Developmental Regulation in Adulthood: Age-Normative and Sociostructural Constraints as Adaptive Challenges

by Jutta Heckhausen

• ISBN13: 9780521027137
• ISBN10: 0521027136
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-06-22
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• More Book Details

Summary

Human behavior is very flexible and ontogenetic potential adds to the scope of variability of developmental paths. Therefore, development in the life course needs to be regulated. Developmental regulation by the individual is scaffolded by external constraints. External constraints to development based on biological aging, institutional age-grading, and internalized age norms provide an age-graded agenda for striving for developmental growth and avoiding developmental decline. The life-span theory of control proposes that control of one's environment is the key to adaptive functioning throughout the life span. The theory identifies the evolutionary roots and the life-span developmental course of man striving to control the environment (primary control) and the self (secondary control). Primary control is directed at producing effects in the external world, while secondary control influences the internal world so as to optimize the motivational resources for primary control. A series of studies illustrate the rich repertoire of the human control system to master developmental challenges in various age periods and developmental ecologies.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
List of Tables and Figures	ix
Introduction	1	(6)
Selectivity and Failure Compensation as Fundamental Requirements of Human Behavior and Development	7	(12)
Selectivity	9	(6)
Failure Compensation	15	(3)
Summary	18	(1)
The Life Course as a Context of Action	19	(43)
The Conceptual Framework of Life-Span Developmental Psychology	20	(5)
Biological Constraints	25	(4)
Sociostructural Constraints	29	(4)
Constraints Based on Age-Normative Conceptions	33	(27)
Summary	60	(2)
Primary and Secondary Control across the Life Span	62	(23)
The Primacy of Primary Control	64	(4)
Secondary Control Facilitates Primary Control	68	(1)
A Taxonomy of Control Strategies	68	(3)
Life-Span Developmental Changes in Primary and Secondary Control	71	(12)
Summary	83	(2)
A Model of Developmental Regulation across the Life Span	85	(17)
Selection, Compensation, and Optimization	85	(1)
The Model of Optimization in Primary and Secondary Control (OPS Model)	86	(7)
Criteria of Adaptiveness	93	(3)
Positive and Negative Trade-offs	96	(4)
Summary	100	(2)
Developmental Goals as Organizers of Developmental Regulation	102	(20)
Developmental Goals and Related Concepts	102	(7)
Action-Phase Model of Developmental Regulation around Developmental Goals	109	(3)
Extension and Application of the Action-Phase Model to Developmental Regulation	112	(8)
Summary	120	(2)
Developmental Regulation in Different Life-Course Ecologies	122	(35)
Two Prototypical Challenges to Developmental Regulation	122	(4)
Developmental Regulation in Young, Middle-Aged, and Old East and West Berliners	126	(15)
Developmental Regulation in Four East German Age/Birth Cohorts	141	(14)
Summary	155	(2)
Social Comparisons as Prototypical Strategies in Developmental Regulation	157	(34)
Three Functions of Social Comparison	157	(3)
Developmental Expectations for the Self and Most Other People	160	(9)
Self and Other at Mid-Life: Self-Enhancement by Social Downgrading	169	(9)
Everyday Use of Downward, Upward, and Lateral Social Comparisons	178	(11)
Summary	189	(2)
Conclusions and Prospects for Future Research	191	(10)
References	201	(32)
Name Index	233	(6)
Subject Index	239