Team

Prof. Dr. Anna Baumert

Lehrstuhlinhaberin

Positionsbeschreibung

In my research, I investigate how personality dispositions manifest in social behavior through patterns of cognitive, affective and motivational processes, and in interaction with characteristics of the social context, including group constellations. Specifically, I am fascinated by the psychological processes that, on the one hand, allow humans to flexibly disengage from their moral principles and construe own wrongdoings as legitimate and just, and, on the other hand, predispose (some) individuals to stand up for their moral principles despite severe personal risks. In my empirical work, I pursue multimethod approaches in assessment, including, besides self-report, behavioral observations, economic games, reaction time based measures, and coding of open-ended responses.

Academic Career:

• since 2021 Professor for Social and Personality Psychology at University of Wuppertal
• 2017-22 Head of Max Planck Research Group “Moral Courage”
• 2018-21 MaxPlanck@TUM tenure track professor
• 2012-2017 Assistant Professor for Personality Psychology and Psychological Assessment, University of Koblenz-Landau
• 2009 PhD, University of Koblenz-Landau
• 2005 Magister Philosophy, University of Trier
• 2003 Diplom Psychology, University of Trier

Honors and Scholarships

• 2020 Early Career Award der International Society for Justice Research ISJR
• 2020 Award for Outstanding Contribution to European Personality and Social Psychology, by the European Association for Personality Psychology and the European Association for Social Psychology
• 2017 William-Stern Prize for outstanding innovative research in personality psychology by the German Psychological Association

Research grants

• 2020 – 2023 „Personalized AI-based Interventions Against Online Norm Violations: Behavioral Effects and Ethical Implications” funded by the Institute for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence at Technical University Munich (in collaboration with Prof. Grossklags)
• 2017 – 2022 Max Planck Research Group “Moral Courage“
• 2016 – 2018 “Moral Courage” funded by “The Beacon Project on the Morally Excellent”
• 2014 – 2017 "Development of justice sensitivity in emerging adulthood" funded by the German Research Foundation
• 2011 – 2013 „Justice sensitivity, information processing and behavior“ funded by the German Research Foundation
• 2012 – 2016 “Political communication via smartphone – processing of political information and development of trust” and “Moral norm violations of politicians – effects on trust and participation“ funded by the federal state Rheinland-Pfalz

Publications

Peer-reviewed publications (selection)

Li, M., Adra, A., Yuen, S., Vargas Salfate, S., Chan, K.-M. & Baumert, A. (in press). Understanding Non-normative Civil Resistance Under Repression: Evidence from Hong Kong and Chile. Political Psychology.

Baumert, A., Mentrup, F. E., Klümper, L., & Sasse, J. (2023). Personality processes of everyday moral courage. Journal of Personality.  https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12850

Baumert, A., Adra, A. & Li, M. (2022). Justice Sensitivity in Intergroup Contexts: A Theoretical Framework. Social Justice Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-021-00378-9

Sasse, J., Li, M., & Baumert, A. (2022). How prosocial is moral courage? Current Opinion in Psychology, 44, 146-150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.09.004

Sasse, J., Halmburger, A., & Baumert, A. (2020). The functions of anger in moral courage—Insights from a behavioral study. Emotion. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000906

Baumert, A., Schmitt, M., Perugini, M., Johnson, W., Blum, G., Borkenau, P., ... & Wrzus, C. (2017). Integrating personality structure, personality process, and personality development. European Journal of Personality, 31(5), 503-528. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2115

Baumert, A., Beierlein, C., Schmitt, M., Kemper, C. J., Kovaleva, A., Liebig, S., & Rammstedt, B. (2014). Measuring four perspectives of justice sensitivity with two items each. Journal of Personality Assessment, 96(3), 380-390. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2013.836526

Baumert, A., Schlösser, T., & Schmitt, M. (2014). Economic games -conomic games - A Performance-based Assessment of Altruism and Fairness. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 30, 178-192. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000183

Book chapters (selection)

Halmburger, A., Rothmund, T., Baumert, A., & Maier, J. (2018). Trust in Politicians—Understanding and Measuring the Perceived Trustworthiness of Specific Politicians and Politicians in General as Multidimensional Constructs. In E. Bytzek, M. Steinbrecher & U. Rosar (Eds.), Wahrnehmung–Persönlichkeit–Einstellungen: Psychologische Theorien und Methoden in der Wahl- und Einstellungsforschung (pp. 235-302). Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-21216-2_8 

Wrzus, C., Quintus, M., & Baumert, A. (2018). Measuring personality processes in the lab and the field. In V. Zeigler-Hill & T. K. Shackelford (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Personality and Individual Differences: The Science of Personality and Individual Differences. (pp. 231–256). Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526451163.n10

Baumert, A. & Schmitt, M. (2016). Justice Sensitivity. In M. Schmitt & C. Sabbagh (Eds.), Handbook of Social Justice Theory and Research (pp. 161-180). Springer, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3216-0_9

Baumert, A., Rothmund, T., Thomas, N., Gollwitzer, M., & Schmitt, M. (2013). Justice as a Moral Motive: Belief in a Just World and Justice Sensitivity as Potential Indicators of the Justice Motive. In K. Heinrichs, F. Oser & T. Lovat (Eds.), Handbook of Moral Motivation: Theories, Models, Applications (pp. 159-179). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

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