Theses (BSc/MSc Psychology)

Tutor

In addition to the supervision by first and second supervisors, our tutors are available to all students who are writing their thesis in the field of social psychology to answer any questions they may have.

Topics for theses in the field of social psychology

Lie detection

In this research area, we address the question of which social and individual variables influence bothactive deception and the detection of deception. Currently, one research project is concerned with how the statements of Native vs. Non-Native speakers are perceived in terms of their credibility.

Publications:

Volz, S., Reinhard, M‐A, Müller, P. (2020). Why don't you believe me? Detecting deception in messages written by nonnative and native speakers. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 34, 256– 269. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3615

Reinhard, M.-A., Sporer, S.L., Scharmach, M., & Marksteiner, T. (2011). Listening, not watching: Situational familiarity and the ability to detect deception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101, 467–484. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023726

Personality and Deception in Romantic Relationships

In another research project, we investigate whether certain personality traits can reliably predict the frequency of lying in romantic relationships. Past work has so far focused on the influence of the personality trait Honesty-Humility and on the Belief in a just world.

Publications:

Reinhardt, N., & Reinhard, M.-A. (2023). Honesty–humility negatively correlates with dishonesty in romantic relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000456

Student publications in the field of social psychology

Marris, A., Reinhardt, N., & Schindler, S. (2022). the Role of Just World Beliefs in Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic . social justice research. doi.org/10.1007/s11211-022-00388-1.

Mariss, A.*, Wenzel, K.*, Grünberg, C., & Reinhard, M.-A. (2022). who wants to learn harder? The relationship between conservatism and liberalism, desirable difficulties, and academic learning. Social Psychology of Education.doi. org/10.1007/s11218-021-09681-4 * shared first-authorship.

Schindler, S., Wagner, L. K., Reinhard, M.-A., Ruhara, N., Pfattheicher, S., & Nitschke, J. (2021). Are criminals better lie detectors? Investigating offenders' abilities in the context of deception detection. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 35, 203-214. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3755

Benz, D. & Reinhard, M.-A. (2021). Sadder and Less Gullible?-Investigating Depressive Realism Effects in Judgments of Veracity. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 40, 404-421. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2021.40.5.421

Ridder, J. & Reinhard, M.-A. (2021). When the toaster knows what you are up to: The effect of mentalization on the uncanny valley effect.Psychreg Journal of Psychology, 5, 40-41. https://doi.org/gf53

Schindler, S., & Trede, M. (2021). Does social exclusion improve detection of real and fake smiles? A replication study. Frontiers in Psychology , 12, 626087. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.626087

Volz, S., Reinhard, M.-A., Müller, P. (2020). Why don't you believe me? Detecting deception in messages written by nonnative and native speakers. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 34, 256- 269. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3615

Wagner, L., Schindler, S., & Reinhard, M.-A. (2017). The positive facet of self-compassion predicts self-reported use of and attitudes toward desirable difficulties in learning. Frontiers in Psychology , 8 , 1353. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01353

Weber, J., & Reinhard, M.-A. (2017). Be Empathic. The Influence of Empathy on Attitude Formation in the German Refugee Debate. International Journal of Psychological Studies, 9, 62-70. https://doi:10.5539/ijps.v9n1p62

*Student author:s are marked in bold.