Research Project
Project title: BlendID – How intergroup interactions shape cultural identities: the dual temporal perspectives of migrants and natives
European societies are experiencing increasing cultural diversity, with approximately 29 million migrants (6.4% of the EU population) living in the EU in 2024. Despite this demographic transformation, migrants often face social exclusion and hostility from native citizens, undermining adaptation and social cohesion. These tensions are rooted in social-psychological processes related to socio-cultural identities. A central challenge is understanding what enables migrants to develop integrated cultural identities that reconcile heritage and host cultures, and what fosters multicultural orientations among natives that support acceptance of migrants.
The BlendID project addresses these questions by proposing that everyday intergroup interactions – both positive (e.g., supportive contact) and negative (e.g., exclusion or discrimination) – are key drivers of identity development among migrants and natives. The project advances a comprehensive theoretical framework linking intergroup encounters to migrants’ cultural identity configurations and natives’ multicultural orientations, and examining how these identity processes influence psycho-social outcomes such as migrants’ adaptation, well-being, and natives’ acceptance of migrants.
Methodologically, BlendID integrates micro-level and long-term approaches to capture the dynamic nature of these processes. Real-time everyday interactions are assessed through Ecological Momentary Assessment, allowing the study of identity-relevant experiences as they unfold in daily life. These data are combined with a one-year longitudinal design to examine longer-term changes and reciprocal dynamics between intergroup contact, identity development, and socio-psychological outcomes. This approach enables the project to move beyond cross-sectional correlations and provide a dynamic account of how intergroup encounters shape inclusive identities and adaptation over time.
Research Interests
- Intergroup relations and prejudice
- Intergroup contact and social cohesion
- Marginalisation, spatial segregation, and social exclusion
- Social identity, group dynamics, and belonging
- Inclusion and exclusion processes between majority and minority groups
- Migrants and cultural diversity
- Marginalised populations (e.g., migrant, homeless, and detained people)
- Immersive and digital methods (e.g., virtual reality, GPS-based behavioural data)
- Quantitative and behavioural data analysis
Curriculum Vitae (CV)
Academic appointments
2025 – 2026: Senior Research Associate, School of Psychology, University of East Anglia, UK.
Project: “Examining near-time intergroup contact effects with experience-sampling methods”. Funded by Leverhulme Trust – Research Project Grants 2025. Advisor: Prof. Rose Meleady2022 – 2025: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy. Project: “The virtual power of social groups: using digital technologies to tackle social exclusion of immigrants”. Postdoctoral fellowship funded by the University of Milano-Bicocca Advisor: Prof. Paolo Riva
2021 – 2022: Post-Doctoral Researcher, Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy. Project: “The Psychology of Economic Inequality”. Funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research, PRIN – 2017. Advisor: Prof. Chiara Volpato
Education & professional qualifications
2023: Italian National Scientific qualification as Associate Professor of Social Psychology (National Academic Recruitment Field: 11/E3)
2023: Licensed Psychologist registered with the National Board (#25926)
2021: PhD in Psychology, Linguistics, and Cognitive Neuroscience – Curriculum Social, Cognitive, and Clinical Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca. Thesis title: “Social exclusion in immigrants: how intergroup social connections influence its impact”. Advisor: Prof. Paolo Riva
2016: M.Sc. in Clinical and Developmental Psychology and Neuropsychology – University of Milano-Bicocca (Summa cum laude).
Thesis title: “Suživot: living together after war? An empirical study about trauma and ethnophobia in Bosnia and Herzegovina”. Advisor: Prof. Marcello GallucciVisiting positions
September – October 2024: Visiting scholar at the University of Oxford, UK.
Advisor: Prof. Shelley McKeown JonesApril – July 2019: Visiting Ph.D. student at the University of Newcastle, Australia.
Advisor: Prof. Mark RubinAugust – October 2015: Visiting M.Sc. student at the University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Advisor: Prof. Sabina AlispahićAwards (selected)
2023 Best scientific article – Italian Association of Psychology - Social Psychology Section
2021 Best Ph.D. thesis – Italian Association of Psychology - Social Psychology Section
2021 Lucia Mannetti award (scientific article in social psychology) – Italian Association of Psychology - Social Psychology Section
Funding (selected)
2026-2028: Principal Investigator. Project: “BlendID – How intergroup interactions shape cultural identities: the dual temporal perspectives of migrants and natives”. Funded by MSCA COFUND Postdoctoral Fellowship: Migration, Diaspora, Citizenship Programme at the University of Münster, Germany.
2021- 2025: Principal Investigator. Project: “The virtual power of social groups: using digital technologies to tackle social exclusion of immigrants”. Postdoctoral fellowship funded by the University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy.
2018-2020 : Co-Investigator. Project: “Migration and Migrants in Italy”. Funded by “Fondazione Alsos”. PI: Paolo Riva, Italy.
2018-2020: Principal Investigator. Project: “Risk and protective factors from chronic social exclusion in asylum-seeking immigrants and refugees”. Funded by “Fondazione Roberto Franceschi ONLUS”, Italy. https://www.fondfranceschi.it/notizie/fattori-di-rischio-e-protezione-dallesclusione-sociale-cronica-nei-rifugiati-e-richiedenti-asilo/50892/
Invited Talks (selected)
2026 Marinucci, M. “Social connections in the digital era”. Research Seminar – Italian Institute of Technology – Center for Human Technologies. Invited by Francesca Cocchella. February 24, Genova, Italy.
2025 Marinucci, M. “Desegregating spaces: the interplay between ecological intergroup contact and GPS-traced segregation among youths from two UK cities”. Research Seminar – University of Helsinki. Invited by Prof. Katarina Pettersson. November 13, Helsinki, Finland.
2025 Marinucci, M. “Social Exclusion of Marginalized Groups: Understanding Its Impact on the Excluded and How to Prevent It Among the Excluders”. Keynote talk at the Trinational Symposium on Societal and Interpersonal Dimensions of Social Exclusion – Conference Center Villa Denis, University of Kaiserslautern-Landau. June 12 – 13, Frankenstein-Dimerstein, Germany.
2025 Marinucci, M. “Social Exclusion of Marginalized Groups: Understanding its Impact and How to Prevent it”. Department Seminar – Center for Social and Cultural Psychology, Universitè Libre de Bruxelles. Invited by Soha Abboud. February 25, Online meeting.
2022 Marinucci, M. “Social exclusion at its extreme: risk and protective factors from the resignation stage in marginalized populations”. Department Seminar – University of Geneve. Invited by Prof. Alain Quiamzade. November 17, Geneve, Switzerland.
2022 Marinucci, M. “Social exclusion at its extreme: risk and protective factors from the resignation stage in marginalized populations”. Intergroup Relations and Social Justice Online Lab Meeting – University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA. Invited by Prof. Linda Tropp. November 4, Online meeting.
2022 Marinucci, M. “Social exclusion at its extreme: risk and protective factors from the resignation stage in marginalized populations”. Department Seminar– University of Zürich. Invited by Dr. Tabea Hässler & Dr. Léïla Eisner. May 10, Zürich, Switzerland.
Teaching
Lecturer:
2026 –2023: Psychology of Social Influence (16 hours - laboratory) – University of Milano-Bicocca (MSc in Social, Economic, and Decision-Making Psychology).
2025: Elements of Psychometrics (18 hours - laboratory) – University of Milano-Bicocca (BSc in Psychological Sciences and Techniques).
2026 –2024: Psychometrics with Software Lab 2 (18 hours - laboratory) – University of Milano-Bicocca (BSc in Psychological Sciences and Techniques).
2025 –2021: Applied Statistics for Medical and Social Sciences (48 hours - full course) – Tor Vergata University of Rome (PhD School of Nursing Sciences and Public Health).
Guest Lecturer:
2025 –2018: Psychosocial Interventions. Comparing Approaches in Social Psychology – University of Milano-Bicocca (MSc in Applied Experimental Psychological Sciences).
Teaching Assistant:
2025 –2019 : Social Psychology - Group Processes and Intergroup Relations (4 hours) – University of Milano-Bicocca (BSc in Sociology).
Professional Service
Editorial positions:
- Guest Editor: Computers in Human Behavior – Special Issue on Immersive Technologies and Intergroup Relations
- Emerging Editor: Personality and Social Psychology Review
- Consulting Editor: British Journal of Social Psychology
- Reviewer Editor: Frontiers in Psychology – Personality and Social Psychology section
Ad Hoc Reviewer:
- Journals: More than 20 journals in Psychology category
- Grants: ERC Starting grant – phase 2 reviewer; Swiss National Science Foundation; Diversity Undergraduate Travel Award (SPSP)
Professional Affiliations
Italian National Register of Psychologists (n. 25926)
Italian Association of Psychology (AIP)
Society of Australasian Social Psychologists (SASP)
European Association of Social Psychology (EASP)
Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP)
International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP)
Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI).
Publications
Full academic profiles:
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=GBT7pn0AAAAJ&hl
Scopus: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=57214074643
Web of Science: https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/AAX-3578-2020
Journal Articles (* corresponding author; ° joint first authorship)
Tassinari, M.*°, Marinucci, M.°, Hasler, B°. (2026). Immersive Technologies and Intergroup Relations: A Critical Review. Computers in Human Behavior. Advanced Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2026.108908
Marinucci, M.*, Schaefer, C., Dupont, P., Manley, D., Taylor, L. K., & McKeown, S. (2026). Desegregating spaces: The interplay between ecological intergroup contact and GPS-traced spatial segregation among youth in two UK cities. British Journal of Social Psychology, 65, e70043. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.70043
Riva, P.*, Marinucci, M., Telari, A., & Pancani, L. (2025). Updating the Temporal Need-Threat Model of Ostracism: Challenges and Future Directions. The Journal of Social Psychology. Advanced Online Publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2025.2572648
Traversa, T.*, Marinucci, M., Tortù, I., Riva, P., & Pancani, L. (2025). Stronger Together: How Social Interactions With Colleagues Promote Prison Officers' Well-Being Through Social Identity. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 35(5), e70162. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.70162
Marinucci, M.*, Tortù, I., Traversa, T., Pancani, L., & Riva, P. (2025). Transforming prison culture: Supportive norms enhance prison officers’ well-being and prosociality toward detained people. Journal of Criminal Psychology. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCP-12-2024-0145
Traversa, T.*, Marinucci, M., Riva, P., & Pancani, L. (2025). Understanding imprisonment through the lens of social exclusion: a novel integrative theoretical model. Basic and Applied Social Psychology. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/01973533.2025.2475336
Owuamalam, C. K.*, Caricati, L., Tan, C. M., Matos, A., Bonetti, C., Rubin, M., Spears, R., & Marinucci, M. (2025). Re-examining Büchel et al.’s (2021) Test of the Status Legitimacy Hypothesis. European Journal of Social Psychology. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.3173
De Cristofaro, V.*, Cervone, C., Filippi, S., Marinucci, M., Scatolon, A., Valtorta, R., Vezzoli, M., & Pellegrini, V. (2025). National identity and economic inequality: new insights from disadvantaged and advantaged groups. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.70068
Chichua, M.*, Filipponi, C., Mazzoni, D., Marinucci, M., Masiero, M., & Pravettoni, G. (2025) The dual role of empathy in clinical trial decisions. Frontiers in Psychology. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1397581
Marinucci, M.*, Pagliaro, S., Teresi, M., Ballone, C., & Riva, P. (2025). How low can you go? Observing an Ostracized Robot Is Sufficient to Hurt Humans’ Feelings. Group Process & Intergroup Relations. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/13684302241309578
Marinucci, M.*, & Riva, P. (2025). Homelessness in virtual reality: experiencing social exclusion improves attitudes and behaviors toward unhoused people. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 28(1), 65-71. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2024.0027
Lenzi, M., Gaboardi, M.*, Curiale, C., Tubertini, E., Marinucci, M., & Riva, P. (2024). Making choices: Increased choice opportunities are linked with better-perceived health among people experiencing homelessness. Community Psychology in Global Perspective, 10(2), 148-155. https://doi.org/10.1285/i24212113v10i2-2p148
Büttner, C. M.*, Jauch, M., Marinucci, M., Williams, K. D., Greifeneder, R., Riva, P., & Rudert, S. C. (2024). It will (never) stop hurting: Does chronic social exclusion lead to hyper- or hypo-sensitive psychological responses? Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 27(2), 256-277. https://doi.org/10.1177/13684302221140002
Burrai, F.*, Ortu, S., Marinucci, M., De Marinis, M. G., & Piredda, M. (2023). Effectiveness of immersive virtual reality in people with cancer undergoing antiblastic therapy: A randomized controlled trial. Seminars in Oncology Nursing, 39(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soncn.2023.151470
Marinucci, M.*, Riva, P., Lenzi, M., Lasagna, C., Waldeck, D., Tyndall, I., & Volpato, C. (2023). On the lowest rung of the ladder: How social exclusion, perceived economic inequality and stigma increase homeless people’s resignation. British Journal of Social Psychology, 62, 1817–1838. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12657
Owuamalam, K. C.*, Caricati, L., Spears, R., Rubin, M., Marinucci, M., & Ferrari, A. (2023). Further evidence that system justification amongst the disadvantaged is positively related to superordinate group identification. Acta Psychologica, 232, 103813. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103813
Marinucci, M.*, Mazzoni, D., Aureli, N., De Cristofaro, V., Shamloo, S. E., Guarino, A., & Tzankova, I. I. (2022). Together to welcome, together to exclude. Intergroup contact as an antecedent of collective and interpersonal behaviors pro and against migrants. Social Psychology, 53(4), 244-256. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000497
Marinucci, M.*, Pancani, L., & Riva, P. (2022). Exploring the peer-status prototypes: A large-scale latent profile analysis on high-school students from four European countries. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 64(1), 40-52. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.12863
Marinucci, M.*, Mazzoni, D., Pancani, L., & Riva, P. (2022). To whom should I turn? Intergroup social connections moderate social exclusion’s short- and long-term psychological impact on immigrants. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 99, 104275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2021.104275
Marinucci, M.*, Pancani, L., Aureli, N., & Riva, P. (2022). Online social connections as surrogates of face-to-face interactions: a longitudinal study under Covid-19 isolation. Computers in Human Behavior, 128, 107102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.107102
Mazzoni, D.*, Marinucci, M., Monzani, D., & Pravettoni, G. (2021). The Social Exclusion Bench Tool (SEBT): a visual way of assessing interpersonal social exclusion. MethodsX, 8, 101495. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mex.2021.101495
Monzani, D.*, Marinucci, M., Pancani, L., Rusconi, P., Mazzoni, D., & Pravettoni, G. (2021). Thinking of future as an older individual increases perceived risks for age-related diseases but not for COVID-19. International Journal of Psychology. 57(1), 96-106. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12789
Pancani, L.*, Marinucci, M., Aureli, N., & Riva, P. (2021). Forced social isolation and mental health. A study on 1006 Italians under COVID-19 lockdown. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.663799
Marinucci, M.* & Riva, P. (2021). How intergroup social connections shape immigrants’ responses to social exclusion. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations. 24(3), 411-435. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430219894620
Marinucci, M.* & Riva, P. (2021). Surrendering to social emptiness. Chronic social exclusion longitudinally predicts resignations in asylum-seekers. British Journal of Social Psychology, 40, 429-447. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12410
Marinucci, M.°, Maunder, R.°, Sanchez, K.°, Thai, M.°, McKeown, S.*, Turner, R., N., Stevenson, C. (2021). Intimate intergroup contact across the life-span. Journal of Social Issues, 77(1), 64-85. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12399
Aureli, N., Marinucci, M.*, & Riva, P. (2020). Can the chronic exclusion-resignation link be broken? An analysis of support group in prisons. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 50(2), 638-650. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12701
Mazzoni, D.*, Pancani, L., Marinucci, M., & Riva, P. (2020). The dual path of the rejection (dis)identification model: A study on adolescents with a migrant background. European Journal of Social Psychology, 50, 799–809. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2672
Book Chapters
Riva, P.*, Telari, A., & Marinucci, M. (in press). Social influence in digital environments. In D. Giles & J. Johnston (Eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Social Psychology and Media. New York, NY: Routledge.
Riva, P.*, Telari, A., & Marinucci, M. (in press). Influenze sociali negli ambienti digitali [Social influence in digital environments]. In A. Gabbiadini & L. Pancani (Eds.), Cyberpsicologia. Roma-Bari: Laterza.
Marinucci, M.*, & Riva, P. (2024). Chronic Social Exclusion, Radicalization, and Extremism. In M. Pfundmair, A. H. Hales, & K. D. Williams (Eds.) Exclusion and Extremism: A Psychological Perspective (pp. 263-286). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009408165.013