Profile Area
Profile Area

Individualisation

The Profile Area “Individualisation” practices a fundamentally new interdisciplinary approach to understand individualisation which is characterized by strong participation of biology, chemistry and pharmacy, psychology, cognitive neuroscience, sports science, medicine, education and social sciences, philosophy, and mathematics and computer science. While standard approaches to the study of individual differences are scattered across disciplines, applying discipline-specific theories and methods, research projects of this Profile Area are devoted to a science of individualisation that cuts across disciplinary borders, and considers individual differences across analytic layers. Following this novel approach members of this Profile Area are solving three key quests: (1) they describe individual differences (wherein and how much do individuals differ?), (2) they explain individual differences (under which circumstances and by means of which processes do individual differences emerge), and (3) they predict individual differences (when and how will individuals behave and respond differently?).

The Profile Area “Individualisation” is a lively environment, where trend-setting research questions of the highest social relevance are being addressed that will have impact on approaches in medicine, prevention, nutrition, psychotherapy, education, the world of work, animal welfare and the socio-ecological well-being of all. Its high innovation potential opens up the ideal space for research excellence, which can be seen, among other things, in a joint project funded by NRW Profiling 2020 and several EU-funded joint projects.