26-27 May 2025
2025 Annual Meeting of the Belgian Association for Psychological Sciences
université libre de bruxelles (ulb)
How to register:
- Please carefully check below which price applies to you (depending on your status and membership).
- Make a bank transfer of the correct amount to this account with the following statement:
Bank account number
BE62 0689 3186 3061
Name
Université libre de Bruxelles
Communication
[Surname] [Name] + BAPS 2025 + 4R00E000100
It is crucial that you enter this information correctly, otherwise we will not be able to verify your payment!
BE62 0689 3186 3061
Name
Université libre de Bruxelles
Communication
[Surname] [Name] + BAPS 2025 + 4R00E000100
It is crucial that you enter this information correctly, otherwise we will not be able to verify your payment!
NORMAL REGISTRATION RATES
12-04-2025 and later
Bachelor/Master student (BAPS member): 90€
Bachelor/Master student (not a BAPS member): 90€
PhD student (BAPS member): 90€
PhD student (not a BAPS member): 125€
Postdoc (BAPS member): 90€
Postdoc (not a BAPS member): 150€
ZAP/Professor (BAPS member): 90€
ZAP/Professor (not a BAPS member): 110€
Other (BAPS member): 90€
Other (not a BAPS member): 150€
12-04-2025 and later
Bachelor/Master student (BAPS member): 90€
Bachelor/Master student (not a BAPS member): 90€
PhD student (BAPS member): 90€
PhD student (not a BAPS member): 125€
Postdoc (BAPS member): 90€
Postdoc (not a BAPS member): 150€
ZAP/Professor (BAPS member): 90€
ZAP/Professor (not a BAPS member): 110€
Other (BAPS member): 90€
Other (not a BAPS member): 150€
If you have any issues or questions, please contact us at [email protected]
Venue
|
UNIVERSITÉ LIBRE DE BRUXELLES
Campus Solbosch The conference will take place in Building S and in Building R. Parking Janson will be accessible upon demand. Please contact us at [email protected]. |
Keynote Speakers
The battle of grievances: Consolidating the impact of intergroup competitive victimhood and charting new directions
Prof. Dr. Masi Noor
In this talk, I will review and update my work on intergroup competitive victimhood (CV). This concept refers to efforts by members of conflicting groups to assert that their group has suffered more than their adversaries. While my work on this concept began in 2008, CV was formally introduced in 2012 (Noor et al., PSPR), where we established its theoretical foundation, distinguished it from related constructs, explored its psychological drivers, and examined its consequential implications for intergroup relations. The first part of my talk will provide an overview of the growing body of literature inspired by CV, including findings from our latest meta-analysis encompassing over 37,000 participants across 51 studies. In the second part, I will chart new directions by arguing that CV is far more multifaceted than previously assumed. I will present new evidence demonstrating that CV manifests not only in direct competition but also in subtler, yet equally potent, forms: denying outgroup suffering, blaming the outgroup for their plight, demanding recognition of ingroup suffering, and moralising the ingroup’s victimhood. These insights contribute to a deeper understanding of CV’s complexity and its consequences for intergroup relations. In the final section, I will share my vision for social psychology as an evolving field, addressing questions of relevance and diversity.
Bio
I was born and raised in Afghanistan before emigrating to Germany as a child, where I completed my secondary education (Abitur). As a young adult, I moved to Northern Ireland to work as a community and youth worker, arriving in the same year that the Good Friday Agreement was signed. This pivotal experience inspired me to pursue a BSc in Applied Psychology at the University of Ulster. I spent a year in Oxford conducting research before embarking on my PhD at the University of Sussex, under the wonderful supervision of Rupert Brown. I am currently an Associate Professor at Keele University. I publish as often as I can, but just as important to me is supporting others in their publishing journeys. I have served in different editorial journals and recently completed my term as one of the Editors-in-Chief of the European Journal of Social Psychology. I co-founded the online Forgiveness Toolbox (visited by individuals from over 180 countries) and co-authored an illustrated graphic book based on the science and stories of forgiveness, entitled: ‘Forgiveness Is Really Strange’. I speak Farsi, German, and English, and I’m currently enjoying the challenge of learning Spanish. Thank you for your kind invitation and for taking the time to attend my talk—I truly appreciate it.
A cross-species approach to the mechanisms of vicarious (emotional) states
Prof. Dr. Valeria Gazzola
How does our brain make us feel what others feel, and how does this feeling influence our (pro-social) decisions? Are humans the only species able to feel others’ emotions? During my talk, I will walk you through rodent and human work that shows a common neuronal substrate in response to our own as well as other people's emotional state. In humans, the somatosensory, insular, and cingulate cortices are activated both when experiencing pain and while witnessing others doing so. The cingulate cortex shows similar responses in rodents as well, with individual neurons responding both to the self-experience of pain and the pain of a conspecific. I will then bring evidence showing that such vicarious activations have causal influences on sharing the emotions of others and on deciding to help others. The homologies between humans and rodents suggest that emotion sharing is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism that allows animals and humans to better prepare for yet unseen dangers by tuning into the state of those that have already detected them. At the end of the talk, I will also present work on psychopathic criminals and healthy volunteers that highlights both voluntary and involuntary modulation of vicarious activity, suggesting we have control on how much we recruit such brain circuits and processes. Empathy does not just happen to us: we can choose (or not) to empathize.
Bio
Valeria Gazzola studied Biology in Parma – Italy – and started her scientific career in Rizzolatti's lab, where mirror neurons where first recorded. She then moved to the Netherlands where her PhD and postdoctoral research established that somatosensory cortices, normally involved in processing the sensations on our body, play a critical role in social cognition, extending her work from action-related mirror responses to the domain of sensation and emotions. In 2010 she moved to Amsterdam, where she leads the Mechanisms of Social Behavior group at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience of the KNAW and is an associate professor at the University of Amsterdam. Her research, financed by National and European grants, investigates the causal relationship between mirror-like activity and pro- and anti- social behavior by using a combination of fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging), EEG (electrical encephalography), tDCS (transcranial direct current stimulation) and TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation). By using similar paradigms across species, she also explores how brain processes involved in vicariously feel with others are evolutionary preserved. Her highly collaborative attitude and passion for team science is evident by her involvement work in two national consortia, the Dutch Brain Interface Initiative (DBI2) and Growing Up Together In Society (GUTS) consortia, and international collaborations, which include the Sandfort Institute for Empathy and Compassion. With her work she tried to place her group and collaborators at the forefront of an effort to critically assess the relationship between brain regions associated with empathy and actual social behavior.
Prof. Dr. Masi Noor
In this talk, I will review and update my work on intergroup competitive victimhood (CV). This concept refers to efforts by members of conflicting groups to assert that their group has suffered more than their adversaries. While my work on this concept began in 2008, CV was formally introduced in 2012 (Noor et al., PSPR), where we established its theoretical foundation, distinguished it from related constructs, explored its psychological drivers, and examined its consequential implications for intergroup relations. The first part of my talk will provide an overview of the growing body of literature inspired by CV, including findings from our latest meta-analysis encompassing over 37,000 participants across 51 studies. In the second part, I will chart new directions by arguing that CV is far more multifaceted than previously assumed. I will present new evidence demonstrating that CV manifests not only in direct competition but also in subtler, yet equally potent, forms: denying outgroup suffering, blaming the outgroup for their plight, demanding recognition of ingroup suffering, and moralising the ingroup’s victimhood. These insights contribute to a deeper understanding of CV’s complexity and its consequences for intergroup relations. In the final section, I will share my vision for social psychology as an evolving field, addressing questions of relevance and diversity.
Bio
I was born and raised in Afghanistan before emigrating to Germany as a child, where I completed my secondary education (Abitur). As a young adult, I moved to Northern Ireland to work as a community and youth worker, arriving in the same year that the Good Friday Agreement was signed. This pivotal experience inspired me to pursue a BSc in Applied Psychology at the University of Ulster. I spent a year in Oxford conducting research before embarking on my PhD at the University of Sussex, under the wonderful supervision of Rupert Brown. I am currently an Associate Professor at Keele University. I publish as often as I can, but just as important to me is supporting others in their publishing journeys. I have served in different editorial journals and recently completed my term as one of the Editors-in-Chief of the European Journal of Social Psychology. I co-founded the online Forgiveness Toolbox (visited by individuals from over 180 countries) and co-authored an illustrated graphic book based on the science and stories of forgiveness, entitled: ‘Forgiveness Is Really Strange’. I speak Farsi, German, and English, and I’m currently enjoying the challenge of learning Spanish. Thank you for your kind invitation and for taking the time to attend my talk—I truly appreciate it.
A cross-species approach to the mechanisms of vicarious (emotional) states
Prof. Dr. Valeria Gazzola
How does our brain make us feel what others feel, and how does this feeling influence our (pro-social) decisions? Are humans the only species able to feel others’ emotions? During my talk, I will walk you through rodent and human work that shows a common neuronal substrate in response to our own as well as other people's emotional state. In humans, the somatosensory, insular, and cingulate cortices are activated both when experiencing pain and while witnessing others doing so. The cingulate cortex shows similar responses in rodents as well, with individual neurons responding both to the self-experience of pain and the pain of a conspecific. I will then bring evidence showing that such vicarious activations have causal influences on sharing the emotions of others and on deciding to help others. The homologies between humans and rodents suggest that emotion sharing is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism that allows animals and humans to better prepare for yet unseen dangers by tuning into the state of those that have already detected them. At the end of the talk, I will also present work on psychopathic criminals and healthy volunteers that highlights both voluntary and involuntary modulation of vicarious activity, suggesting we have control on how much we recruit such brain circuits and processes. Empathy does not just happen to us: we can choose (or not) to empathize.
Bio
Valeria Gazzola studied Biology in Parma – Italy – and started her scientific career in Rizzolatti's lab, where mirror neurons where first recorded. She then moved to the Netherlands where her PhD and postdoctoral research established that somatosensory cortices, normally involved in processing the sensations on our body, play a critical role in social cognition, extending her work from action-related mirror responses to the domain of sensation and emotions. In 2010 she moved to Amsterdam, where she leads the Mechanisms of Social Behavior group at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience of the KNAW and is an associate professor at the University of Amsterdam. Her research, financed by National and European grants, investigates the causal relationship between mirror-like activity and pro- and anti- social behavior by using a combination of fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging), EEG (electrical encephalography), tDCS (transcranial direct current stimulation) and TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation). By using similar paradigms across species, she also explores how brain processes involved in vicariously feel with others are evolutionary preserved. Her highly collaborative attitude and passion for team science is evident by her involvement work in two national consortia, the Dutch Brain Interface Initiative (DBI2) and Growing Up Together In Society (GUTS) consortia, and international collaborations, which include the Sandfort Institute for Empathy and Compassion. With her work she tried to place her group and collaborators at the forefront of an effort to critically assess the relationship between brain regions associated with empathy and actual social behavior.
Invited Symposia
The BAPS 2025 Annual Meeting will feature several invited symposia on topics spanning various domains in psychological science. These symposia will take place on the 26th and 27th of May. You can find an overview of all invited symposia here:
A SOCIAL AND NEUROSCIENCE APPROACH TO INTERGROUP BIASES IN PEACE AND POST-CONFLICT SOCIETIES
Chair - Emilie Caspar (UGent)
Presenters - Emilie Caspar (UGent), David M. Amodio (University of Amsterdam, NL), Jonathan Levy (Aalto University, FI)
Intergroup biases shape social dynamics, influencing reconciliation, prejudice formation, and hidden attitudes in both post-conflict and stable societies. This symposium brings together research from neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral sciences to explore how these biases emerge, persist, and evolve. Emilie Caspar examines the intergenerational transmission of intergroup biases in Rwanda, showing how past genocide influences both survivors and their descendants. David M. Amodio investigates how mere exposure to discriminatory rhetoric can unconsciously shape implicit prejudice through memory and learning systems. Jonathan Levy highlights the critical role of neuroimaging in uncovering intergroup bias, revealing how implicit biases can remain hidden in self-reports yet emerge in neural activity. Together, these talks provide a multidisciplinary perspective on the mechanisms underlying intergroup biases and their implications for social cohesion and conflict resolution.
Presenters - Emilie Caspar (UGent), David M. Amodio (University of Amsterdam, NL), Jonathan Levy (Aalto University, FI)
Intergroup biases shape social dynamics, influencing reconciliation, prejudice formation, and hidden attitudes in both post-conflict and stable societies. This symposium brings together research from neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral sciences to explore how these biases emerge, persist, and evolve. Emilie Caspar examines the intergenerational transmission of intergroup biases in Rwanda, showing how past genocide influences both survivors and their descendants. David M. Amodio investigates how mere exposure to discriminatory rhetoric can unconsciously shape implicit prejudice through memory and learning systems. Jonathan Levy highlights the critical role of neuroimaging in uncovering intergroup bias, revealing how implicit biases can remain hidden in self-reports yet emerge in neural activity. Together, these talks provide a multidisciplinary perspective on the mechanisms underlying intergroup biases and their implications for social cohesion and conflict resolution.
RAISING CHILDREN IN A CHANGING SOCIAL WORLD: HOW THE SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXT SHAPES PARENTING
Chair - Stijn Van Petegem (ULB)
Presenters - Stijn Van Petegem (ULB), Elli-Anastasia Lamprianidou (ULB), Nele Flamant (UGent)
Throughout development, parents play an important role in the lives of children, adolescents and young adults. Through their parenting style and the emotional climate created within the family, they may support or hinder optimal development. As past research has shown, when parents are overprotective, controlling or abusive, they may set their children at risk for psychosocial difficulties and psychopathology, whereas a responsive and autonomy-supportive parenting style would foster development and psychosocial adjustment (e.g., Soenens et al., 2019). Considering these findings, researchers aimed to seek and identify the determinants of parents’ rearing style and practices. However, much of the empirical work in the psychological field remains limited to the identification of parent-related factors (e.g., personality, psychopathology, family history) and/or child-related factors (e.g., temperamental characteristics) as determinants of parenting. Although insightful, such research tends to disregard the larger sociocultural context in which these parent-child interactions are embedded. This is unfortunate from a scientific point of view, as well-known models of child development (e.g., Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006) stress the importance of considering the broader societal, economic, cultural and historical context. The problematic nature of this omission is further intensified by the fact that such approaches implicitly reinforce current trends towards “parent-blaming” (Bristow, 2014), whereby parents are criticized and held personally responsible for relying upon parenting strategies that are in fact attempts to adapt to a changing socio-economic reality. Indeed, the current sociocultural context is marked by many important shifts, including declines in social capital, increasing economic insecurity, climate change and geopolitical tensions, and other evolutions that may elicit worries about the future for the next generations (e.g., Doepke & Zilibotti, 2019; Stevens 2024). For this reason, the present symposium sought to identify the ways in which the broader sociocultural context shapes parenting.
Presenters - Stijn Van Petegem (ULB), Elli-Anastasia Lamprianidou (ULB), Nele Flamant (UGent)
Throughout development, parents play an important role in the lives of children, adolescents and young adults. Through their parenting style and the emotional climate created within the family, they may support or hinder optimal development. As past research has shown, when parents are overprotective, controlling or abusive, they may set their children at risk for psychosocial difficulties and psychopathology, whereas a responsive and autonomy-supportive parenting style would foster development and psychosocial adjustment (e.g., Soenens et al., 2019). Considering these findings, researchers aimed to seek and identify the determinants of parents’ rearing style and practices. However, much of the empirical work in the psychological field remains limited to the identification of parent-related factors (e.g., personality, psychopathology, family history) and/or child-related factors (e.g., temperamental characteristics) as determinants of parenting. Although insightful, such research tends to disregard the larger sociocultural context in which these parent-child interactions are embedded. This is unfortunate from a scientific point of view, as well-known models of child development (e.g., Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006) stress the importance of considering the broader societal, economic, cultural and historical context. The problematic nature of this omission is further intensified by the fact that such approaches implicitly reinforce current trends towards “parent-blaming” (Bristow, 2014), whereby parents are criticized and held personally responsible for relying upon parenting strategies that are in fact attempts to adapt to a changing socio-economic reality. Indeed, the current sociocultural context is marked by many important shifts, including declines in social capital, increasing economic insecurity, climate change and geopolitical tensions, and other evolutions that may elicit worries about the future for the next generations (e.g., Doepke & Zilibotti, 2019; Stevens 2024). For this reason, the present symposium sought to identify the ways in which the broader sociocultural context shapes parenting.
THE POLITICS OF COLLECTIVE MEMORY: HISTORICAL NARRATIVES AND CONTEMPORARY ATTITUDES
Chairs - Anouk Smeekes (Utrecht University, NL) & Laurent Licata (ULB)
Presenters - Anouk Smeekes (Utrecht University, NL), Maria Babinska (ULB), Michał Bilewicz (University of Warsaw, PL), Jean Kalombo Mulimbi (Université de Lubumbashi, RDC; ULB), Laurent Licata (ULB)
This symposium explores the impact of collective memory on contemporary social and political attitudes, spanning diverse historical contexts and geographical regions. The four presentations examine how historical narratives shape group identity, political preferences, intergroup relations, and beliefs about social justice. The first presentation investigates the role of societal pessimism and national nostalgia in shaping support for populist radical-right parties in the Netherlands, highlighting how affective connections to a glorified past fuel contemporary political movements. The second presentation examines historical victim consciousness in Central and Eastern Europe, showing how exclusive narratives of victimhood distort Holocaust memory and shape national self-perceptions. Expanding on the theme of historical trauma, the third presentation explores the link between World War II-related collective memory and conspiratorial beliefs, showing how a sense of historical collective victimhood continues to influence these beliefs across multiple societies. Finally, the fourth presentation shifts focus to colonial history and restitution debates, analyzing how members of the Tabwa community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo perceive their colonial past and the return of stolen cultural artifacts and ancestral remains. Together, these studies underscore the lasting psychological and political consequences of collective memory. By investigating the interplay between historical narratives and contemporary attitudes, this symposium offers insights into how societies navigate the past to shape their present and future.
Presenters - Anouk Smeekes (Utrecht University, NL), Maria Babinska (ULB), Michał Bilewicz (University of Warsaw, PL), Jean Kalombo Mulimbi (Université de Lubumbashi, RDC; ULB), Laurent Licata (ULB)
This symposium explores the impact of collective memory on contemporary social and political attitudes, spanning diverse historical contexts and geographical regions. The four presentations examine how historical narratives shape group identity, political preferences, intergroup relations, and beliefs about social justice. The first presentation investigates the role of societal pessimism and national nostalgia in shaping support for populist radical-right parties in the Netherlands, highlighting how affective connections to a glorified past fuel contemporary political movements. The second presentation examines historical victim consciousness in Central and Eastern Europe, showing how exclusive narratives of victimhood distort Holocaust memory and shape national self-perceptions. Expanding on the theme of historical trauma, the third presentation explores the link between World War II-related collective memory and conspiratorial beliefs, showing how a sense of historical collective victimhood continues to influence these beliefs across multiple societies. Finally, the fourth presentation shifts focus to colonial history and restitution debates, analyzing how members of the Tabwa community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo perceive their colonial past and the return of stolen cultural artifacts and ancestral remains. Together, these studies underscore the lasting psychological and political consequences of collective memory. By investigating the interplay between historical narratives and contemporary attitudes, this symposium offers insights into how societies navigate the past to shape their present and future.
CLOSING THE GAP: PATHWAYS TO DIVERSITY AND EQUITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Chairs - Orhan Agirdag & Jozefien De Leersnyder (KU Leuven)
Presenters - Lianne Mulder (Health Equity Research, NL), Jozefien De Leersnyder (KU Leuven), Khadija El Youssfi (VUB), Orhan Agirdag (KU Leuven)
Ensuring diversity and equity within higher education is pivotal for creating an inclusive academic environment and addressing persistent inequalities in educational outcomes. Despite decades of democratization efforts, higher education institutions across Belgium and Europe still struggle with significant ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural disparities. This invited symposium highlights critical insights into mechanisms underlying these gaps and offers evidence-based strategies for improvement. The symposium addresses systemic inequalities in admission procedures, emphasizing how selection practices for psychology students inadvertently perpetuate ethnic and socioeconomic imbalances. It further explores how diversity climates, shaped significantly by lecturers' attitudes and pedagogical practices, influence ethnic minority students’ sense of belonging and academic achievement. Building on these themes, the role of professionalization in enhancing teachers’ cultural competencies is examined, identifying institutional approaches essential for fostering inclusive educational spaces. Finally, the symposium critically assesses the emerging role of generative AI tools in education, debating whether AI exacerbates existing achievement gaps or provides opportunities to bridge disparities. Together, these contributions underscore the necessity of deliberate, informed interventions aimed at achieving genuine inclusivity and equity within higher education institutions.
Presenters - Lianne Mulder (Health Equity Research, NL), Jozefien De Leersnyder (KU Leuven), Khadija El Youssfi (VUB), Orhan Agirdag (KU Leuven)
Ensuring diversity and equity within higher education is pivotal for creating an inclusive academic environment and addressing persistent inequalities in educational outcomes. Despite decades of democratization efforts, higher education institutions across Belgium and Europe still struggle with significant ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural disparities. This invited symposium highlights critical insights into mechanisms underlying these gaps and offers evidence-based strategies for improvement. The symposium addresses systemic inequalities in admission procedures, emphasizing how selection practices for psychology students inadvertently perpetuate ethnic and socioeconomic imbalances. It further explores how diversity climates, shaped significantly by lecturers' attitudes and pedagogical practices, influence ethnic minority students’ sense of belonging and academic achievement. Building on these themes, the role of professionalization in enhancing teachers’ cultural competencies is examined, identifying institutional approaches essential for fostering inclusive educational spaces. Finally, the symposium critically assesses the emerging role of generative AI tools in education, debating whether AI exacerbates existing achievement gaps or provides opportunities to bridge disparities. Together, these contributions underscore the necessity of deliberate, informed interventions aimed at achieving genuine inclusivity and equity within higher education institutions.
CAN DIGITAL TOOLS HELP BRIDGE THE INEQUALITY GAP IN HEALTH? INSIGHTS FROM HEALTH LITERACY, REACH, ACCEPTABILITY AND EFFICACY
Chair - Ann DeSmet (ULB; UA)
Presenters - Ann DeSmet (ULB; UA), Nynke Van der Laan (Tilburg University, NL), Stephan Van den Broucke (UCLouvain), Olivier Klein (ULB)
Mobile health (mHealth) interventions are interventions that use mobile, often Internet-supported, tools such as smartphone applications, tablets, wearables (e.g., smart watches and pedometers), and personal digital assistants (PDAs) to promote health, illness self-management, or remotely support treatment. They potentially have a high reach, low threshold and are available to people at the exact time they need it. As such, mHealth interventions carry the added potential of a higher retention rate at population scale compared to non-mHealth interventions. Despite the potential of digital technologies, questions remain about the actual public health impact of mHealth interventions in their ability to reduce health inequalities. Certain groups of the population are known to have a lower adoption of health behaviors and to experience lower access to health care and/or higher morbidity, including people from ethnic minorities, from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, from sexual minorities, people with lower health literacy levels, with a lower educational status, or women in certain patriarchy cultures. Moreover, these groups of the population may also experience more barriers to using mobile health apps. This thus raises the question whether and how digital tools can help bridge the health inequality gap. This will be addressed in three research talks and summarized in a general discussion at the end of the symposium. The first talk by Ann DeSmet (ULB; UA) addresses the question whether there is evidence of a digital health divide that can increase health inequalities, by presenting findings from two systematic reviews. A second and third talk next address how to reduce potential digital health inequalities. The second talk by Nynke Van der Laan (Tilburg University) presents findings from a project to prevent digitalization from exacerbating existing health disparities and will focus on insights from the advisory panel and an experimental survey. A third talk by Stephan Van den Broucke (UC Louvain) will present research findings and best practices on how to increase digital health literacy. Olivier Klein (ULB) will act as discussant to tie together conclusions and suggestions for further research across the three talks.
Presenters - Ann DeSmet (ULB; UA), Nynke Van der Laan (Tilburg University, NL), Stephan Van den Broucke (UCLouvain), Olivier Klein (ULB)
Mobile health (mHealth) interventions are interventions that use mobile, often Internet-supported, tools such as smartphone applications, tablets, wearables (e.g., smart watches and pedometers), and personal digital assistants (PDAs) to promote health, illness self-management, or remotely support treatment. They potentially have a high reach, low threshold and are available to people at the exact time they need it. As such, mHealth interventions carry the added potential of a higher retention rate at population scale compared to non-mHealth interventions. Despite the potential of digital technologies, questions remain about the actual public health impact of mHealth interventions in their ability to reduce health inequalities. Certain groups of the population are known to have a lower adoption of health behaviors and to experience lower access to health care and/or higher morbidity, including people from ethnic minorities, from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, from sexual minorities, people with lower health literacy levels, with a lower educational status, or women in certain patriarchy cultures. Moreover, these groups of the population may also experience more barriers to using mobile health apps. This thus raises the question whether and how digital tools can help bridge the health inequality gap. This will be addressed in three research talks and summarized in a general discussion at the end of the symposium. The first talk by Ann DeSmet (ULB; UA) addresses the question whether there is evidence of a digital health divide that can increase health inequalities, by presenting findings from two systematic reviews. A second and third talk next address how to reduce potential digital health inequalities. The second talk by Nynke Van der Laan (Tilburg University) presents findings from a project to prevent digitalization from exacerbating existing health disparities and will focus on insights from the advisory panel and an experimental survey. A third talk by Stephan Van den Broucke (UC Louvain) will present research findings and best practices on how to increase digital health literacy. Olivier Klein (ULB) will act as discussant to tie together conclusions and suggestions for further research across the three talks.
COGNITIVE UNDERPINNINGS OF MONITORING AND CONTROL
Chair - Kobe Desender (KU Leuven)
Presenters - Janne Reynders (UGent), Charlotte Anckaert (ULB), Alex Lietard (KU Leuven), Constance Destais (PjSE)
The symposium explores the cognitive mechanisms underlying value-based decision making with a special interest in the role of confidence. It brings together researchers from different universities who examine how humans adapt their decision strategies based on environmental demands, how confidence is updated and modulated by decision revisions, and how metacognitive factors like confidence influence learning processes such as reinforcement learning and the confirmation bias. A central theme is the interaction between confidence and decision-making strategies, highlighting the cognitive and computational models that explain these processes. The symposium consists of a series of presentations by researchers from different institutions, each focusing on a distinct yet related aspect of decision-making and confidence.
Presenters - Janne Reynders (UGent), Charlotte Anckaert (ULB), Alex Lietard (KU Leuven), Constance Destais (PjSE)
The symposium explores the cognitive mechanisms underlying value-based decision making with a special interest in the role of confidence. It brings together researchers from different universities who examine how humans adapt their decision strategies based on environmental demands, how confidence is updated and modulated by decision revisions, and how metacognitive factors like confidence influence learning processes such as reinforcement learning and the confirmation bias. A central theme is the interaction between confidence and decision-making strategies, highlighting the cognitive and computational models that explain these processes. The symposium consists of a series of presentations by researchers from different institutions, each focusing on a distinct yet related aspect of decision-making and confidence.
HOW UNCERTAINTY IN VARIANT DESIGNS CAN INFORM NEURO-COGNITIVE FUNCTION
Chairs - Athena Demertzi (ULiège) & Axel Cleeremans (ULB)
Presenters - Christel Devue (ULiège), Arnaud D’Argembeau (ULiège), Medha Shekhar (ULB), Athena Demertzi (ULiège)
In experimental designs, we typically wish to acquire data that reflect participants’ confidence to the best of our possibility. However, uncertainty surrounding perceptive inputs, mental experiences or behaviors can also be a valuable source of insight into cognitive and neural function. Here, we bring together experimenters from different psychological fields of research working on uncertainty, in order to delineate how this seemingly source of noise can help us better understand human behavior. Specifically, we will address how uncertainty might shape cost-efficient facial representations (Christel Devue, ULiège), future thinking (Arnaud D’Argembeau, ULiège), perceptual decision-making (Medha Shekhar, ULB), and the experience of our thoughts (Athena Demertzi, ULiège). We will discuss whether and how placing uncertainty at the center stage can provide new knowledge into how the brain and the mind operate to retain our behavior within optimal bounds.
Presenters - Christel Devue (ULiège), Arnaud D’Argembeau (ULiège), Medha Shekhar (ULB), Athena Demertzi (ULiège)
In experimental designs, we typically wish to acquire data that reflect participants’ confidence to the best of our possibility. However, uncertainty surrounding perceptive inputs, mental experiences or behaviors can also be a valuable source of insight into cognitive and neural function. Here, we bring together experimenters from different psychological fields of research working on uncertainty, in order to delineate how this seemingly source of noise can help us better understand human behavior. Specifically, we will address how uncertainty might shape cost-efficient facial representations (Christel Devue, ULiège), future thinking (Arnaud D’Argembeau, ULiège), perceptual decision-making (Medha Shekhar, ULB), and the experience of our thoughts (Athena Demertzi, ULiège). We will discuss whether and how placing uncertainty at the center stage can provide new knowledge into how the brain and the mind operate to retain our behavior within optimal bounds.
QUEERING PSYCHOLOGY: ADVANCING LGBTQI(A)+ RESEARCH IN BELGIUM
Chair - Annalisa Casini (UCLouvain) & Olivier Klein (ULB)
Presenters - Emma Sarter (UCLouvain), Jenneke van Ditzhuijzen (Utrecht University, NL; Amsterdam University Medical Center, NL), Fiona Eyraud (ULB), Alexis Dewaele (UGent)
It has been a long road since the psychological sciences began to take an interest in sexual and gender minorities beyond psychiatric categories (Hegarty, 2020). Nevertheless, since the 1970s, researchers began to question this pathologizing outlook and started to do research “for” and “with” LGBTQIA+ people rather than “on” them. Belgian researchers are currently very active in this vast and heterogeneous field of research. Hence, this symposium, aims to provide a partial but significant overview of ongoing research conducted in Belgian universities. The selected presentations will focus on cognitive (stereotypes and representations) and attitudinal (prejudices) processes, as well as on health predictors (stress) at play in Lesbian, Gay, Trans*, Queer, and Intersex issues.
Presenters - Emma Sarter (UCLouvain), Jenneke van Ditzhuijzen (Utrecht University, NL; Amsterdam University Medical Center, NL), Fiona Eyraud (ULB), Alexis Dewaele (UGent)
It has been a long road since the psychological sciences began to take an interest in sexual and gender minorities beyond psychiatric categories (Hegarty, 2020). Nevertheless, since the 1970s, researchers began to question this pathologizing outlook and started to do research “for” and “with” LGBTQIA+ people rather than “on” them. Belgian researchers are currently very active in this vast and heterogeneous field of research. Hence, this symposium, aims to provide a partial but significant overview of ongoing research conducted in Belgian universities. The selected presentations will focus on cognitive (stereotypes and representations) and attitudinal (prejudices) processes, as well as on health predictors (stress) at play in Lesbian, Gay, Trans*, Queer, and Intersex issues.
FEAR AND DISCRIMINATION AMONG FORENSIC PATIENTS
Chair - Thierry Pham (UMons)
Presenters - Margaux Mancini (UMons), Luca Adolfo Tiberi (UMons), Denis Delannoy (UMons)
Offenders constitute a very heterogenous population in terms of committed offences, clinical diagnoses and emotional processes. Consequently, discrimination criteria are fundamental for valid diagnosis procedure, risk assessment but also efficient treatment. Our symposium proposes three papers of interest for the discriminant validity among offender population in terms of risk assessment and emotion processing. Firstly, among forensic patients, positive symptoms of psychosis are related to increase of risk of violent behaviors (Fazel et al., 2009; Walsh et al., 2002; Whiting et al. 2022). This risk increases with comorbid substance abuse disorders (Fazel et al., 2009). The first paper will review the specific effect of cannabis usage (Kivimes et al., 2012) on risk of violence among psychotic forensic patients. Secondly, evidence suggests that emotion recognition is central to human interactions. Particularly, fear has attracted the most attention in the literature given its key role as potential inhibitor of violent behavior. However, little research has focused on emotion recognition among sexual offenders. The second paper will outline our recent data on facial, prosody and bodily gestures among adult forensic sex offenders. Thirdly, research has highlighted that training sessions, using simulation with chatbots and virtual avatars, constitute an effective educational approach in medical and mental health sciences (Raiche et al., 2023). The third paper will describe a specific methodology that examines if score risk of violence at the Level Service Inventory-revised (Andrews & Bonta, 1995) varies according to physical traits relating to different cultural backgrounds. We focus on the development of autonomic virtual agents (AVA) in Belgium. Potential research applications are discussed with reference to the international literature. Overall, the symposium discusses potential discrimination criteria for the diagnoses of psychosis and sexual offender emotion processing. Risk assessment methodology is enhanced by the AVA support. The implications of the overall results will be discussed in the light of the dominant domain of Risk Need Receptivity (Andrews & Bonta, 2010) in forensic psychology.
Presenters - Margaux Mancini (UMons), Luca Adolfo Tiberi (UMons), Denis Delannoy (UMons)
Offenders constitute a very heterogenous population in terms of committed offences, clinical diagnoses and emotional processes. Consequently, discrimination criteria are fundamental for valid diagnosis procedure, risk assessment but also efficient treatment. Our symposium proposes three papers of interest for the discriminant validity among offender population in terms of risk assessment and emotion processing. Firstly, among forensic patients, positive symptoms of psychosis are related to increase of risk of violent behaviors (Fazel et al., 2009; Walsh et al., 2002; Whiting et al. 2022). This risk increases with comorbid substance abuse disorders (Fazel et al., 2009). The first paper will review the specific effect of cannabis usage (Kivimes et al., 2012) on risk of violence among psychotic forensic patients. Secondly, evidence suggests that emotion recognition is central to human interactions. Particularly, fear has attracted the most attention in the literature given its key role as potential inhibitor of violent behavior. However, little research has focused on emotion recognition among sexual offenders. The second paper will outline our recent data on facial, prosody and bodily gestures among adult forensic sex offenders. Thirdly, research has highlighted that training sessions, using simulation with chatbots and virtual avatars, constitute an effective educational approach in medical and mental health sciences (Raiche et al., 2023). The third paper will describe a specific methodology that examines if score risk of violence at the Level Service Inventory-revised (Andrews & Bonta, 1995) varies according to physical traits relating to different cultural backgrounds. We focus on the development of autonomic virtual agents (AVA) in Belgium. Potential research applications are discussed with reference to the international literature. Overall, the symposium discusses potential discrimination criteria for the diagnoses of psychosis and sexual offender emotion processing. Risk assessment methodology is enhanced by the AVA support. The implications of the overall results will be discussed in the light of the dominant domain of Risk Need Receptivity (Andrews & Bonta, 2010) in forensic psychology.
Social Events
In addition to the various sessions and activities that we will offer during the conference (see Program), two social events will be organized for you.
On Monday 26th of May, after the last session of the day, a free reception will take place at the conference venue (from 6.00 to 8.00 pm).
On Tuesday 27th of May, the BAPS Junior Board invites you to conclude our annual meeting at their social event, from 6.30 pm at the WOLF (Rue du Fossé aux Loups 50, 1000 Bruxelles - it's near Bruxelles Central Station!). Register here to let them know you will attend!
Please note that while the reception is free, any food and drinks consumed at this second event will have to be covered by yourself.
On Monday 26th of May, after the last session of the day, a free reception will take place at the conference venue (from 6.00 to 8.00 pm).
On Tuesday 27th of May, the BAPS Junior Board invites you to conclude our annual meeting at their social event, from 6.30 pm at the WOLF (Rue du Fossé aux Loups 50, 1000 Bruxelles - it's near Bruxelles Central Station!). Register here to let them know you will attend!
Please note that while the reception is free, any food and drinks consumed at this second event will have to be covered by yourself.
