Amélie Mummendey facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Amélie Mummendey
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Mummendey in 2009
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| Born | 19 June 1944 Bonn, Germany
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| Died | 17 December 2018 (aged 74) Jena, Germany
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| Institutions | University of Jena |
Amélie Mummendey (born June 19, 1944, in Bonn, Germany – died December 17, 2018, in Jena, Germany) was a German social psychologist. She studied how people act in groups. From 2007 until her death, she was a Vice-Rector at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena. This means she helped lead the university's programs for advanced students.
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About Amélie Mummendey
Amélie Mummendey studied Psychology at the University of Bonn. She earned her Master's degree there. Later, she received her PhD from the University of Mainz in 1970. She also completed her Habilitation at the University of Münster in 1974. A Habilitation is a special qualification in Germany that allows someone to teach at a university.
She became a professor of social psychology at the University of Münster in 1980. She worked there until 1997. After that, she moved to the Friedrich Schiller University Jena. In 2007, she was chosen for an important leadership role. She became the first Vice-Rector for the Graduate Academy at the University of Jena.
Her Research on Social Groups
Amélie Mummendey's research focused on how people see themselves as part of a group. This is called social identity. She also studied how different groups get along. She wanted to understand why groups sometimes have negative feelings or behaviors towards each other. She also looked at what helps groups be more tolerant and accepting.
She studied how people act when their group identity feels threatened. She explored ways to deal with these feelings. Her work helped us understand why people might discriminate against others. It also showed how we can encourage tolerance between groups.
Amélie Mummendey and her team published many findings. They also created new ideas about how groups interact. Her work is very important in the field of social psychology.
The Ingroup Projection Model
Amélie Mummendey and Michael Wenzel created a special idea called the Ingroup Projection Model (IPM). This model helps explain how groups compare themselves to each other.
Imagine you are part of a smaller group, like a school club. This club is also part of a bigger group, like your whole school. The IPM says that members of your club (the "ingroup") compare themselves to other clubs (the "outgroup"). They do this by thinking about the whole school (the "superordinate group").
People tend to think their own club is the best example of what the whole school should be like. So, they might see their club members as "better" representatives of the school. Other clubs, or "outgroups," might seem less like the "ideal" school group. This can sometimes lead to negative feelings or unfair treatment towards other clubs.
Many studies support this idea. Researchers are still looking for ways to reduce this "ingroup projection." They hope to find ways to make groups more tolerant of each other.
Awards and Recognition
Amélie Mummendey received several important awards for her work:
- The Henri Tajfel Award from the European Association of Experimental Social Psychology.
- The German Psychology Award from the German Psychological Society.
- The Thuringian Research Prize in 2009.
She was also a member of several important scientific groups:
- The German Council of Science and Humanities.
- The European Science Foundation.
- The 'Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina'.
- She was a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science.
