Group decision making: My research interest is concerned with how group members strategically share and use their information in group decision making. I examine the role of cooperation and competition in information withholding and preference confirmation, especially in hidden profiles. The results of our studies support a motivated information processing approach to group decision making.

Egocentric biases in judgment: Recently, I have been interested in how people overestimate similarity with unknown targets in interdependence situations. In this context, my colleagues and I showed that people project more their attributed traits into a target when they anticipate cooperation, rather than competition. We have shown that people project mainly on those traits that ensure positive outcomes thus supporting the hypothesis that projection in cooperation in driven by people motivation to succeed in this situation.
I also investigated whether similarity overestimation leads to illusion of transparency and interpersonal conflicts.

Effort and affective forecasting: We found a positive relation between the effort invested in one activity and the predicted positive affect resulting from the triumph of this activity. This effect is mediated by the perceived quality of this outcome activity.

Primary Interests:

Group Processes
Interpersonal Processes
Judgment and Decision Making
Social Cognition

Group Processes
Interpersonal Processes

Judgment and Decision Making
Social Cognition

Research Group or Laboratory:

Unité de Psychologie Sociale et des Organisations
Interactive Map

Journal Articles:

Ames, D.R., Mor, S.,, & Toma, C. (in press). The double-edge of similarity and difference mindsets: What comparison mindsets do depends on whether self or group representations are focal. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
Gilles, I., Scheidegger, R., & Toma, C. (2011). Who likes the rebels and who likes the allegiants? The role of membership and status in the judgement of rebel attributions. International Review of Social Psychology, 24, 83-106.
Toma, C., Bry, C., & Butera, B. (in press). Because I’m worth it! (More than Others…): Cooperation, Competition and Ownership Bias in Group-Decision Making. Social Psychology
Toma, C., & Butera, F. (2009). Hidden profiles and concealed information: Strategic information sharing and use in group decision making. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 793-806.
Toma, C., Corneille, O., &. Yzerbyt, V. (2012). Holding a mirror up to the self: Egocentric similarity beliefs underlie social projection in cooperation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38, 1259-1271.
Toma, C., Gilles, I., & Butera F. (in press). Strategic use of preference confirmation in group decision making: The role of competition and dissent. British Journal of Social Psychology,
Toma, C., Vasiljevic, D., Augustinova, M., Oberlé, D, & Butera, F. (2012). Le traitement motivé de l’information dans la prise de décision en groupe : Le cas du paradigme des « profils cachés ». L’Année Psychologique, 112, 665-695.
Toma, C., Vasiljevic, D., Oberlé, D., & Butera, F. (in press). Assigned experts with competitive goals withhold information in group decision making. British Journal of Social Psychology.
Toma, C., & Woltin, K.A. (2012). Motivational and contextual considerations concerning the social projection hypothesis. Psychological Inquiry, 23, 69-74.
Toma, C., Yzerbyt, V., & Corneille, O. (2012). Nice or smart? Task relevance of self-characteristics moderates interpersonal projection. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 335-340.
Toma, C., Yzerbyt, V., & Corneille, O. (2010). Anticipated cooperation vs. competition moderates interpersonal projection. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 375-381.

Other Publications:

Butera, F., & Toma, C. (2012). La conferma di sé. In R. Rumiati (Ed.), Tra pensieri e comportamenti – Scritti in onore di Paolo Legrenzi. Bologna : Il Mulino.
Schreiber, C., & Toma, C. (2006). Identite, genre et representations. Apport de la psychologie sociale a la comprehension des phenomenes lies a la mixite. Dans Genre en Education I. L'education des filles et des garcons a l'ecole. Quelles limites? Quels Defis? Editions Eaux Claires, IUFM Grenoble.
Toma, C. (2011). Compétition et rétention de l'information. In F. Butera, C. Buchs & C. Darnon (Eds.), L'évaluation, une menace? Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.

Courses Taught:

Group Dynamics
Methods in Social Psychology
Psychology of Change: Attitudes and Persuasion
Psychology of Socio-Cognitive Development

Group Dynamics
Methods in Social Psychology

Psychology of Change: Attitudes and Persuasion
Psychology of Socio-Cognitive Development

Phone: +31 13 466 29 49

Claudia Toma
Departement of Social Psychology
Tilburg University
Warandelaan 2
5000 LE Tilburg
The Netherlands