Building Intergroup Trust

Dr Kappmeier received her PhD in Psychology from the University of Hamburg, Germany. Before joining the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, she completed her post-doctoral tenure in the Psychology Department of Harvard University, USA.

How can groups build trust and move towards reconciliation, when their shared past has been shaped by aggression, violence or oppression? This is the question behind Dr Kappmeier’s research and supervision interest which examines intergroup trust and how it can be built upon to improve intergroup relations. Through her research, she had developed the Intergroup Trust Model, which conceptualises intergroup trust as a multidimensional construct. This quantitative model provides a solid basis for understanding how trust between groups can be built but also how it is eroded.