Wilhelm Hofmann
My main research interests concern the self-regulation of thoughts, feelings, and behavior both in the lab and in the field. Specifically, I am interested in understanding when and why people act impulsively or reflectively in domains such as eating and drinking, consumer choice, sexual interest behavior, anger expression, or interracial interaction. A major focus of this work is to better understand the processes by which impulses and desires emerge and impact behavior. What is the contribution of executive functions such as working memory capacity and behavioral inhibition in this process, as well as the role of situational influences such as ego depletion, alcohol, and social models in one’s environment? I also became interested in the connection between self-control and well-being. Besides these issues, I am conducting research on the consistency between implicit and explicit mental representations, self-knowledge, and evaluative conditioning. In my methodological approach, I strive to combine the rigor of experimental research and measurement tools with the external validity and richness of behavioral data from everyday life (as measured, for instance, with experience sampling).
Primary Interests:
- Attitudes and Beliefs
- Emotion, Mood, Affect
- Ethics and Morality
- Health Psychology
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Life Satisfaction, Well-Being
- Motivation, Goal Setting
- Research Methods, Assessment
- Self and Identity
- Social Cognition
Research Group or Laboratory:
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2016 Leo Spitzer Prize Recipient
Presentations
Books:
Journal Articles:
- Friese, M., Bargas-Avila, J., Hofmann, W., & Wiers, R. W. (2010). Here’s looking at you, Bud: Alcohol-related memory structures predict eye movements for social drinkers with low executive control. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 1, 143-151.
- Hofmann, W., Baumeister, R. F., Foerster, G., & Vohs, K. D. (2012). Everyday temptations: An experience sampling study of desire, conflict, and self-control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102, 1318-1335.
- Hofmann, W., De Houwer, J., Perugini, M., Baeyens, F., & Crombez, G. (2010). Evaluative conditioning in humans: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 136, 390-421.
- Hofmann, W., Deutsch, R., Banaji, M. R., & Lancaster, K. (2010). Cooling the heat of temptation: Mental self-control and the automatic evaluation of tempting stimuli. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40, 17-25.
- Hofmann, W. & Fisher, R. R. (2013). How guilt and pride shape subsequent self-control. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 3, 682-690.
- Hofmann, W., Friese, M., & Roefs, A. (2009). Three ways to resist temptation: The independent contributions of executive attention, inhibitory control, and affect regulation to the impulse control of eating behavior. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 431-435.
- Hofmann, W., Friese, M., & Strack, F. (2009). Impulse and self-control from a dual-systems perspective. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4, 162-176.
- Hofmann, W., Friese, M., & Wiers, R. W. (2008). Impulsive versus reflective influences on health behavior: A theoretical framework and empirical review. Health Psychology Review, 2, 111-137.
- Hofmann, W., Gawronski, B., Gschwendner, T., Le, H., & Schmitt, M. (2005). A meta-analysis on the correlation between the Implicit Association Test and explicit self-report measures. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 1369-1385.
- Hofmann, W., Gschwendner, T., Castelli, L., & Schmitt, M. (2008). Implicit and explicit attitudes and interracial interaction: The moderating role of situationally available control resources. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 11, 69-87.
- Hofmann, W., Gschwendner, T., Friese, M., Wiers, R. W., & Schmitt, M. (2008). Working memory capacity and self-regulatory behavior: Toward an individual differences perspective on behavior determination by automatic versus controlled processes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 962-977.
- Hofmann, W., Koningsbruggen, G. M., Stroebe, W., Ramanathan, S., & Aarts, H. (2010). As pleasure unfolds: Hedonic responses to tempting food. Psychological Science, 21, 1863-1870.
- Hofmann, W., & Kotabe, H. (2012). A general model of preventive and interventive self-control. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 6, 707-722.
- Hofmann, W., Rauch, W., & Gawronski, B. (2007). And deplete us not into temptation: Automatic attitudes, dietary restraint, and self-regulatory resources as determinants of eating behavior. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43, 497-504.
- Hofmann, W., Schmeichel, B. J., & Baddeley, A. D. (2012). Executive functions and self-regulation. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 3, 174-180.
- Hofmann, W. & Van Dillen, L. F. (2012). Desire: The new hotspot in self-control research. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 317-322.
- Hofmann, W., Vohs, K. D., & Baumeister, R. F. (2012). What people desire, feel conflicted about, and try to resist in everyday life. Psychological Science, 23, 582-588.
- Luhmann, M., Hofmann, W., Eid, M., & Lucas, R. E. (2012). Subjective Well-Being and Adaptation to Life Events: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 3, 592-616.
- Nederkoorn, C., Houben, K., Hofmann, W., Roefs, A., & Jansen, A. (2010). Control yourself or just eat what you like? Weight gain over a year is predicted by an interactive effect of response inhibition and preference for snack foods. Health Psychology, 29, 389-393.
Other Publications:
- Hofmann, W., & Wilson, T. D. (2010). Consciousness, introspection, and the adaptive unconscious. In B. Gawronski, & B. K. Payne (Eds.), Handbook of Implicit Social Cognition: Measurement, Theory, and Applications (pp. 197-215). New York: Guilford Press.
Courses Taught:
- Advanced Social Cognition
- Applied Motivation Psychology
- Applied Social Psychology
- Automatic and Controlled Processes
- Behavioral Economics
- Consumer Psychology
- Impulsivity and Self-Control
- Intelligence and Creativity
- Managing in Organizations
- Motivation and Emotion
- Self-Regulation
Wilhelm Hofmann
Faculty of Psychology
Ruhr University Bochum
Universitätsstraße 150
44780 Bochum
Germany
- Phone: +49 (0)234 32-21681
- Fax: +49 (0)234 32-14002