Research profile of the Institute of Psychology

Founded in 1896, the Institute of Psychology is one of the oldest psychological institutes in the world. Today it is part of the Faculty of Human Sciences and pursues a rigorously scientific research approach. The institute has a long tradition in experimental-empirical research of human experience and behavior. This approach shapes research and teaching, which in addition to the basic subjects of cognitive psychology, social psychology, developmental psychology and biopsychology also includes in-depth training in experimental and empirical research methods, psychological diagnostics and the fundamentals of physiology and neuroanatomy. In addition, clinical psychology, educational psychology and industrial and organizational psychology represent the three major fields of application of psychology.

Current research priorities of the institute are emotions as determinants of normal and pathological behavior, cognitive foundations of action control and learning, development of cognition and metacognition, language and text comprehension, foundations of social understanding and action, neurofeedback, risk behavior, learning disorders, traffic psychology and media psychology. Close cooperations with working groups in medicine, education, informatics and media research as well as active participation in the Human Dynamics Center (https://www.hw.uni-wuerzburg.de/hdc) underscore the important role of the psychology in Würzburg as an interface between various sciences related to human behavior. A variety of research cooperations document the networking of Würzburg Psychology in German-speaking countries as well as internationally. The productivity and research strength of the institute are documented by a lively publication activity, high citation rates and a high volume of third-party funding.