•  4
    Intelligence - Theories and Applications (edited book)
    with Rainer M. Holm-Hadulla and Michael Wink
    Springer. 2022.
    Intelligence allows people to understand events and to shape their surrounding environment. This book delves deeper into the theories and applications of intelligence, showing it is a multifaceted concept —defined and explained differently by prestigious experts of various disciplines in their own research. The book provides interdisciplinary connections of intelligence as it relates to a variety of clearly outlined subject areas, and should lead to a deep understanding of the phenomenon as it p…Read more
  •  185
    Wohin steuert die Psychologie? Ein Ausrichtungsversuch
    with Alexander Nicolai Wendt
    Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. 2022.
    Wie kann es gelingen, dem wissenschaftlichen Streben in der Psychologie eine Ordnung zu geben? In dem Buch werden zwei Perspektiven eingenommen: Zunächst blickt die Philosophie auf die Möglichkeit einer theoretischen Psychologie in Hinsicht auf anthropologische und wissenschaftstheoretische Voraussetzungen, dann die Experimentalpsychologie auf die Möglichkeit guter Theoriebildung. Der dritte Teil des Buches ist der Versuch einer Synthese, in dem der philosophisch-psychologische Perspektivenplura…Read more
  •  66
    Scholarly merits: From measurement to judgment
    Perspectives on Psychological Science 12 (6): 1145-1147. 2017.
    The discussion in Perspectives on Psychological Science about criteria for scholarly merit shows a potential bias of quantitative measurements compared with informed judgments of scholarly merits. This comment argues for a selection procedure that is open for qualitative arguments.
  •  53
    How we conceptualize climate change: Revealing the force-dynamic structure underlying stock-flow reasoning
    with Kurt Stocker
    Journal of Dynamic Decision Making 5 (1): 1-10. 2019.
    How people understand the fundamental dynamics of stock and flow (SF) is an important basic theoretical question with many practical applications. Such dynamics can be found, for example, in monitoring one’s own private bank account (income versus expenditures), the state of a birthday party (guests coming versus leaving), or in the context of climate change (CO2 emissions versus absorption). Understanding these dynamics helps in managing everyday life and in controlling behavior in an appropriat…Read more
  •  80
    Be prepared for the complexities of the twenty-first century!
    In Robert J. Sternberg, Don Ambrose & Sareh Karami (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Transformational Giftedness for Education, Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 171-180. 2022.
    According to Sternberg (Transformational giftedness. In T. L. Cross & P. Olszewski-Kubilius (Eds.), Conceptual frameworks for giftedness and talent development (pp. 203–234). Prufrock Press, 2020; Transformational vs. transactional deployment of intelligence. Journal of Intelligence, 9(15), 2021), transformationally gifted children are those who view to make a positive, meaningful, and enduring difference to the world. To reach their goal, they need competencies to deal with the complexities of …Read more
  •  75
    Complex Problem Solving: What It Is and What It Is Not
    with Dörner Dietrich
    Frontiers in Psychology 8. 2017.
    Computer-simulated scenarios have been part of psychological research on problem solving for more than 40 years. The shift in emphasis from simple toy problems to complex, more real-life oriented problems has been accompanied by discussions about the best ways to assess the process of solving complex problems. Psychometric issues such as reliable assessments and addressing correlations with other instruments have been in the foreground of these discussions and have left the content validity of c…Read more
  •  396
    Theory of mind in the Pacific: Reasoning across cultures (edited book)
    with Jürg Wassmann and Birgit Träuble
    Universitätsverlag Winter. 2013.
    The ascription of desires or beliefs to other people is a milestone of human sociality. It allows us to understand, explain, and predict human behaviour. During the last years, research on children's knowledge about the mental world, better known as theory of mind research, has become a central topic in developmental psychology and the role of cultural impact is subject of various theoretical yet hitherto few empirical accounts. This book is the result of intensive collaboration between anthropo…Read more
  •  4
    The current study introduces the Multi-Motive Grid Mobility in an age-stratified sample that aims to disentangle six motive components – hope of success, hope of affiliation, hope of power, fear of failure, fear of rejection, and fear of power – in mobility-related and mobility-unrelated scenarios. Similar to the classical Multi-Motive Grid, we selected 14 picture scenarios representing seven mobility and seven non-mobility situations. The scenarios were combined with 12 statements from the MMG.…Read more
  •  117
    Supporting open access publishing in the field of dynamic decision making
    with Wolfgang Schoppek, Andreas Fischer, Daniel Holt, and Alexander N. Wendt
    Journal of Dynamic Decision Making 7 1-3. 2021.
    In contrast to the successful previous year, 2020 turned out to be difficult, not only for the earth’s population due to COVID-19 but also for JDDM with an unusually small sixth volume. Looking back at these two very different years back-to-back led us to some reflection: As the COVID-19 pandemic forcefully illustrates, dynamic decision-making with all its complications and uncertainty is a topic of high relevance for modern societies.
  •  13
    A web-based feedback study on optimization-based training and analysis of human decision making
    with Michael Engelhart and Sebastian Sager
    Journal of Dynamic Decision Making 3 (1): 1-23. 2017.
    The question “How can humans learn efficiently to make decisions in a complex, dynamic, and uncertain environment” is still a very open question. We investigate what effects arise when feedback is given in a computer-simulated microworld that is controlled by participants. This has a direct impact on training simulators that are already in standard use in many professions, e.g., for flight simulators for pilots, and a potential impact on a better understanding of human decision making in general…Read more
  •  271
    Can motto-goals outperform learning and performance goals? Influence of goal setting on performance and affect in a complex problem solving task
    with Miriam Sophia Rohe, Maja Storch, and Julia Weber
    Journal of Dynamic Decision Making 2 (1): 1-15. 2016.
    In this paper, we bring together research on complex problem solving with that on motivational psychology about goal setting. Complex problems require motivational effort because of their inherent difficulties. Goal Setting Theory has shown with simple tasks that high, specific performance goals lead to better performance outcome than do-your-best goals. However, in complex tasks, learning goals have proven more effective than performance goals. Based on the Zurich Resource Model, so-called mott…Read more
  •  129
    How we conceptualize climate change: Revealing the force-dynamic structure underlying stock-flow reasoning
    with Kurt Stocker
    Journal of Dynamic Decision Making 5 (1): 1-1. 2019.
    How people understand the fundamental dynamics of stock and flow is an important basic theoretical question with many practical applications. In this paper, we present a universal frame for understanding stock-flow reasoning in terms of the theory of force dynamics. This deep-level analysis is then applied to two different presentation formats of SF tasks in the context of climate change. We can explain why in a coordinate-graphic presentation misunderstandings occur, whereas in a verbal present…Read more
  •  1276
    The role of emotions in complex problem solving
    with Miriam Spering and Dietrich Wagener
    Cognition and Emotion 19 (8): 1252-1261. 2005.
    The assumption that positive affect leads to a better performance in simple cognitive tasks has become well established. We address the question whether positive and negative emotions differentially influence performance in complex problem-solving in the same way. Emotions were induced by positive or negative feedback in 74 participants who had to manage a computer-simulated complex problem-solving scenario. Results show that overall scenario performance is not affected, but positive and negativ…Read more
  •  226
    Editorial: Complex Problem Solving Beyond the Psychometric Approach
    with Wolfgang Schoppek, Annette Kluge, and Magda Osman
    Frontiers in Psychology 9. 2018.
    Complex problem solving (CPS) and related topics such as dynamic decision-making (DDM) and complex dynamic control (CDC) represent multifaceted psychological phenomena. In a broad sense, CPS encompasses learning, decision-making, and acting in complex and dynamic situations. Moreover, solutions to problems that people face in such situations are often generated in teams or groups. In turn, this adds another layer of complexity to the situation itself because of the emerging issues that arise fro…Read more
  •  235
    The role of emotions in complex problem-solving
    with Miriam Spering and Daniel Wagener
    Cognition and Emotion 19 1252-1261. 2005.
    The assumption that positive affect leads to a better performance in simple cognitive tasks has become well established. We address the question whether positive and negative emotions differentially influence performance in complex problem-solving in the same way. Emotions were induced by positive or negative feedback in 74 participants who had to manage a computer-simulated complex problem-solving scenario. Results show that overall scenario performance is not affected, but positive and negativ…Read more
  •  913
    Mirror neuron activity is no proof for action understanding
    with Alina Steinhorst
    Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 8 1-4. 2014.
    We focus on the thesis that action understanding is a function of the mirror neuron system. According to our opinion, understanding is a process that runs through hermeneutic circles from the “Vorverständnis” (“previous understanding”) to steps of deeper understanding. Our critique relates to the narrow neuroscientific definition of action understanding as the capacity to recognize several movements as belonging to one action. After a reconstruction of the model's developments, we will challenge…Read more
  •  195
    Wissenserwerb über dynamische Systeme: Befunde Konnektionistischer Modellierung
    with Anette Standfuss and Knut Möller
    In G. Dorffner (ed.), Konnektionismus in Artificial Intelligence Und Kognitionsforschung, Springer Verlag. pp. 103--111. 1990.
    Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Verwendung von einfachen konnektionistischen Systemen als Modelle für den Erwerb und die Repräsentation von Wissen über zeitdiskrete lineare dynamische Systeme in der Kognitionspsychologie. Ein ausgewähltes dynamisches System namens SINUS wird in Form eines „pattern associators“ repräsentiert und dessen Lernverhalten untersucht. Es wird versucht, daraus Annahmen über den Wissenserwerb von Probanden im Umgang mit solchen dynamischen …Read more
  •  280
    In the last 20 years, a stream of research emerged under the label of „complex problem solving“ (CPS). This research was intended to describe the way people deal with complex, dynamic, and intransparent situations. Complex computer-simulated scenarios were as stimulus material in psychological experiments. This line of research lead to subtle insights into the way how people deal with complexity and uncertainty. Besides these knowledge-rich, realistic, intransparent, complex, dynamic scenarios w…Read more
  •  630
    Dynamic systems as tools for analysing human judgement
    Thinking and Reasoning 7 (1). 2001.
    With the advent of computers in the experimental labs, dynamic systems have become a new tool for research on problem solving and decision making. A short review of this research is given and the main features of these systems (connectivity and dynamics) are illustrated. To allow systematic approaches to the influential variables in this area, two formal frameworks (linear structural equations and finite state automata) are presented. Besides the formal background, the article sets out how the t…Read more