Rolf Degen (science journalist)

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Rolf Degen (born November 27, 1953 in Andernach ) is a German freelance science journalist and author of popular science books.

He has written numerous articles for well-known newspapers and magazines, including a. for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , Der Spiegel , Die Zeit , the Süddeutsche Zeitung , Bild der Wissenschaft und Psychologie heute .

In 1988 his publications were awarded the Prize for Science Journalism by the German Psychological Society . In 1990 he received prizes for his publications in brain research from the “Upjohn Fellowship” and the “Medical Journalists Working Group”.

Life

During his school days, Degen met his future co-author Akif Pirinçci as a 10-year-old , whom he has been very close friends with ever since. After graduating from high school, he studied psychology, journalism and sociology in Mainz. During his studies, he started working as a freelance science journalist in the late 1970s.

Degen has lived in Bonn for many years.

Central themes

Degen's main areas are psychology, brain and behavioral research. A central theme is the review of apparently established truths in the field of psychology. He thinks u. a. to be able to show that there is still no documentation of the effectiveness of psychotherapy through methodologically sound studies including suitable control groups. His best known book, entitled The Lexicon of Psychological Errors. Why people cannot be educated, treated and influenced was published in 2000. Der Spiegel dedicated a cover story to the work with an interview with the author and the comment: “Degen, a proven connoisseur of the psychological scene, is launching a furious general attack on psychologists on. In his polemic, full of punch lines, he tears down psycho-theoretical cornerstones ”. As expected, Degen's doubts about the legitimacy of the profession of psychotherapist led to strong backlashes. One of the main arguments was that Degen had failed to prove the ineffectiveness of psychotherapy. In an extensive review by the psychologist and psychotherapist Gerald Mackenthun , who described Degen's book as necessary and meritorious, it was stated that a lot had happened in the psychotherapy scene since Hans Jürgen Eysenck made his “truly controversial statement” in 1952 that psychotherapy was no better Results have to be seen as waiting or "to be cooked well by a fat mom". In his review, Mackenthun did not cite any study that had unequivocally confirmed its effectiveness since Eysenck's statement.

The 2004 book on orgasm (From the highest of feelings) commented on Die Welt: “Degen succeeded in doing something that is rare in the abundance of sex literature. There is indeed news in this book. He has researched extensively and can do a lot of amazing things, even for those familiar with the matter. And he shows little respect for theories, schools of thought, and other academic fetishes. Regardless of whether Freud, feminism or piety - Rolf Degen counteracts it with empiricism. "

In the book about science and morality (The End of Evil) , published in 2007, Degen gives “a broad overview of the current development of research in this field.” In a humorous, scientifically extensively researched book about the blessings of the nap (The small sleep in between) Degen tries to make the complex newer findings of the neurophysiology of sleep understandable for laypeople as well. The book Cat Senses , which was written with the author of the world bestseller Felidae , Akif Pirinçci and also translated into English, offers an unusual perspective , in which the reader is transported into the cat's soul and its sensory organs.

In his tweets , Degen reports on astonishing recent scientific discoveries, debunks psycho-myths and deals with falsifications within science.

Books

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ spiegel.de
  2. ↑ ppfi.de
  3. ↑ welt.de
  4. ↑ perlentaucher.de
  5. ↑ twitter.com
personal data
SURNAME Sword, Rolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German science journalist
DATE OF BIRTH November 27, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Then after