Prof. Dr. Natalie Christner

Main Research Topics

• Development of the moral self-concept in childhood and adolescence
• The role of emotions in prosocial behaviour
• Development of the understanding of norms
• Attachment security and parent-child-interaction in childhood and adolescence

Curriculum Vitae

Since Winter Semester 22/23

Substitute W2-Professorship for Developmental Psychology, LMU Munich

2022

Academic councilor for a limited time, Chair of Developmental Psychology, LMU Munich

2016 - 2021

Promotion (Dr. phil.) at the Chair of Developmental Psychology at the LMU München

2016

Research Associate at the Chair of Logic and Philosophy of Language at the LMU München

2014

Research Project at the Crossmodal Research Laboratory at the University of Oxford

2013 - 2015

Studies in Neuro-Cognitive Psychology (M.Sc.) at the LMU München

2009 - 2012

Studies in Cognitive Science (B.Sc.) at the Eberhard Karls Universität, Tübingen

Publications

Peer-reviewed Publications

Schiele, T., Mues, A., Wirth, A., Christner, N., Paulus, M., Birtwistle, E., & Niklas, F.

(2024). Bridging the gap: A longitudinal study on the relation between preschool children’s moral self-concept, normative stances, and sharing behavior. Social and Emotional Learning: Research, Practice, and Policy, 100027.

Essler, S., Christner, N., & Paulus, M. (2023). Short-term and long-term effects of the COVID-19

pandemic on child psychological well-being: a four-wave longitudinal study. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-023-02215-7 

Essler, S., Christner, N., Becher, T., & Paulus, M. (2023). The ontogenetic emergence of

normativity:  How action imitation relates to infants’ norm enforcement. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 227, 105591. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105591

Scharpf, F., Paulus, M., Christner, N., Beerbaum, L., Kammermeier, M., & Hecker, T. (2023).

Intergenerational transmission of mental health risk in refugee families: The role of maternal psychopathology and emotional availability. Development and Psychopathology, 1-14.

Sticker, R. M., Christner, N., Gniewosz, G., Pletti, C., & Paulus, M. (2023). Longitudinal stability

and cross-relations of prosocial behavior and the moral self-concept in early childhood. Cognitive Development, 66, 101341.

Christner, N. & Paulus, M. (2022). Varieties of normative understanding and their relation to

sharing behavior in preschool children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 224, 105498. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105498

Christner, N., Pletti, C., & Paulus, M. (2022). How does the moral self-concept relate to

prosocial behaviour? Investigating the role of emotions and consistency-preference. Cognition and Emotion, 36(5), 894-911. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2022.2067133

Christner, N., Wörle, M., & Paulus, M. (2022). Normative views and resource distribution

behavior in childhood: Dissociated at the group level, but associated at the individual level. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 46(4), 320-332. https://doi.org/10.1177/01650254221096813

Essler, S., Christner, N., & Paulus, M. (2021). Longitudinal relations between parental strain,

parent-child relationship quality and child well-being during the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 52, 995-1011. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-021-01232-4

Christner, N., Essler, S., Hazzam, A., & Paulus, M. (2021). Children’s psychological well-being

and problem behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic: An online study during the lockdown period in Germany. PLOS ONE, 16(6), e0253473. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253473

Sticker, R. M., Christner, N., Pletti, C., & Paulus, M. (2021). The moral self-concept in preschool

children: Its dimensions and relation to prosocial behaviors. Cognitive Development, 58, 101033. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2021.101033

Christner, N., Sticker, R. M., Söldner, L., Mammen, M., & Paulus, M. (2020). Prevention for

oneself or others? Psychological and social factors that explain social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Health Psychology, 27(6), 1342-1353. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105320980793

Christner, N., Pletti, C., & Paulus, M. (2020). Emotion understanding and the moral self-

concept as motivators of prosocial behavior in middle childhood. Cognitive Development, 55, 100893. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2020.100893

Paulus, M., Christner, N., & Wörle, M. (2020). The normative status of friendship: Do young

children enforce sharing with friends and appreciate reasonable partiality? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 194, 104826. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2020.104826

Paulus, M., Wörle, M., & Christner, N. (2019). The emergence of human altruism: Preschool

children develop a norm for empathy-based comforting. Journal of Cognition and Development, 21(1), 104-124. https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2019.1693375

Conference Talks
Christner, N., Essler, S., Hazzam, A., & Paulus, M. (2021, April). Kindliches Wohlbefinden und

Problemverhalten während der COVID-19 Pandemie: Längsschnittliche Zusammenhänge mit elterlicher Belastung und Beziehungsqualität. In S. Lehrl & E. Oppermann (Chair), Familiäre Belastungen, häusliche Lernumwelt und sozial-emotionales Wohlbefinden von Kindern während der Corona-Pandemie. Talk presented at digiGEBF Thementagung “Corona und Bildung”, online.

Christner, N., Wörle, M., & Paulus, M. (2021, April). Favoring the friend or the poor?

Dissociations between preschoolers’ normative views and own resource distributions. In J. Sierksma (Chair), Do young children and non-human primates care about other people’s needs? Talk presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), online.

Christner, N., & Paulus, M. (2020, September). The link between the moral self-concept,

self-efficacy beliefs, and prosocial behavior in early adolescence. In R. Arbel (Chair), Emotional dimensions and parental factors in adolescents’ socio-emotional development. Talk presented at the Biannual Convention of the European Association for Research on Adolescence (EARA), online.

Christner, N., Pletti, C., & Paulus, M. (2019, September). Do emotions mediate the relation

between the moral self-concept and prosocial behavior? In R. M. Sticker & N. Christner (Chair), Moral reasoning, moral emotions and moral self-concept: Different factors of moral development. Symposium conducted at the Biannual Convention of the German Psychological Society Section for Educational and Developmental Psychology (PaEpsy), Leipzig, Germany.

Christner, N., Wörle, M., & Paulus, M. (2019, September). The normative status of friendship:

Do preschool children enforce sharing with friends? In M. Mammen (Chair), Becoming a normative being: Early influences on young children’s normative development. Talk presented at the Biannual Convention of the German Psychological Society Section for Educational and Developmental Psychology (PaEpsy), Leipzig, Germany.

Christner, N., & Paulus, M. (2018, January). Emotionen als Brücke zwischen moralischem

Selbstkonzept und Verhalten. Talk preented at the Moralforschertagung, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Conference Posters
Christner, N., & Paulus, M. (2021, June). Structure of normative understanding and sharing

behavior in preschool children. Poster presented at the Conference of the Jean Piaget Society (JPS), online.

Christner, N., & Paulus, M. (2019, July). The role of attachment and reflective functioning for

prosocial behavior in late childhood. Poster presented at the International Attachment Conference, Vancouver, Canada 

Christner, N., & Paulus, M. (2018, Sept). Emotions as a link between the moral self-concept

and moral behavior. Poster presented at the Biannual Convention of the German Psychological Society (DGPS), Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Assistants

Theresa Lieb, Lea Kiemer