Roman Stengelin

Roman Stengelin is a Senior Scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, where he leads research in the Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology. His work focuses on childhood social learning and cognition, combining cross-cultural and developmental approaches to understand how cultural contexts shape social interactions, Theory of Mind, and collaboration. He conducts fieldwork in Namibian communities (Hai||om, Khwe, Owambo) and urban Germany, emphasizing cultural influences on child development. His career includes roles as a Postdoctoral Researcher (2020–2023) and PhD Student (2015–2020) at Leipzig University’s Department of Early Child Development and Culture, with earlier degrees from Leipzig and Koblenz-Landau Universities.

Research Interests: Cross-cultural variation in social cognition, child autonomy and pedagogy, cultural blindspots in developmental theory, and inclusive research methods. Over 30 peer-reviewed publications address topics like child collaboration, overimitation, and ethical cross-cultural research. Current projects prioritize generalizability in psychological studies and culturally diverse methodologies.