Tobias Heikamp , Gisela Trommsdorff , and Anika Fäsche Development of Self - Regulation in Contexf

In this articIe, we aim to contribute to an understanding of the limits of intentionality from a child development perspective. Here, we define intentionality as goal-directed agentie behavior. Intentions encompass cognitive representations of goals and of means that organize behavior and that are directed to a particular goal (i.e., action plan; see Gollwitzer, 2012; Wieber, Thürmer and Gollwitzer, this volume). Intentions also incIude the motivation to pursue a goal in order to achieve a desired outcome (Bratman, 1999; Malle, Moses and Baldwin, 2001; Iomasello, Carpenter, Call, Behne and Moll, 2005). More precisely, we focus on self-regulation as intentional behavior that is constitutive for human agency. We conceive of self-regulation as the motivation and ability to guide goal-directed behavior over time and across different situational contexts in the process of goal attainment in order to transfer intentions into behavior and to achieve a desired result (Karoly, 1993). Self-regulation as intentional behavior can be limited by internal (e.g., temperament) and extern al factors (e.g., parenting) throughout development. In this regard, limits of intentionality may induce incomplete goal attainment (Suchodoletz and Achtziger, 2011; Wieber, Gollwitzer and Seebaß, 2011). Contextual conditions can have positive and negative influences on the development of self-regulation. Interactionist perspectives point to the active role of the agentie individual within adynamie person-environment system (developmental contextualism; Lerner and Walls, 1999; Magnusson and Stattin, 2006). Cognitive, emotional, and motivational variables (e.g., self-representations) and underlying biological processes are assumed to shape individuals' interactions with their environments, and vice versa (see also Blair and McKinnon, this volume). Self-regulation develops through individuals' intentional activities in different contexts during development throughout the life-span. Referring to Bronfenbrenner's bioecological approach (Bronfenbrenner and Ceci, 1994), the child's mierosystem interacts reciprocally with the immediate environment, for instance in the family or the school context. Ihis incIudes bidirectional effects