prof. dr. B.M. (Bob) Fennis

I also supervise bachelor, master and research master theses, as well as premaster research projects. If you are looking for a supervisor and if you are interested in one of my research interests (see also my research page) please contact me. I am currently looking for students to work with me on one of the following projects (in no particular order):

On experiencing scarcity. I am interested in one of the most established pillars of economic functioning: how consumers experience and respond to limited resource availability, particularly as a function of their childhood socio-economic living conditions. More specifically, in this project I aim to examine how consumers experience an empty wallet, but also an empty stomach, a shortage of time, or a limited offer at the supermarket.  Are these forms of scarcity fundamentally different from each other? Or do they perhaps trigger a similar set of responses? And how do consumers actually cope with a sense of scarcity? 

The psychology of gullibility. A second project that fascinates me pertains to gullibility: How easily do we fall prey to fake (online) product reviews, deceptive advertising, fake news, and misinformation? Research on the issue has yielded mixed and sometimes conflicting results. Such conflicting findings suggest that consumers can be both more and less gullible, albeit under different conditions. In this project I aim to develop and test a new and unifying account explaining when and why consumers show amplified or reduced gullibility in the face of fake or deceitful (commercial, political, or health) claims.