Institute of Psychology

Among the highlights at the Institute of Psychology (IfP) were the successful launch of the Psychology BSc programme and the creation of a Foundation Chair for Intercultural Psychology. It was taken up by Prof. Philipp Jugert in September 2018 and brings to the Institute an innovative area of interest that has had little representation in Germany to date. The research projects at the IfP cover a wide range of thematic areas.

In one of the main areas of interest, the research group of Prof. Silja Bellingrath investigated the interplay between different components of self-regulation, such as the regulation of emotion and cardiac vagal tone. Another research topic looked at the connection between chronic stress, stress reactivity and interoceptive awareness.

Prof. Annemarie Fritz-Stratmann’s research group investigated the development of mathematical competency among children and adolescents and examined possibilities for implementing diagnostic and support measures in schools. Under the BMBF’s “Teacher training quality campaign” funding line, a teaching and research clinic (FoBu) was set up for diagnosis and intervention with learning and developmental disorders.

Research in Prof. Detlev Leutner’s group included work on modelling and testing competency and self-regulated learning. The subject of academic success and dropout phenomena was explored as part of the DFG Research Unit “Academic learning and study success in the entry phase of science and technology study programs” (ALSTER).

The focus of research interest in Prof. Andreas Müller’s group was on health-promoting and age(ing)-friendly working conditions and on work-related stress, subjects that were explored in the BMBF-funded research consortium “SEEGEN”, which looks at mental health among hospital workers.

Among the topics investigated by Prof. Marcus Roth’s research group was the concept of empathy and the effects of empathetic communication, which it explored within “empCARE”, a BMBF-funded consortium project to develop and establish an empathy-based relief concept in care work.

The research group of Prof. Gisela Steins explored the relevance of how interaction takes place in schools and in non-school contexts to young people’s development. In a collaborative project with the Ministry for School and Further Education of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), research was also conducted on the acceptance of external school development initiatives from the teachers’ perspective.

The research group of Prof. Lisa von Stockhausen explored the possibilities for improving executive functions through mindfulness and the implementation of e-learning-supported training in a school context (in cooperation with Prof. Bellingrath’s group).

The members of the IfP have good local (within the University Alliance Ruhr), national and international networks. International cooperation exists with institutions such as the University of Luxembourg, LUX (Prof. Bellingrath), the University of Johannesburg, SA (Prof. Fritz-Stratmann), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, BRA (Prof. Steins), the ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CEPAR), AU (Prof. Müller), and UC Santa Barbara, USA (Prof. Leutner).