Biography
Why are people so worried about polarization?
What drives people toward voting for populist radical right parties?
What do people mean when they say that ‘this country is ours’, and what are the consequences of that belief?
How do people combine their different ethnic identities (such as Dutch and Turkish)? And are these identities recognized by others?
Such questions are central to the research of Tom Nijs, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Governance and Pluralism team (EICS) at Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences. To answer such questions, he draws on theories and methods from sociology, social and political psychology, and political science. His research interests include polarization, interethnic attitudes, ethnic identification, intergroup contact, ownership beliefs, and radical right-wing voting.
Tom defended his PhD thesis entitled ‘This place is ours: Collective psychological ownership and its social consequences’ in April 2022 at Utrecht University.
Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences
Researcher | Governance and Pluralism
- t.nijs@essb.eur.nl
More information
Work
- Zea Szebeni, Reko Elovainio, Borja Martinovic, Tom Nijs & Inga Jasinskaja-Lahti (2025) - “(The story of) This country is ours!”: The territorial and epistemic dimensions of collective psychological ownership among the national majority and immigrants - advances.in/psychology - doi: 10.56296/aip00035
- Tom Nijs (2025) - Breaking false polarization: How information on descriptive norms mitigates worry rooted in polarization (mis)perceptions - Social Inclusion, 13 - doi: 10.17645/si.9904 - [link]
- Tobias H. Stark, Tom Nijs & Julia Köbrich (2025) - Additive and multiplicative effects of different forms of positive and negative indirect intergroup contact in predicting intergroup attitudes - International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 104 - doi: 10.1016/j.ijintrel.2024.102110 - [link]
- Nick Wuestenenk, Tom Nijs, Tobias H. Stark, Frank van Tubergen & Naomi Ellemers (2025) - The interplay of misperceptions and willingness to share opinions in full classroom networks: The case of opinions towards homosexuality - Social Networks, 80, 25-35 - doi: 10.1016/j.socnet.2024.08.003 - [link]
- Tom Nijs, Borja Martinovic & Maykel Verkuyten (2024) - The two routes of collective psychological ownership: Rights and Responsibilities Explain Intentions to Exclude Outsiders and Engage in Stewardship Behavior - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 50 (2), 270 - 284 - doi: 10.1177/01461672221129757 - [link]
- Lianne Straver, Borja Martinović, Tom Nijs, Wybren Nooitgedagt & Nora Storz (2023) - Who Believes the Country Belongs to Their Ethnic Ingroup?: The Background Characteristics of ‘Owners’ and Their Support for Stricter Immigration Policies Across Three Western Societies - Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 11 (2), 570-585 - doi: 10.5964/jspp.10617 - [link]
- Tom Nijs, Borja Martinovic, Robert Ford & Marcel Coenders (2023) - “These benefits are ours because we were here first”: relating autochthony to welfare chauvinism and welfare ethnocentrism - Ethnic and Racial Studies, 46 (15), 3199-3223 - doi: 10.1080/01419870.2023.2199053 - [link]
- Tom Nijs, Maykel Verkuyten & Borja Martinovic (2022) - Losing what is OURS: The intergroup consequences of collective ownership threat - Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 25 (2), 562 - 580 - doi: 10.1177/1368430220980809
- Tom Nijs, Borja Martinovic, Maykel Verkuyten & Constantine Sedikides (2021) - ‘This country is OURS’: The exclusionary potential of collective psychological ownership - British Journal of Social Psychology, 60 (1), 171-195 - doi: 10.1111/bjso.12386
- Tom Nijs, Tobias H. Stark & Maykel Verkuyten (2019) - Negative intergroup contact and radical right-wing voting: The moderating roles of personal and collective self-efficacy - Political Psychology, 40 (5), 1057-1073 - doi: 10.1111/pops.12577
- Tom Nijs (29 October 2025) - Hoe kun je samenwerken met je grootste tegenstander? - NOS Jeugdjournaal Podcast
- Tom Nijs (17 October 2025) - Polarisatiepaniek is niet nodig: onze opvattingen verschillen minder dan we denken - de Correspondent
- Tom Nijs (18 September 2025) - Feit of Fictie: Nederlanders staan tegen vaker tegenover elkaar - NPO Radio 1 EenVandaag
- Tom Nijs (14 July 2025) - De HU is niet zomaar ‘steeds meer gepolariseerd’ - Trajectum
- Tom Nijs (2 July 2024) - 'Immigratie is ook deel Nederlandse identiteit' - NEMO Kennislink
- Tom Nijs (13 February 2022) - Van wie is ons land? Over territorialiteit en immigratie - Radio Swammerdam
- Tom Nijs (10 March 2021) - TV interview about right-wing populism - NRK
- Tom Nijs & Borja Martinovic (5 February 2021) - Met 'van ons' bakenen populisten net als kinderen hun territorium af - Trouw
- Tom Nijs (2 July 2020) - ‘Dit land is van ONS’: eigendomsgevoelens en rechts-populistische thema’s - Stuk Rood Vlees
3.2 Sociologische Vraagstukken 5
- Year
- 2025
- Course Code
- ESSB-S3010
