FOR 582:  Limits of Intentionality

• Subject Area: Social and Behavioural Sciences ; Humanities
• Term: from 2005 to 2012
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5471738

The aim of the Research Unit is to rethink the fundamentals of human intentional control of action at both the conceptual and empirical level and to carefully determine the limits of such control. In view of the wealth of relevant data and problems, the topic calls for an interdisciplinary approach. That such an approach is a desideratum has often been noted, but rarely has a concrete effort in this direction been made. The group is thus breaking new ground. All disciplines involved (philosophy, sociology, cognitive psychology, motivational psychology, developmental psychology and neuroscience) bring their own characteristic perspective to the common task, but their interlocking concepts and methods ensure fruitful cooperation.
Topics under investigation include:
limits of intentional control resulting from a relative autonomy of bodily skills and sensomotor schemata (philosophy);
intentionally controlling mechanisms linking stimuli and basic reactions on the microbehavioural level (cognitive psychology);
connections between the control of behaviour and the regulation of emotion in development (developmental psychology);
limits of intentional control through if-then-plans due to the propositional contents of those plans (motivational psychology);
limits of the intentional control of automatic stereotyping and prejudice in social impression formation (neuroscience);
demarcations in social ascriptions of intentions in the context of post-war Nazi trials (sociology).
In addition to the regular exchange in colloquia, lecture series and joint seminars, members of the group will cooperate in seven concrete research projects. Several workshops for advanced graduate and postgraduate students, as well as an international conference, are planned. Six doctoral and three postdoctoral researchers are expected to complete their theses. Finally, taking into account the goal of promoting the advancement of women to senior positions in science, a junior female postdoc will assume the function of a project leader.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• International Connection: USA

Projects

• Die Absicht des Gesetzgebers und ihre Grenzen (Applicant Röhl, Hans Christian )
• Die Rolle von Antwortkategorien und Inhibitionsprozessen bei der intentionalen Handlungssteuerung (Applicant Hübner, Ronald )
• Entwicklungsbedingungen von Absichtlichkeit und ihrer Grenzen: Selbstregulation im Schulalter (Applicant Trommsdorff, Gisela )
• Grenzen der Absichtlichkeit (Applicant Seebaß, Gottfried )
• Grenzen und Hintergrund gemeinsamer Absichten (Applicant Seebaß, Gottfried )
• Neuronale Korrelate der Grenzen absichtlicher Kontrolle sozialer Eindrucksbildungsprozesse (Applicant Achtziger, Anja )
• Soziale Kontexte als potentielle Grenzen der Wirkung von Vorsätzen beim Verfolgen kollektiver und individueller Ziele (Applicant Gollwitzer, Peter M. )
• Zur Konstruktion absichtlichen Handelns: Zurechnung und Aberkennung des "Befehlsnotstands" in NS-Prozessen (Applicant Giesen, Bernhard )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Gottfried Seebaß