Ruth Katharina Ditlmann, PhD

My research is on prejudice-reduction interventions that apply, test, and advance social psychological theories in field-settings. I focus on intergroup contact and participatory memory interventions. 

I am currently a Professor of Social Psychology and Public Policy at the Hertie School in Berlin, Germany. My professorship is supported by a Lichtenberg Fellowship of the Volkswagen foundation. Previously, I was a Research Fellow at the WZB-Berlin in the Migration, Integration and Transnationalization Department and a Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton University in the Department of Psychology and Social Policy. I have received my PhD from Yale University in 2012 and was a Research Affiliate at Columbia University. 

Publications

Barron, K., Ditlmann, R. K., Gehrig, S., & Schweighofer-Kodritsch, S. (accepted). Explicit and implicit belief-based gender discrimination. Management Science. 

Asimovic, N., Ditlmann, R. K. & Samii, C. (accepted). Estimating the effect of intergroup contact over years: Evidence from a youth program in Israel. Political Science Research and Methods. 

Turkoglu, O., Ditlmann, R. K., & Firestone, B. (2023). Commemorating local victims of past atrocities, and far-right support over time. PNAS.

Hässler, T., Ullrich, J., Sebben, S., Shnabel, N., Bernardino, M., Ditlmann, R.K., … Pistella, J. (2022). Needs satisfaction in intergroup contact: A multi-national study of pathways toward social change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Interpersonal Relations and Group Processes.

Alizade, J. Dancygier, R., & Ditlmann, R. (2021). National penalties reversed: The local politics of citizenship and politician responsiveness to immigrants. Journal of Politics.

Hässler, T., Ullrich, J., Bernardino, M., Shnabel, N., Van Laar, C., Valdenegro, D., Sebben, S., Tropp, L., Visintin, E.P., González, R., Ditlmann, R. K., Abrams, D. Selvanatha, H. P., Bankovic, M, Wright, S., Von Zimmermann, J., Pasek, M. H., Aydin, A. L., Žeželj, I., … Ugarte, L.M. (2020). A large-scale test for the link between intergroup contact and social change. Nature Human Behaviour, 4(4), 380-386.

Ditlmann, R.K., & Kopf-Beck, J. (2019). The meaning of being German: An inductive approach to national identity. Journal of Political and Social Psychology, 7(1), p. 423-447.

Ditlmann, R. K., Samii, C., & Zeitzoff, T. (2017). Addressing intergroup conflict from the bottom-up? Social Issues and Policy Review, 11(1), p.38-77.

Ditlmann, R. K., Purdie-Vaughns, V. & Dovidio, J. (2017). The implicit power motive in interracial dialogues about the history of slavery.  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 112(1), 116-135.

Ditlmann, R. K., & Samii, C. (2016). Can intergroup contact affect ingroup dynamics? Insights from a field study with Jewish and Arab-Palestinian youth in Israel. Journal of Peace Psychology, 22(4), 380-392.

Ditlmann, R. K., & Paluck, E. L. (2015). Field experiments. In J. Wright (Ed), International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2nd Edition. Amsterdam, New York: Elsevier.

Ditlmann, R. K., & Lagunes, P. (2014). The (identification) cards you are dealt: Biased treatment of Anglos and Latinos using municipal-issued versus unofficial ID Cards. Journal of Political Psychology, 35(4), 539-555.

Ditlmann, R. K., Wright, E., & Purdie-Vaughns, V. (2014). Organizational and individual colorblindness approaches to past injustice. In V. Plaut, K. Thomas, & M. Tran, (Eds.), Diversity ideologies in organizations (pp. 93-117). New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Lagunes, P., Levin, B., & Ditlmann, R.K. (2012). Documenting the undocumented: A review of the United States’ first municipal ID program. Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy, 24, 43-62.

Ditlmann, R. K., Purdie-Vaughns, V., & Eibach, R. (2011). Heritage and ideology-based national identities and their implications for immigrant citizen relations in the United States and in Germany. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 35(4), 395-405.

Dovidio, J. F., Gluszek, A., John, M. S., Ditlmann, R.K., & Lagunes, P. (2010). Understanding bias toward Latinos: Discrimination, dimensions of difference, and experience of exclusion. Journal of Social Issues, 66(1), 59 - 78.

Purdie-Vaughns,V., Steele, C. M., Davies, P. G., Ditlmann, R. K., & Randall-Crosby, J. (2008). Social identity contingencies: How diversity cues signal threat or safety for African Americans in mainstream institutions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(4), 615-630.

Annabring, U., Ditlmann, R. K., & Kempf, W. (2005). Rezeption und Akzeptanz konstruktiver Nachkriegsberichterstattung [Reception and acceptance of constructive post-war media coverage]. In Projektruppe Friedensforschung (Hrsg.), Nachrichtenmedien als Mediatoren von Demokratisierung, Peace-Building und Versöhnung in Nachkriegsgesellschaften. Berlin: Regene.

Working Papers

Pesin-Michael, G., Shnabel, N., & Ditlmann, R.K. (r&r). From the lab to the field and back: The effects of  need satisfaction on reconciliation among Germans and Israelis.