Curriculum Vitae

Johanna Ray Vollhardt received a Diplom (German equivalent to B.A. and M.A. combined) in Psychology from the University of Cologne in 2004. She received a Ph.D. in Social Psychology (with a concentration in the Psychology of Peace and Violence) from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in May 2009. She joined Clark University in September 2009.

Current Research and Teaching

Dr. Vollhardt’s research focuses on the psychological impact of group-based victimization on people’s social identity and their relations with members of other groups. She is interested in the underlying social psychological processes and conditions that give rise to constructive, rather than destructive outcomes of the experience of victimization. Her current research is concerned with the development of measures of victim consciousness, factors that give rise to exclusive versus inclusive victim consciousness, and ways in which inclusive victim consciousness can be facilitated. Another line of research examines the role of attributions in intergroup contexts such as intercultural contact and judgments of ethnic violence. Dr. Vollhardt conducts research among ethnic, religious and national minority groups in the U.S. and in Europe. She also collaborates with the NGO Radio La Benevolencija in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Dr. Vollhardt is currently teaching courses on experimental research methods and social psychological research. In the future she will be teaching specialized courses on the social psychology of intergroup relations and ethnic conflict.