Research results, Cooperation agreements

The American professor of social and personality psychology Dr. Roy Baumeister is among the world’s most influential contemporary psychologists. Thanks to a Humboldt Research Award, he will be spending a total of six months conducting research at the University of Bamberg between now and 2017. During this time, the professor from Florida State University and his host Dr. Astrid Schütz, professor of personality psychology and psychological assessment, are planning to undertake joint research activities on social inclusion and creativity, as well as on the assessment of overconfidence. Moreover, Prof. Baumeister will give a number of public lectures on his work and research, in Bamberg and at other German universities.

Baumeister will illuminate one aspect of the self – namely consciousness – in a public lecture to be given at the University of Bamberg on 30 July 2015. In the lecture titled “The Why, What, and How of Human Consciousness,” he will challenge and reject views that say human action is typically caused by unconscious factors, without any help from the conscious mind. He will also discuss social and interpersonal functions of consciousness, which many theories have overlooked. This will draw new conclusions about what conscious thought can and cannot do – and what it can do better than unconscious processes. The lecture will be given in English and will begin at 6:00 p.m. in room M3N/02.32, Markusplatz 3.

Throughout his academic career, Baumeister has focused his research efforts on the study of the self and on the examination of self-worth, self-regulation, interpersonal processes, and the human will. His research into self-control has received a great deal of attention in recent years. He likens it to a muscle that can be exercised, but that also experiences a period of exhaustion following a strenuous effort. In a number of well-regarded studies, he and his team have for example shown that it is more difficult for subjects to control the urge to eat sweets after performing exhausting mental exercises.
The €60,000 Humboldt Research Award is one of the most prestigious distinctions bestowed upon foreign scholars in Germany. The award honours the whole of Baumeister’s academic achievements to date, a body of work that has had a lasting impact on the field of psychology. Archives of Scientific Psychology has ranked Baumeister 30th among the most influential psychologists of all time. This places Baumeister in the distinguished company of scholars like Albert Bandura, Jean Piaget and Carl Rogers.