I am a Full Professor for Psychological Methods and Evaluation at the University. I received my PhD in Social Psychology from the University in Marburg, Germany, in 2005 and worked as a Lecturer in Social Psychology and Senior Lecturer in Psychological Methods at the same university before moving to the University in Hagen in 2015. In 2011/2012, I was a visiting researcher at the universities of Oxford, UK and St Andrews, UK.
In my research, I focus on intergroup relations, especially on the central question on how to bring different groups into contact and thus, how to improve intergroup relations and to reduce conflict between groups. My research is mainly inspired by intergroup contact theory and I have recently started to examine the joined effects of intergroup contact and social norms on tolerance and cooperation on multiple levels of analysis (i.e., the individual and contextual level). In my research, I use a mixture of quantitative methods ranging from experiments in the lab and online to representative survey data using advanced statistical modeling techniques.
As such, I have also published on general methodological issues in intergroup contact research as well as statistical methods relevant for survey research (e.g., structural equation modelling and multilevel modelling).
*Schäfer, S. J., Kauff, M., Prati, F., Kros, M., Lang, T., & Christ, O. (2021). Does negative contact undermine attempts to improve intergroup relations? Deepening the understanding of negative contact and its consequences for intergroup contact research and interventions. Journal of Social Issues, 77(1), 197-216. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12422
*Kauff, M., Beneda, M., Paolini, S., Bilewicz, M., Kotzur, P., O’Donnell, A. W., … & 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
*Wölfer, R., Christ, O., Schmid, K., Tausch, N., Buchallik, F. M., Vertovec, S., & Hewstone, M. (2019). Indirect contact predicts direct contact: Longitudinal evidence and the mediating role of intergroup anxiety. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 116(2), 277-295. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000146
*Reimer, N. K., Becker, J. C., Benz, A., Christ, O., Dhont, K., Klocke, U., … & Hewstone, M. (2017). Intergroup contact and social change: Implications of negative and positive contact for collective action in advantaged and disadvantaged groups. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 43(1), 121-136. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167216676478
*Schmid, K., Wölfer, R., Swart, H., Christ, O., Al Ramiah, A., Vertovec, S., & Hewstone, M. (2017). The “wallpaper effect” revisited: Divergent findings on the effects of intergroup contact on attitudes in diverse versus nondiverse contexts. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 43(9), 1268-1283. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167217711929
*Christ, O., Hewstone, M., Schmid, K., Green, E. G., Sarrasin, O., Gollwitzer, M., & Wagner, U. (2017). Advanced multilevel modeling for a science of groups: A short primer on multilevel structural equation modeling. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 21(3), 121-134. https://doi.org/10.1037/gdn0000065
*Christ, O., Schmid, K., Lolliot, S., Swart, H., Stolle, D., Tausch, N., … & Hewstone, M. (2014). Contextual effect of positive intergroup contact on outgroup prejudice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(11), 3996-4000. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1320901111
*Pettigrew, T. F., Tropp, L. R., Wagner, U., & Christ, O. (2011). Recent advances in intergroup contact theory. International journal of intercultural relations, 35(3), 271-280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2011.03.001
*Swart, H., Hewstone, M., Christ, O., & Voci, A. (2011). Affective mediators of intergroup contact: a three-wave longitudinal study in South Africa. Journal of personality and social psychology, 101(6), 1221-1238. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024450
The INCLUSIVITY project is funded by
