Andrea Evers

Andrea Evers is professor of Health Psychology and chair of the Institute of Psychology at Leiden University. She is also affiliated to the Technical University Delft and Erasmus University Rotterdam as Medical Delta Professor Healthy Society. As a clinical psychologist (BIG) and cognitive behavioral therapist (VGCT), she translates insights from fundamental research into applications in practice. She received several prestigious research grants and awards for her work, including the Stevin Prize, the most important scientific award for research with a social impact in the Netherlands. She is also a member of the KNAW (Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences) and the KHMW (Royal Dutch Society of Sciences).

Beyond science and art – the role of intuition
Due to increasing technological possibilities and complexity of social problems (eg increasing chronic diseases in healthcare with complex problems), societies are confronted with more and more problems of high (social) complexity, uncontrollability and unpredictability. To meet these challenges, concepts such as intuition (i.e., the ability to acquire knowledge without resorting to conscious reasoning) are increasingly recognized. However, intuition as such is still underexposed in scientific research. In this lecture, intuition is unraveled on the basis of (implicit) positive and negative expectations and on the basis of research in the field of placebo effects.