Developmental Psychology and Clinical Psychology of the Lifespan
Welcome to the Chair of Developmental Psychology and Clinical Psychology of the Lifespan!
Developmental psychology deals with the description and explanation of persistent, successive changes in human experience and behavior over the entire lifespan. The lifespan approach therefore includes the developmental processes in childhood and adolescence as well as in middle and later adulthood. Important psychological functions in which developmental processes are investigated are cognitive (perception, thinking, memory, language), emotional, motivational and social functions.
In addition to the basic description and explanation of the developmental processes, developmental psychology also has an application-oriented claim. Fields of application of developmental psychology are, for example, early education/intervention, learning and language disorders, mental disorders with a special age reference (e.g. ADHD, separation anxiety), abuse of children, bullying at school and in older age the successful aging, transition into retirement, coping with chronic diseases, using technology in old age, geriatric psychotherapy etc.
Research at the Chair of Developmental Psychology and Clinical Psychology of the Lifespan under the direction of Prof. Dr. Simon Forstmeier encompasses both basic and application-oriented questions. We are primarily concerned with development processes and interventions in the areas of self-regulation and reminiscence. Under the heading Research you will find a more detailed description of our main research areas.