Jutta Heckhausen

Specializations:
life-span developmental psychology, motivation, individual agency and social context

General areas of interest are: life-span developmental psychology, motivational psychology, control behavior, psychological influences on health, and developmental regulation across the life span. My ongoing research addresses the role of the individual as an active agent in major life-course transitions and when confronted with challenging life events. Specifically, my graduate students, collaborators and I currently conducts empirical studies in three areas: (1) motivational processes involved in social mobility during the transition to adulthood and in educational and vocational careers, (2) goal engagement, goal adjustment, and goal disengagement in school and college, and (3) the role of individual differences in implicit motives (achievement, power, affiliation) for the regulation of goal engagement and disengagement in lifespan development.