Processes of the molar regulation of behavior

Contemporary research in experimental and general psychology either tends to „micro-deterministic“ models focusing on isolated molecular phenomena or emphasizes global conceptions lacking empirical corroboration. This edition presents a series of articles trying to join the advantages of both approaches: They analyze the emergence of molar structures of human behavior on the basis of general psychological theories of emotion, memory, and action, which are strong in their domain with regard to their empirical evaluation, but, in addition, have high explanatory potential beyond it. Part I addresses memory and representation, Part II emotion, action, and thinking, and Part III focuses on resources and coping with stress. The fourth part discusses methodological aspects and examples of contemporary history of psychology related to the molar regulation of behavior. The chapters take a programmatic and integrative perspective in explaining emergence, structure, and functioning of molar behavior against the background of reliable domain-specific theories and, hence, bridge a gap in contemporary psychology.