Annual Report 2003–2004
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he Institute was founded in 1963 by Hellmut Becker, who was joined subsequently by Friedrich Edding (1964), Dietrich Goldschmidt (1964), and Saul B. Robinsohn (1964) as the first generation of scientific directors and senior fellows of the Max Planck Society. In the first decade of its existence, the development of educational research Research Report Research Report and educational policy was emphasized. 2003–2004 2003–2004 The appointment of a second generation of directors Research Report 2003-2004 (Wolfgang Edelstein, 1973, and Peter M. Roeder, he Max Planck Institute for Human Develop- 1973) added to this framework a commitment to ment, founded in 1963, is a multidisciplinary basic research in human development and research establishment dedicated to the study of educational processes. Primary emphases included human development and education. Its inquiries longitudinal research on child and adolescent are broadly defined, but concentrate on the development (Edelstein) and educational research on Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition evolu-tionary, social, historical, and institutional (Director: Gerd Gigerenzer) classroom processes and school organization contexts of human development, as well as (Roeder). examining it from life-span and life-course perspectives. The disciplines of education, Since the 1980s and with the appointment of a third Center for Educational Research (Director: Jürgen Baumert) psychology, and sociology reflect the current generation of senior fellows and scientific directors directors’ backgrounds, but the Institute’s (Paul B. Baltes, 1980; Karl Ulrich Mayer, 1983; scholarly spectrum is enriched by the work of Jürgen Baumert, 1996; Gerd Gigerenzer, 1997), colleagues from such fields as mathematics, research at Center for Sociology and the Study of the Life Course (Director: Karl Ulrich Mayer) economics, computer science, evolutionary the Institute has concentrated more and more on biology, and the humanities. questions of basic research associated with the nature of human development, education, and work The Institute for Human Development is one of in a changing society. At the same time, life-span Center for Lifespan Psychology develop-mental and life-course research were added (Director: Paul B. Baltes/Ulman Lindenberger) about 80 research facilities financed by the Max Max Planck Institute for Human Development as a signature profile of the Institute’s research Max-Planck-Institut für Bildungsforschung Planck Society for the Advancement of Science program. (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Independent Research Group Wissenschaften e.V.), the core support for which The latest development in the succession of (Head: Heike Solga) is provided by the Federal Republic of Germany generations is marked by the appointment of Ulman and its 16 states. Lindenberger as new director of the Center for Lifespan Development (2004), adding a new International Max Planck Research School LIFE emphasis on the study of the neural correlates of (Co-chairs: Paul B. Baltes, Jacquelynne Eccles – University of Michigan, human behavior and cognitive plasticity to the John R. Nesselroade – University of Virginia) research agenda. Continuity and change is also involved in the establishment of a Max Planck International Research Network on Aging (MaxnetAging) directed by Paul Baltes. Max Planck International Research Network on Aging (Director: Paul B. Baltes) Max-Planck-Institut für Bildungsforschung Max-Planck-Institut für Bildungsforschung Max Planck Institute for Human Development Research Report 2003–2004 Max-Planck-Institut für Bildungsforschung Max Planck Institute for Human Development Impressum © 2005 Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin Design: Grafisches Atelier Rudolf J. Schmitt, Berlin Realization: Jürgen Baumgarten, Dagmar Gülow, Renate Hoffmann, Jürgen Rossbach, Erna Schiwietz, Peter Wittek of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development Printed 2005 by DruckVerlag Kettler GmbH, Bönen/Westfalen, Germany Board of Directors Paul B. Baltes Jürgen Baumert (Managing Director, January 2003–June 2005) Gerd Gigerenzer Ulman Lindenberger Karl Ulrich Mayer Board of External Scientific Advisers 2003–2004 Marlis Buchmann Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich Laura L. Carstensen Stanford University Leda Cosmides University of California, Santa Barbara Jacquelynne S. Eccles University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Klaus Fiedler University of Heidelberg Andreas Krapp Bundeswehr University, Munich Herbert W. Marsh University of Western Sydney, Penrith South Walter Müller University of Mannheim Denise Park University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Manfred Prenzel Institute for Science Education at the University of Kiel Anik de Ribaupierre-Bobillier University of Geneva Frank Rösler University of Marburg Contents Introduction 6 Highlights 12 Cooperation with Universities 20 LIFE 23 Graduate Program 27 MaxnetAging 30 Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition 32 Center for Educational Research 74 Center for Lifespan Psychology 152 Center for Sociology and the Study of the Life Course 214 Independent Research Group 276 Service Units 292 Appendix 300 Introduction 8 Introduction Introduction The Max Planck Institute for Human Development is a multidisciplinary re- search establishment dedicated to the study of human development and ed- ucation. Its inquiries are broadly defined, but concentrate on the evolution- ary, social, historical, and institutional contexts of human development, as well as examining it from life-span and life-course perspectives. The disci- plines of education, psychology, and sociology reflect the current directors’ backgrounds, but the Institute’s scholarly spectrum is enriched by the work of colleagues from such fields as cognitive neuroscience, mathematics, eco- nomics, computer science, evolutionary biology, and the humanities. The Institute is one of about 80 research facilities financed by the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e.V.), the core support for which is pro- vided by the Federal Republic of Germany and its 16 states. The total per- manent staff at the Institute is 113, including 37 researchers, supplemented by a varying number of predoctoral, postdoctoral, and affiliate researchers and visiting fellows. Research Centers in medicine, law, and education. Research into processes of human Each of these research areas empha- development is conducted primarily sizes the evolutionary foundations from the theoretical vantage points of behavior and cognition, in partic- offered by models of lifespan ular their domain specificity and psychology, bounded rationality and functional adaptiveness (pp. 32–73). adaptive behavior, life-course sociol- The Center for Educational Re- ogy, and conceptions of social- search (Director: Jürgen Baumert) historical change. examines learning and development The Institute is organized into four from an institutional point of view. research centers: Educational settings such as schools The Center for Adaptive Behavior offer a variety of developmental op- and Cognition (Director: Gerd portunities, but at the same time Gigerenzer) investigates human ra- exclude others. The impact of such tionality, in particular decision-mak- settings is investigated from three ing and risk perception in an uncer- perspectives: (1) the long-term con- tain world. Current research focuses sequences of schools’ opportunity on (1) bounded rationality, that is, structures on individual develop- the simple heuristics—cognitive, ment in terms of cognitive compe- emotional, and behavioral—that tencies as well as motivational and laypeople and experts use to make social resources, (2) international decisions under constraints of limit- comparison of the outcomes of ed time and knowledge, (2) social schooling in the fields of reading intelligence in cooperation and comprehension, mathematics and competition and (3) risk understand- science literacy, and cross-curricular ing and uncertainty management in competencies, and (3) improvement everyday life, including applications of learning and instruction in terms Introduction 9 of the cognitive activation of stu- (2) Life Courses in the Transforma- dents, mainly in science and mathe- tion of Former Socialist Countries; matics (pp. 74–151). (3) Welfare State, Life Courses, and The Center for Lifespan Psychology Social Inequalities; and (4) Life- (Director: Paul B. Baltes/Ulman Course Research and Analysis: Theo- Lindenberger) is characterized by a ry, Methods, and Synthesis. The re- lifespan perspective and a concern search centers on the degree of in- with the optimization of human terdependence among the processes potential. The studies of children, of family formation, educational ca- adolescents, adults, and the elderly reers, and occupational trajectories concentrate primarily on the devel- in the life histories of members opment of cognition, memory, sen- of various birth cohorts that differ sorimotor functions, intelligence, in their historical situation as well motivation, personality, and self- as in their sociopolitical contexts hood, as well as on prominent con- (e.g., former East vs. West Germany). textual factors of life-long socializa- The methodology of sociostructural tion, such as interpersonal action analysis and the analysis of dynamic coordination and co-development. processes provide additional foci of In each of these areas, plasticity of activity (pp. 214–275). human behavior and successful An important collaborative