Team of the Department

Department for General Psychology

Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences
Team of the Department
Image: Anne Günther (University of Jena)

Welcome to the Department for General Psychology

Prof. Dr. Stefan R. Schweinberger

General Psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the processes and mechanisms of human mental activities. Its “classic” areas of interest are perception, memory, attention, language, communication, motivation, emotion, action and, more recently, consciousness. Our own approach seeks to understand not only the functional “microarchitecture” of these processes, but also their neuronal bases. In addition to traditional experimental psychology, we use various research methods of the Cognitive Neurosciences, such as event-related brain potentials (ERP), functional brain imaging, or neuropsychological investigations of patients suffering from focal brain lesions. We all have a “social brain”, and our main research interest is in person perception and human interaction. What are the processes which enable us to recognize identity, emotional expression, or speech from a face or a voice? How does our perceptual system integrate information across different sensory modalities? How can the dynamic interplay between these processes of person perception and social action be characterized in human interaction? Visit our lab and research pages to learn more about our current projects.

Information

Wellcome to all new students!

Especially, we want to welcome new Master's students and inform you about two information meetings that we are offering in the beginning of the semester:

First, there will be an information meeting on all three Master programs in Psychology on October 1, 2025, 11.00 s.t., just before the semester starts. This meeting will take place at the Campus in the Carl-Zeiss-Strasse, seminar room SR 221. This information meeting will provide you with some information on study organization in the CPCN-master, and we can address some of your questions regarding the booking of courses/study planning there. Participation in the meeting is therefore highly recommended if at all possible – especially so for our international students. In case you cannot make that date, we strongly recommend that you get in touch with us so that we can give you further advice in planning your studies.

Second, we would like to invite you to a group meeting with information specifically for CPCN students on October 14, 2025, 14.30, in room SR009 in the Institute of Psychology, Am Steiger 3/1. This is an additional possibility to meet your direct peers and (some of) the lecturers, to help you in getting integrated as early and well as possible.

Research Network