Jan-Willem van Prooijen

Jan-Willem van Prooijen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social and Organizational Psychology at VU University Amsterdam, and a Senior Researcher at the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR).

His research focuses on the psychological mechanisms behind dishonest behavior, exploring why people engage in cheating, corruption, and concealment while maintaining self-perceptions of moral integrity. Dr. van Prooijen investigates the cognitive, social, and situational factors that motivate dishonesty and enable individuals to justify unethical actions.

His scholarly contributions include co-editing the influential book "Cheating, Corruption, and Concealment: The Roots of Dishonesty" (Cambridge University Press, 2016), which synthesizes contemporary research on dishonesty from leading scholars across multiple disciplines.

Dr. van Prooijen's work examines how people rationalize dishonest behavior, what personality and interpersonal factors increase dishonesty likelihood, and potential interventions to recognize and reduce dishonesty in various social and organizational contexts.