Marieke Roskes

• PhD
• Professor (Assistant) at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Precise asking-prices (e.g., $249,800), compared with round ones (e.g., $250,000), are stronger anchors, leading buyers to counter closer to the asking-price. This ‘precision effect’ is driven by (i) higher evaluation of the seller's competence, and (ii) buyers using a finer-grained numerical scale when the asking-price is precise compared with rou...

Whereas promotion focus is consistently linked to high adaptivity (i.e., adjustment to changes) andcreativity (i.e., generation of useful and original ideas), prevention focus is commonly associated with lowadaptivity and creativity. The present study uncovers the conditions under which prevention focus mayalso have positive effects on adaptivity a...

Precise, compared with round, asking prices lead to counteroffers and final agreements that are closer to the asking price. Consequently, popular advice for sellers is to set precise asking prices. We propose that the advice is useful, but only in a buyer’s market, in which buyers counter below the asking price. In a seller’s market, in which buyer...

Precise, compared with round, asking prices lead to counteroffers and final agreements that are closer to the asking price. Consequently, a popular advice for sellers is to set precise asking prices. We propose that the advice is useful, but only in a buyer’s market, in which buyers counter below the asking price. In a seller’s market, in which buy...

In ambiguous settings, people are tempted to make self-serving mistakes. Here, we assess whether people make more self-serving mistakes to minimize losses compared with maximize gains. Results reveal that participants are twice as likely to make self-serving mistakes to reduce losses compared to increase gains. We further trace participants' eye mo...

History is rife with examples of the dark side of creativity—ingenious weapons, novel torture practices, and creative terrorist attacks—yet its psychological origins are sparsely addressed and poorly understood. Building on work showing that social threat induces focused thinking as well as aggressive cognitions and readiness to fight, we propose t...

Promotion deals and price reductions are common strategies retailers use to attract consumers. We investigate which of two common types of deals better captures consumers’ attention. By tracing eye movements, we examine participants’ attention allocation when deciding between “buy-one-get-one free” (BOGO) deals versus deals that offer an equivalent...

Negotiations are often settled near the mid-point between a seller’s asking price and buyer’s counteroffer. Precise, rather than round asking prices are stronger anchors, resulting in agreements closer to the asking price. Because setting precise asking prices tends to favor sellers, real-estate agents frequently advise doing so. While the advice i...

Threatening situations, in which people fear negative outcomes or failure, evoke avoidance motivation. Avoidance motivation, in turn, evokes a focused, systematic and effortful way of information processing that has often been linked to reduced creativity. This harmful effect of avoidance motivation on creativity can be problematic in financially t...

In 2011, we tested the hypothesis that people exhibit a right-oriented bias when they are approach motivated and act quickly (Roskes, Sligte, Shalvi, & De Dreu, 2011). An experiment showed that when people had to act quickly, they bisected lines farther to the right when they were approach motivated than when they were avoid-ance motivated. Analysi...

Avoidance motivation has been associated with a wide range of negative psychological consequences, such as performance decrements, resource depletion, and reduced well-being, particularly in the long run. Here, we discuss the processes underlying these negative consequences. We put forward a research agenda, suggesting how knowledge of these proces...

Focusing on avoiding failure or negative outcomes (avoidance motivation) can undermine creativity, due to cognitive (e.g., threat appraisals), affective (e.g., anxiety), and volitional processes (e.g., low intrinsic motivation). This can be problematic for people who are avoidance motivated by nature and in situations in which threats or potential...

To better understand the relation between personality traits and creativity, we invoke the Dual‐Pathway to Creativity model (DPCM) that identifies two pathways to creative outcomes: (1) flexible processing of information (cognitive flexibility) and (2) persistent probing, and systematically and incrementally combining elements and possibilities (co...

Creativity enables humans to adapt flexibly to changing circumstances, to manage complex social relations and to survive and prosper through social, technological and medical innovations. In humans, chronic, trait-based as well as temporary, state-based approach orientation has been linked to increased capacity for divergent rather than convergent...

Compared to approach motivation, avoidance motivation evokes vigilance, attention to detail, systematic information processing, and the recruitment of cognitive resources. From a conservation of energy perspective it follows that people would be reluctant to engage in the kind of effortful cognitive processing evoked by avoidance motivation, unless...

Four experiments were designed to test the hypothesis that performance is particularly undermined by time pressure when people are avoidance motivated. The results supported this hypothesis across three different types of tasks, including those well suited and those ill suited to the type of information processing evoked by avoidance motivation. We...

OBJECTIVE: Research on the strength model of self-regulation is burgeoning, but little empirical work has focused on the link between distinct types of daily goal pursuit and the depletion of self-regulatory resources. The authors conducted two studies on the link between avoidance goals and resource depletion. METHOD: Study 1 (283 [228 female] Ca...

Compared with approach motivation, avoidance motivation has often been related to reduced creativity because it evokes a relatively inflexible processing style. This finding seems inconsistent with the dual pathway to creativity model, which poses that both flexible and persistent processing styles can result in creative output. Reconciling these i...

Anecdotes from creative eminences suggest that executive control plays an important role in creativity, but scientific evidence is sparse. Invoking the Dual Pathway to Creativity Model, the authors hypothesize that working memory capacity (WMC) relates to creative performance because it enables persistent, focused, and systematic combining of eleme...

Approach motivation, a focus on achieving positive outcomes, is related to relative left-hemispheric brain activation, which translates to a variety of right-oriented behavioral biases. In two studies, we found that approach-motivated individuals display a right-oriented bias, but only when they are forced to act quickly. In a task in which they ha...