Name Klaus Riegel | ||
Klaus Riegel (November 6, 1925 in Berlin, Germany – July 3, 1977) was a German-American psychologist. In his youth, he worked as a metal worker in a shipyard until he was granted admission to the University of Hamburg, Germany where he received an undergraduate degree in Psychology in 1955, he earned his Master of Arts degree at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. In 1958, he earned his Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Hamburg ; in his postdoctoral year, he participated in the University of Hamburg’s Psychologinguistics Program, the Institute of Gerontology, and the Center for Human Growth and Development. In 1959, he joined the faculty at the University of Michigan’s Department Of Psychology. He contributed to numerous journals and presented at conferences that related to his successes in language and cognitive development and functions in the aging process. Riegel died on July 3, 1977.
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Academic work
Riegel contributed to the growth of developmental psychology. He published and edited numerous journal articles on Psycholinguistics, the history and philosophy of the social sciences, and the development and assessment of intellectual functions of older adults. In 1956, he started a cross-sectional and longitudinal study on the effect of aging on intelligence. Riegels work from the cross-sectional study found the terminal drop, in which a decline in cognitive performance or behavior occurred in older adults five years prior to the death of the subjects. He was the president of the Psychological and Social Sciences Section of the Gerontological Society of America, and served on the Executive Committee of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development.
Awards, honors, and distinctions
In 1975, the Gerontological Society of America presented Riegel with the Robert W. Kleemeir Award, for presenting outstanding research in the field of Gerontology. Riegel was also elected as a Fellow in both the Gerontological Society and the American Psychological Association for his contributions to Gerontology.