Roland Imhoff

Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz | JGU · Institute of Psychology

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many journals swiftly changed their editorial policies and peer-review processes to accelerate the provision of knowledge about COVID-related issues to a wide audience. These changes may have favoured speed at the cost of accuracy and methodological rigour. In this study, we compare 100 COVID-related articles p...

We present a new measure of individual differences in maintenance motivation. The General Maintenance Orientation (GMO) scale includes two constructs – Appreciation for the current state, and Belief in the necessity of maintenance. Both constructs showed high to moderate (retest-)reliability, convergent and discriminant validity to various other mo...

The Nazi regime's aggressive expansion across Europe during WWII created a landscape of suffering, resistance, and collaboration. How do lay Europeans today reconstruct their ingroup's roles during Nazi occupation, and how do different representations relate to defensive responses aimed at protecting the ingroup from threat? We tested two theoretic...

Complying with Brunswik’s (1952; 1955; 1956) call for representative design, we developed an ecologically valid ABC model (agency / socioeconomic success, conservative-progressive beliefs, and communion) of spontaneous stereotypes about groups.

Intergroup crimes are a ubiquitous element of our political reality, as are attempts to redress these crimes through apologies. Six experiments (N = 2,432) demonstrate that the victim group’s response to an offered apology has the power to shape uninvolved third parties’ impressions of the conflicting groups and influence their willingness to suppo...

We identified and tested a novel aspect of human resilience: The daily pursuit of maintenance goals. Taking inspiration from archaeological records, which point at routinized cultural practices as a central resilience factor, we tested whether personal routine practices, governed by maintenance goals, serve a similar function to individuals as trad...

White people confuse Black faces more than their own-race faces. This is an example of the other-race effect, commonly measured by the other-race face recognition task. Like this task, the “Who said what?” paradigm uses within-race confusions in memory, but to measure social categorization strength. The former finds a strongly asymmetrical pattern...

Zusammenfassung: Unter ritueller sexueller Gewalt werden Formen organisierten sexuellen Missbrauchs verstanden, die ideologisch geprägt sind und von mehreren Täter_innen über längere Zeiträume ausgeübt werden. Üblicherweise wird in Verbindung mit dem Phänomen von Prozessen absichtlicher Persönlichkeitsspaltung, induzierten Amnesien und Instruierbar...

Although conspiracy theories exhibit varying degrees of plausibility as explanations for societal events, they are typically considered epistemically problematic. Since normative ascriptions of plausibility are not essential to their definition, we sought to examine whether judgments of (im)plausible conspiracy theories have different psychological...

Although conspiracy theories exhibit varying degrees of plausibility as explanations for societal events, they are typically considered epistemically problematic. Since normative ascriptions of plausibility are not essential to their definition, we sought to examine whether judgments of (im)plausible conspiracy theories have different psychological...

Ethnic out-group members are disproportionately more often the victim of misidentifications. The so-called other-race effect (ORE), the tendency to better remember faces of individuals belonging to one’s own ethnic in-group than faces belonging to an ethnic out-group, has been identified as one causal ingredient in such tragic incidents. Investigat...

The current commentary aims at defending the usefulness of the conspiracy mentality construct and emphasize its advantages over other ways to conceptualize and measure conspiracy beliefs. In contrast to specific conspiracy theories, items tapping into conspiracy mentality are typically not ideologically laden and are typically neither true nor fals...

It is one of the core tenets of ostracism research that being socially excluded deprives basic human needs on several levels. It threatens individuals’ need to belong, need to feel good about themselves, need to perceive having control, and need for recognition (Williams, 2009). Conspiracy beliefs, in contrast, are frequently theorized to be a resp...

Much like other social and nonsocial evaluations, estimates of numerical quantities are susceptible to comparative influences. However, numerical representations can take either a nonsymbolic (e.g., a grouping of dots) or a symbolic numerical form (e.g., Hindu–Arabic numerals), which each produce comparative biases in opposite directions. The curre...

People assign attributes to a different degree to other persons depending on whether these are male or female (sex role stereotypes). Such stereotypes continue to exist even in countries with lower gender inequality. The present research tested the idea that parents develop sex role consistent expectations of their babies’ attributes based on fetal...

One of the essential insights from psychological research is that people's information processing is often biased. By now, a number of different biases have been identified and empirically demonstrated. Unfortunately, however, these biases have often been examined in separate lines of research, thereby precluding the recognition of shared principle...

In their pursuit of a moral ingroup identity, groups tend to flatter and deceive themselves, leading to predictable biases in their collective memory. Specifically, such memory biases are expected in the form of worse memory for morally problematic acts of historical perpetration. In five high-powered recall and recognition experiments (N = 3,424)...

The current research examined the motivations to maintain, approach, and avoid at different distances from one's ideal state. Although keeping things as they are (maintenance) is often equated with avoiding changes, we predicted pronounced differences between these goals’ motivation gradients. We reasoned that maintenance goals are energized by pos...

A key challenge for social psychology is to identify unifying principles that account for the complex dynamics of social behaviour. We propose psychological relativity and its core mechanism of comparison as one such unifying principle. To support our proposal, we review recent evidence investigating basic processes underlying and novel application...

This research tested the mental experience of maintenance goals as distinct from goals to approach better outcomes (approach goals) and goals to avoid worse outcomes (avoidance goals). In Studies 1 and 2, participants reported personal goals and categorized them as one of the three goal types. We theorized that maintenance centers on existing posit...

There has been an increasing scholarly interest in the psychology behind conspiracy theories, the belief that events in the world are brought about by the secret coordination of others with negative intentions. Typically, people differ systematically in the degree to which they endorse a wide range of such theories, suggesting a general suspicious...

Historical perpetrator groups seek to shield themselves from image threat by advocating for closing the discussion of their crimes. However, from a broader theoretical perspective, such demand for historical closure (HC) may also reflect willingness to reconcile with the victim group or to focus on the future rather than the past. In nine studies a...

The current work aimed to uncover the pattern of attention given to external comparison standards when engaged in social judgments. In a series of 5 experiments (N = 463), a Modified Spatial Cueing Task provided evidence for a general Comparison Induced Delay (CID), but found no signs of visuospatial attention (Pilot, Study 1 & 2). However, the CID...

The present research aims to identify unique characteristics of written conspiracy theories. In two pre‐registered quantitative human‐coded content analyses, we compared 36 pairs of conspiratorial and non‐conspiratorial online articles about various events. As predicted, conspiratorial articles—compared to non‐conspiratorial articles—contained less...

The present research aims to identify unique characteristics of written conspiracy theories. In two preregistered quantitative human-coded content analyses, we compared 36 pairs of conspiratorial and non-conspiratorial online articles about various events. As predicted, conspiratorial articles – compared to non-conspiratorial articles – contained l...

Historical perpetrator groups seek to shield themselves from image threat by advocating for closing the discussion of their crimes. However, from a broader theoretical perspective, such demand for historical closure (HC) may also reflect willingness to reconcile with the victim group or to focus on the future rather than the past. In nine studies a...

Historical perpetrator groups seek to shield themselves from image threat by advocating for closing the discussion of their crimes. However, from a broader theoretical perspective, such demand for historical closure (HC) may also reflect willingness to reconcile with the victim group or to focus on the future rather than the past. In nine studies a...

Recent research has showed that people with right-wing political orientations and political extremists are more likely to harbor conspiracy beliefs. Utilizing a multisite data set (23 countries, N > 20,000), we show that corruption moderates how political orientation predicts conspiracy beliefs. We found that (1) the difference between left- and ri...

We address an apparent discrepancy in the literature on how context stimuli influence evaluations of target stimuli. While a rich literature suggests that target evaluations are often contrasted away from the valence of context stimuli, reported effects of evaluative conditioning (EC) are almost exclusively assimilative. Specifically, when a neutra...

There has been an increasing scholarly interest in the psychology behind conspiracy theories, the belief that events in the world are brought about by the secret coordination of others with negative intentions. Typically, people differ systematically in the degree to which they endorse a wide range of such theories, suggesting a general suspicious...

Recent research has showed that people with right-wing political orientations and political extremists are more likely to harbor conspiracy beliefs. Utilizing a multisite dataset (23 countries, N > 20,000), we show that corruption moderates how political orientation predicts conspiracy beliefs. We found that (1) the difference between left- and rig...

Assessment reports about individuals charged/convicted of offenses have an influence on significant personal consequences for examinees by sentencing decisions regarding placement in a forensic hospital or prison. As there is evidence that unstructured clinical judgments have limited accuracy, research-based practice recommendations call for the us...

Conspiracy theories express mistrust in common explanations and epistemic authorities. Independent of concrete content, the extent of endorsing conspiracy theories has also shown associations with interpersonal mistrust. Arguing from an evolutionary and error‐management perspective, this increased interpersonal mistrust could either represent an en...

Germany’s past is marked not only by the atrocities of the Holocaust, but also by a history of collective attempts to come to terms with these crimes. The present paper focuses on the previously rarely explored consequences of perceived success in dealing with a perpetrator past for the moral ingroup-image and the demand for an end to the discussio...

Although sometimes used interchangeably, the present review highlights the important differences between generalized worldviews suspecting conspiracy at play (conspiracy mentality) and specific beliefs about the existence of a certain conspiracy (conspiracy theory). In contrast to measures of beliefs in specific conspiracy theories, those of conspi...

Religious and conspiracy beliefs share the feature of assuming powerful forces that determine the fate of the world. Correspondingly, they have been theorized to address similar psychological needs and to be based on similar cognitions, but there exist little authoritative answers about their relationship. We delineate two theory‐driven possibiliti...

Although sometimes used interchangeably, the present review highlights the important differences between generalized worldviews suspecting conspiracy at play (conspiracy mentality) and specific beliefs about the existence of a certain conspiracy (conspiracy theory). In contrast to measures of beliefs in specific conspiracy theories, those of conspi...

From health to personal property and intimate relationships, people have valuable things that require effort and care to be maintained. We present a new measure of individual differences in maintenance striving, guided by a refined theoretical perspective on maintenance. Based on the expectancy-value framework, the General Maintenance Orientation (...

Religious and conspiracy beliefs share the feature of assuming powerful forces that determine the fate of the world. Correspondingly, they have been theorized to address similar psychological needs and be based on similar cognitions, but there exist little authoritative answers about their relationship. We delineate two theory-driven possibilities....

While the Holocaust is widely regarded by Germans as one of the worst human atrocities, they differ in their readiness to express guilt or, in contrast, in their demand to close this chapter of history. We propose that such demand for historical closure (HC) is particularly pronounced among individuals high in collective narcissism and is systemati...

While the Holocaust is widely regarded by Germans as one of the worst human atrocities, they differ in their readiness to express guilt or, in contrast, in their demand to close thischapter of history. We propose that such demand for historical closure (HC) is particularly pronounced among individuals high in collective narcissism and is systematic...

This research tested the phenomenology of maintenance goals as distinct from goals to reach better outcomes (progress goals) and goals to prevent worse outcomes (prevention goals). In Studies 1 and 2, participants reported personal goals and categorized them as maintenance, progress, or prevention. Maintenance goals played a major role in reported...

Guiding people’s attempts to sustain current states—from health and personal relationships, to households, jobs, and the biological environment—maintenance goals are a fundamental albeit understudied aspect of human motivation. We tested how comparisons to the self and to others impact the motivation to maintain. We hypothesized that maintenance go...

People differ in their general tendency to endorse conspiracy theories (that is, conspiracy mentality). Previous research yielded inconsistent findings on the relationship between conspiracy mentality and political orientation, showing a greater conspiracy mentality either among the political right (a linear relation) or amongst both the left and r...

A rich body of research points to racial biases in so-called police officer dilemma tasks: participants are generally faster and less error-prone to “shoot” (vs. not “shoot”) Black (vs. White) targets. In three experimental (and two supplemental) studies (total N = 914), we aimed at examining the cognitive processes underlying these findings under...

Social judgments are often influenced by comparison to some standard in the environment, either moving the judgment closer (assimilating) to or away (contrasting) from this standard. Which direction this effect will take depends heavily on the relative standing of these standards on the judgment dimension compared to the target of the judgment. In...

Conspiracy theories arise for virtually any public event (e.g., pandemics, assassinations, disasters). In light of positively correlated endorsements of such beliefs, many have pointed to a more general mindset behind this. Others have argued against this notion of a consistent mindset. Applying Latent Profile Analyses, we examine the evidence for...

Past research suggests that certain content features of conspiracy theories may foster their credibility. In two experimental studies ('N' = 293), we examined whether conspiracy theories that explicitly offer a broad explanation for the respective phenomena and/or identify a potential threat posed by conspirators are granted more credibility than c...

From a social psychological perspective, the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated protective measures affected individuals’ social relations and basic psychological needs. We aim to identify sources of need frustration (stressors) and possibilities to bolster need satisfaction (buffers). Particularly, we highlight emerging empirical research in whi...

A rich body of research points to racial biases in so-called police officer dilemma tasks: participants are generally faster and less error-prone to “shoot” (vs. not “shoot”) Black (vs. White) targets. In three experimental (and two supplemental) studies (total N = 914), we aimed at examining the cognitive processes underlying these findings under...

Conspiracy theories arise for virtually any public event (e.g., pandemics, assassinations, disasters). In light of positively correlated endorsements of such beliefs, many have pointed to a more general mindset behind this. Others have argued against this notion of a consistent mindset. Applying Latent Profile Analyses, we examine the evidence for...

Past research suggests that certain content features of conspiracy theories may foster their credibility. In two experimental studies (N = 293), we examined whether conspiracy theories that explicitly offer a broad explanation for the respective phenomena and/or identify potential threat posed by conspirators are granted more credibility than consp...

When are people motivated to maintain what they have? We tested differences in the motivation to maintain versus approach and avoidance at different distances from one’s ideal state. Although keeping things as they are (maintenance) is often equated with avoiding changes, we predicted pronounced differences between these two goals. We reasoned that...

A plethora of theories on human motives proposes that people have a fundamental need for control and an intrinsic desire to avoid submission to others. The current paper investigated an important exception to this general claim. Five experiments show that self-control failure leads people to strategically prioritize more social submission. In Exper...

It is almost a cultural truism that erotic images attract our attention, presumably because paying attention to erotic stimuli provided our ancestors with mating benefits. Attention, however, can be narrowly defined as visuospatial attention (keeping such stimuli in view) or more broadly as cognitive attention (such stimuli taking up one’s thoughts...

Social judgments are often influenced by comparison to some standard in the environment, either moving the judgment closer (assimilating) to or away (contrasting) from this standard. Which direction this effect will take depends heavily on the relative standing of these standards on the judgment dimension compared to the target of the judgment. In...

People gather information about others along a few fundamental dimensions; their current goals determine which dimensions they most need to know. As proponents of competing social-evaluation models, we sought to study the dimensions that perceivers spontaneously prioritize when gathering information about unknown social groups. Because priorities d...

Although resilience is a multi‐level process, research largely focuses on the individual and little is known about how resilience may distinctly present at the group level. Even less is known about subjective conceptualizations of resilience at either level. Therefore, two studies sought to better understand how individuals conceptualize resilience...

The question what people desire in their romantic partner has hitherto been dominated by a focus on gender. It has been repeatedly found that, when asked what they find important in selecting a partner, women indicate that they find status more important compared to men. Across five studies, we move beyond gender and base ourselves on general theor...

According to German law, assessing the culpability of an accused person requires an initial assessment of whether the accused suffers from a condition that might in principle reduce or diminish culpability. This is followed by an evaluation of whether this condition did indeed impair the ability to either understand or control their actions. The im...

Purpose When making judgements under uncertainty not only lay people but also professional judges often rely on heuristics like a numerical anchor (e.g., a numerical sentencing demand) to generate a numerical response. As the prosecution has the privilege to present its demand first, some scholars have speculated about an anchoring‐based unfair dis...

Although sexual interest is a fundamental part of every sexually reproducing species, it still remains to a large extent an enigma. To this day, a general theory of sexual interest is lacking, specifically, in terms of a causal theory on how sexual interests are developed. This lack of a theoretical framework to explain sexual interest as an everyd...

The term viewing time (VT) effect refers to a phenomenon whereby respondents typically take longer to judge the sexual attractiveness of targets from sexually preferred (versus nonpreferred) categories. Although frequently characterized as an unobtrusive measure of respondents’ sexually motivated reactions to the stimulus images themselves, the typ...

A plethora of theories on human motives proposes that people have a fundamental need for control and an intrinsic desire to avoid submission to others. The current paper investigated an important exception to this general claim. Five experiments show that self-control failure leads people to strategically prioritize more social submission. In Exper...

Purpose: When making judgments under uncertainty not only lay people but also professional judges often rely on heuristics like a numerical anchor (e.g., a numerical sentencing demand) to generate a numerical response. As the prosecution has the privilege to present its demand first, some scholars have speculated about an anchoring-based unfair dis...

Significance Human memory is fallible and malleable. In forensic settings in particular, this poses a challenge because people may falsely remember events with legal implications that never actually happened. Despite an urgent need for remedies, however, research on whether and how rich false autobiographical memories can be reversed under realisti...

Past research has demonstrated that conspiracy belief is linked to a low level of self-reported general trust. In four experimental online studies (total N = 1105) we examined whether this relationship translated into actual behavior. Specifically, since the decision to trust relies on the ability to detect potential social threat, we tested whethe...

Zusammenfassung Verschwörungsnarrative über die Herkunft oder Harmlosigkeit des auslösenden Coronavirus tauchten in Zusammenhang mit der weltweiten COVID-19 Pandemie auf. Krisen befeuern solche Erzählungen, weil sie Bedürfnisse nach Erklärung, Sicherheit und Kontrolle befriedigen können. Problematisch ist, dass die Zustimmung zu solchen Ideen mit g...

Beliefs in conspiracies have been widely discussed in society since the worldwide outbreak of the pandemic triggered by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Since May 2020 there have been demonstrations throughout Germany in which conspiracy ideology played an important role. The number of conspiracy ideology channels and groups rose during the cri...

Das Konzept der Humandifferenzierung bezeichnet einen Forschungsansatz zu der Frage, wie Menschen sich unterscheiden: sowohl voneinander als auch von nicht-menschlichen Entitäten wie Tieren und Artefakten. Die kulturelle Differenzierung von Menschen läuft zeitgleich in verschiedenen Sinnschichten des Kulturellen ab: Sie wird perzeptiv durch kogniti...

Schuldfähigkeitsgutachten ziehen das öffentliche Interesse auf sich, da sie als Grundlage für die Beurteilung der Voraussetzungen einer freiheitsentziehenden Maßregel dienen. Die Forschungsliteratur verweist auf eine heterogene Gutachtenqualität in der Praxis. Seit der Veröffentlichung von Mindestanforderungen für Schuldfähigkeitsgutachten einer in...

Research indicates that the memory of collective trauma influences attitudes towards contemporary social and political issues. We suggest that the specific attributions for trauma that members of victim and perpetrator groups make provide a more nuanced understanding of this relationship. Thus, we constructed and validated a measure of attributions...