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Teaching and research go hand in hand: Our team is committed to teaching of the highest quality. For us, it is a great privilege to introduce students to the latest knowledge of psychology.

  • Courses

    Lecture: Fundamentals of Psychological Diagnostics (Philipp Schäpers)
    The lecture presents the objectives, application areas, and approaches of psychological diagnostics. Topics include: the definition and history of scientific diagnosing; the diagnostic process; diagnostic frameworks and strategies; diagnostic data including ability and personality tests, systematic behavior observation, and diagnostic interview; psychopathological findings; combination of diagnostic data and judgment formation; decision and utility theory.

    This lecture is part of the Bachelor's program in Psychology.

    Seminar: "Personnel Selection: Recruiting and Assessment" (Philipp Schäpers)
    This seminar provides advanced knowledge covering the entire field of personnel selection. Topics range from job and requirement analysis, employee recruitment, and the construction and application of suitability diagnostic procedures (selection interviews, testing methods, assessment centers, etc.), to onboarding. In addition to critically discussing various methods in terms of validity, acceptance, and economy, experiential learning is promoted. Furthermore, it covers the knowledge required according to DIN 33430 for obtaining the "License E for Suitability Diagnosticians" for job-related suitability assessments. Certification of participants is possible upon completion of the seminar. The seminar concept pursues several didactic goals: balancing the different levels of prior knowledge at the beginning of the Master's program in Psychology through foundational literature, solidifying knowledge through session-based basic texts, and laying the groundwork for in-depth discussions. Important procedures and findings are collected in a shared toolbox. Important practical requirements are practiced through short business presentations, elevator speeches, and at least one session conducted in English. The focus is also on conceptually transferring the acquired knowledge to professional practice.

    This seminar is part of the Master's program in Psychology - Personnel and Business Psychology.

    In the winter terms 2022/23 and 2023/24, Philipp Schäpers has received our Department's best teaching award for this seminar.

    Lecture: Selected Chapters of Business Administration - Human Resource Management and Corporate Entrepreneurship (Philipp Schäpers)
    The lecture "Human Resource Management and Corporate Entrepreneurship" explores what motivates individuals to pursue entrepreneurship and which (psychological) factors facilitate successful ventures. Additionally, it provides fundamental knowledge for successful human resource management, with a particular focus on startups and newly established companies. The focus is on successful recruitment strategies, requirement analyses, personnel selection instruments (performance and personality measurement), leadership & teamwork, as well as personnel selection according to DIN 33430.

    This lecture is part of the Bachelor's program in Business Administration.

    Seminar: Psychology of Entrepreneurship (Philipp Schäpers)

    n the seminar "Psychology of Entrepreneurship," the question of what motivates individuals to pursue entrepreneurship and which (psychological) factors facilitate successful ventures is explored. Following the motto: "From idea to IPO," the various phases of a startup founding (with a focus on HR-related issues) are discussed. This includes questions such as the importance and selection of initial team members, what constitutes a startup culture, how important social impact is, or why innovative ideas and startups may fail due to their founders. The seminar is designed as an applied event, providing participants with the opportunity to apply what they have learned through practical exercises, excursions, and expert interviews.

    This seminar is an innovative event at the Institute of Psychology.

    Research Colloquium: Psychology of Entrepreneurship (Philipp Schäpers)
    This event discusses current thesis projects (Bachelor's, Master's, and Ph.D.) of the Psychology of Entrepreneurship research unit. Participation is recommended for all students who are writing their thesis in the Psychology of Entrepreneurship research unit or plan to start a thesis in the near future. In this event, participants and staff members of the Psychology of Entrepreneurship research unit present and discuss current research projects.

    This colloquium is part of the Bachelor's and Master's programs in Psychology.

    Guide to Academic Work (Henrik Heinemann, Franz Mönke)
    This seminar provides an introduction to academic work: How are articles structured? How to read a complex academic article? What requirements do institutions like the American Psychological Association place on manuscripts? What tools support writing and managing literature? In this course, students learn the basic tools of psychologists.

    This seminar is part of the Bachelor's program in Psychology.

  • Theses

    We offer supervision for your Bachelor or Master thesis at the University of Münster; they are usually related to our main research areas. We prefer research projects with a focus on empirical studies. On this page, we offer suggestions for specific research questions which are in line with our main research interests. We are happy to receive further ideas from you and are open to cooperate with practitioners to conduct your thesis project.

    In particular, we offer supervision for theses concerning these topics:

    • Student Start-Up Monitor
    • Cybervetting
    • Selection & Assessment
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Digitization
    • Diversity Management
    • Employer Branding
    • Personality Assessment

    Student Start-up Monitor

    We are conducting this year's Student Start-Up Monitor as a snaphot of the student start-up ecosystem at German universities.

    The focus of a thesis would be on implementation and evaluation of the monitor; with supervision. We are open to your research ideas, based on the variables surveyed in the monitor (e.g. well-being, social and sustainable entrepreneurship, student initiatives).

    Your supervisors will be Jun.-Prof. Dr. Philipp Schäpers and Max Weldert, M.Sc. or Henrik Heinemann, M.Sc. Please contact us if you are interested in the Student Start-up Monitor!

    Cybervetting

    In recent years, cybervetting became a common practice for HR professionals: Latest studies estimate that two of three recruiters look up applicant's social media to gather information on the applicant's hireability. Specifically, they search professional (e.g., LinkedIn, Xing) and private social networks (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) for cues on the applicant's skills, values, and personality.

    While Cybervetting is very popular in HR departments, its psychometric validity is debated controversially in IO-psychology. Do social media profiles offer job-related cues to future employers? Can one assess the applicant's future performance and skills from a social media profile? Studies on this question are rare; and, moreover, present contradictory results. Also, many authors point out that cybervetting might harbor dangers of biased decisions and stereotype use. 

    Currently, we are planning empirical studies to address questions such as:

    • The "who": Recruiter's attitudes in cybervetting (e.g., trust, preferences, perceptions)
    • The "what": Social media profile features in cybervetting (e.g., irrelevant information, relative importance of profile features)
    • Thinking, fast and wrong: Biases in cybervetting (e.g., similarity-attraction, sexism, racism, halo, attractiveness)
    • Who, when, what, where, and how? Cybervetting practices in Germany

    Supervision for theses that focus on cybervetting is provided by Prof. Dr. Philipp Schäpers und Franz Mönke, M.Sc. Please feel free to contact us if you are interested in cybervetting!

    Entrepreneurs' well-being

    Being an entrepreneur can be a potential source of self-fullfillment and personal growth; and therefore contribute to an individual's well-being. Being a successful entrepreneur no longer means just making high profits, but also having a fulfilled life. Numerous studies have shown that founders' well-being is above-average; despite a significantly higher workload. However, current studies in the German start-up ecosystem showed that, at the same time, a remarkable number of founders are also "very dissatisfied" with their lives.

    However, low well-being has hardly received any attention in recent studies so far. Since many startups fail or never scale, several authors criticized the focus on the positive aspects of entrepreneurship and call for a more nuanceful investigation of entrepreneurial well-being.

    Currently, we are planning empirical studies to address questions such as:

    • Is there a casual relationship between well-being and (long-term) firm performance?
    • Why are so many founders very satisfied, but others also very unhappy with their lives? (explanatory model)
    • Does low well-being motivate short-term focused behavior?
    • How does the well-being of peak-performing entrepreneurs differ from low-performing entrepreneurs?
    • Does entrepreneurs‘ well-being have spill-over effects on coworkers, employees and families?
    • Is there a self-selection of happier people into entrepreneurship?

    Supervision is provided by Prof. Dr. Philipp Schäpers and Max Weldert, M.Sc. Please contact us if you are interested in entrepreneurs' well-being!

    Responsible entrepreneurship

    More and more newly founded companies no longer have profit as their main purpose, but strive to make a social or ecological contribution to our society. However, very few of these start-ups are classic social enterprises whose main motive is non-profit - but rather companies that want to combine profit and social benefit. We aim to investigate this new form of start-ups and want to take a look at the impact of social and environmental responsibility from the different perspectives of the people involed in an start up (e.g., entrepreneurs, employees, applicants, clients and investors).

    Currently, we are planning empirical studies to address questions such as:

    • Purpose attracts? Social responsibility and employer attractiveness
    • Differentiating responsible and commercial entrepreneurs (values, motivation, personality)
    • Come for the job, stay for the impact: Effects of social responsibility on job satisfaction and turnover intentions
    • Feeling good and doing great: Subjective and objective entrepreneurial success factors
    • Not all shiny things are green: When is a company perceived as socially responsible?

    We provide supervision by Prof. Dr. Philipp Schäpers and Henrik Heinemann, M.Sc. Please feel free to contact us if you are interested in responsible entrepreneurship!