Impressum © 2003 Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin Design: Grafisches Atelier Rudolf J. Schmitt, Berlin Realization: Jürgen Baumgarten, Ivonne Bratke, Renate Hoffmann, Ulrich Kuhnert, Yvonne Misun, Erna Schiwietz, Peter Wittek of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development Printed 2003 by DruckVerlag Kettler GmbH, Bönen/Westfalen, Germany Board of Directors Paul B. Baltes Jürgen Baumert Gerd Gigerenzer (Managing Director, January–December 2001) Karl Ulrich Mayer (Managing Director, January–December 2002) Board of External Scientific Advisers Marlis Buchmann Laura L. Carstensen Leda Cosmides Jacquelynne S. Eccles Klaus Fiedler Andreas Krapp Herbert W. Marsh Walter Müller Jürgen Oelkers Anik de Ribaupierre-Bobillier Contents Introduction 6 Highlights 12 Cooperation with Universities 16 Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition 24 Center for Educational Research 60 Center for Lifespan Psychology 128 Center for Sociology and the Study of the Life Course 188 Independent Research Group 234 Service Units 248 Appendix 256 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 mathematics, economics, computer sci- ence, 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 life-span ular their domain specificity and psychology, bounded rationality and functional adaptiveness. 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 Gigerenzer) investigates human ra- tionality, in particular decision-mak- ing and risk perception in an uncer- tain world. Current research focuses on (1) bounded rationality, that is, the simple heuristics—cognitive, emotional, and behavioral—that laypeople and experts use to make decisions under constraints of limit- ed time and knowledge, (2) social intelligence in cooperation and competition and (3) risk understand- ing and uncertainty management in everyday life, including applications Introduction 9 portunities, but at the same time ceptual and methodological design exclude others. The impact of such of the studies. Theory, methodology settings is investigated from three and history of developmental psy- perspectives: (1) the long-term con- chology define an additional area of sequences of schools’ opportunity interest. structures on individual develop- In the Center for Sociology and ment in terms of cognitive compe- the Study of the Life Course tencies as well as motivational and (Director: Karl Ulrich Mayer), empiri- social resources, (2) international cal research is oriented toward the comparison of the outcomes of analysis of social structure and in- schooling in the fields of reading stitutions in a multilevel, historical comprehension, mathematics and and comparative perspective. Cur- science literacy, and cross-curricular rently, this research is organized competencies, and (3) improvement around four major foci: (1) Educa- of learning and instruction in terms tion, Training, and Employment; of the cognitive activation of stu- (2) East German Life Courses after dents, mainly in science and mathe- Unification (LV-Ost); (3) Welfare matics. State, Life Courses, and Social In- The Center for Lifespan Psychology equalities; and (4) Life-Course Re- (Director: Paul B. Baltes) is charac- search and Analysis: Theory, Meth- terized by a lifespan perspective and ods, and Synthesis. The research a concern with the optimization of centers on the degree of interde- human potential. The studies of pendence among the processes of children, adolescents, adults, and family formation, educational ca- the elderly concentrate primarily on reers, and occupational trajectories the development of personality, in the life histories of members of motivation, selfhood, intelligence, various birth cohorts that differ in memory, and information processing, their historical situation as well as as well as on various aspects of life- in their sociopolitical contexts (e.g., long socialization including the fam- former East vs. West Germany). The ily. In each of these areas, plasticity methodology of sociostructural of human functioning and the con- analysis and the analysis of dynamic ditions for successful development processes provide additional foci of play an important role in the con- activity. Fotos: David Ausserhofer. 10 Introduction Governance of the Institute The Institute is governed by a Board of Directors, currently consisting of the four members of the Institute who are fellows (Wissenschaftliche Mitglieder) of the Max Planck Socie- ty (Jürgen Baumert, Paul B. Baltes, Gerd Gigerenzer, Karl Ulrich Mayer). The board is augmented by one member from the Institute’s re- search staff (Ralph Hertwig) and Organization of the Annual Report the head of administration (Nina This research report is organized in Körner). Each of the directors is the following manner: elected to serve as managing direc- • The presentation of each research tor for a two-year period on a rotat- center begins with an introductory ing basis. overview summarizing its program. Several in-house committees com- • The introduction is followed by posed of representatives elected by descriptions of the center’s re- the entire scientific staff or by ap- search areas and selected projects pointment advise the Board of Di- along with a list of scientific pub- rectors on matters of scientific re- lications. search and policy. One of the major • The supportive activities of the institute-wide committees is the service units—library and comput- scientific staff committee (Mitar- ing services—are described in a beiterausschuss) which is elected by special section at the end of the all scientists. report. The International Board of Scien- • The appendix provides information tific Advisers offers an important on the research colloquia held at source of external review and advice the Institute, the visiting scholars, to both the directors and the scien- and the cooperation of the Insti- tific staff on matters of research at tute’s scientific staff with projects the Institute. Members are selected outside the Institute. It also in- from an international circle of dis- cludes an index of the scientific tinguished researchers and appoint- staff and their research interests. ed by the President of the Max Inquiries about publications should Planck Society to four-year terms. be addressed to the author(s) in- They meet biannually to discuss volved in the individual projects. completed, ongoing, and future Copies of the annual reports are research projects at the Institute. available from the Publications Unit A list of the current members can (Redaktion) of the Institute upon re- be found on the frontmatter of this quest. report. Berlin, March 2003 For the Board of Directors: Jürgen Baumert Introduction 11 Highlights Honors and Awards Paul B. Baltes Honorary Doctorate, Humboldt University of Berlin Paul B. Baltes “Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz mit Stern“ of the Federal Republic of Germany Paul B. Baltes 2001 Distinguished Career Contribution to Gerontology Award of Behavioral and Social Sciences Section of The Gerontological Society of America Jürgen Baumert Honorary Doctorate, University of Fribourg, Switzerland Jürgen Baumert Franz Emanuel Weinert Prize, German Psychological Association (DGPs) Felix Büchel Honorary Professor of Sociology, Free University of Berlin Wolfgang Edelstein 2002 Kuhmerker and Gifts of Time Foundation Award of the Association for Moral Education Gerd Gigerenzer “Most Informative Book of the Year 2002“ by “Bild der Wissenschaft“ for “Reckoning with Risk: Learning to Live with Uncertainty“ Gerd Gigerenzer Fellow, Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina Lothar Krappmann Member, United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child Oliver Vitouch 2002 City of Vienna Science Award Professional Career Advancements Eckhard Klieme Full Professor for Educational Science, University of Frankfurt/Main, and Head of the Department of Educational Evaluation, German Institute for International Educational