Ute Kunzmann

Professor, Psychology Leipzig University, Germany

Ute Kunzmann is a Professor of Life-span Developmental Psychology at the University of Leipzig, Germany. She received her diploma (1994, MA-equivalent), doctorate (1998, PhD-equivalent), and Venia legendi (2006) in Psychology from the Free University Berlin. Her research interests focus on life-span developmental theory, emotional development throughout the life-span, and the psychology of wisdom. Together with her collaborators she has investigated four realms of psychological functioning: emotional competence (emotional reactivity and regulation), wisdom (expert knowledge about the meaning and conduct of life), social behavior (empathic accuracy and concern), and subjective well-being (the frequent experience of positive emotions and the absence of negative emotions in daily life). The purpose of her research has been to describe and understand age-related gains and losses in each of these four realms of functioning. She is also interested in the ways in which cognitive, emotional, and social competencies interact and together facilitate or hinder growth on the individual and group levels.