Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin Design: Grafisches Atelier Rudolf J
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Impressum © Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin Design: Grafisches Atelier Rudolf J. Schmitt, Berlin Realization: Jürgen Baumgarten, Renate Hoffmann, Madeline Hoyt, Ulrich Kuhnert, Yvonne Misun, Dagmar Stenzel, Christiane Tozman, Peter Wittek of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development Printed 2001 by Druckhaus Dresden GmbH, Germany Board of Directors Paul B. Baltes Jürgen Baumert (Managing Director until December 1999) Gerd Gigerenzer (Managing Director, January 2000–December 2001) Karl Ulrich Mayer Board of External Scientific Advisers Leda Cosmides Jacquelynne S. Eccles David L. Featherman (Chair) Helmut Fend Klaus Fiedler John H. Goldthorpe Andreas Krapp Walter Müller Helga Nowotny Jürgen Oelkers Anik de Ribaupierre-Bobillier Henry M. Wellman Ad hoc Advisory Board Members 2001 Marlis Buchmann Laura Carstensen Robert S. Siegler Contents Introduction 6 Highlights 14 Cooperation with Universities 18 Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition 22 Center for Educational Research 58 Center for Lifespan Psychology 120 Center for Sociology and the Study of the Life Course 168 Independent Research Group 208 Service Units 220 Appendix 230 Introduction Introduction 8 Introduction Introduction The Max Planck Institute for Human Development is a multidisciplinary research establishment dedicated to the study of human development and education. Its inquiries are broadly defined, but concentrate on the evolutionary, social, historical, and institutional contexts of human de- velopment, as well as examining it from life-span and life- course perspectives. The disciplines of education, psycholo- gy, and sociology reflect the current directors’ back- grounds, but the Institute’s scholarly spectrum is enriched by the work of colleagues from such fields as mathemat- ics, economics, computer science, evolutionary biology, and the humanities. The Institute is one of about 80 research facilities fi- nanced by the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wis- senschaften e.V.), the core support for which is provided by the Federal Republic of Germany and its 16 states. The to- tal permanent staff at the Institute is 115, including 37 re- searchers, supplemented by a varying number of predoc- toral, postdoctoral, and affiliate researchers and visiting fellows. 9 Introduction Research Centers Research into processes of human de- and knowledge, (2) social intelligence in velopment is conducted primarily from cooperation and competition and (3) the theoretical vantage points offered risk understanding and uncertainty by models of life-span psychology, management in everyday life, including bounded rationality and adaptive be- applications in medicine, law, and edu- havior, life-course sociology, and con- cation. Each of these research areas ceptions of social-historical change. emphasizes the evolutionary founda- The Institute is organized into four tions of behavior and cognition, in par- research centers: ticular their domain specificity and The Center for Adaptive Behavior functional adaptiveness. and Cognition (Director: Gerd Gigeren- The Center for Educational Re- zer) investigates human rationality, in search (Director: Jürgen Baumert) ex- particular decision-making and risk per- amines learning and development from ception in an uncertain world. Current an institutional point of view. Educa- research focuses on (1) bounded ration- tional settings such as schools offer a ality, that is, the simple heuristics—cog- variety of developmental opportunities, nitive, emotional, and behavioral—that but at the same time exclude others. laypeople and experts use to make deci- The impact of such settings is investi- sions under constraints of limited time gated from three perspectives: (1) the long-term conse- quences of schools’ op- portunity structures on individual development in terms of cognitive competencies as well as motivational and social resources, (2) interna- The Max Planck tional comparison of Institute for the outcomes of Human schooling in the fields Development, built 1971–73 of reading comprehen- by Hermann sion, mathematics and Fehling and science literacy, and Daniel Gogel. Main entrance. cross-curricular compe- tencies, and (3) im- provement of learning and instruction in terms of the cognitive activa- tion of students, mainly in science and mathe- matics. The Center for Lifespan Psychology (Director: Paul B. Baltes) is characterized by a lifespan perspec- tive and a concern with 10 Introduction the optimization of human potential. level, historical and comparative per- The studies of children, adolescents, spective. Currently, this research is or- adults, and the elderly concentrate pri- ganized around four major foci: (1) Edu- marily on the development of personal- cation, Training, and Employment; (2) ity, motivation, selfhood, intelligence, East German Life Courses after Unifica- memory, and information processing, as tion (LV-Ost); (3) Welfare State, Life well as on various aspects of lifelong Courses, and Social Inequalities; and (4) socialization including the family. In Life-Course Research and Analysis: The- each of these areas, plasticity of human ory, Methods, and Synthesis. The re- functioning and the conditions for suc- search centers on the degree of interde- cessful development play an important pendence among the processes of fami- role in the conceptual and methodologi- ly formation, educational careers, and cal design of the studies. Theory, occupational trajectories in the life his- methodology and history of develop- tories of members of various birth co- mental psychology define an additional horts that differ in their historical situa- area of interest. tion as well as in their sociopolitical In the Center for Sociology and the contexts (e.g., former East vs. West Ger- Study of the Life Course (Director: Karl many). The methodology of sociostruc- Ulrich Mayer), empirical research is tural analysis and the analysis of dy- oriented toward the analysis of social namic processes provide additional foci structure and institutions in a multi- of activity. Part of the interior. Spiral staircase con- necting project floors. 11 Introduction Governance of the Institute ters of scientific research and policy. The Institute is governed by a Board of One of the major institute-wide com- Directors, currently consisting of the mittees is the scientific staff committee four members of the Institute who are (Mitarbeiterausschuss) which is elected fellows (Wissenschaftliche Mitglieder) by all scientists. of the Max Planck Society (Jürgen The International Board of Scien- Baumert, Paul B. Baltes, Gerd Gigeren- tific Advisers offers an important zer, Karl Ulrich Mayer). The board is source of external review and advice to augmented by one member from the both the directors and the scientific Institute’s research staff (Olaf Köller) staff on matters of research at the In- and the head of administration (Nina stitute. Members are selected from an Körner). Each of the directors is elected international circle of distinguished re- to serve as managing director for a searchers and appointed by the Presi- two-year period on a rotating basis. dent of the Max Planck Society to four- Several in-house committees com- year terms. They meet biannually to posed of representatives elected by the discuss completed, ongoing, and future entire scientific staff or by appointment research projects at the Institute. A list advise the Board of Directors on mat- of the current members can be found Rear view of the Institute. 12 Introduction The Institute sponsors an ecological garden. on the frontmatter of this report. Organization of the Annual Report the research colloquia held at the In- This research report is organized in the stitute, the visiting scholars, and the following manner: cooperation of the Institute’s scien- – The presentation of each research tific staff with projects outside the center begins with an introductory Institute. It also includes an index of overview summarizing its program. the scientific staff and their research – The introduction is followed by de- interests. scriptions of the center’s research Inquiries about publications should be areas and selected projects along addressed to the author(s) involved in with a list of scientific publications. the individual projects. Copies of the – The supportive activities of the serv- annual reports are available from the ice units—library and computing Publications Unit (Redaktion) of the In- services—are described in a special stitute upon request. section at the end of the report. – The appendix provides information on Berlin, March 2001 For the Board of Directors: Gerd Gigerenzer 13 Highlights Highlights Honors and Awards Corinne Alfeld-Liro Wilson C. Olson Award, Sciences and Deutsche Akademie der Natur- School of Education, University of Michigan forscher Leopoldina) Paul B. Baltes Member of the order Pour le Gerd Gigerenzer Fellow, Berlin-Brandenburg mérite for sciences and arts Academy of Sciences Paul B. Baltes Novartis Prize for Geronto- Gerd Gigerenzer John M. Olin Distinguished logical Research, International Association of Visiting Professor, School of Law, University Gerontology of Virginia, Charlottsville Paul B. Baltes Longevity Prize, Fondation Jutta Heckhausen Max Planck Research IPSEN, Paris Prize for International Cooperation by the Paul B. Baltes Honorary Doctor, University Max Planck Society and the Alexander von of Geneva Humboldt Foundation Jürgen Baumert European Latsis Prize, Ulrich