[1][2] He was educated at the University of Hamburg, from which he received his diploma in 1954, his doctorate in 1957, and his habilitation in 1964.
[3] While at the University of Hamburg, he conducted a study on the IQ scores of the German-raised children of black and white American soldiers stationed in Allied-occupied Germany.
[4][5] In 1973, he joined the faculty of Technische Universität Berlin, where he went on to help establish the Institute for Psychology.
[6] A member of the German Psychological Society, he hosted its 1988 conference in Berlin.
In 1995, he retired from TU Berlin; he became an emeritus professor there the following year.