Brief Academic Autobiography
Hermann Swart is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Stellenbosch University. He teaches Social Psychology at undergraduate and postgraduate level and has twice received recognition for teaching excellence at Stellenbosch University. He holds B.Sc (Psychology), Hons. B.Sc (Psychology), and M.Sc. (Counselling Psychology) degrees from Stellenbosch University and obtained his Doctorate in Social Psychology at Oxford University, England as a Rhodes Scholar. He serves as a consulting editor for Group Processes and Intergroup Relations and is a member of the European Association of Social Psychology (EASP), the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI), Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), and the International Society for Political Psychology (ISPP). He has published in leading international journals including Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Review, Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, and British Journal of Social Psychology. Hermann is a mentor in the Early Career Academic Development (ECAD) programme at Stellenbosch University.
Research
Research Topics
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Social Psychology
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Intergroup Relations
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Diversity
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Intergroup contact
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Intergroup emotions
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Prejudice and stereotype reduction
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Xenophobia
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Interpersonal friendships.
About my Research
My research interests include diversity, intergroup contact, intergroup emotions, prejudice and stereotype reduction in post-conflict societies, and interpersonal friendships, and I specialize in advanced quantitative research methodology (including longitudinal survey research and experimental methods) and advanced statistical analyses (including longitudinal, multi-level, and multi-group structural equation modelling). In 2015, I was a co-recipient of the Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Prize for “the best paper or article of the year on intergroup relations” from the Society for Psychological Study of Social Issues (USA). I hold a Y1 researcher rating from the National Research Foundation in South Africa.
Selected Publications
Christ, O., Schmid, K., Lolliot, S., Swart, H., Stolle, D., Tausch, N., Al Ramiah, A., Wagner, U., Vertovec, S., & Hewstone, M. (2014). Contextual effect of positive intergroup contact on outgroup prejudice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111, 3996-4000.
Hewstone, M., Lolliot, S., Swart, H., Myers, E., Voci, A., Al Ramiah, A., & Cairns, E. (2014). Intergroup contact and intergroup conflict. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 20, 39-53.
Hewstone, M., & Swart, H. (2011). Fifty-odd years of intergroup contact: From hypothesis to integrated theory. British Journal of Social Psychology, 50, 374-386. doi: 10.1111/j.2044-8309.2011.02047.x
Hewstone, M., Swart, H., & Hodson, G. (2012). Of babies and bath-water, rabbits and rabbit-holes: A plea for conflict prevention, not conflict promotion. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 35, 436-437. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X11002214
Hodson, G., Hewstone, M., & Swart, H. (2013). Advances in intergroup contact: Epilogue and future directions. In G. Hodson, & M. Hewstone (Eds.), Advances in intergroup contact (pp.262-305). London, UK: Psychology Press.
Lolliot, S., Fell, B., Schmid, K., Wölfer, R., Swart, H., Voci, A., Christ, O., New, R., & Hewstone, M. (2014). Measures of intergroup contact. In G. J. Boyle, D. H. Saklofske, & G. Matthews (Eds.), Measures of personality and social psychological constructs (pp.652-683). London, UK: Academic Press.
Lolliot, S.D., Schmid, K., Hewstone, M., Al Ramiah, A., Tausch, N., & Swart, H. (2013). Generalized effects of intergroup contact: The secondary transfer effect. In G. Hodson, & M. Hewstone (Eds.), Advances in intergroup contact (pp.81-112). London, UK: Psychology Press.
Schmid, K., Wölfer, R., Swart, H., Christ, O., Al Ramiah, A., Vertovec, S., & Hewstone, M. (2017). The ‘Wallpaper effect’ revisited: Divergent findings on the effects of intergroup contact on attitudes in diverse vs. non-diverse settings. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 43, 1268-1283. doi: 10.1177/0146167217711929
Swart, H., Hewstone, M., Christ, O., & Voci, A. (2011). Affective mediators of intergroup contact: A three-wave longitudinal analysis in South Africa. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101, 1221-1238.
Swart, H., Hewstone, M., Christ, O., & Voci, A. (2010). The impact of cross-group friendships in South Africa: Affective mediators and multi-group comparisons. Journal of Social Issues, 66, 309-333.
Swart, H., Hewstone, M., Turner, R.N., & Voci, A. (2011). Achieving forgiveness and trust in post-conflict societies: The importance of self-disclosure and empathy. In L. R. Tropp, & R. Mallett (Eds.), Beyond prejudice reduction: Pathways to positive intergroup relations (pp.181-200). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Turner, R.N., Hewstone, M., Swart, H., Tam, T., Myers, E., & Tausch, N. (2010). Promoting intergroup trust among adolescents and young adults. In K. Rotenberg (Ed.), Trust and trustworthiness during childhood and adolescence (pp. 295-321). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Voci, A., Hewstone, M., Swart, H., & Veneziani, C. (2015). Refining the association between intergroup contact and intergroup forgiveness in Northern Ireland: Type of contact, prior conflict experience, and group identification. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 18, 589-608. doi: 10.1177/1368430215577001.
Teaching
Coordination of Programmes and Modules
Undergraduate:
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Academic Programme Coordinator;
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Coordinator of Social Psychology 324
Honours:
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Social Psychology 745
Teaching Areas
Undergraduate & Postgraduate:
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Social Psychology