dr. Michael Bender

Bio

I am Associate Professor at the Department of Social Psychology at Tilburg University, Research Fellow at Babylon, the Center for the Study of the Multicultural Society at Tilburg University, and Honorary Professor at the School of Psychology at Gratia Christian College, Hong Kong, China.

In my work, I study culture, in particular acculturation, international student adjustment, threat, inter-group behavior, and identity. I am passionate about teaching and infusing culture into the psychology curriculum and care about the methodological appropriateness of our studies and tools (topics on which I regularly give workshops and summer schools). 

Together with Byron Adams and many wonderful contributors, I recently edited the text book Methods and Assessment in Culture and Psychology (Cambridge).

Expertise

I value collaboration and working in teams towards meaningful project goals. Feel free to reach out to me.

I am editor of the Open Access Journal, Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, and am an active member of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP), the International Academy for Intercultural Research (IAIR), and am a board member of the Central Committee Cultural Diversity and Psychology of the Dutch Institute for Psychologists (Centrale commissie Culturele diversiteit en psychologie, NIP). I am also a member of the standing review board of the RGC Hong Kong

I have received funding from the European Union (Marie Curie Fellowship, Erasmus+ KA2), the Dutch NWO (Comenius Teaching Fellowship), the German DAAD, and the Jacobs Foundation, and Tilburg University (for current projects, see Projects and Grants).

Courses

• Minor Psychology
• Cultural Psychology
• Bachelor's Thesis: Work and Org. Psych.
• Bachelor's Thesis: Economic Psychology
• Bachelor's Thesis: Social Psychology
• Master's Thesis Work & Organization Psy.
• Master's Thesis Economic Psychology
• Cultural Psychology (Dutch Program)
• Master's Internship Economic Psychology
• Master's Internship Work & Org.Psych.
• Diversity and Inclusion at Work
• EP: Intercult. skills:Theory and Pract.
• Research Skills in Psych. (Dutch Progr.(
• Diversity Management

Highlights

Previous Employment

2021.06.01-now    Honorary Professor, Gratia Christian College, HK, PRC

2015.08.01-2021 .05.31 Honorary Associate Professor, Gratia Christian College, HK, PRC

2008.08.01-2010.08.31  Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow, Tilburg University

2006.09.01-2008.06.01  Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Barnard College/Columbia University

2004.08.01-2006.08.31  Research Associate, University of Osnabrück

2003.10.01-2003.12.31  Research Associate, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen

Recent publications

1. Serious games for intercultural skills - Harnessing horizontal and ve…

   Bender, M., & Erle, T. (2023). Serious games for intercultural skills: Harnessing horizontal and vertical asymmetries in expertise and diversity across the curriculum. In S. Bax, G. van der Laan, & T. Leesen (Eds.), Breaking barriers: Innovation through collaboration (pp. 67-79). (Tilburg Series in Academic Education: Knowledge, Skills, Character). Tilburg University. https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/sites/default/files/download/Breaking%20Barriers%20Innovation%20through%20Collaboration_Tilburg%20series%20in%20higher%20education.pdf

2. The perceived vulnerability to disease scale: Cross‐cultural measurem…

   Karakulak, A., Stogianni, M., Alonso‐Arbiol, I., Shukla, S., Bender, M., Yeung, V. W. L., Jovanović, V., Musso, P., Scardigno, R., Scott, R. A., Stuart, J., Friehs, MT., Toh, Z., Albayrak‐Aydemir, N., Arvanitis, A., Buzea, C., Mastrotheodoros, S., Tsang, JA., Madeira, F., ... Gkomez, A. (2023). The perceived vulnerability to disease scale: Cross‐cultural measurement invariance and associations with fear of COVID‐19 across 16 countries. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, Article e12878.

3. Critical Evaluation of the Role of Engaging in Both the Heritage Cult…

   Grigoryev, D., Stogianni, M., Berry, J., Nguyen, A-M., Bender, M., & VERONICA, BENET-MARTINEZ. (2022, Jun 9). Critical Evaluation of the Role of Engaging in Both the Heritage Culture and the Larger Society for Cross-Cultural Adaptation.

4. Introduction to methods and assessment in culture and psychology

   Bender, M., & Adams, B. G. (2021). Introduction to methods and assessment in culture and psychology. In M. Bender, & B. G. Adams (Eds.), Methods and assessment in culture and psychology (pp. 1-14). Cambridge University Press.

5. Methods and assessment in culture and psychology

   Bender, M., & Adams, B. (2021). Methods and assessment in culture and psychology. Cambridge University Press.