Projects (First Support Period)
| Project 5: | Developmental conditions of intentionality and its limits |
| Field: | Developmental psychology |
| Project managers: | Prof. Dr. Gisela Trommsdorff |
| Project agent: | Dipl. Psych. Tobias Heikamp, Dipl. Psych. Antje von Suchodoletz |
Project Description
The goal of this study, which is part of the DFG-financed interdisciplinary research project »Limits of Intentionality« at the University of Konstanz, is to investigate the development of self-regulation in preschool and school-aged children. Self-regulation is considered to be an aspect of intentionality. It is defined as the ability and preparedness to guide goal-directed behavior over time and across changing circumstances. Emotion regulation and behavioral control (components of self-regulation) are examined in detail. Emotion regulation is the ability to regulate positive and negative affect in order to sustain an optimal level of action organization. Behavioral control is defined as the ability to purposefully pursue self-imposed or externally imposed goals, such as the ability to comply with rules of conduct. It is assumed that in the course of development, regulation strategies develop through dyadic experiences with a caregiver, and competence in self-regulation develops on the basis of these early experiences. As a consequence, social standards of conduct are internalized. This will be investigated in two complementary sub-projects.
Sub-project 1: One research goal is to examine psychological processes of self-regulation (e.g., inhibitory control, attention deployment) under different contextual conditions with respect to their functional importance for the development of emotion regulation and behavioral control. A second research goal arises from the question of whether the development of self-regulation and the internalization of social standards of conduct influence how one judges the intentions underlying othersâ behavior (»other-attribution«).
The analysis of individual differences in the development of regulation strategies is the topic of investigation in Sub-project 2. Early attachment experiences are an important developmental factor influencing self-regulation as they directly impact the childâs attachment style. Attachment style is understood in terms of an »Internal Working Model« which contains a childâs beliefs about the self (e.g., self worth and feelings of competence) and about other persons (e.g., availability of the attachment figure) as well as related expectations and feelings which have an effect on self-regulation.
Starting from an action and context theoretical framework a major focus is on the behavioral observation of children under different experimental conditions (e.g., resistance to temptation paradigm). Observational data are complemented by quantitative data which are collected using experimental paradigms from motivational and cognitive psychology (e.g., stop task). Semi-projective procedures are used for collecting data on childrenâs attachment styles and on attribution. Additional data about aspects of parenting behavior and childrenâs personality characteristics are collected using standardized questionnaires. The project aims to contribute to a theory on limits of intentionality from a developmental perspective.