Staff

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Professor Emeritus by special appointment Security and Collective Behaviour

Expertise

On 1 April 2016, Otto Adang became Professor by Special Appointment of Security and Collective Behaviour at the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences. Adang has held the chair in Public Order Management at the Police Academy of the Netherlands since 2004. The University chair was being funded by the Police Academy until March 31, 2024. Public security is an ongoing concern for governments, police and many other organizations. Over the past few years, Europe has seen an upsurge in serious riots and civil disorder. The Netherlands is also at risk of large-scale disturbances to public order, which could seriously disrupt society and compromise public security. Knowledge is vital to ensure that we can prevent, or when necessary respond to, this kind of collective behaviour. The aim of the special chair is to contribute to new theories, research, teaching and valorization of knowledge about the mechanisms that play a role in collective behaviour, and which enhance or detract from the security of situations during interaction between government and citizens, whereby theory and practice are closely intertwined. In the past few years, Adang has built up a body of unique knowledge on collective behaviour in relation to security. The Police Academy, which is keen to expand this knowledge and link it to academic information, sees this special chair as a golden opportunity. Dr Otto M.J. Adang (1956) is a behavioural scientist. He has held a chair in Public Order Management at the Police Academy of the Netherlands since 2004. Adang is interested in aggression, reconciliation and collective behaviour in relation to public order enforcement. Since 1998, he has also headed a research programme he set up himself entitled Managing Dangerous Conflict Situations, which focuses on the interaction between police and citizens. Adang was a member of the Project X Haren committee.

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PhD Candidate

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Social and Political Psychology

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Assistant Professor

Expertise

My work centers around issues of conflict dynamics—including direct/armed conflicts and structural/prejudice-based conflicts—and social relations, both between groups and individuals. I explore how conscious (explicit) factors influence how people think, feel, and behave toward others based on group membership. My research also investigates techniques (e.g., apologies, meta-humanization, intergroup contact, and helping behaviors) that can reduce dehumanization and improve intergroup relations.

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Postdoc researcher

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Political polarization, value conflict, morality, attitude moralization, political discourse, social change, quantitative methods and statistics

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PhD student @ Kennisplatform Leefbaar en Kansrijk Groningen

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PhD candidate at the Kennisplatform Leefbaar en Kansrijk Groningen, studying the social consequences of gas extraction in the region. The Kennisplatform is an institute that gathers and shares relevant knowledge and research for social policy in Groningen. We aim to stimulate collaborations in the area and to create more attention for societal impact. We bring people and knowledge together in the hope of contributing to a society where industry, state and society are in harmony.
My research explores avenues to reconciliation between groups in the aftermath of gas extraction in the province. I study intergroup relations, for example between industry, residents, the government and science.

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Professor by special appointment 'Crises, Safety and Health'

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Disasters; Crisis Management; Vulnerability Analysis; Public Safety; Public Health

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PhD student

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Associate professor

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Counterfactual thoughts; regret; nostalgia; counterfacual emotions; social judgment

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PhD student

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Assistant professor

Expertise

Social psychology, Online (group) behaviour, Collective action, Humour, Conflict (de-)escalation, Quantitave and qualitative research.

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PhD candidate in Social and Organizational Psychology

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Emotion regulation, negative feedback

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Professor (adjunct)

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Social and cultural change driven by modernization in the Global South, women's empowerment, migration and integration of refugees, microfinance services, social impact evaluations

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PhD student

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Postdoctoral researcher

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Babet Kanis is o.l.v. Katherine Stroebe en Tom Postmes werkzaam binnen het project Gronings Perspectief (www.groningsperspectief.nl), een onderzoek naar de sociaal-psychologische gevolgen van aardbevingen op de Groninger.

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Assistant Professor

Expertise

I am a social psychologist interested in investigating  how disadvantaged groups navigate their identities through privileged systems. How do they deal with their lower status? How does society perceive them? When do advantaged groups support their action to improve their status? To seek answers for these questions, I use diverse methods often combining correlatinal exploratory studies with follow-up experiments as well as qualitative research to develop an indepth understanding of the psychological phenomenon. I have 5 main lines of research:

1. Multiple Conflicting Identities: We all have multiple social identities, but what happens when some of them are  in conflict with each other ? By drawing parallels between bicultural identity integration framework and social identity theory, we examine the nature of identity conflict and ways to increase integration between multiple conflicting identities. 

2. Experiences of Disadvantaged Groups:  What happens to disadvantaged group members when they are discriminated? Do they stick with their group? Do they try to improve their status by leaving their group? How are they affected by societal issues? Focusing on  social change and well-being outcomes , we investigate these questions.

3. Majority's Perceptions of Disadvantaged Groups: Intergroup conflict is prevelant in our lives. The society always seems divived and polarised. How does the majority perceive the minoritized groups? What motivates discrimination? How can we improve intergroup relations? We investigate these questions from the perspective of the majority, yet with an emphasis on improving the status of the disadvanted groups.

4. Responding to Privilege: When people belong to advantaged groups, they struggle to acknowledge their privilege that comes with their group belonging. People, therefore, have different ways to react to their own privilege: Deny, Distance, Dismantle or 3-D was conceptualised by Knowles and colleagues, and recently Defend was added to this conceptualisation by Shuman et al. We investigate when people use which strategy, and how privilege acknowledgement can relate to allyship.

5. New Masculinities: There is a higher recognition that masculinity is not singular, but there are multiple constructions of masculinities. More and more men create and endorse progressive masculinities against traditional perspectives. But what happens next? Do new masculinities threaten manhood? How does society perceive the new progressive men? Can traditional and new masculinities co-exist? Using mixed methods research, we explore these questions.

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Associate Professor of Psychology

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Group processes and communication. Polarisation, social change, micro-dynamics of conversation

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PhD Candidate

Expertise

When and how do people plan protests by talking to each other about injustice?

Although the motivations that drive people to protest have been extensively researched, no research to date combines all the ingredients necessary for protests to occur in a single research design. Between 2022 and 2026, I am developing a new research method called the Collective Action Simulation Paradigm (CASP). I will use this method to answer new research questions about how people organize protest actions, and what kind of social interactions among like-minded people foster this process.

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Assistant Professor

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My broad interest is to better understand how people respond to transgressions in the social and political domains from their value, belief, and emotion systems. I incorporate in my work different insights and methods from emotion science, social, and political psychology. My research lies within three main lines: 1. The nature and development of hate feelings, 2. The attributions of human and psychological traits towards transgressors and targets of negative emotions, and 3. The interactive effects of political culture and personal values in moral and justice reasoning.

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PhD student

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PhD student

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PhD student

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Professor of Intergroup Relations and Social Integration; Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Faculty BSS

Expertise

diversity, intergroup relations, social integration, social identity

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Phd

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Full Professor, Social Psychology

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Tom Postmes (PhD, 1997, University of Amsterdam) studies human behavior in virtual groups and communities, in crowds and also in organizations and "normal" teams. A major theme in his work how individual actions, thoughts and social interactions become co-ordinated, in such a way that people act and think as a team, a group, an organization or as a society. In chaotic, unusual or unexpected situations (a demonstration, a disaster but also online) a process of self-organisation takes place. We can learn a lot from this and it raises questions about group dynamics in “normal” groups and everyday life. Central to a lot of his work is the influence of personal and social identity: the relation of the individual to the group.

Tom became a professor of Social Psychology at the University of Exeter in 2004. Since returning to The Netherlands in 2007, he is the chair of Social Psychology at the University of Groningen. He received various awards from august institutions such as the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), the Dutch National Science Foundation (NWO), the Economic and Social Research Council (UK) and National Science Foundation (USA). In recent years, he has collaborated with various ministries on research projects concerned with societal discontent and social unrest in The Netherlands. He also studies the societal impact of induced earthquakes in Groningen, and is Scientific Director of the knowledge platform (Kennisplatform Leefbaar en Kansrijk Groningen, in Dutch) that seeks to integrate knowledge about this and promote its application. 

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PhD student

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PHD Researcher

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My (Phd) research focusses on social relations (e.g. social capital, group identity) and how they influence health and wellbeing. I study these proceses in the context of a larger (applied) project "Gronings Perpectief", in which we study the social impact of the earthquakes in Groningen.

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PhD student

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PhD Candidate

Expertise

Group Norms, Intrinsic Motivation and Sustainable Energy Consumption
PhD Disciplines: Social and Environmental Psychology

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PhD student

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PhD student

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PhD student

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Full Professor

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PhD student

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Visiting Professor

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PhD student

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PhD student

Expertise

"Ambivalence" in Societal Debates

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PhD student

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PhD student

Expertise

PhD student at the Knowledge Platform, which collects and shares knowledge and research that is relevant for social policy in the Groningen gas extraction area. The Knowledge Platform stimulates partnerships to create more attention for social impact. It brings people and knowledge together and strives for a society where industry, state, and society are in harmony. My project focuses on what science content and communication can contribute to a restoration of trust between people, government and industry.

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PhD student

Expertise

collective emotions; regret; intergroup relationship

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PhD Candidate

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Social Psychology

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Health Psychology

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PhD student

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Research Interests: My primary research areas encompass cross-cultural depression prevention, self-criticism, self-compassion, and the interplay of cultural factors such as collectivism vs. individualism, independence vs. interdependence. My focus also extends to examining self-construals and the role of an inner compass in uncertain situations within the context of cultural adaptation.
Target Population: I'm particularly interested in understanding these dynamics among international students in the Netherlands.
Research Methodologies: I employ a range of research methods including quantitative, qualitative, and experimental approaches to investigate these topics comprehensively.

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Professor

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Political and Cultural Psychology of Social Relationships