The German psychologist Sylvia Schroll-Machl describes Sachorientierung, orientation toward the matter, as a German cultural standard. In 2004, in a box headed Wir Deutschen, we Germans, she wrote: Die Sache ist uns wichtiger als die Person. The matter is more important to us than the person. Wir können durchaus mit jemandem auf sachlicher Ebene zusammenarbeiten, obwohl wir uns persönlich nicht besonders mögen. We can certainly work with someone on a factual level, even though we do not particularly like each other personally. In the same series she warns that thinking this alone is enough for working together is der häufigste deutsche Irrtum, the most common German mistake.
psychology
First Suitability, Then Sympathy
Markus Bühner is a professor of psychological methods and diagnostics at LMU Munich. In a 2015 interview published by the university, he spoke about hiring. Sympathie ist zunächst etwas vermeintlich ganz Wichtiges. At first, liking a person seems very important. But choosing a likeable person who is not suited to the job will sooner or later cause high staff turnover. Liking may decide only between candidates who are all suitable. Ansonsten gilt: Erst kommt die Eignung, dann die Sympathie. Otherwise the rule is: first suitability, then liking.
A Protected Title
In Germany the title Psychotherapeut, psychotherapist, is protected by law. Under the Psychotherapists Act of November 15, 2019, in force since September 1, 2020, anyone who wants to practice psychotherapy under that title needs the Approbation, the state license to practice. Apart from licensed psychotherapists and a few other authorized groups, only physicians may use the title.
The Logic of Failure
In 1989 the psychologist Dietrich Dörner published Die Logik des Mißlingens, the logic of failure. He studied how people act in complex situations, using computer simulations. In one of them, participants managed Tanaland, an imaginary region in Africa. In another they ran Lohhausen, a simulated small town. A chapter on dealing with goals discusses global goals and what Dörner calls Reparaturdienstverhalten, repair-service behavior. Dörner’s first step for acting in complex situations is to become clear about the goal. Many people, he found, already fail at this first step.
If-Then Plans
The psychologist Peter Gollwitzer of the University of Konstanz studies how plans help people reach their goals. His best-known idea is the implementation intention, in German a Wenn-dann-Plan, an if-then plan. It decides in advance: if situation Y arises, then I will do X. In 2006, Gollwitzer and Paschal Sheeran analyzed 94 independent tests. If-then plans had a positive effect of medium to large size on reaching goals. In a university news article of 2019, Gollwitzer was quoted as saying that people normally reach 20 to 30 percent of their goals, and 60 to 70 percent when they plan how they will reach them.
Gut Decisions
In 2007 the psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer published Bauchentscheidungen, gut decisions. He is director emeritus at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. The subtitle is Die Intelligenz des Unbewussten und die Macht der Intuition, the intelligence of the unconscious and the power of intuition. Gigerenzer argues that people make most decisions intuitively, by rules of thumb. In his view, following such gut decisions is itself a rational strategy, and good intuitions must ignore information. The magazine Bild der Wissenschaft gave the book its science book award.
The book does not praise haste. Gigerenzer separates a gut feeling from a random idea or from naivety.
The Spiral of Silence
In the 1970s, the opinion researcher Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann formulated the theory of the Schweigespirale, the spiral of silence. Most people fear social isolation. Those who believe they are in the minority therefore tend to fall silent. The Allensbach Institute has asked Germans for decades: Haben Sie das Gefühl, dass man heute in Deutschland seine politische Meinung frei sagen kann, oder ist es besser, vorsichtig zu sein? Do you feel that one can say one’s political opinion freely in Germany today, or is it better to be careful? In October 2025, only 46 percent said that one can express one’s political opinion freely.
The question is about political opinions in public life, not about sharing knowledge in a meeting at work.
One Person Speaks at a Time
Ruth Cohn, born in Berlin in 1912, developed Themenzentrierte Interaktion, theme-centered interaction, in the United States from the mid-1950s. The method is taught at the Ruth Cohn Institute. One of its auxiliary rules is Nur einer spricht zur selben Zeit, only one person speaks at a time. Its best-known principle allows a break in the order: Störungen haben Vorrang! Disturbances take precedence.
Leading, but Uneasy
In spring 2019, 79 percent of Germans told the Allensbach Institute that it was important for Germany to be among the leading countries in digitalization. In April of the same year, 51 percent agreed with the sentence Mir sind viele dieser technischen Neuerungen unheimlich, many of these technical innovations make me uneasy. Among people under thirty, about a quarter agreed. Among people over sixty, 75 percent agreed. Asked whether science should accept some risk when testing new technology, 46 percent said yes. Thirty-nine percent said that if there is even a small risk, it is better to give up the progress.
Freedom Within Limits
The Bavarian State Ministry for Family, Labor and Social Affairs gives parents of preschool children a brochure called Freiheit in Grenzen, freedom within limits. The name comes from a parenting program of the same name by the Munich psychologist Klaus A. Schneewind. The brochure sets out three principles. The first is to value the child as a person in every situation. The second is Fordern und klare Grenzen setzen, to make demands and set clear limits. The third is Die Eigenständigkeit des Kindes fördern und das Kind in den gesetzten Grenzen bewusst gewähren lassen, to support the child’s independence and to deliberately let the child act freely within the limits that have been set.