From its earliest development, human behavior is characterized by a striving for control. As humans develop, this striving becomes more concrete, goal-oriented, and reflective. Children’s daily interaction partners play a crucial role in the development of fundamental motivational preferences and behavioral regulation. The self-conscious emotions of pride and shame reflect self-evaluation and thus become positive or negative incentives for future behavior. Children’s gradual cognitive development allows them to gain a more elaborate understanding of task difficulty, abilities, effort, and their complex interactions, and this allows for the prediction and explanation of behavioral outcomes. In addition to general developmental trends, people develop individual differences in their implicit motives, specific incentives and expectancies, generalized goal orientations, and strengths and weaknesses in behavioral regulation. These individual differences become increasingly pronounced at crucial developmental transitions.