Denis Gerstorf, Ph.D.

Denis Gerstorf
Assistant Professor of Human Development

114-M Henderson Bldg
gerstorf@psu.edu

Research

I am a lifespan developmental psychologist with a general research interest in better understanding heterogeneity and differential development in old and advanced old age.

My specific research foci include

(1) exploring the usefulness of multiple-indicator information in moving beyond average aging trajectories to an explicit consideration of differential aging of individuals,

(2) identifying cross-domain linkages between cognitive functioning, personality, and social integration as well as its precursors and consequences with an emerging interest in employing recent methodological advances that allow moving from static to dynamic modeling approaches,

(3) differentiating the effects of age-related and death-related processes in late-life development,

(4) examining short-term intraindividual fluctuations in psychological functioning as an additional tool in the study of lifespan development, and

(5) studying dyadic interdependencies in developmental trajectories among spouses across the adult lifespan.

I started working on my Ph.D. in 2001 at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development (MPI) in Berlin, Germany. In this context, I had the opportunity to work closely together with Dr. Jacqui Smith on exploiting the utility of a systemic-wholistic perspective in studying facets of differential aging. I was deeply influenced by the work of Dr. Paul B. Baltes and colleagues on lifespan principles underlying human ontogeny including the macro-level contexts of developmental change, the evolutionary and ontogenetic foundations of change, and the complex nature of these changes. I received my Ph.D. in 2004 from the Free University in Berlin. After completing my dissertation, I spent one year as a post-doc at the MPI.

In September 2005, I moved to the Department of Psychology, University of Virginia using a Research Fellowship awarded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Here, I could collaborate with Drs. John R. Nesselroade and Timothy A. Salthouse on various research projects. As of July 2007, I joined the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at The Pennsylvania State University as an Assistant Professor of Human Development.

Education

• 2004 -Dr. phil. (equivalent to Ph.D.), Free University Berlin, Germany
• 2001 -Diploma in Psychology (equivalent to MA), Free University Berlin, Germany

Honors and Awards

• 2005 – present
  Junior Fellow in the Max Planck International Research Network on Aging MaxnetAging (permanent membership)
• 2005 – 2007
  Research Fellowship awarded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)
• 2002
  Outstanding Student Poster Award, American Psychological Association, Division 20 Adult Development and Aging