Ralf Schwarzer (born 1943) is a Psychologist. He is a professor emeritus of psychology at the Freie University of Berlin, Germany. He is known for the exploration of diverse psychological dimensions, including stress, coping mechanisms, social support, self-efficacy, well-being, positive psychology, and health behavior change. Notably, he has contributed to the field through the formulation of the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA), a theoretical framework in the realm of health behavior.
Schwarzer earned his Ph.D. in 1973 from Kiel University. His ascendancy to a professor of education position in 1974 in Schwäbisch-Gmünd, followed by similar appointments in 1976 in Aachen and, ultimately, as a professor of psychology in 1982 at Freie University Berlin. [1]
Schwarzer embarked on sabbatical leaves, notably at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1985, and later in Los Angeles during 1990–1991. He assumed the role of visiting professor at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (1994–1995) and at York University, Canada, in 1998, where he merited the position of adjunct professor.
From 2011 to 2024, he was affiliated with the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USWPS) in Wroclaw, Poland. Simultaneously, his scholarly pursuits extended to Australia, where from 2014 to 2017, he served as a part-time professor at the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, Australian Catholic University, Sydney, Australia.
Schwarzer co-founded three journals "Anxiety, Stress, and Coping: An International Journal," "Zeitschrift für Gesundheitspsychologie," and "Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being," where he currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief. [2]
Coping refers to conscious or unconscious strategies used to reduce unpleasant emotions. Coping strategies can be cognitions or behaviors and can be individual or social. To cope is to deal with struggles and difficulties in life. It is a way for people to maintain their mental and emotional well-being. Everybody has ways of handling difficult events that occur in life, and that is what it means to cope. Coping can be healthy and productive, or destructive and unhealthy. It is recommended that an individual cope in ways that will be beneficial and healthy. "Managing your stress well can help you feel better physically and psychologically and it can impact your ability to perform your best."
In psychology, self-efficacy is an individual's belief in their capacity to act in the ways necessary to reach specific goals. The concept was originally proposed by the psychologist Albert Bandura in 1977.
The term eustress means "beneficial stress"—either psychological, physical, or biochemical/radiological (hormesis).
Behavioural change theories are attempts to explain why human behaviours change. These theories cite environmental, personal, and behavioural characteristics as the major factors in behavioural determination. In recent years, there has been increased interest in the application of these theories in the areas of health, education, criminology, energy and international development with the hope that understanding behavioural change will improve the services offered in these areas. Some scholars have recently introduced a distinction between models of behavior and theories of change. Whereas models of behavior are more diagnostic and geared towards understanding the psychological factors that explain or predict a specific behavior, theories of change are more process-oriented and generally aimed at changing a given behavior. Thus, from this perspective, understanding and changing behavior are two separate but complementary lines of scientific investigation.
Crisis intervention is a time-limited intervention with a specific psychotherapeutic approach to immediately stabilize those in crisis.
Jochen Fahrenberg is a German psychologist in the fields of Personality, psychophysiology and philosophy of science.
Erich Schröger is a German psychologist and neuroscientist.
The health action process approach (HAPA) is a psychological theory of health behavior change, developed by Ralf Schwarzer, Professor of Psychology at the Freie University Berlin of Berlin, Germany and SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Wroclaw, Poland, first published in 1992.
Thomas Hice Budzynski was an American psychologist and a pioneer in the field of biofeedback, inventing one of the first electromyographic biofeedback training systems in the mid-1960s. In the early 1970s, he developed the Twilight Learner in collaboration with John Picchiottino. The Twilight Learner was one of the first neurotherapy systems.
Rolf van Dick is a German social psychologist.
Mark Stemmler, was Professor of Psychological Methodology and Quality Assurance at the Faculty of Psychology and Sports Science, Bielefeld University from 2007 to 2011. He was also a member of the Center for Statistics at Bielefeld University. Currently he is Professor of Psychological Assessment at the Department of Psychology and Sports Science at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. Since 2010 he is also adjunct professor at the College of Health and Human Development at the Pennsylvania State University.
In psychology, stress is a feeling of emotional strain and pressure. Stress is a type of psychological pain. Small amounts of stress may be beneficial, as it can improve athletic performance, motivation and reaction to the environment. Excessive amounts of stress, however, can increase the risk of strokes, heart attacks, ulcers, and mental illnesses such as depression and also aggravation of a pre-existing condition.
Architectural and environmental psychology developed within the German-speaking world in the 1970s. In 1972, W.F.E. Preiser stated: “What is of special interest to environmental psychologists are the rules by which person-environment relationships are determined and adjustments to changing environmental conditions are enabled within cultural realms. Designers of environments, in particular architects and city planners, need measurements on how the variables they have manipulated affect users.” Early concepts revolved around the psychosocial roles of public and private space, interpersonal conflict, quality of living, and noise pollution. Later concepts explore the relationship between built environments and climate change.
The FRIENDS Programs are a series of Resilience programs developed by Professor Paula Barrett. The programs aim to increase social and emotional skills, promote resilience, and preventing anxiety and depression across the lifespan. As a prevention protocol, FRIENDS has been noted as “one of the most robustly-supported programmes for internalising disorders,” with “a number of large-scale type 1 randomised control trials worldwide” demonstrating its effectiveness. The FRIENDS programs are acknowledged by the World Health Organization as effective evidence based prevention programs.
Paul T. P. Wong is a Canadian clinical psychologist and professor. His research career has gone through four stages, with significant contributions in each stage: learning theory, social cognition, existential psychology, and positive psychology. He is most known for his integrative work on death acceptance, meaning therapy, and second wave positive psychology. He has been elected as a fellow for both the American Psychological Association and the Canadian Psychological Association.
Erich Kirchler is an Italian-Austrian psychologist and Professor of Economic Psychology at the University of Vienna.
Hans-Ulrich Wittchen is a clinical psychologist, psychotherapist and epidemiologist. He has been a head of the Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy and the Center of Clinical Epidemiology and Longitudinal Studies (CELOS) at the Technische Universität Dresden. Since 2018, he is leading the research group "Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy Research" at the Psychiatric Clinic of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and directs the IAP-TU Dresden GmbH in Dresden.
Winfried Rief (born 12 May 1959) is a German psychologist. Since 2000 he has been a professor of clinical psychology and psychotherapy at the University of Marburg. Rief's research examines the psychological factors involved in the development, maintenance and management of physical complaints, including investigations of somatic symptom disorders and placebo effects. Rief is the founding editor of the academic journal Clinical Psychology in Europe.
Wolfgang Tschacher is a Swiss psychologist and university lecturer. He is professor at the University of Bern.., Switzerland. He has conducted theoretical and empirical research in the fields of psychotherapy and psychopathology, especially from a systems-theoretical perspective that includes self-organization and complexity theory. He is active in the development of time series methods for the modeling of psychotherapeutic processes and generally social systems.
Reinhard Pekrun is a psychological scientist and educational researcher best known for his research on achievement emotions. He is a professor at the University of Essex, United Kingdom, and a professorial fellow at the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, Australian Catholic University, Sydney.