Main Research Topics
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
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
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