Biography
Jochen Fahrenberg studied psychology, sociology and philosophy in Freiburg, London and Hamburg, followed by a PhD at the University of Freiburg. His dissertation was based on an experimental investigation and factor analysis of writing movement parameters (graphometry). After working as a research assistant to cardiologist Professor Ludwig Delius in Bad Oeynhausen, he completed his postdoctoral thesis (habilitation) on Psychophysiological personality research in Freiburg in 1966.
Together with Dr. med. Michael Myrtek, he founded the Freiburg Psychophysiology Research Group in 1970 with funding from the Volkswagen Foundation . In 1973, he was offered the Chair at the Psychology Department previously held by his academic teacher, the philosopher and psychologist Robert Heiß, founder of the Freiburg Institute. During the following decades he was involved in the Institute's considerable expansion as well as academic reform. In 2002, as professor emeritus, he retired from his dual function as head of the Personality Research section and co-director of the Psychophysiology Research Group in the Department of Psychology at Albert-Ludwigs-University in Freiburg, Germany.
Research
During its 35-year history, the Psychophysiology Research Group was a centre for multivariate psychophysiological research on personality, research on cardiovascular rehabilitation, illness behaviour, and life satisfaction. The laboratory was generously supported by the Volkswagen Foundation (with eight scientific and technical staff, two computer-based electrophysiological labs and a clinical-chemistry lab). The research group also developed and promoted both methodology and techniques of ambulatory monitoring (ambulatory assessment) to assist behavioural research in everyday situations. A number of tests and personality scales were developed, one of which, the Freiburg Personality Inventory (FPI), comparable to the 16 PF Questionnaire, is the most frequently used in German-speaking countries.
A series of extensive laboratory analyses and field research was conducted focusing on cardiovascular psychophysiology, in particular. Hans Eysenck's Theory of Emotionality (emotional lability, neuroticism), which was generally accepted at that time, was critically tested in a number of experimental and clinical studies. The findings contradicted the assumed (hypothetical) correlation between specific personality factors (questionnaire scales) and autonomic lability (hyperreactivity of the autonomic nervous system).
A second focus of his research was Ambulant Assessment (ambulatory monitoring): psychophysiological examinations under everyday conditions, also during work and leisure periods, with multi-channel digital systems for recording behavioural, physiological and subjective data. The research group's list of publications consists of more than 400 references (Fahrenberg & Myrtek, 2005); the most important research data have been collected and made available (open access).
His later work was devoted to other areas: psychological anthropology – including surveys on student attitudes and belief systems, or assumptions about human nature and the impact of philosophical concepts on professional issues – the philosophy of science, methodology, categories in psychology; and theoretical psychology. In addition, a number of books and articles were written about Wilhelm Wundt, a pioneer of modern psychology. This series was completed on the 100th anniversary of Wundt's death with a Centennial review of Wundt's work, its reception and topicality.
Fahrenberg initiated the Workshop for Psychophysiological Methods in 1972, which became the German Society for Psychophysiology and its Application in 1982. Workshops on ambulatory assessment in Freiburg led to the founding of the international Society for Ambulatory Assessment in 2009.
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