A Social Psychology Perspective on Migrant Integration in Europe

• Applicant: Michael Neureiter, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Political Science ; Social Psychology, Industrial and Organisational Psychology
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 530911351

For the past two or three decades, the question how to successfully integrate Europe’s sizeable migrant population has been of great interest to scholars, publics, and policymakers alike. Yet, despite a growing body of research on the subject, certain aspects of the integration process are still not fully understood. In my research project, I argue that our understanding of migrant integration can be enhanced by applying insights from social psychology to the integration process. Specifically, I draw on a stream of social psychology literature called “behavior modification theory” to develop a novel and comprehensive theoretical framework of migrant integration in Europe. I then test this framework using a sophisticated, cross-national, multi-methods design involving analyses of secondary data as well as original survey experiments.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants