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I obtained my BSc in Psychology from the University of Konstanz in 2007 before studying in Oxford from 2008 to 2009 to complete a MSc/MRes in Psychology. From 2009 to 2013 I did my doctoral work at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig and continued there as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow until 2016. Between 2014 and 2016 I was a visiting professor at the University of Göttingen and a Teaching Fellow at the Technische Universität Dresden. In 2016 I took a position with the Faculty of Education at Leipzig University as an Assistant Professor. I joined the Department of Experimental Psychology as an Associate Professor of Developmental Psychology in 2020.

Teaching

I teach and coordinate the Core Practicals in the final honours year, as well as co-teach the Social Psychology core lecture series, at the Department of Experimental Psychology.

Research Interests

Together with my colleagues we study social cognition and motivation in early ontogeny from the first year of life to school-age: How young children’s understanding of the social world shapes their own behaviour to initiate, maintain, and repair cooperative relationships with others.

Selected Publications

• von Suchodoletz, A., & Hepach, R. (2021). Cultural values shape the expression of self-evaluative social emotions. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 1-14.
• Schmerse, D., & Hepach, R. (2021). How socialization goals and peer social climate predict young children's concern for others: Evidence for a development shift between 2 and 4 years of age. Social Development, 30(1), 239-257.
• Hepach, R., Benziad, L., & Tomasello, M. (2020). Chimpanzees help others with what they want; children help them with what they need. Developmental Science, 23(3), e12922.
• Schmerse, D., & Hepach, R. (2020). How socialization goals and peer social climate predict young children's concern for others: Evidence for a development shift between 2 and 4 years of age. Social Development.
• Hepach, R. (2017). Prosocial arousal in children. Child Development Perspectives, 11(1), 50-55.
• Hepach, R., Vaish, A., & Tomasello, M. (2017). The fulfillment of others’ needs elevates children’s body posture. Developmental Psychology, 53(1), 100.
• Hepach, R., Vaish, A., & Tomasello, M. (2017). Children's intrinsic motivation to provide help themselves after accidentally harming others. Child development, 88(4), 1251-1264.