Dr. Fabian Max Hess

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CV

Since 2024
Research Associate (PostDoc) – Department of Social Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena2020 - 2024
Research Associate (PhD candidate) of the BMBF Project "Radical Islam versus Radical Anti-Islam" (RIRA) – Department of Social Psychology, Leipzig University2022 Research Stay – Centre for Social Cognitive Studies, Jagiellonian University Kraków (Prof. Dr. Marcin Bukowski)May 15, 2025 PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) at Leipzig University: "Salient Categorization and Ingroup Norms as Boundary Conditions of Threat-Driven Radicalization in Conflicts over “Islam versus Anti-Islam” and Climate Activism", supervisor: Prof. Dr. Immo Fritsche, summa cum laude2018 - 2020
M.Sc. Psychology – Leipzig University2015 - 2018
B.Sc. Psychology – University of Koblenz-Landau;
Research Assistant - Department of Social, Environmental, and Economic Psychology (Prof. Dr. Melanie Steffens)2012 - 2015
B.A. Education Science and Philosophy – Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg

Publications

2025
Hess, F. M. (2025). Radicalized mainstream: Turning an oxymoron into something meaningful. International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society.
click hereHess, F. M., Masson, T., Bleh, J., & Kessler, T. (2025). Heating up intergroup conflict: Radical antagonistic responses to the threats of rapid climate change. Psychology of Violence.
click hereHess, F. M., Masson, T., & Fritsche, I. (2025). Muslims and non-Muslims: In conflict or harmony with each other? Conflict-related ingroup norms shape threat effects on intergroup behavioural intentions. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 35(4), e70144.
click hereLifshin, U., Wolfe, S. E., Smith, L. K. M., Syropoulos, S., Fritsche, I., & Hess, F. M. (2025). The nature problem. Wilderness, animals, and the human body. In K. Vail, D. van Tongeren, R. Schlegel, J. Greenberg, L. King, & R. M. Ryan (Eds.), Handbook of the science of existential psychology. New York, NY: Guilford Press.2024
Fritsche, I., Hoppe, A., & Hess, F. M. (2024). Gruppenbasierte Kontrolle und Rechtsradikalisierung. In T. Rothmund, & E. Walther (Eds.), Psychologie der Rechtsradikalisierung (pp. 57–68). Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.
click hereHess, F. M. (2024). The we–sum of its parts or something else? On the philosophical and psychological foundations of social identity and its continuity. Zeitschrift für Religion, Gesellschaft und Politik, 8(2), 241–273.
click hereHess, F. M., Masson, T., & Fritsche, I. (2024). When will we join the road blockade? (Non)conformity to radical climate protest norms under salient threat to personal control. Motivation Science.
click hereHess, F. M., Masson, T., & Majer, J. M. (2024). Increased climate change skepticism among farmers? The roles of motivated cognition and social identity processes. GAIA, 33(2), 211–215.
click hereHoffmann, H., Hesch, K., Niendorf, J., Celik, K., & Hess, F. M. (2024). Jugend in der Krise – Überforderung, Bewältigung und Radikalisierungspotenziale. PRIF Blog.
click hereLandmann, H., Winter, K., Froehlich, L., Klocke, U., Hechler, S., Niesta Kayser, D., Knab, N., Hess, F. M., Bender, R., & Hellmann, J. (2024). Transfer between science and practice. Findings from the network of social psychology on forced migration and integration. Z’Flucht. Zeitschrift für Flucht- und Flüchtlingsforschung, 8(1), 187–200.
click here2023
Hess, F. M., & Börner, E. (2023). The ABC of stereotypes among Muslims and non-Muslims in Germany. Hikma, 14(1), 5–30.
click hereHess, F. M., Celik, K., & Mücke, M. (2023). Typisch muslimisch – typisch deutsch? Stereotype im Spannungsfeld religiöser und nationaler Identität. In S. Pickel, G. Pickel, O. Decker, I. Fritsche, M. Kiefer, F. M. Lütze, R. Spielhaus, & H.-H. Uslucan (Eds.), Gesellschaftliche Ausgangsbedingungen für Radikalisierung und Co-Radikalisierung (pp. 217–259). Wiesbaden: Springer.
click hereHess, F. M., & Fritsche, I. (2023). Radikale in Not? Unbefriedigte soziale und psychologische Bedürfnisse als Motivatoren gruppenbasierter Radikalisierung. In S. Pickel, G. Pickel, O. Decker, I. Fritsche, M. Kiefer, F. M. Lütze, R. Spielhaus, & H.-H. Uslucan (Eds.), Gesellschaftliche Ausgangsbedingungen für Radikalisierung und Co-Radikalisierung (pp. 103–146). Wiesbaden: Springer.
click here2022
Hess, F. M., & Grosche, C. (2022). Wir gegen die Anderen. Gruppenprozesse, Bedrohungsgefühle und Konflikte zwischen Gruppen als Treiber von Radikalisierungs- und Polarisierungstendenzen. Ligante. Fachdebatten aus der Präventionsarbeit, 5, 16–23.
click here2021
Pickel, S., Ceylan, R., Decker, O., Fritsche, I., Lütze, F. M., Pickel, G., Spielhaus, R., Uslucan, H.-H., Öztürk, C., Celik, K., Hess, F. M., Kaya, F., Krumpholz, P., Mücke, M., Schneider, V., Seiler, E., & Shalaby, R. (2021). Radikaler Islam vs. radikaler Anti-Islam. Gesellschaftliche Polarisierung und wahrgenommene Bedrohung als Triebfaktoren von Radikalisierungs- und Co-Radikalisierungsprozessen bei Jugendlichen und Post-Adoleszenten – ein Literaturbericht. RIRA.
click here

Talks

2025
Hess, F. M. (2025, July 4). Conflict-related ingroup norms shape threat effects on Muslims' and non-Muslims' intergroup behavior. 48th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP). Prague, Czech Republic.Hess, F. M. (2025, May 22). Threat to personal control as a reinforcer of conformity to radical climate protest norms. Inclusivity Interdisciplinary Conference on Social Norms, Cohesion, and (De)Polarization. Utrecht, the Netherlands.Hess, F. M. (2025, January 14). What motivates radical climate protest action? A social psychological motivational approach. PsyUp Conference. Jena, Germany.2024
Hess, F. M. (2024, September 19). Does salient threat to control increase norm conformity? Experimental evidence from intergroup conflict between Muslims and non-Muslims. 5th Meeting of the German Political Psychology Network (GPPN). Vienna, Austria.Hess, F. M. (2024, September 18). Does salient threat to control increase norm conformity? Experimental evidence from intergroup conflict between Muslims and non-Muslims. 53rd Congress of the German Psychological Society (DGPs). Vienna, Austria.2023
Hess, F. M., & Drabon, W. (2023, November 10). Does salient threat to control fuel the radicalization of climate activism–or not? Empirical findings from three social psychological experiments on the "threat-radicalization hypothesis." DeZIM International Conference: In Search of the Radicalized Mainstream. Berlin, Germany.Hess, F. M. (2023, September 12). Agency and conflict norm perceptions drive the transformation of non-Muslims into anti-Muslims. 18th Conference of the Division of
Social Psychology (FGSP). Graz, Austria.Hess, F. M. (2023, July 3). Can "diverse" common identities de-escalate control depriving conflicts between Muslims and non-Muslims? 19th General Meeting of the European Association of Social Psychology (EASP). Kraków, Poland.Hess, F. M., & Merkenschlager, E. (2023, March 9). Deterrent group
radicalization: Boundary conditions of conformity to radical ingroup norms under lack of control. 4th Meeting of the German Political Psychology Network (GPPN). Bielefeld, Germany.Hess, F. M. (2023, February 22). (Non-)radical response? Social norms and categorizations as moderators of threat to control effects on intergroup radicalization.
HARMONIA & ALIADXS Meeting. Granada, Spain.Hess, F. M., & Pickel, S. (2023, February 14). Radikalisierungsspirale, Right-Wing Authoritarianism und Social Dominance Orientation. RADIS-Meeting „Gesellschaftliche Ursachen und Wirkungen des radikalen Islam in Deutschland und Europa.“ Bielefeld, Germany.2022
Hess, F. M., & Merkenschlager, E. (2022, November 11). Quest for significance and group-based control as possible motivations underlying radicalization into violence? Difficulties in demonstrating loss of significance effects on radicalization in three experiments. 26th
Workshop on Aggression. Jena, Germany.Hess, F. M. (2022, September 13). Dealing with radical Islamism as a threat to control and challenge for categorization on a superordinate level. 52nd Congress of the German
Psychological Society (DGPs). Hildesheim, Germany.Hess, F. M. (2022, July 3). Bringing Muslims and anti-Muslims together through a common national identity of "diverse Germany." 22nd Jena Workshop on Intergroup Processes: National Identity–Its Nature, Causes, and Consequences. Eyba, Germany.Hess, F. M. (2022, May 20). Vier (bis fünf) Antworten auf die Frage, warum sich Personen radikalisieren. RADIS-Meeting „Radikalisierung verstehen, vorbeugen und begegnen.“ Berlin, Germany.Hess, F. M. (2022, March 11). Radical Islam as a threat to control–but who are ‘they’, who are ‘we’? 3rd Meeting of the German Political Psychology Network (GPPN). Chemnitz, Germany.

Posters

2024
Hess, F. M., & Fritsche, I. (2024, June 26). Inklusive Kategorisierung und Anti-Konflikt-Normen senken den Effekt von Bedrohung auf Radikalisierung. Final conference of the RIRA research project. Leipzig, Germany.
click hereHess, F. M., Fritsche, I., Bukowski, M., Potoczek, A., & Guerra, R. (2024, February 9). Superordinate
categorization can reduce anti-Muslim prejudice responses to Islamist threat. The Society for Personality and Social Psychology 2024 Annual Convention (SPSP). San Diego, USA.
click here

Podcasts