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.-T. (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

• Kauff, M., Kotzur, P., Van Assche, J., Schäfer, S., van Zalk, M., & Wagner, U. (online). A longitudinal test of secondary transfer effects of negative intergroup contact and mediating processes. European Journal of Social Psychology, 53(6), 1172-1190. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2966
• Kotzur, P. F., Eckerle, F., Khosrowtaj, Z., Rothers, A., Maaser, J., Wagner, U., & van Zalk, M. H. W. (2025). Prejudice towards refugees predicts social fear of crime. British Journal of Social Psychology, 64(2), Article e12875. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12875
• Travaglino, G. A., Friehs, M.-T., 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., Utesch, K., Gosling, S. D., Harari, G., Matz, S. C., Schoedel, R., Stachl, C., Aguilar, N. M. A., Amante, D., Aquino, S. D., Bastias, F., Bornamanesh, A., Bracegirdle, C., Campos, L. A. M., Chauvin, B., …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.-T., Kotzur, P. F., Bastias, F., De Keersmaecker, J., Macedo, F. G., Neto, F., Neto, J., Pietraszkiewicz, A., Schmid, K., Sczesny, S., Torres, C., & 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
• 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
• Bick, N., Froehlich, L., Friehs, M.-T., 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.-T., 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
• Friehs, M.-T., Kotzur, P., Böttcher, J., Zöller, A.-K., Lüttmer, T., Wagner, U., Asbrock, F., & 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
• Friehs, M.-T., 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.-T., Kotzur, P., Kraus, C., Schemmerling, M., Herzig, J., Stanciu, A., Dilly, S., Hellert, L., Hübner, D., Rückwardt, A., Ulizcay, V., Christ, O., Brambilla, M., De keersmaecker, J., Durante, F., Gale, J., Grigoryev, D., Igou, E., Javakhishvili, N., Kienmoser, D., …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
• 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
• 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., Stevenson, C., Wagner, U., & 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.-T., & 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., 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
• 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