Research in the LDFC

Our research questions span a wide range of topics in psychological science, covering aspects of aging, culture, education, family and identity. As such, we are intrested in how people perceive their own age, how people from diverse backgrounds can age “well”, and how intergenerational relations are regulated over the life span and in the context of migration; but also how people construe their identity in multicultural families. Another research focus is on education and on the developnent of young learners in school.

We are guided by the idea that individuals are active agents in their own development, shaping the course of their lives in interaction with their interindividual relationships, within the cultural context.

We pursue our research questions from a broad methodological perspective, for instance, following people in their daily lives through ambulatory assessments or experience sampling, and over longer time spans, including subjective as well as objective measurements, and also using in-depth methods, such as qualitative interviews and observation.

As our research findings have important implications for society, a central mission of our institute is to disseminate our findings to policymakers and affected societal institutions.