Motivation and Action

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.

Table of Contents:
1. Motivation and action: introduction and overview J. Heckhausen and H. Heckhausen; 2. Historical trends in motivation research H. Heckhausen; 3. Trait theories of motivation D. Scheffer and H. Heckhausen; 4. Situational determinants of behavior J. Beckmann and H. Heckhausen; 5. Motivation as a function of expectancy and incentive J. Beckmann and H. Heckhausen; 6. Achievement motivation J. C. Brunstein and H. Heckhausen; 7. Social bonding: affiliation motivation and intimacy motivation K. Sokolowski and H. Heckhausen; 8. Power motivation H.-D. Schmalt and H. Heckhausen; 9. Implicit and explicit motives J. C. Brunstein; 10. Biopsychological aspects of motivation O. C. Schultheiss and M. M. Wirth; 11. Motivation and volition in the course of action A. Achtziger and P. M. Gollwitzer; 12. Individual differences in self-regulation J. Kuhl; 13. Intrinsic motivation and flow F. Rheinberg; 14. Causal attribution of behavior and achievement J. Stiensmeier-Pelster and H. Heckhausen; 15. Motivation and development J. Heckhausen and H. Heckhausen.

About the Author :
Jutta Heckhausen studied psychology at Ruhr University of Bochum in Germany. She wrote her Ph.D. dissertation on mother-infant dyads in joint object-centered action at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, in 1985, and her postdoctoral dissertation (Habilitation) on developmental regulation in adulthood at the Free University of Berlin in 1996. She was a postdoctoral Fellow, and then a research scientist, followed by senior scientist and head of a research group Developmental Regulation and Lifespan Development at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin. Since 2000, Dr Heckhausen has been a professor in the Department of Psychology and Social Behavior at the University of California, Irvine. In 1999, Dr Heckhausen was awarded the Max Planck Research Award for International Cooperation. Her main research interests include motivation and development across the lifespan, goal engagement and disengagement, developmental regulation during major life-course transitions and health problems, and cultural universals and differences in striving for control. Heinz Heckhausen studied psychology at the University of Münster, Germany, and wrote his doctoral dissertation on task motivation and achievement in 1954, followed by his postdoctoral dissertation (Habilitation) on achievement motivation, hope for success and fear of failure in 1962. He was a research scientist at the University of Münster until 1962 and then became Professor of Psychology at Ruhr University, Bochum, where he founded the Department of Psychology. From 1983 until his death in 1988 he was director at the Max Planck Institute for Psychological Research in Munich. Dr Heckhausen was a Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in Wassenaar, 1971–2, and from 1980 to 1982 he was president of the German Psychological Society (DGPs). In 1981, Dr Heckhausen was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Oslo, and in 1988 he received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. Dr Heckhausen's research interests included achievement motivation, motivation and volition in the course of action, development of motivation, measurement of motives, and causal attribution of action outcomes.

Review :
I am pleased with the additional strengths this text brings to the field, updating the original and expanding into new areas of research on motivation and action. The book provokes student thinking, challenges mainstream conceptions of motivation, and expands the motivational episode to include deliberate study of volitional dynamics in realized action. I recommend this book and think that readers will find it an excellent opportunity to re-examine and expand their assumptions about motivational dynamics.” – Mary McCaslin, Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Arizona