Masters Thesis Supervision

Finding a supervisor for your thesis is essential to apply for admission and to be guided to a successful degree. The supervisor oversees your research and the development of your thesis. On this page you will find information about the supervision of Master’s theses.

Are you interested in the field of personality psychology, music psychology or relationship psychology?

There is the possibility of writing your Master’s thesis in our team, with Marcel Zentner, Francesca Talamini and Julia Vigl as main supervisors and Hannah Strauß and Vivienne Biedermann as co-supervisors.

Please carefully read through the requirements and research fields of our team members to find the right supervisor for your topic.

Specific Requirements of our Team Members

Supervision Process Overview

1.

Reach out to our team members

When reaching out to our team members, please avoid general inquiries such as expressing a broad interest in the topics of our department. Instead, please be specific in the topic you are interested in and how you would like to investigate it

2.

Synopsis of Master’s Thesis

Once you have found a supervisor and defined your specific research question, it is time to write a synopsis for your master’s thesis. The synopsis should include a theoretical derivation of your hypotheses (avoid excessive theoretical elaboration of concepts), your hypotheses, the methods of investigation and data analysis, as well as a rough time schedule. Typically, the synopsis is between 5 and 10 pages.

3.

Master’s Thesis Registration Form

Once your synopsis has been approved, you will need to complete the Master’s Thesis Registration form and submit it to the Prüfungsreferat. Additionally, you may also need to submit the form for the module Preparation of the Master’s Thesis.

4.

Submit master thesis
At least 5 weeks prior to your defense: When your master’s thesis is complete, please submit the following items to the “Prüfungsreferat”:
  • the completed examination protocol (“Prüfungsprotokoll”)
  • the form for submitting the master’s thesis (“Abgabe der Masterarbeit”)
  • two bound copies of your master’s thesis

5.

Register your defense

At least 3 weeks before your defense, please submit the form for the registration of the defense, which will also include the composition of the examination committee.

6.

Defense

The defense will take place during the semester (not during the semester break), and you will have the opportunity to schedule an individual appointment with the examination committee. The defense itself consists of a maximum 12-minute presentation, followed by questions from the committee.

Click here for more information on the
procedure of the oral final examinations (Master’s degree in Psychology)

Ongoing Projects

Are you motivated to help us with our planned/ongoing studies? Check out if you would like to write your master’s thesis about one of these projects:

Context and Music Induced Emotions

Investiagor(s):   Julia Vigl
Topic overview: How much does context matter in musical emotion induction? Using VR technology, we could like to investigate the impact of different scenarios on emotions while listening to music.
Requirements:  Specific affinity and experience with VR technology

Temperament, Personality (Disorders) and Attachment in Young Adults

Investiagor(s): Vivienne Biedermann & Hannah Strauß in collaboration with Manuela Gander
Topic overview: Adapting the Late Childhood Temperament Inventory (Biedermann & Zentner, in preparation) to the assessment of temperament in adolescents and validating it across an extensive test battery of personality and clinical outcomes based on a population sample of 14-18 year-olds.
Requirements: Strong interest in personality traits/temperament and personality disorders as well as attachment. Willingness to conduct one-on-one lab assessments (~3 hours each; including structured clinical interviews, standardized intelligence assessment, and taking hair samples). Access to a sample of adolescents is of advantage.
Time frame: Instructions for assessments are planned to take place in August/September 2023, data collection is planned to start in October 2023.