Research Unit Life Psychology

Life Psychology is about achieving a "good enough" life. It is characterized by the ability to comprehend and manage fundamental, universal life tasks in a way that holds personal sense while also carrying shared meaning for all of us.


Life Psychology is a theory about becoming an active agent in both one's own and shared life. Being an agent in life means having a sufficiently firm grasp of fundamental, universal life tasks by utilizing corresponding universal life skills.

Life Psychology is also a method that, in a solution-oriented manner, helps individuals develop their life skills to gain a good enough grasp of both personal and common live. This is achieved by managing the small and large challenges of daily life as well as significant life choices.

The research area of Life Psychology encompasses the evolutionary, cultural-historical, and life-historical foundations of life.


Who are we?

Academic Staff


Publications

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Obaidi, M., Anjum, G., Bierwiaczonek, K., Dovidio, J. F., Ozer, S. & Kunst, J. R. (2023). Cultural threat perceptions predict violent extremism via need for cognitive closure. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 120(20), Article e2213874120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2213874120
Schwartz, S., Salas-Wright, C., Cobb, C., Zeledon, I., Duque, M., Stuart, J., Montero-Zamora, P., Perazzo, P. A., Carolina , S. & Ozer, S. (2023). Examining the Lives of Youth from Immigrant Families: Identity, Cultural Stress, and Crisis Migration. In G. Arief D. Liem (Ed.), Flourishing in Contexts and Cultures: Sociocultural Perspectives on Fostering Youth Well-Being (pp. 107-136). Information Age Publishing.
Kunst, J. R., Ozer, S., Lefringhausen, K., Bierwiaczonek, K., Obaidi, M. & Sam, D. L. (2023). How ‘should’ the majority group acculturate? Acculturation expectations and their correlates among minority- and majority-group members. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 93, Article 101779. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2023.101779
Schwartz, S. J., Waterman, A. S., Cobb, C. L., Cano, M. Á., Scaramutti, C., Meca, A., Ozer, S., Ward, C., Puente-Durán, S., Lorenzo-Blanco, E. L., Unger, J. B., Duque, M. C., Vos, S. R., Zeledon, I., Fernanda Garcia, M. C. & Martinez, C. R. (2022). Cultural Stress, Daily Well-Being, and Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms Among Hispanic College Students. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 69(4), 416-429. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000604
Ozer, S. & Obaidi, M. (2022). Globalization and Radicalization: The Rise of Extreme Reactions to Intercultural Contact, Sociocultural Disruption, and Identity Threat. In I. Katzarska-Miller & S. Reysen (Eds.), Globalized identities: The impact of globalization on self and identity (pp. 107-130). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04644-5_5
Obaidi, M., Skaar, S., Ozer, S. & Kunst, J. R. (2022). Measuring extremist archetypes: Scale development and validation. PLoS One, 17(7), Article e0270225. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270225

Research projects

  • Development of the theoretical foundation and application method of Life Psychology – see more at https://psy.au.dk/life-psychology.
  • Development of a psychological meta-model.
  • Investigation of how people navigate a life shaped by the pluralism of globalization and the disruptive nature of society.
  • Exploration of culture and life

Contact

If you’re interested in hearing more about the research unit and our activities, you are most welcome to contact: