Biography
Suzanne van de Groep is an assistant professor at the department of Psychology, Education, and Child Studies at Erasmus University Rotterdam and affiliated with the Erasmus SYNC Lab. Her research mainly focuses on the behavioral and neural development of prosocial behaviors in adolescence.
Prosocial behaviors (i.e., behaviors that benefit others) such as giving, cooperating, and helping are essential for forming and maintaining social relationships, which is an important developmental goal in adolescence. Suzanne’s work specifically focuses on the development of different types of prosocial behaviors, and how this is shaped by social contexts and individual differences. Her most recent endeavors include the investigation of social temporal discounting, online prosocial behaviors, longitudinal brain development within individuals related to giving, as well as adolescents’ wellbeing.
Suzanne has a background in developmental psychology and completed her research masters in Leiden in 2016 (cum laude). During her PhD, Suzanne has played a large role in setting up an ERC consolidator project called ‘Brainlinks’, a longitudinal three-wave fMRI study in which 142 adolescents and their parents were followed over the course of several years. To gain a better understanding of prosocial development, this project includes fMRI tasks, experimental tasks, questionnaires, hormone data, and daily diaries (see Projects for a video on the Brainlinks project). In February 2022, she defended her PhD dissertation called ‘Growing in Generosity? Unraveling the effects of benefactor-, beneficiary-, and situational characteristics on the development of giving and its neural correlates in adolescence’, which was supervised by Prof. Eveline Crone and Dr. Kiki Zanolie. After her PhD, she did a 9-month postdoc at the Erasmus SYNC lab to extend her fundamental developmental neuroscience research with citizen science projects and a broader perspective on how adolescents’ role in society shapes their social behavior and wellbeing.
Apart from gaining a better understanding of prosocial development, Suzanne has a passion for connecting science and society, for example through science communication and citizen science projects, as well as mentoring, talent development, and recognition and rewards in academia.
Suzanne was awarded several grants and prizes, including a grant to visit UCLA during her PhD, two EGSH PhD Excellence Awards (best societal impact and best poster), a DPECS Dragon’s Den seed fund, and a NWA Science Communication Grant (together with her YoungXperts colleagues).
Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences
- s.vandegroep@essb.eur.nl
More information
Work
- Yara J Toenders, Kayla H Green, Lysanne W Te Brinke, Renske van der Cruijsen, Suzanne van de Groep & Eveline A Crone (2024) - From developmental neuroscience to policy: A novel framework based on participatory research - Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 67 - doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101398 - [link]
- Eveline A. Crone, Suzanne van de Groep & Lysanne W. te Brinke (2024) - Can adolescents be game changers for 21st-century societal challenges? - Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 28 (6), 484-486 - doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2024.04.006 - [link]
- Yara J. Toenders, Renske van der Cruijsen, Jana Runze, Suzanne van de Groep, Lara Wierenga & Eveline A. Crone (2024) - Mood variability during adolescent development and its relation to sleep and brain development - Scientific Reports, 14 (1) - doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-59227-9 - [link]
- Sophie W. Sweijen, Suzanne van de Groep, Lysanne W. Te Brinke, Andrew J. Fuligni & Eveline A. Crone (2023) - Neural Mechanisms Underlying Trust to Friends, Community Members, and Unknown Peers in Adolescence - Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 35 (12), 1936-1959 - doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_02055 - [link]
- Sophie W. Sweijen, Lysanne W. te Brinke, Suzanne van de Groep & Eveline A. Crone (2023) - Adolescents' trust and reciprocity toward friends, unknown peers, and community members - Journal of Research on Adolescence, 33 (4), 1422-1434 - doi: 10.1111/jora.12888 - [link]
- Kayla H. Green, Andrik I. Becht, Suzanne van de Groep, Renske van der Cruijsen, Sophie W. Sweijen & Eveline A. Crone (2023) - Socioeconomic hardship, uncertainty about the future, and adolescent mental wellbeing over a year during the COVID-19 pandemic - Social Development, 32 (3), 1092-1114 - doi: 10.1111/sode.12674 - [link]
- Jochem Spaans, Sabine Peters, Andrik Becht, Renske van der Cruijsen, Suzanne van de Groep & Eveline Crone (2023) - Longitudinal neural and behavioral trajectories of charity contributions across adolescence - Journal of Research on Adolescence, 33 (2), 480-495 - doi: 10.1111/jora.12820 - [link]
- Suzanne van de Groep, Sophie W. Sweijen, Erik de Water & Eveline A. Crone (2023) - Temporal discounting for self and friends in adolescence: A fMRI study - Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 60, 1-11 - doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2023.101204 - [link]
- Kayla H. Green, Suzanne van de Groep, Renske van der Cruijsen, Marike G. Polak & Eveline A. Crone (2023) - The Multidimensional Wellbeing in Youth Scale (MWYS): Development and Psychometric Properties - Personality and Individual Differences, 204 - doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2022.112038 - [link]
- Marjolein E. A. Barendse, Jessica Flannery, Caitlin Cavanagh, Melissa Aristizabal, Stephen P. Becker, Estelle Berger, Rosanna Breaux, Nicole Campione-Barr, Jessica A. Church, Eveline A. Crone, Ronald E. Dahl, Tracy A. Dennis-Tiwary, Melissa R. Dvorsky, Sarah L. Dziura, Suzanne van de Groep, Tiffany C. Ho, Sarah E. Killoren, Joshua M. Langberg, Tyler L. Larguinho, Lucia Magis-Weinberg, Kalina J. Michalska, Jordan L. Mullins, Hanna Nadel, Blaire M. Porter, Mitchell J. Prinstein, Elizabeth Redcay, Amanda J. Rose, Wendy M. Rote, Amy K. Roy, Sophie W. Sweijen, Eva H. Telzer, Giana I. Teresi, April Gile Thomas & Jennifer H. Pfeifer (2023) - Longitudinal change in adolescent depression and anxiety symptoms from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic - Journal of Research on Adolescence, 33 (1), 74-91 - doi: 10.1111/jora.12781 - [link]
- SW (Suzanne) van de Groep, EAM (Eveline) Crone, LW (Lysanne) te Brinke, KH (Kayla) Green, LWP (Renske) van der Cruijsen & FQ (Fabienne) van Rossenberg (2022) - NWA Science Communication Grant: Youth participation as a way to deal with a triple crisis
- SW (Suzanne) van de Groep (2021) - Best Poster Award 2020
- SW (Suzanne) van de Groep & LWP (Renske) van der Cruijsen (2021) - Best Societal Impact 2020
- SW (Suzanne) van de Groep & TJ (Thabo) van Woudenberg (2021) - Dragon's Den Seed Fund
- SW (Suzanne) van de Groep, EAM (Eveline) Crone & LWP (Renske) van der Cruijsen (2020) - Financial Impulse NWA Jongerenchallenge
- SW (Suzanne) van de Groep (2019) - Leiden University Fund Study Trip Grant