Teaching

I greatly enjoy teaching. Over ten semesters at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, I have taught undergraduate and graduate courses in descriptive and inferential statistics using R, media psychology, and social psychology. During this time, I have also supervised 40 undergraduate and graduate theses.

Differential Communication Psychology (summer term 2020, winter term 2020/2021)

The module focuses on conceptual analyses of interindividual differences in (a) the experience and behavior of individuals from a communication science perspective. To this end, psychological concepts for describing interindividual differences (e.g., the Big Five, narcissism, political beliefs) as well as motivational theories (e.g., motivated cognition) are introduced and distinguished.

Social Psychology (winter terms 2020/2021; 2021/2022)

This module aims to shed light on psychological phenomena in communication between different groups. Drawing on social psychological theories (e.g., social identity theory), specific features, challenges, and opportunities of intergroup communication are discussed and illustrated through case studies and examples from politics, history, and everyday life. The focus lies on political communication between social groups, communicative forms of in-group favoritism and out-group discrimination, as well as approaches to conflict resolution in intergroup communication.

Media Psychology focusing Misinformation (summer terms 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)

The module analyzes the phenomenon of misinformation from a psychological perspective. Students are first introduced to key concepts, causes, and dissemination dynamics of misinformation as well as factors that shape individual susceptibility. Building on this, various psychological intervention approaches are presented and critically discussed with regard to their mechanisms and effectiveness in order to identify open research questions and gaps in the translation of research into practice.

Political Psychology (winter term 2022/2023)

The module provides an in-depth examination of concepts, theories, and methods for analyzing political communication from a psychological perspective. This includes evolutionary psychological foundations, differential communication and reception styles, and motivational foundations of political communication. Drawing on case studies, theoretical explanatory models from political psychology are applied to the analysis of political communication situations.

Descriptive Stats in R (winter term 2022/2023, summer term 2023)

The module covers and practices the basic functions of R. Students are introduced to tabular, graphical, and numerical methods of descriptive statistics (e.g., measures of central tendency and dispersion, histograms, boxplots, cross tables) as well as to the fundamentals of inferential statistics (estimation, hypothesis testing, and bivariate correlation). Using simple examples from communication studies, students apply the acquired methods and interpret the resulting statistical findings.

Inferential Stats in R (winter terms 2023/2024; 2024/2025)

The module provides an overview-oriented and application-focused introduction to the most common inferential statistical methods for analyzing relationships and mean differences (e.g., t-tests, regression analysis, analysis of variance).