Katja Milena Friederichs

• The present dissertation was developed to emphasize the importance of self-regulatory abilities and to derive novel opportunities to empower self-regulation. From the perspective of PSI (Personality Systems Interactions) theory (Kuhl, 2001), interindividual differences in self-regulation (action vs. state orientation) and their underlying mechanisms are examined in detail. Based on these insights, target-oriented interventions are derived, developed, and scientifically evaluated. The present work comprises a total of four studies which, on the one hand, highlight the advantages of a good self-regulation (e.g., enacting difficult intentions under demands; relation with prosocial power motive enactment and well-being). On the other hand, mental contrasting (Oettingen et al., 2001), an established self-regulation method, is examined from a PSI perspective and evaluated as a method to support individuals that struggle with self-regulatory deficits. Further, derived from PSI theory`s assumptions, I developed and evaluated a novel method (affective shifting) that aims to support individuals in overcoming self-regulatory deficits. Thereby affective shifting supports the decisive changes in positive affect for successful intention enactment (Baumann & Scheffer, 2010). The results of the present dissertation show that self-regulated changes between high and low positive affect are crucial for efficient intention enactment and that methods such as mental contrasting and affective shifting can empower self-regulation to support individuals to successfully close the gap between intention and action.