He received his doctorate in Psychology from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. From 1989 to 1994, Frensch was Assistant Professor and Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Missouri-Columbia, USA. In 1994, he returned to Germany to the Max-Planck-Institute of Human Development. Since 1998, he is a full professor of Psychology at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. He has served as dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultaet II). In January 2011 he took office as vice president for research affairs at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.