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), and 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

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

• Quantitative Social Psychology

Chapter in book

• Wagner, U., Kotzur, P. F. & Friehs, M.-T. (2021). Anti-immigrant prejudice and discrimination in Europe. In Routledge handbook of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination. Tileaga, C., Augoustinos, M. & Durrheim, K. London: Routledge.

Journal Article

• Kauff, M., Kotzur, P. F., Van Assche, J., Schäfer, S. J., van Zalk, M. H. W. & Wagner, U. (2023). A longitudinal test of secondary transfer effects of negative intergroup contact and mediating processes. European Journal of Social Psychology
• Friehs, M.-T., Kotzur, P. F., Kraus, C., Schemmerling, M., Herzig, J. A., 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. R., Javakhishvili, N., Kienmoser, D., Nicolas, G., Oldmeadow, J., Rohmer, O., Sætrevik, B., Barbedor, J., Bastias, F., Bjørkheim, S. B., Bolatov, A., Duran, N., Findor, A., Götz, F., Graf, S., Hakobjanyan, A., Halkias, G., Hancheva, C., Hřebíčková, M., Hruška, M., Husnu, S., Kadirov, K., Khachatryan, N., Macedo, F. G., Makashvili, A., Martínez-Muñoz, M., Mercadante, E., Mesesan Schmitz, L., Michael, A., Mullabaeva, N., Neto, F., Neto, J., Ozturk, M., Paschenko, S., Pietraszkiewicz, A., Psaltis, C., Qiu, Y., Rupar, M., Samekin, A., Schmid, K., Sczesny, S., Sun, Y., Svedholm-Häkkinen, A. M., Szymkow, A., Teye-Kwadjo, E., Torres, C. V., Vieira, L., Yahiiaiev, I. & 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): 21277.
• Travaglino, G. A., Friehs, M.‐T., Kotzur, P. F. & Abrams, D. (2022). Investigating the social embeddedness of criminal groups: Longitudinal associations between masculine honour and legitimizing attitudes towards the Camorra. European Journal of Social Psychology
• Friehs, M.-T., Masselmann, J., Trautner, M., Kotzur, P. F. & Schmidt, P. (2022). Unobserved heterogeneity between individuals in Group-Focused Enmity. International Journal of Conflict and Violence 16: 1-17.
• Friehs, M.-T., Kotzur, P. F., 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.
• Kotzur, P. F., Friehs, M.‐T., 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.
• Kotzur, P. F., 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): e0266166.
• Friehs, M.-T., Kotzur, P. F. Böttcher, J. Zöller, A.-K. C., Lüttmer, T., Wagner, U., Asbrock, F. & van Zalk, M. H. W. (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.
• Bick, N., Froehlich, L., Friehs, M.-T., Kotzur, P. F. & 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): 12.
• Kotzur, P. F. & 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.
• van Zalk, M. H. W., Kotzur, P. F., 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.
• Kauff, M., Beneda, M., Paolini, S., Bilewicz, M., Kotzur, P. F., O'Donnell, A. W., 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.
• Wagner, U., Tachtsoglou, S., Kotzur, P. F., 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.
• Kotzur, P. F., Veit, S., Namyslo, A., Holthausen, M.‐A., 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.
• Kotzur, P. F., Friehs, M.‐T., Asbrock, F. & Zalk, M. H. W. (2019). Stereotype content of refugee subgroups in Germany. European Journal of Social Psychology 49(7): 1344-1358.
• Kotzur, P. F., Schäfer, S. J. & 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.
• Kotzur, P. F., Tropp, L. R. & 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.
• Kotzur, P. F., 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.
• Kotzur, P. F., Torres, C. V., Kedzior, K. 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.