Dissertation Award for Nadezhda Purtova and Yana Avramova

During the opening of the academic year, the dissertation award for best dissertation was presented. There were two winners: Nadezhda Purtova for her dissertation Property rights in personal data: A European perspective and Yana Avramova for her dissertation How the mind moods. Univers called Avramova about her ??prize.

Congratulations on the dissertation award!
“Thank you. It’s a big honor to receive this award. It’s a fantastic feeling to receive so much appreciation for my work. ”

What did you research?
“I’ve looked at how our mood affects the way how we look at certain things. My conclusion is that we pay more attention to the context of a situation when we are in a positive mood, then when we are sad. When judging people’s mistakes, for example, you are less likely to blame them for it and to have an eye for contextual factors when you are in a positive mood. A positive mood works like a kind of spotlight that way.”

Can you give an example?
“Imagine a waiter who drops a tray full of drinks. If you are in a rotten mood you tend to focus on the waiter: he is clumsy. If you feel good, you’ll probably also notice that the floor is wet and you will see include this in your judgment of the situation.”

What’s so fascinating about this topic?
People are always more or less in a positive or negative mood, so it is fascinating to find out how moods determine your perception, opinion and behavior. Our mood affects cognitive processes on a very basic level.”

“I have especially enjoyed it. My supervisor Diederik Stapel was a constant source of inspiration and support. My thesis is, above all, the result of our good cooperation.”  [Lieke Steijvers/transl. YV]

Yana Avramova (1981, Bulgaria) received her bachelor’s degree in psychology at Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski in Sofia. She obtained her master’s in social psychology at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. She now works as a postdoc at the department of Social Psychology at Tilburg University.