Social Change and Human Development

Rainer K. Silbereisen was Professor and Head of the Department of Developmental Psychology at the University of Jena (Germany), Adjunct Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at the Pennsylvania State University (USA), and is currently Director of the Center for Applied Developmental Science (CADS). He is Fellow of the American Psychological Association and Member of the European Academy of Sciences (London). He was Editor of the International Journal of Behavioral Development and of the journal European Psychologist. He was Chair of the Board of the German Social Science Infrastructure Services (GESIS), is a former President of the German Psychological Society and of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development (ISSBD). He was until recently President of the International Union of Psychological Science (IUPsyS) and is now Past-President. A psychologist by training, he has been involved in interdisciplinary large scale research on human development across the life-span, and in particular on the role of social change in positive and maladaptive human development, utilizing a cross-cultural and biopsychosocial format. With the help of private foundations, he has established training programs for young investigators from developing countries. He has edited about 20 books and published more than 250 scholarly articles.