The past three decades of research on human motivation have presented theories of cognitive decision-making that fail to account for numerous behavioral paradoxes such as the disproportional rise in motivation following the reduction in anxiety. This text provides empirical evidence and a broad theoretical framework for integrating cognitive, emotional and motivational psychology though a systems-oriented perspective.

"It is not thought as such that can move anything, but thought which is for the sake of something and is practical." This discerning insight, which dates back more than 2000years to Aristotle, seems to have been ignored by most psycholo gists. For more than 40years theories of human action have assumed that cogni tion and action are merely two sides of the same coin. Approaches as different as S-O-R behaviorism, social learning theory, consistency theories, and expectancy value theories of motivation and decision making have one thing in common: they all assume that "thought (or any other type of cognition) can move any thing," that there is a direct path from cognition to behavior. In recent years, we have become more and more aware of the complexities in volved in the relationship between cognition and behavior. People do not always do what they intend to do. Aside from several nonpsychological factors capable of reducing cognition-behavior consistency, there seems to be a set of complex psychological mechanisms which intervene between action-related cognitions, such as beliefs, expectancies, values, and intentions, and the enactment of the be havior suggested by those cognitions. In our recent research we have focused on volitional mechanismus which presumably enhance cognition-behavior consistency by supporting the main tenance of activated intentions and prevent them from being pushed aside by competing action tendencies."

Overview of current trends in the psychology of motivation and volition, covering basic research as well as developmen- tal and applied aspects. Intention and volition are consi- dered in chapters on behavior dynamics, self-regulation, and control over intention and actions.

Coaching foerdert die Entwicklung der Selbststeuerungsfahigkeiten des Klienten, die fur die Loesung eines Problems oder die Erreichung eines (meist) beruflichen Ziels bedeutsam sind. In diesem Beitrag wird die Persoenlichkeits-System-Interaktions-Theorie (PSI-Theorie) dargestellt, mit der verschiedene Persoenlichkeitstheorien, wissenschaftliche Befunde und neurobiologische Grundlagen zu einer Theorie der willentlichen Handlungssteuerung verbunden werden. Mit Hilfe der PSI-Theorie koennen nicht nur Prozesse der Selbststeuerung theoretisch erklart werden, sondern sie bietet auch eine Grundlage dafur, das professionelle Handeln im Coaching systematisieren und definieren zu koennen.

Die vorliegende Monographie bietet gegen}ber einf}hrenden B}chern vertiefenden Einblick in Theorien und Ans{tze der Motivationspsychologie undenth{lt neue Modellentwicklungen sowie eine zusammenfassende Darstellung vonverschiedenen Experimenten zur Oberpr}fung dieser Modelle. Das Problem der Handlungssteuerung, zentrales Thema und Schnittstelle der Motivations- und der Kognitionspsychologie, wird vor dem Hintergrundtheoretischer und experimenteller Arbeiten der klinischen, differentiellen, motivations- und sozialpsychologischen Forschung umfassend dargestellt und diskutiert. Ans{tze, die f}r die Fortentwicklung von Theorien der Motivation und Handlungskontrolle besonders bedeutsam sind, stehen dabei im Mittelpunkt.