My current research interests center around the broad question of how goals influence our feelings and behavior. Specifically, I'm exploring goal-related aspects of counterfactual thinking and regret. In addition I'm working on an implicit learning-based framework for the adoption of social norms. Other research interests include the mental representation of the self in intergroup contexts, and the related question of how group contexts shape our affective experience.

Primary Interests:

Emotion, Mood, Affect
Intergroup Relations
Motivation, Goal Setting
Self and Identity
Social Cognition

Emotion, Mood, Affect
Intergroup Relations
Motivation, Goal Setting

Self and Identity
Social Cognition

Journal Articles:

Corcoran, K., Epstude, K., Damisch, L., & Mussweiler, T. (2011). Fast similarities: Efficiency advantages of similarity focus. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 37, 1280-1286.
Epstude, K., & Förster, J. (2011). Seeing love, or seeing lust: How people interpret ambiguous romantic situations. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 1017-1020.
Epstude, K., & Mussweiler, T. (2009). What you feel is how you compare: How comparisons influence the social induction of affect. Emotion, 9, 1-14.
Epstude, K., & Peetz, J. (in press). Mental time travel: A conceptual overview of social psychological perspectives on a fundamental human capacity. European Journal of Social Psychology.
Epstude, K., & Roese, N. J. (2011). When goal pursuit fails: The functions of counterfactual thought in intention formation. Social Psychology, 48, 19-27.
Epstude, K., & Roese, N. J. (2010). Functional Aspects of Global versus Local Processing: Relations Among the Structure and Content of Goals, Counterfactuals, and Regrets. Psychological Inquiry, 209-212.
Epstude, K., & Roese, N. J. (2008). The functional theory of counterfactual thinking. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 12, 168-192.
Epstude, K., & Roese, N. J. (2007). Beyond rationality: Counterfactual thinking and behavior regulation. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 30, 457-458.
Fessel, F., Epstude, K., & Roese, N. J. (2009). Hindsight bias redefined: It's about time. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 110, 56-64.
Förster, J., Epstude, K, & Özelsel, A. (2009). Why love has wings and sex has not: How reminders of love and sex influence creative and analytic thinking. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 1479-1491.
Förster, J., Özelsel, A, & Epstude, K, (2010). How Love and Lust Change People’s Perception of Partners and Relationships. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 237-246.
Morrison, M., Epstude, K., & Roese, N. J. (in press). Life regrets and the need to belong. Social Psychological and Personality Science.
Mussweiler, T., & Epstude, K. (2009). Relatively fast! Efficiency Advantages of Comparative Thinking. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 138, 1-21.

Courses Taught:

Anger & Aggression
Controversies in Social Psychology
Intergroup Relations
Social Cognition

Anger & Aggression
Controversies in Social Psychology

Intergroup Relations
Social Cognition

Kai Epstude
Department of Psychology
University of Groningen
Grote Kruisstraat 2/1
9712 TS Groningen
The Netherlands

Phone: +31 50 363 7632
Fax: +31 50 363 4581
Email: k.epstude@rug.nl


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Kai Epstude

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