master's Internship II Work & Org.Psych.
• Master's Thesis Economic Psychology
• Bachelor's Thesis: Work and Org. Psych.
• Bachelor's Thesis: Economic Psychology
• Bachelor's Thesis: Social Psychology

Recent publications

1. Emotional consequences of social debt sharing in communal relationshi…

   Peng, C., Nelissen, R., & Zeelenberg, M. (2024). Emotional consequences of social debt sharing in communal relationships. Emotion, 24(1), 225–233.

2. Belief in karma is associated with perceived (but not actual) trustwo…

   Ong, H. H., Evans, A. M., Nelissen, R. M. A., & van Beest, I. (2022). Belief in karma is associated with perceived (but not actual) trustworthiness. Judgment and Decision Making, 17(2), 362-377. https://sjdm.org/journal/21/210827/jdm210827.html

3. Why and when suffering increases the perceived likelihood of fortuito…

   Ong, H. H., Nelissen, R., & van Beest, I. (2021). Why and when suffering increases the perceived likelihood of fortuitous rewards. British Journal of Social Psychology, 60(2), 548-569.

4. Real-life revenge may not effectively deter norm violations

   Elshout, M., Nelissen, R. M. A., van Beest, I., Elshout, S., & van Dijk, W. W. (2020). Real-life revenge may not effectively deter norm violations. Journal of Social Psychology, 160(3), 390-399.

5. Gratitude, indebtedness, and reciprocity - An extended replication of…

   Peng, C., Malafosse, C., Nelissen, R. M. A., & Zeelenberg, M. (2020). Gratitude, indebtedness, and reciprocity: An extended replication of Bartlett & DeSteno (2006). Social Influence, 15(1), 4-16.