Colette van Laar, PhD

Position:
  • Associate Professor
Expertise:
  • stigma
  • motivation and performance
  • self-regulation
  • the self
  • intergroup relations
  • contact processes
  • ethnic relations
  • gender


Telephone number: +31 (0)71 527 3923
E-Mail: cvlaar@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
Faculty / Department: Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen, Instituut Psychologie, Sociale en Organisatiepsychologie
Office Address: Pieter de la Court gebouw
Wassenaarseweg 52
2333 AK Leiden
Room number 2A28
Personal Homepage: www.socialsciences.leidenuniv.nl/​psychology/​organisation/​so/​laar.jsp


Colette van Laar obtained her MA in social psychology at the University of Amsterdam. In 1992 she obtained a Fulbright scholarship and went to the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA). There she obtained her PhD in 1998 with a dissertation concerning the influence of low status and stigma on the self and motivation. She joined the faculty in social and organizational psychology in Leiden in 1999, taking a sabbatical as a Visiting Scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation in New York from 2001-2002. In 2006 she received a prestigious VIDI grant from the Dutch National Science Foundation. Her research focuses on the social psychology of low social status and stigma, and the consequences of stigma for cognition, emotion, motivation and performance. In addition to these topics, she conducts research on social identity and intergroup relations, making use of both laboratory research with experimental groups and field research with existing low status or disadvantaged groups such as ethnic minorities and women in traditionally male dominated fields.

Publications

  • Stahl, T., Van Laar, C., Ellemers, N., & Derks, B. (in press). Searching for acceptance: Prejudice expectations direct attention towards social acceptance cues when under a promotion focus. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations.
  • Zaal, M., Van Laar, C., Stahl, T., Ellemers, N., Derks, B. (in press). By any means necessary: The effects of regulatory focus and moral conviction on hostile and benevolent forms of collective action. British Journal of Social Psychology.
  • Cronin, T., Levin, S., Branscombe, N. R., Van Laar, C., & Tropp, L. (in press). Ethnic identification protects well-being in response to perceived discrimination: A longitudinal study of Latino college students. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations.
  • Tropp, L. R., Hawi, D., Van Laar, C. & Levin, S. (in press). Cross-ethnic friendships, perceived discrimination, and their effects on ethnic activism over time: A longitudinal investigation of three ethnic minority groups. British Journal of Social Psychology.
  • Derks, B., Van Laar, C., Ellemers, N., & De Groot, K. (2011). Gender bias primes elicit queen bee responses among senior police women. Psychological Science , 22, 1243-1249.
  • Zaal, M.P., Van Laar, C., Ståhl, T., Ellemers, N., & Derks, B. (2011). Social change as an important goal or likely outcome: How regulatory focus affects commitment to collective action. British Journal of Social Psychology. 
  • Derks, B., Ellemers, N., Van Laar, C., & De Groot, K. (2011). Do sexist organizational cultures create the Queen Bee? British Journal of Social Psychology , 50, 519–535.
  • Derks, B., Scheepers, D., Van Laar, C., & Ellemers, N. (2011). The threat vs. challenge of car parking for women: How self- and group affirmation affect cardiovascular responses. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 178-183.
  • Van Laar, C., Derks, B., Ellemers, N., Bleeker, D. (2010). Valuing social identity: Consequences for motivation and performance in low status groups. Journal of Social Issues, 66 (3), 602-617.
  • Ellemers, N. & Van Laar, C. (2010). Individual mobility. In: J. Dovidio, M. Hewstone, P. Glick, & V. Esses (Eds.). Handbook of prejudice and discrimination (pp. 561-576). London, UK: Sage. 
  • Thomsen, L., Green, E. G. T., Ho, A. K., Sidanius, J., Levin, S., Van Laar, C., & Sinclair, S. (2010). Wolves in sheep’s clothing: SDO asymmetrically predicts perceived ethnic victimization among White and Latino students across three years. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36(2), 225-38.
  • Derks, B., Van Laar, C., & Ellemers, N. (2009). Working for the self or working for the group: How personal and social self-affirmation promote performance motivation in low status groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(1), 183-202.
  • Levin, S., Sinclair, S., Sidanius, J., & Van Laar, C. (2009). Ethnic and university identities across the college years: A common ingroup identity perspective. Journal of Social Issues, 65, 287-306.
  • Sidanius, J., Levin, S., Van Laar, C., & Sears, D. O. (2008). The diversity challenge: Social identity and intergroup relations on the college campus . New York: Russell Sage.
  • Van Laar, C., Levin, S., Sinclair, S. (2008). Social identity and personal identity concerns in stereotype threat: The case of affirmative action. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 30(4), 295-310.
  • Van Laar, C., Sidanius, J., & Levin, S. (2008). Ethnic related curricula and intergroup attitudes in college: Movement towards and away from the ingroup. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 38 (6), 1601-1638.
  • Van Laar, C., Levin, S. & Sidanius, J. (2008). Ingroup and outgroup contact: A longitudinal study of the effects of cross-ethnic friendships, dates, roommate relationships and participation in segregated organizations. In U. Wagner, L. Tropp, G. Finchilescu, & C. Tredoux. Improving intergroup relations - Building on the legacy of Thomas F. Pettigrew (pp. 127-142). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
  • Derks, B., Van Laar, C. & Ellemers, N. (2007). The beneficial effects of social identity protection on the performance motivation of members of devalued groups. Social Issues and Policy Review, 1(1), 217-256
  • Derks, B., Van Laar, C., & Ellemers, N. (2007). Social creativity strikes back: Improving low status group members’ motivation and performance by valuing ingroup dimensions. European Journal of Social Psychology, 37, 470-493.
  • Derks, B., Van Laar, C., & Ellemers, N. (2006). Striving for success in outgroup settings: Effects of contextually emphasizing ingroup dimensions on stigmatized group members’ social identity and performance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 576-588.
  • Levin, S., & Van Laar, C. (Eds.) (2006). Stigma and group inequality: Social psychological approaches. Lawrence Erlbaum.
  • Levin, S., Van Laar, C., & Foote, W. (2006). Ethnic segregation and perceived discrimination in college: Mutual influences and effects on social and academic life. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 36(6), 1471-1501.
  • Van Laar, C., Levin, S. & Sinclair, S., Sidanius, J. (2005). The effect of college roommate contact on ethnic attitudes and behaviors. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 41(7), 329-345.
  • Sidanius, J., Van Laar, C., Levin, S., & Sinclair, S. (2004). Ethnic enclaves on the college campus: The good, the bad and the ugly. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87(1), 96-110.
  • Honourable mention Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Prize (SPSSI 2005).
  • Sears, D. O., Van Laar, C., Carrillo, M., & Kosterman, R. (2004). Is it really racism? The origins of white Americans’ opposition to race-targeted policies. In J. Jost & J. Sidanius, (Eds.), Political psychology: Key readings. New York: Psychology Press.
  • Sidanius, J., Pratto, F., Van Laar, C., & Levin, S. (2004). A comprehensive analysis of group-based oppression: Social dominance theory, its agenda and method. Political Psychology, 25(6), 845-880.
  • Sidanius, J., Van Laar, C., Levin, S. & Sinclair, S. (2003). Social hierarchy maintenance and the assortment into social roles: A social dominance perspective. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 6, 333-351.
  • Levin, S., Van Laar, C., & Sidanius, J. (2003). The effects of ingroup and outgroup friendships on ethnic attitudes in college: A longitudinal study. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 6, 76-92.
  • Van Laar, C., & Derks, B. (2003). Disidentification from the academic domain among members of stigmatized groups. In F. Salili and R. Hoosain, Teaching, learning, and student motivation in a multicultural context (pp. 345-393). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
  • Van Laar, C. (2001). Understanding the impact of stigma on academic achievement. In F. Salili and R. Hoosain (Eds.), Multicultural education: Issues, policies, and practices (pp. 35-63). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
  • Van Laar, C. (2001). Declining optimism in ethnic minority students: The role of attributions and self-esteem. In F. Salili,  C. Y. Chiu, & Y. Y. Hong, Student motivation: The culture and context of learning (pp. 79-104). New York: Plenum.
  • Van Laar, C., & Sidanius, J. (2001). Social status and the academic achievement gap: A social dominance perspective. Social Psychology of Education (Special issue: The social psychology of academic achievement: Progress and prospects), 4, 235-258.
  • Van Laar, C. (2000). The paradox of low academic achievement but high self-esteem in African American students: An attributional account. Educational Psychology Review, 12(1), 33-61.
  • Sears, D. O., Citrin, J., Cheleden, S., & Van Laar, C. (1999) Cultural diversity and multicultural politics: Is ethnic balkanization psychologically inevitable? In D. Prentice and D. T. Miller (Eds.), Cultural divides: Understanding and overcoming group conflict (pp. 35-79). New York: Russell Sage.
  • Van Laar, C., Sidanius, J., Rabinowitz, J., & Sinclair, S. (1999). The three R’s of academic achievement: Reading, ‘riting, and racism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25 (2), 139-151.
  • Van Laar, C. (1999). Increasing a sense of community in the military: The role of personnel support programs. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.
  • Sears, D. O., Van Laar, C., Carrillo, M., & Kosterman, R. (1997). Is it really racism? The origins of white Americans’ opposition to race-targeted policies. Public Opinion Quarterly, 61, 16-53.
  • Sidanius, J., Pratto, F., Sinclair, S., & Van Laar, C. (1996). Mother Teresa meets Genghis Khan: The dialectics of hierarchy enhancing and hierarchy attenuating career choices. Social Justice Research, 9, 145-170.

More Information about the Department of Social & Organizational Psychology

For more information about the Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, please visit the website S&O.

Last Modified: 13-12-2011