I am Eva Asselmann, Professor of Differential and Personality Psychology at the HMU Health and Medical University in Potsdam.

Research

Personal development
I investigate how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors change from early childhood until old age. How do major life experiences relate to personality development and which ones have the largest effects? How do life events in the domain of work (e.g., the first job, becoming a leader, or retirement) and family (e.g., relationships, the birth of a child, or the death of a loved one) shape our minds? To answer these questions, I analyze data from large population-based panel studies such as the German Socio-Economic Panel study (SOEP). View publications

Personality, health, and resilience
I am particularly interested in the intersection of personality and well-being. How do changes in physical and mental health affect the way we think, feel, and behave, and how does personality impact our health? Which personality traits influence how we deal with positive and negative life experiences? And why do some people manage to recover even from severe adversity, while others don’t? How can we build resilience? View publications

Targeted intervention
Based on this line of research, I investigate how subjective well-being, resilience, and personal growth can be effectively promoted. To this end, I develop and test innovative interventions for targeted personal development, health promotion, and prevention. For example, I study how fast relaxation techniques can be used in particularly stressful times to stay fit, motivated, and productive and thus master the challenges of everyday life. View publications

Coaching and training

Growing from challenges
My coaching sessions are designed for people who face a turning point in life and want to break new grounds – professionally or privately. Using tools from Systemic Coaching, Change Management, as well as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, I support you to actively shape your future and successfully master the challenges you are facing.

EASY RELAX
In my EASY RELAX courses you learn to intensively relax within 20-30 seconds as soon as initial signs of tension appear – even in extremely stressful situations. A vicious circle of stress, tension, and associated complaints can thus be broken. My trainings are based on Applied Relaxation, an innovative technique originally developed in cognitive behavioral therapy. In my own studies, I have demonstrated that the technique effectively reduces various stress-related problems and thus promotes health.