German Psychological Society Honors Isabel Thielmann
Researcher receives Charlotte and Karl Bühler Prize
This year, Max Planck researcher Isabel Thielmann is the recipient of the Charlotte and Karl Bühler Prize from the German Psychological Society (DGPs). The award ceremony took place 16 September 2024 at the 53rd DGPs Congress in Vienna. Isabel Thielmann was unable to travel due to extensive flooding in Austria and accepted the award online.
Isabel Thielmann heads the independent research group “Personality, Identity and Crime” at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law in Freiburg. Together with her team, she investigates individual differences in behavior and how personality traits are related to ethical and moral behavior on the one hand and unethical or criminal behavior on the other. She uses innovative methods to understand the interplay between self-perception and other-perception and to develop approaches to promote positive behavior over the long term. One of the main aims of her work is to expand theoretical foundations in psychology, behavioral economics, and criminology and to link these disciplines more closely.
In the jury’s view, Isabel Thielmann's work is characterized by a remarkable methodological diversity and sound scientific foundation, and the laudatory speech specifically emphasized the high relevance of her work for the understanding of ethical and prosocial vs. unethical and antisocial behavior. Isabel Thielmann’s research program has already had a considerable impact. Her research is widely recognized, which is reflected in numerous other intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary works. Her contributions to science are not only theoretically sound but also of great practical importance and scope.
In addition to her research, Isabel Thielmann is actively involved in the academic community. For example, she launched a mentoring program for young researchers in the DGPs division for differential psychology, personality psychology and diagnostics. “Isabel Thielmann’s impressive research strength as well as her extraordinary commitment to the scientific community make her a worthy and deserving recipient of the distinction named after Charlotte and Karl Bühler,” says DGPs President Stefan Schulz-Hardt.
The Charlotte and Karl Bühler Prize distinguishes young researchers whose scientific work has achieved the status of a research program that has already advanced a research field in psychology and possibly even had an impact on neighboring fields. The prize is awarded every two years and is endowed with €1000.