Bachelor- und Masterarbeiten

Leitlinien und Tipps:     

• Wichtig: Generelle Regelungen für Bachelor- und Masterarbeiten (PDF)
• Ein Leitfaden für Bachelorarbeiten (PDF) (Stand März 2020)
• Ein Leitfaden für Masterarbeiten (PDF) (Stand März 2020)

Bachelorarbeitsthemen:

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Masterarbeitsthemen:   

• "Jenseits der Oberfläche: Eine Metaanalyse über tonic autonomic arousal bei Schizophrenie"

  Das Thema des tonic autonomic arousal ist besonders faszinierend, da es tiefere Einblicke in die Grundlagen der Schizophrenie ermöglicht. Durch das Verständnis des tonic autonomic arousal können wir nicht nur die Mechanismen hinter der Erkrankung erfassen, sondern auch das Risiko für psychotische Störungen besser einschätzen.
  Interessierte Studierende sollten über gute bis sehr gute Englischkenntnisse verfügen und sehr zuverlässig sein. Vorzugsweise planen Sie, Ihre Masterarbeit im Sommersemester 2025 zu schreiben, sind aber bereits im Wintersemester für Aufgaben wie die Datenerhebung verfügbar.
  Der Vorteil dieser Arbeit liegt in der Flexibilität der Datenerhebung, da keine Teilnehmer rekrutiert werden müssen und die Arbeit aus dem Home-Office durchgeführt werden kann. Allerdings ist dies aufgrund der umfangreichen Literaturrecherche relativ zeitaufwändig. Die Hauptarbeitsphase, in der die Studien gescreent und extrahiert werden sollen, wird planmäßig im Februar/März stattfinden.
  Wenn Sie interessiert sind, wenden Sie sich bitte an Lennart Winter (lennart.winter"AT"uni-hamburg.de).

  Abstract des Projektes:

  An important part of understanding schizophrenia can be gained by looking at tonic autonomic arousal. Regarding autonomic arousal a distinction can be made between phasic autonomic arousal and tonic arousal. Phasic autonomic arousal refers to the short-term reaction of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) in response to stimuli. Tonic autonomic arousal, is the basic, relatively stable level of activity in the ANS, that fluctuates slowly and independent from stimuli. Heightened tonic is considered a feature of the classic vulnerability stress model of schizophrenia. This dysregulation has not only been found in individuals with schizophrenia, but also in individuals at risk for psychosis. Despite its importance, no comprehensive review exists that summarizes research findings on tonic arousal from this variety of physiological markers and self-report methods used in individuals with schizophrenia. We aim to address this gap by conducting a comprehensive systematic review of the studies that utilize these diverse measures. Compared to previous reviews that have focused on single indices (e.g. HRV), this review will provide a clear and complete picture of research addressing changes in tonic autonomic arousal in schizophrenia compared to individuals at risk for psychosis and healthy controls.

• The association between future thinking, hopelessness, and suicidality

  Hopelessness about the future is a critical element in suicidal behavior. Prior research indicates that hopelessness is closely associated with a lack of positive future thinking rather than present negative future thinking. Although hopelessness in suicidal individuals is a multifaceted construct, evidence suggests that a deficiency in positive future thinking may be more significant than the presence of negative future thinking. However, the evidence is mixed, and the field lacks a meta-analytic aggregation of the available data on the association between future thinking, hopelessness, and suicidality. To address this gap, we aim to conduct a comprehensive meta-analysis through an international collaboration with Dr. David J. Hallford at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. We are seeking an eligible master’s student to join this important project.

  Interested students should have good to very good English skills, be highly reliable, have a keen interest in meta-analyses, and be prepared to commit to a one-year project to complete their thesis. Applicants should contact Dr. Matthias Pillny at matthias.pillny"AT"uni-hamburg.de by September 1st, 2024.

• An eye for danger: Do changes in attention contribute to the persistence of threat expectations?

  Have you ever felt relieved after realizing that a situation was not as bad as it seemed? Experiencing negative events in unfamiliar situations may lead to expecting future threats. But when those situations turn out to be safe, the threat expectations are replaced with more reasonable assumptions. Yet, in some cases, threat expectations are resistant to change. Persistent threat expectations are behind a number of mental health issues, including paranoid beliefs and pathological anxiety. Therefore, psychologists strive to discover the cognitive mechanisms that explain them. It has been suggested that changes in attention make people treat safe events as exceptions, leaving threat expectations intact. In this project, you will help tackle this question by investigating changes in attention that occur when a stimulus predicting a threatening event is suddenly followed by a safe outcome. You will conduct an experiment, combining threat extinction and eye-tracking, in healthy participants with different levels of paranoia. Are you interested? Then contact Dr. David Torrents-Rodas (david.torrents.rodas"AT"uni-hamburg.de).

• Is it in the eyes? An eye-tracking study on the origins of paranoid beliefs.

  The face is the mirror of the soul, and as such, we look at other people’s faces to guess their intentions. Avoiding eye contact may prevent us from establishing whether we can trust other people, thus giving rise to paranoid beliefs. In this project, you will investigate whether reduced attention to relevant facial features, such as the eyes, leads to excessive threat expectations in individuals prone to paranoia. To this aim, you will conduct an experiment in a group of healthy participants with different levels of paranoia. You will use eye-tracking to measure participants’ allocation of attention, while they learn which of different faces are followed by an aversive stimulus and which are harmless. Are you interested? Then contact Dr. David Torrents-Rodas (david.torrents.rodas"AT"uni-hamburg.de).