Research Profile

Originally, Professor Beckmann’s research focused primarily on basic questions in the field of motivation and volition (will), particularly on how the gap between motivation (intentions) and action can be overcome. This work later developed into an applied research program on performance processes in various domains. In sport psychology, a line of research was established addressing performance failure under stress conditions (“choking under pressure”) and its neurophysiological basis. This research also led to the development of interventions aimed at stabilizing action and performance under stressful conditions.

Closely connected to this line of research is the field of recovery research, which Michael Kellmann began in the 1990s while working with Professor Beckmann. It is now widely recognized that optimal performance depends on adequate recovery. Michael Kellmann, now Professor at Ruhr University Bochum, has become one of the world’s leading researchers in the field of recovery. The fruitful collaboration between Beckmann and Kellmann over the past 30 years continues through the annual publication of a volume in the Routledge series Advances in Recovery Research: Interdisciplinary Insights.

Closely linked to recovery research is the development of clinical sport psychology in Germany. Initial work focused on the prevalence of depression and burnout. A paper published in the Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology in 2013 has become one of the highly cited standard references in the field. During the past decade, the focus increasingly shifted toward prevention. In this context, Routledge invited Beckmann and his collaborators to edit the Routledge Handbook of Athletes’ Mental Health and Well-Being, published in 2023.

At the beginning of 2018, Prof. Beckmann gave a lecture at the German Heart Center Munich (DHM) on “Motivation and Self-Confidence, Anxiety and Anxiety Management in Chronic Diseases” during an event on congenital heart defects. At that time, research on the psychological situation of people with congenital heart defects was still very limited, and psychological care was virtually non-existent. With this work, as previously in clinical sport psychology, Prof. Beckmann returned to his original medical roots. Since then, the Psychocardiology Working Group at the DHM under the direction of Prof. Beckmann has secured funding for three research projects and published more than 25 articles on the topic. In addition, a psychocardiological care program was established at the DHM, which unfortunately had to be discontinued in 2025 for financial reasons. Prof. Beckmann nevertheless continues to provide free telephone consultations one afternoon per week.

When Prof. Beckmann became Dean of the Faculty of Sport Sciences in 2008, the faculty had seven professorships and more than 2,000 students. One of the main objectives was to increase the number of professorships and thereby strengthen scientific output while further expanding the faculty’s international orientation. This was only possible through a substantive expansion of the faculty by integrating health sciences. In view of an increasingly sedentary society and the resulting lifestyle-related diseases, the combination of sport and health appeared both logical and strategically important. By the end of Prof. Beckmann’s second term as Dean, the faculty had grown to 12 professorships and today comprises 16 primary professorships.

All of these activities went hand in hand with the development of young researchers. Prof. Beckmann repeatedly describes the highly productive collaboration with junior scholars as one of the most rewarding aspects of academic life: “What particularly pleases me is that, of my more than 40 doctoral and postdoctoral researchers, eight have meanwhile been appointed to professorships themselves.”

 

Academic Career

since 2021	TUM Emeritus of Excellence
2020–2021	Internationalization Officer, TUM Department of Sport and Health Sciences
2008–2013	Dean of TUM Department of Sport and Health Sciences
2006–2021	Professor and Chair of Sport Psychology, TUM Department of Sport and Health Sciences
2006–2021	Member of the Faculty Council, TUM Department of Sport and Health Sciences
1999–2002	Director, Institute of Sport Science, University of Potsdam
1998–2002	Member of the Senate Committee for Research, University of Potsdam
1998–2002	Member of the Faculty Council, Faculty of Humanities, University of Potsdam
1997–2006	Professor (C3) of Sport Psychology, Institute of Sport Science, University of Potsdam
1993	Visiting Scholar, Florida Atlantic University, USA (Center for Complex Systems)
1990–1995	Heisenberg Fellow, German Research Foundation (DfG)
1988	Habilitation in Psychology, University of Mannheim; venia legendi in Psychology granted by Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (1992)
1984–1990	Research Associate and Project Leader, Max Planck Institute for Psychological Research, Munich
1984	PhD in Psychology, University of Mannheim; dissertation: Cognitive Dissonance: An Action-Theoretical Perspective
1980–1983	Research Associate, Collaborative Research Center (SFB 24), University of Mannheim (Head: Martin Irle)
1980	Diploma in Social Sciences (Major in Psychology) at Ruhr-University Bochum; Thesis Topic: Popper's Logic of the Situation as an explanatory model for the social sciences

 

Memberships and Functions

• Member of Recognition Committee for EuroPsy Specialist Certificate in Sport Psychology on behalf of German Psychological Society (since 2021)
• Chair of President’s Visiting Committee of the University of Alberta, Canada (2014-2017)
• Member of Scientific Advisory Board of the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sport Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, (2015-2016)
• President German Association of Sport Psychology ASP (2005-2009), Board Member (1998-2005)
• President German Association Snowsport at Universities (2002-2004)
• Member of American Psychological Association (APA) (1986-2010)

• Member of German Psychological Society (DGPs) (since 1984)

   

Awards

• TUM Emeritus of Excellence (2021)
• Adjunct Professor, University of Limerick, Ireland (2020)
• Golden Badge of Honour awarded by German Society of Sport Psychology (asp) (2019)
• Honorary Professor, University of Queensland, Australia (2018)
• Adjunct Professor, Southwest Jiaotong University, Sichuan, PR China (2007)
• Silver Badge of Honour awarded by German Ski Association (DSV) (2003)
• Heisenberg Scholarship of German Research Foundation (1990)
• Young Scientist Award (German Psychological Association) (DGPs) (1984)

You can download "Explanations of honors and awards" here [PDF 215 KB]

 

10 key publications

Beckmann, J., & Elbe, AM (2024). Praxis der Sportpsychologie im Wettkampf- und Leistungssport (3. Aufl.), Hogrefe.

Nixdorf, I., Nixdorf, R., Beckmann, J., Martin, S., & MacIntyre, T.E. (Eds.) (2023). The Routledge Handbook of Mental Health in Elite Sports. Routledge

Andonian, C., Freilinger, S., Achenbach,S., Ewert, P., Gundlach, U., Hörer, J., Kaemmerer, H., Pieper, L., Weyand, M., Neidenbach, R., & Beckmann, J. (2021). The "Well-being paradox" revisited: A cross-sectional study of quality of life in over 4,000 adults with congenital heart disease. BMJ Open,11:e 049531. Doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-049531

Wergin, V.V., Zimanyi, Z., Mesagno, C., & Beckmann, J. (2018). When Suddenly Nothing Works Anymore Within a Team – Causes of Collective Sport Team Collapse. Frontiers in Psychology, 9: 2115 doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02115.

Andonian, C., Beckmann, J., Biber, S., Ewert, P., Freilinger, S., Kaemmerer, H., Oberhoffer, R., Pieper, L., & Neidenbach, R.C. (2018). Current Research Status on the Psychological Situation of Adults with Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD).  Cardiovascular Diagnosis and Therapy, 8(6):799-804. doi: 10.21037/cdt.2018.12.06

Kellmann, M., Bertollo, M., Bosquet, L., Brink, M., Coutts, A., Duffield, R., Erlacher, D., Halson, S., Hecksteden, A., Heidari, J., Kallus, W., Meeusen. R., Mujika, I., Robazza, C., Skorski, S., Venter, R., & Beckmann, J. (2018). Recovery and performance: Consensus statement. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 13, 240-245.

Cross-Villasana, F., Gröpel, P., Doppelmayr, M. & Beckmann, J. (2015). Unilateral Left-Hand Contractions Produce Widespread Depression of Cortical Activity after Their Execution. PloS One, 10 (12), DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0145867.

Beckmann, J., Gröpel, P., & Ehrlenspiel, F. (2013). Preventing motor skill failure through hemisphere – specific priming. Cases from choking under pressure. Journal of Experimental Psychology. General, 142, 679-691.

Kuhl, J. & Beckmann, J. (Eds.) (1994). Volition and personality: Action and state orientation. Seattle: Hogrefe & Huber Publishers.

Kuhl, J. & Beckmann, J. (Eds.) (1985). Action control: From cognition to behavior. Heidelberg, Berlin, New York: Springer.