Maria Schorn studied psychology in Bonn. She then worked with Walter Moede at the Institute for Industrial Psychotechnique and subsequently at the Institute for Economic Psychology in Berlin. From 1923 to 1936 she was assistant to Karl Marbe. Under his supervision she became the first woman to habilitate at the University of Würzburg in 1929.
The photo was taken in the 1950s during a carnival celebration at the Institute of Psychology at Freie Universität Berlin, where she found an employment after the war.