Carolien Martijn, Associate Professor
Carolien’s research involves integrating perspectives from both social psychology and clinical psychology. One area of interest is body image, where she explores why numerous women and men often perceive themselves as unattractive. She found that our disapproval of our mirror’s reflections, is not solely based on our personal judgments but significantly shaped by how we believe others perceive us. She develops and tests interventions that target the social aspects of self-evaluation.
Other research focuses on applying self-regulation interventions to address problematic eating behaviors. She explores the effectiveness of implementation intentions, which involve creating specific plans for how to act in response to certain situations. For example, if someone feels like snacking in the afternoon, they might plan to choose an apple instead. Her studies have shown that implementation intentions can reduce overeating in women diagnosed with binge eating disorder. Another research line concerns fear of negative evaluation, which contributes to conditions such as depression and substance abuse. Using network methodology, she aims to understand the dynamics of fear of negative evaluation and how it relates to dysfunctional thoughts and behaviors. The goal is to inform the development of tailored clinical interventions for addressing and changing harmful cognitive patterns and behaviors.
Publications that I’m most proud of
Evaluative conditioning makes slim models less desirable as standards for comparison and increases body satisfaction. Health Psychology, 2013.
The present research tested whether an evaluative conditioning intervention makes thin-ideal models less enviable as standards for appearance-based social comparisons. Via a conditioning procedure, women learned to associate thin-ideal models with negative words (fake, unnatural) and curvy models with positive words (real, natural). As compared to a control group, women who underwent this procedure became more positive about their own appearance.
Reducing binge eating through behavioral-focused versus emotion-focused implementation intentions in patients with binge eating disorder or bulimia. Behavior Research and Therapy, 2023.
Patients who were diagnosed with Binge Eating Disorder or Bulimia Nervosa made so-called “implementation intentions”: explicit if-then plans about how to counteract a binge eating episode (e.g., if I feel the urge to snack, I will eat an apple). Three sessions on implementation intention formation led to long-term reductions in binge eating in patients with BED or BN compared to a control condition. Learning how to form implementation intentions seems a recommendable addition to the current standard treatment.
Covariation bias in women with a negative body evaluation: How is it expressed and can it be diminished? Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 2016.
Women with a negative body evaluation display covariation bias: They overestimate the relation between their own body and negative social feedback. A computer paradigm was tested to diminish the covariation bias by showing women pictures of their own bodies that was almost never by negative social feedback (frowning faces). Indeed, covariation bias was temporarily diminished and this coincided with improvement in state body evaluations.
