Staff profile

I am a social psychologist whose work focusses on topics related to intergroup relations. I am very interested in what factors and processes shape how we respond to people we feel do not belong to "us".

I joined Durham in October 2020. Before joining Durham, I studied Intercultural Relations and Behaviour at Jacobs University, Germany (BA, 2013), Applied Social Psychology at Sussex University (MSc, 2014), completed a PhD in Social Psychology at the University of Marburg, Germany (PhD, 2019), and worked as a postdoc at the University of Osnabrück.

My current work focusses on social perception (i.e., how we perceive others, why we perceive them as such, and what consequences these perceptions have). I also study how we can change these perceptions. One factor that I tend to focus on in this context is intergroup contact (i.e., contact between members of different social groups).

Connect with me via

• homepage
• researchgate
• GoogleScholar

• Discrimination
• Diversity and Inclusion
• Prejudice
• Stereotypes
• Intergroup Contact

Chapter in book

• Wagner, U., Kotzur, P., & Friehs, M. (2021). Anti-immigrant prejudice and discrimination in Europe. In C. Tileaga, M. Augoustinos, & K. Durrheim (Eds.), Routledge handbook of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429274558

Journal Article

• Travaglino, G. A., Friehs, M., Kotzur, P. F., & Abrams, D. (2024). Honor Values as Identity Content: Evidence From a Three-Wave Longitudinal Study. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 55(3), 278-291. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220221241230959
• Scharbert, J., Humberg, S., Kroencke, L., Reiter, T., Sakel, S., ter Horst, J., …Back, M. D. (2024). Psychological well-being in Europe after the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Nature Communications, 15(1), Article 1202. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-44693-6
• Scharbert, J., Humberg, S., Kroencke, L., Reiter, T., Sakel, S., ter Horst, J., …Back, M. D. (2024). Psychological well-being in Europe after the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Nature Communications, 15(1), Article 1202. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-44693-6
• Schemmerling, M., Friehs, M., Kotzur, P. F., Bastias, F., De Keersmaecker, J., Macedo, F. G., …Boehnke, K. (2023). Comparing social perceptions of culturally emic protagonists using the Stereotype Content Model: A scale development and adaption process across four languages and eight countries. Psychological Test Adaptation and Development, 4(1), 350-362. https://doi.org/10.1027/2698-1866/a000067
• Travaglino, G., Friehs, M., Kotzur, P., & Abrams, D. (2023). Investigating the social embeddedness of criminal groups: Longitudinal associations between masculine honour and legitimizing attitudes towards the Camorra. European Journal of Social Psychology, 53(4), 612-622. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2926
• Kauff, M., Kotzur, P., Van Assche, J., Schäfer, S., van Zalk, M., & Wagner, U. (2023). A longitudinal test of secondary transfer effects of negative intergroup contact and mediating processes. European Journal of Social Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2966
• Kotzur, P., Friehs, M., Schmidt, P., Wagner, U., Pötzschke, S., & Weiß, B. (2022). Attitudes towards refugees: Introducing a short three‐dimensional scale. British Journal of Social Psychology, 61(4), 1305-1331. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12538
• Kotzur, P., Stricker, J., Fricke, R., McPhetres, J., & Meyer, B. (2022). How does team diversity relate to the willingness to collaborate with asylum seekers? It depends on the diversity dimensions investigated and boundary conditions. PLoS ONE, 17(3), Article e0266166. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266166
• Friehs, M., Kotzur, P., Ramos, A., & Wagner, U. (2022). Editorial: Group-Focused Enmity – conceptual, longitudinal, and cross-national perspectives based on pre-registered studies. International journal of conflict and violence, 16, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.11576/ijcv-5361
• Friehs, M., Kotzur, P., Kraus, C., Schemmerling, M., Herzig, J., Stanciu, A., …Yzerbyt, V. (2022). Warmth and competence perceptions of key protagonists are associated with containment measures during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from 35 countries. Scientific Reports, 12(1), Article 21277. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-25228-9
• Friehs, M., Masselmann, J., Trautner, M., Kotzur, P., & Schmidt, P. (2022). Unobserved heterogeneity between individuals in Group-Focused Enmity. International journal of conflict and violence, 16, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.11576/ijcv-5266
• Bick, N., Froehlich, L., Friehs, M., Kotzur, P., & Landmann, H. (2022). Social evaluation at a distance – facets of stereotype content about student groups in higher distance education. International Review of Social Psychology, 35(1), Article 12. https://doi.org/10.5334/irsp.686
• Friehs, M., Kotzur, P., Böttcher, J., Zöller, A., Lüttmer, T., Wagner, U., …van Zalk, M. (2022). Examining the structural validity of stereotype content scales – a preregistered re-analysis of published data and discussion of possible future directions. International Review of Social Psychology, 35(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.5334/irsp.613
• van Zalk, M., Kotzur, P., Schmid, K., Al Ramiah, A., & Hewstone, M. (2021). Adolescent development of interethnic attitudes following a social intervention to increase intergroup contact: The moderating role of affective forecasting. Developmental Psychology, 57(6), 1000-1017. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001194
• Kauff, M., Beneda, M., Paolini, S., Bilewicz, M., Kotzur, P., O'Donnell, A., …Christ, O. (2021). How do we get people into contact? Predictors of intergroup contact and drivers of contact seeking. Journal of Social Issues, 77(1), 38-63. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12398
• Kotzur, P., & Wagner, U. (2021). The dynamic relationship between contact opportunities, positive and negative intergroup contact, and prejudice: A longitudinal investigation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 120(2), 418-442. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000258
• Wagner, U., Tachtsoglou, S., Kotzur, P., Friehs, M., & Kemmesies, U. (2020). Proportion of foreigners negatively predicts the prevalence of xenophobic hate crimes within German districts. Social Psychology Quarterly, 83(2), 195-205. https://doi.org/10.1177/0190272519887719
• Kotzur, P., Veit, S., Namyslo, A., Holthausen, M., Wagner, U., & Yemane, R. (2020). ‘Society thinks they are cold and/or incompetent, but I do not’: Stereotype content ratings depend on instructions and the social group's location in the stereotype content space. British Journal of Social Psychology, 59(4), 1018-1042. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12375
• Kotzur, P., Friehs, M., Asbrock, F., & Zalk, M. (2019). Stereotype content of refugee subgroups in Germany. European Journal of Social Psychology, 49(7), 1344-1358. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2585
• Kotzur, P., Schäfer, S., & Wagner, U. (2019). Meeting a nice asylum seeker: Intergroup contact changes stereotype content perceptions and associated emotional prejudices, and encourages solidarity‐based collective action intentions. British Journal of Social Psychology, 58(3), 668-690. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12304
• Kotzur, P., Tropp, L., & Wagner, U. (2018). Welcoming the unwelcome: How contact shapes contexts of reception for new immigrants in Germany and the United States. Journal of Social Issues, 74(4), 812-832. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12300
• Kotzur, P., Torres, C., Kedzior, K., & Boehnke, K. (2017). Political consumer behaviour among university students in Brazil and Germany: The role of contextual features and core political values. International Journal of Psychology, 52(2), 126-135. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12204
• Kotzur, P., Forsbach, N., & Wagner, U. (2017). Choose your words wisely: Stereotypes, emotions, and action tendencies toward fled people as a function of the group label. Social Psychology, 48(4), 226-241. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000312