Manfred Ritter (psychologist)

Manfred Ritter (born April 27, 1940 in Lustenau in Vorarlberg; † May 6, 2002 in Innsbruck ) was an Austrian psychologist and from 1985 to 2000 professor of psychology at the University of Innsbruck .

Life

Manfred Ritter was the first of three children of the sawmill Gebhard Ritter and his wife, the farmer's daughter Elfriede geb. Vogl, born. From 1946 to 1952 he attended elementary school in Andelsbuch , then the secondary school in Bezau and from 1953 the federal high school in Bregenz , where he graduated in 1959. After completing his military service in the Austrian Armed Forces from 1959 to 1960, he began studying classical philology and German studies at the University of Innsbruck in 1960, but changed course in 1962 and now majored in psychology (with physiology, philosophy and educational sciences as minor subjects ). The then head of the institute, Ivo Kohler , recognized Manfred Ritter's analytical abilities to find solutions to scientific problems, which, among other things, made it necessary to create experimental psychological test arrangements. As early as 1963, Ritter took part in the research project "Color Discrimination without Color Vision" (project leader Dr. A. Hajos) and in 1965 was hired as a research assistant at the Institute for Psychology. In 1966 he was able to work for the research project “Studies in Artificially Disturbed Sensorimotor Coordination in Man” (project leader, Doz. F. Thurner).

The subject of his dissertation was "systematic experiments with impaired sensory-motor coordination" , after the completion of Rigorosen was Knight 1969 sub auspiciis praesidentis rei publicae Dr. phil. PhD. After completing his rigorous tests in 1968, he was appointed university assistant at the Institute for Psychology in Innsbruck, although he only performed this function for a short time. In March 1969 he went to the Psychological Department of the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry in Munich for a one-year research stay (Head: JC Brengelmann) and in 1971 he moved to the Psychological Institute of the Philipps University as a research assistant, then as a lecturer in general psychology in Marburg / Lahn. In July 1979 he completed his habilitation there in general psychology. During the years 1979–1981 Ritter took over the representation of a C-4 professorship for general psychology at the University of Konstanz.

In 1981, after the retirement of his teacher Ivo Kohler, the chair for general psychology became vacant in Innsbruck. After Ritter had represented general psychology as a visiting professor in 1982/83, he was appointed full professor of general psychology at the University of Innsbruck in 1985 to succeed Ivo Kohler. In 1986 he was elected director of the institute and held this position until his retirement in 2000. However, he had not had two years in this active retirement.

plant

Ritter belongs to the third generation of the so-called "Innsbruck School" , which was founded by the physicist and psychologist Theodor Erismann and continued by Ivo Kohler . He was first involved in these perceptual psychological studies and was able to continue the research he had begun in Innsbruck at his later place of work in Marburg. He expanded his research focus mainly in the field of visual perception. This resulted in works on movement perception, depth perception and visual constancy of direction and size, but also on decision-making behavior in the event of emotional instability and on the diagnosis of sensory and motor functions. In 1986 he published the multi-author work “Perception and visual system” in the publishing house “Spectrum of Science” and in 1997 the “Perception Psychology” , a German version of the American one that he edited and supplemented above all with the results of European research and references to its history Standard textbook "Sensation and Perception" by EB Goldstein. For the new edition of the German-language version of this book, which appeared posthumously in 2002, he wrote the chapter "Situation orientation and vestibular system" .

selected Writings

• Manfred Ritter (1999). Perception and visual system. Heidelberg: Spectrum Academic Publishing House. ISBN 978-3922508366

Literature about Manfred Ritter

• Harald R. Bliem and Gerhard Lücke (2002). In memoriam O. Univ.-Prof. i. R. Dr.phil. Manfred Ritter (1940-2002).

Honors

• 1989–1991 Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences
• 1998 chairman of the new faculty board according to the 1993 UOG of the natural science faculty

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Harald R. Bliem and Gerhard Lücke (2002). In memoriam O. Univ.-Prof. i. R. Dr.phil. Manfred Ritter (1940-2002). [1]