Research

The Max Planck Institute for Human Development is dedicated to the study of human development and educational processes. Researchers from diverse disciplines—including psychology, sociology, history, computer and information science, and economics—work together on interdisciplinary projects. The research teams investigate questions such as how social and cognitive factors impact decision making and learning, how human emotions have been shaped by history and themselves shape history, how people can keep mentally fit into old age, how the environment affects the brain, behavior, and mental health, and how digitalization is changing and challenging society.

Research Centers

At the moment, research at the Institute is primarily organized in four research centers:

Adaptive Rationality (Director: Prof. Dr. Ralph Hertwig);
History of Emotions (Director: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Ute Frevert);
Humans and Machines (Director: Prof. Dr. Iyad Rahwan);
Lifespan Psychology (Director: Prof. Dr. Ulman Lindenberger).

Lise Meitner Groups

The Max Planck Society has established the Lise Meitner Excellence Program in order to recruit and promote exceptionally qualified female scientists.

Lise Meitner Group for Environmental Neuroscience (Head: Prof. Dr. Simone Kühn)

Max Planck Partner Groups

Max Planck Partner Groups have been developed as an instrument for the support of collaborative research in target areas which are scientifically promising and innovative, geared to the future and of mutual interest to Max Planck Institutes (MPI) and to the designated partner institutions. Max Planck Partner Groups enable both the MPI and the Head of the Partner Group to continue a sustained scientific interaction.

Hippocampal Circuit and Code for Cognition Lab (HCCCL) (Head: Attila Keresztes, Ph.D.)

Research Groups

In research groups, young scientists work on various topics according to their fields of interest.

Emmy Noether Group

The Emmy Noether Programme is a programme funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) that gives particularly qualified young scientists the opportunity to qualify for a university professorship over a period of six years by independently leading a junior research group.

Emmy Noether Group Lifespan Neural Dynamics Group ( Head: Douglas Garrett, Ph.D.)

Max Planck Research Groups

The Max Planck Society offers gifted young scientists and researchers the possibility of independent scientific work through its Max Planck Research Groups.

iSearch | Information Search, Ecological and Active Learning Research with Children (Head: Prof. Dr. Azzurra Ruggeri)
Naturalistic Social Cognition (Head: Dr. Annie E. Wertz)
Neural and Computational Basis of Learning, Decision Making and Memory (Head: Dr. Nicolas Schuck)