Max Joseph Hillebrand

Max Joseph Hillebrand (born December 7, 1896 in Wehrden ( Beverungen ), † June 21, 1984 in Bonn ) was a German professor of applied and educational psychology.

Life and academic career

After the First World War, in which he served as a soldier, he returned and studied education, philosophy, psychology and history at the universities of Bonn and Cologne. He became the assistant of the psychologist Johann Lindworsky, whom he followed as a doctoral student at the Charles University in Prague. His empirical doctoral thesis on past and future reactions was recognized. After his return to the University of Cologne, his academic career was interrupted when the National Socialists seized power, as he was refused his habilitation for political reasons. Years of private academic and literary work followed. It was only after 1945 that he was able to continue his career as a lecturer at the re-founded Rheinische Pädagogische Akademie Bonn. In 1946 he became a professor here and from 1955 to 1961 rector of the academy. At the same time he was a professor at the University of Bonn.

Work and effect

He is one of the scientists who, after 1945, contributed significantly to the rebuilding of educational psychology. His work Psychology of Learning and Teaching was compulsory reading for students of psychology and teaching for many decades. With his habilitation thesis The Activity of the Soul , 1933, he mentally anticipated the theory of action in psychology by several decades. In his work Die Pedagogische Psychologie am Scheideweg , 1947, Pedagogical Psychology in its Relation to the Other Sub-disciplines of Psychology , 1960, and Pedagogical Psychology , 1970, he dealt with the theoretical questions of pedagogical psychology. He endeavored to integrate the basics of developmental psychology into the discipline of educational psychology. a .: The psychological and spiritual development from an anthropological perspective , 1964, child and language . In addition, he devoted himself to current and practical problems and tried to question divergent empirical studies for their significance and value for practice: On the problem of school readiness , 1958, On the problem of pre-school education , 1970. In his book Introduction to Pedagogical Psychology , he tried very journalistic to successfully combine the results of American teaching and learning research with the traditional approaches of German and European psychology. Linking theory and practice was important to him. For him, scientific knowledge was not an end in itself, but a means to change the imperfections of people, to improve their living conditions and especially to optimize the situation in schools so that the life chances of the following generations are increased. As a researcher, he was committed to improved training and further education as well as a humane school that should see itself as the guardian of the interests of the students. He continued this attitude in old age when he campaigned for the improvement of old people in retirement homes.

Works

• Introduction to educational psychology: an anthropological-psychological foundation; Scientific Book Society [Dept. Verl.], Darmstadt, 1974
• Focal points of educational psychology; Huber-Verlag, Bern, 1973
• Psicología del aprendizaje y de la enseñanza; Aguilar, Madrid, 1967, 2nd ed.
• Psychology of learning and teaching - Bern: Huber, 1967, 3rd, exp. u. through Ed.
• Lecturer at educational colleges; Leaflets for vocational studies / Vol. 3. Professions for high school graduates / [Lfg 58.]; Bertelsmann, Bielefeld: 1969, 3rd edition.
• To the problem of school readiness; E. Reinhardt, Munich, 1963, 3rd, unchanged. Ed.
• The activity of the soul; Basics of work education as crime education; Stenger, Erfurt, 1933
• Studies of past and future reactions, Leipzig: Akad. Verl.-Ges., 1931
• Child and language: psychological prerequisites for German lessons in elementary school; Munich: Kösel, vol. 1. primary school age 1955, vol. 2. secondary school age, 1966
• Treatises on educational psychology; Bern: H. Huber, Bern, 1957
• About the concept and meaning of mental attitudes; Kern & Birner-Verlag, Volume 5, 1952

literature

• Nickel, Horst. Amelang, Manfred [Hrsg.]: Focal points of educational psychology: a scientific reading book on current problems for students of educational and social sciences Celebrated people: Festschrift for Max Joseph Hillebrand, Huber-Verlag, Bern, 1973
• Nickel, Horst: Prof. Dr. phil. Max-Josef Hillebrand, obituary : in the journal Psychologie der Erbildung und Studium, 1984, p. 312f

Web links

• Literature by and about Max Joseph Hillebrand in the catalog of the German National Library