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Tanja Gerlach

• Lecturer , School of Psychology
• Phone +44 (0)28 9097 1578

Accepting PhD Students

PhD projects

I am open to PhD applications in the following areas: (1) personality and social relationships; (2) non-normative life and relationship choices and communication around those choices; (3) intellectual giftedness; (4) psychological assessment Prospective PhD candidates looking for specific research opportunities with me are advised to consult my QUB supervisor profile. To do so, please click on the globe underneath my profile picture. On the supervisor profile, check out "Current Research Opportunities".

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Particulars.

I am a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the School of Psychology at Queen’s University Belfast. I completed my PhD in 2013 at Humboldt University Berlin and as a fellow of the International Max Planck Research School on the Life Course (IMPRS LIFE). Prior to joining QUB in April 2022, I was a Senior Researcher within the Biological Personality Psychology group at the University of Göttingen.

Research Interests

As a psychological scientist, I am fascinated by the complex interplay of personality and social relationships. I study how people navigate these relationships in everyday life and in relation to how they see themselves and others. As such, my research programme cuts across the psychology of interpersonal relationships, personality psychology, and psychological assessment/psychometrics.

I have worked on the conceptualization and measurement of narcissism as a personality trait and its consequences in interpersonal relationships, and the effects of steroid hormones on motivation and behavior, in particular in the context of ovulatory cycle effects and hormonal contraception. Employing prospective longitudinal designs and multi-national survey data, my latest work has centred on ideal partner preferences and the role of these preferences for relationship development and wellbeing. I also have an emerging programme of research centring on non-normative life and relationship choices and I currently study how people navigate communication around those choices. 

On the methodological side, I put an emphasis on research that is robust, transparent, and highly collaborative in nature. Employing state-of-the-art study frameworks such as the open source software formr, I am particularly passionate about the dissemination of research designs for the study of close relationships.  

I have been a teacher of psychology for more than a decade now. Previously, the lion's share of my teaching focussed on interindividual differences/personality psychology, the psychology of interpersonal relationships, developmental psychology, psychological assessment, and applied research methods. I particularly enjoy teaching research methods from a practical and highly contexualised perspective. My B.Sc. module "Research in Personality Psychology" was awarded a university-wide best teaching award at the University of Goettingen in 2016, and nominated for a state-level award, the Science Award Lower Saxony in the category “Teaching”, in 2019. At QUB, I currently contribute to the following modules:

- PSY1009: Introduction to Psychological Methods

- PSY1010: Using Psychology in Everyday Life 

- PSY2066: Core Psychology II 

- PSY7091: Core Psychology II (conversion master "Psychological Science") Each year I supervise final year research theses for undergraduate students completing the BSc. Psychology, and I also act as a personal tutor for 3rd and 1st year students on this course. 

PhD Supervision

At QUB, I currently am a supervisor to two PhD students:  - Olivia Crawford (primary supervisor), on a project on childfree adults, their social networks and support  - Ceri Welsh (co-supervisor), on a project on the assessment and consequences of antagonistic personality traits 

Prospective PhD candidates looking for specific research opportunities with me are advised to consult my QUB supervisor profile and check out the section "Current Research Opportunities". 

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

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• 1 Similar Profiles
• Narcissism Psychology 100%
• Research Psychology 49%
• Romantic Relationship Psychology 40%
• Behavior Psychology 40%
• Personality Psychology 36%
• Forgiveness Psychology 31%
• Questionnaires Psychology 30%
• Interpersonal Relationship Psychology 29%

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

Dive into details.

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Research output

• 3 Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary
• 1 Comment/debate
• 1 Review article

Research output per year

Assessing Dark Tetrad traits: a COSMIN systematic review of measurement instruments available

Research output : Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

• Psychometrics 100%
• Systematic Literature Review 100%
• Measurement Instrument 100%
• Narcissism 100%
• Measurement 66%

Investigating the effects of congruence between within-person associations: a comparison of two extensions of response surface analysis

Research output : Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• Response Surface 100%
• Congruence 100%
• Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling 60%
• Predictor Variable 40%
• Computer Code 20%

Ovulatory cycle shifts in human motivational prioritisation of sex and food

• Sexual Behavior 100%
• Preregistered 66%
• Satiety 33%

Age and gender differences in narcissism: A comprehensive study across eight measures and over 250,000 participants

• Gender Difference 100%
• Research 18%
• Questionnaires 9%
• Extraversion 9%

Is (actual or perceptual) personality similarity associated with attraction in initial romantic encounters? A dyadic response surface analysis

• Personality 100%
• Personality Trait 50%
• Assumptions 25%
• Psychological Theory 25%
• Big Five Trait 25%

Best teaching award (university-wide) for the B. Sc. module "Research in Personality Psychology", 3.000€ - Stiftungsrat of the University of Goettingen

Gerlach, Tanja (Recipient), 2016

Prize : Prize (including medals and awards)

• Research 100%
• Psychology 100%

Nomination for best teaching award (state-level) for the B. Sc. module "Research in Personality Psychology” - Science Award Lower Saxony 2019 in the category “Teaching”

Gerlach, Tanja (Recipient), 2019

• Personality Psychology 100%
• Research in Personality 100%

PhD fellowship International Max Planck Research School 'The Life Course: Evolutionary and Ontogenetic Dynamics' (LIFE) - 3 years full doctoral stipend awarded by the Max Planck Society

Gerlach, Tanja (Recipient), 2009

Prize : Fellowship awarded competitively

• Social Systems 100%
• Fellowships 100%
• School Research 100%
• Dynamics 100%

Preregistration Challenge Prize of the Center for Open Science (COS) - for Schultze, Gerlach & Rittich (2017), Journal of Behavioral Decision Making

Schultze-Gerlach, Thomas (Recipient), Gerlach, Tanja (Recipient) & Rittich, Jacob C. (Recipient), 2018

• Behavioral Decision-Making 100%
• Open Science 100%
• Decision-Making 100%
• Decision Making 100%
• 9 Oral presentation
• 2 Editorial activity
• 2 Hosting an academic visitor
• 2 Invited talk
• 1 Participation in conference

Activities per year

Identity disclosure in childfree individuals: The role of social motives (ECP 2024)

Tanja Gerlach (Presenter), Ceri Welsh (Contributor), Louisa M. Reins (Contributor), Conny MacNally (Contributor), Eve Starritt (Contributor) & Thomas Schultze-Gerlach (Contributor)

Activity : Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation

Stability and change of ideal partner preferences: Evidence from a prospective study across 13 years

Tanja Gerlach (Presenter), Julie C. Driebe (Contributor), Julia Stern (Contributor) & Lars Penke (Contributor)

Ideal partner preferences: What they are and how they change (Offer Holder Day 2024)

Tanja Gerlach (Speaker)

Sarah Stanton

Tanja Gerlach (Host)

Activity : Hosting a visitor types › Hosting an academic visitor

Parenthood is not for me! Characterizing identity disclosure in childfree individuals (DPPD 2023)

Tanja M. Gerlach (Presenter), Connie MacNally (Contributor), Eve Starritt (Contributor), Thomas Schultze-Gerlach (Contributor) & Louisa M. Reins (Contributor)

Press/Media

Fighting the stigma of being child-free: ‘it’s not a pathology that needs fixing’ (the times).

1 item of Media coverage

Press/Media : Research

Age and the perfect partner: Is there a connection? (SciTechDaily)

Laura J. Botzet & Tanja Gerlach

Who is the right one?: Older women are more flexible when choosing a partner [Wer ist der Richtige?: Ältere Frauen sind bei der Partnerwahl flexibler] (Tagesspiegel)

How does age influence romantic preferences [wie beeinflusst das alter die romantischen vorlieben] (göttinger tageblatt).

1 Media contribution

This is how women define the "perfect partner" (Fatherly)