This third edition provides translations of all chapters of the most recent fifth German edition of Motivation and Action, including several entirely new chapters. It provides comprehensive coverage of the history of motivation, and introduces up-to-date theories and new research findings. Early sections provide a broad introduction to, and deep understanding of, the field of motivation psychology, mapping out different perspectives and research traditions. Subsequent chapters examine major themes of human motivation, including achievement, affiliation, and power motivation as well as the fundamentals of motivation psychology, such as motivated and goal oriented behaviors, implicit and explicit motives, and the regulation of development. In addition, the book discusses the roles of motivation in three practical fields: school and college, the workplace, and sports. Topics featured in this text include: Social Relationships and its effects on sexual or intimacy motivation. Conscious and unconscious motivators of behavior. Drives and incentives in the fields of achievement, intimacy, sociability and power. How the biochemistry and structures of our brain shapes motivated behavior. How to engage in intentional goal-directed behavior. The potential and limits of motivation and self-direction in shaping our lives. Motivation and Action, Third Edition, is a must-have resource for undergraduate and graduate students as well as researchers in the fields of motivation psychology, cognitive psychology, and social psychology, as well as personality psychology and agency. About the Editor: Jutta Heckhausen is the daughter of Heinz Heckhausen, who published "Motivation and Action" as a monograph in 1980 and who died in 1988 just before the 2nd edition came out. Dr. Heckhausen received her Ph.D. in 1985 from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow with a dissertation about early mother-child interaction, and did her Habilitation in 1996 at the Free University of Berlin with a monograph about developmental regulation in adulthood. Dr. Heckhausen worked for many years at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, conducting research about the role of motivation in lifespan development. She is currently a professor of psychology at the University of California, Irvine.

In the last two decades, an approach to the study of motivation has emerged that focuses on specific cognitive and affective mediators of behaviour, in contrast to more general traits or motives. This 'social-cognitive' approach grants goal-oriented motivation its own role in shaping cognition, emotion and behaviour, rather than reducing goal-directed behaviour to cold-blooded information processing or to an enactment of a personality type. This book adds to this process-oriented approach a developmental perspective. Critical elements of motivational systems can be specified and their inter-relations understood by charting the origins and the developmental course of motivational processes. Moreover, a process-oriented approach helps to identify critical transitions and effective developmental interventions. The chapters in this book cover various age groups throughout the life span and stem from four big traditions in motivational psychology: achievement motivation, action theory, the psychology of causal attribution and perceived control, and the psychology of personal causation and intrinsic motivation.

Human behavior is very flexible and ontogenetic potential adds to the scope of variability of developmental paths. Therefore, development in the life course needs to be regulated. Developmental regulation by the individual is scaffolded by external constraints. External constraints to development based on biological aging, institutional age-grading, and internalized age norms provide an age-graded agenda for striving for developmental growth and avoiding developmental decline. The life-span theory of control proposes that control of one's environment is the key to adaptive functioning throughout the life span. The theory identifies the evolutionary roots and the life-span developmental course of man striving to control the environment (primary control) and the self (secondary control). Primary control is directed at producing effects in the external world, while secondary control influences the internal world so as to optimize the motivational resources for primary control. In this 1999 book, a series of studies illustrate the rich repertoire of the human control system to master developmental challenges in various age periods and developmental ecologies.

This third edition provides translations of all chapters of the most recent fifth German edition of Motivation and Action, including several entirely new chapters. It provides comprehensive coverage of the history of motivation, and introduces up-to-date theories and new research findings. Early sections provide a broad introduction to, and deep understanding of, the field of motivation psychology, mapping out different perspectives and research traditions. Subsequent chapters examine major themes of human motivation, including achievement, affiliation, and power motivation as well as the fundamentals of motivation psychology, such as motivated and goal oriented behaviors, implicit and explicit motives, and the regulation of development. In addition, the book discusses the roles of motivation in three practical fields: school and college, the workplace, and sports. Topics featured in this text include: Social Relationships and its effects on sexual or intimacy motivation. Conscious and unconscious motivators of behavior. Drives and incentives in the fields of achievement, intimacy, sociability and power. How the biochemistry and structures of our brain shapes motivated behavior. How to engage in intentional goal-directed behavior. The potential and limits of motivation and self-direction in shaping our lives. Motivation and Action, Third Edition, is a must-have resource for undergraduate and graduate students as well as researchers in the fields of motivation psychology, cognitive psychology, and social psychology, as well as personality psychology and agency. About the Editor: Jutta Heckhausen is the daughter of Heinz Heckhausen, who published "Motivation and Action" as a monograph in 1980 and who died in 1988 just before the 2nd edition came out. Dr. Heckhausen received her Ph.D. in 1985 from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow with a dissertation about early mother-child interaction, and did her Habilitation in 1996 at the Free University of Berlin with a monograph about developmental regulation in adulthood. Dr. Heckhausen worked for many years at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, conducting research about the role of motivation in lifespan development. She is currently a professor of psychology at the University of California, Irvine.

In the last two decades, an approach to the study of motivation has emerged that focuses on specific cognitive and affective mediators of behaviour, in contrast to more general traits or motives. This 'social-cognitive' approach grants goal-oriented motivation its own role in shaping cognition, emotion and behaviour, rather than reducing goal-directed behaviour to cold-blooded information processing or to an enactment of a personality type. This book adds to this process-oriented approach a developmental perspective. Critical elements of motivational systems can be specified and their inter-relations understood by charting the origins and the developmental course of motivational processes. Moreover, a process-oriented approach helps to identify critical transitions and effective developmental interventions. The chapters in this book cover various age groups throughout the life span and stem from four big traditions in motivational psychology: achievement motivation, action theory, the psychology of causal attribution and perceived control, and the psychology of personal causation and intrinsic motivation.

In this book Heckhausen and Heckhausen give an extensive and in-depth overview of the diverse lines of research in motivational psychology, in terms of its historical foundations, up-to-date conceptual developments and empirical research. The major classes of motivated behavior, such as achievement, affiliation and power, are addressed and the critical processes involved in motivation and volition are discussed in detail. Different conceptual and empirical lines of research, such as implicit/explicit motivation, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation/volition, causal attribution, childhood and lifespan development, education, personality and psychopathology are integrated and analyzed as to the common issues and phenomena they address, thus providing a most useful guideline for understanding debates in current motivational, educational and social psychology.

Human behavior is very flexible and ontogenetic potential adds to the scope of variability of developmental paths. Therefore, development in the life course needs to be regulated. Developmental regulation by the individual is scaffolded by external constraints. External constraints to development based on biological aging, institutional age-grading, and internalized age norms provide an age-graded agenda for striving for developmental growth and avoiding developmental decline. The life-span theory of control proposes that control of one's environment is the key to adaptive functioning throughout the life span. The theory identifies the evolutionary roots and the life-span developmental course of man striving to control the environment (primary control) and the self (secondary control). Primary control is directed at producing effects in the external world, while secondary control influences the internal world so as to optimize the motivational resources for primary control. In this 1999 book, a series of studies illustrate the rich repertoire of the human control system to master developmental challenges in various age periods and developmental ecologies.

In this book Heckhausen and Heckhausen give an extensive and in-depth overview of the diverse lines of research in motivational psychology, in terms of its historical foundations, up-to-date conceptual developments and empirical research. The major classes of motivated behavior, such as achievement, affiliation and power, are addressed and the critical processes involved in motivation and volition are discussed in detail. Different conceptual and empirical lines of research, such as implicit/explicit motivation, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation/volition, causal attribution, childhood and lifespan development, education, personality and psychopathology are integrated and analyzed as to the common issues and phenomena they address, thus providing a most useful guideline for understanding debates in current motivational, educational and social psychology.