Heinz Heckhausen studied psychology at the University of Münster, Germany, and wrote his doctoral dissertation on task motivation and achievement in 1954, followed by his postdoctoral dissertation (Habilitation) on achievement motivation, hope for success and fear of failure in 1962. He was a research scientist at the University of Münster until 1962 and then became Professor of Psychology at Ruhr University, Bochum, where he founded the Department of Psychology. From 1983 until his death in 1988 he was director at the Max Planck Institute for Psychological Research in Munich. Dr Heckhausen was a Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in Wassenaar, 1971-2, and from 1980 to 1982 he was president of the German Psychological Society (DGPs). In 1981, Dr Heckhausen was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Oslo, and in 1988 he received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. Dr Heckhausen's research interests included achievement motivation, motivation and volition in the course of action, development of motivation, measurement of motives, and causal attribution of action outcomes.