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1999). In addition, disengaging from goals that are no longer attainable, restruc-

turing goals, and reallocating goal-related resources into alternative goals and

goal domains are facets of adaptive functioning (Klinger, 1975; Wrosch & Heck-

hausen, 1999).

To elaborate further on the idea that personal goals and goal-related processes

are central for successful development and to understand better the underlying

mechanisms of the relationship between goals and well-being, we introduce three

current self-regulatory theories of adaptive development in the following part of

this chapter. All three theories view development as multidirectional, comprising

gains and losses across the entire life span. They refer to personal goals and basic

goal-related processes such as setting, pursuing, reformulating, and disengaging

from goals as means to successfully shape individual development. All three

frameworks converge in their assumption that resources are limited throughout

life, and increasingly so in old age, and that successful developmental regulation

requires suitable mechanisms for allocation of these limited resources. The three

theories vary, however, in their particular focus (e.g., on life span strategies and

personal goals, coping processes, and control processes), in their particular char-

acteristics of the proposed mechanism of resource allocation, as well as in their

postulated generality. Table 4.2 summarizes the three theoretical frameworks.

Table 4.2

Goal-Related Theories of Successful Aging

Theoretical Framework Central Strategies Specific Examples

Model of Selection,

Optimization, and

Compensation

Selection Focusing on Spanish as a foreign

language

Optimization Investing more time to improve

Spanish-language skills

Compensation Hiring a translator when traveling

in Spain

Dual-Process Model of

Assimilative and

Accommodative Coping

Assimilative coping Altering dietary habits to attain

the desired bodily appearance

Accommodative coping Accepting your physical state and

giving up the goal to run the

marathon after knee surgery

Model of Optimization in

Primary and Secondary

Control

Selective primary

control

Seeing each other more frequently

to improve the relationship

Compensatory primary

control

Seeing a marriage guidance coun-

selor to improve the relationship

Selective secondary

control

Regarding the current partner as

the “only love of life”

Compensatory

secondary control

Regarding the former partner as

a “wrong choice” after the

relationship ends

Personality Theories of Successful Aging 97

THE MODEL OF SELECTION, OPTIMIZATION,

AND COMPENSATION: A GENERAL,

METATHEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR

UNDERSTANDING ADAPTIVE DEVELOPMENT

HEORETICAL

SSUMPTIONS

The model of selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) constitutes a gen-

eral, metatheoretical framework for understanding human development (e.g.,

P. B. Baltes, 1997; P. B. Baltes & Baltes, 1980, 1990; P. B. Baltes, Freund, & Li, 2005).

It assumes a dynamic between developmental gains and losses across various

stages of life (childhood, adolescence, adulthood, old age) that is represented at

different levels of analysis (e.g., neuronal, behavioral) and within and across dif-

ferent domains of functioning (e.g., physical or cognitive development, emotion

regulation). In the context of SOC theory, life span development is a process of re-

source generation and regulation. This theory describes general developmental

processes by addressing both the direction of development and the level of func-

tioning. As such, SOC is a model of successful development, specifying processes

that help to manage changing resources over the life span. In particular, the the-

ory proposes three fundamental and universal processes of successful develop-

ment: selection, optimization, and compensation. All three processes are proposed to

have various possible phenotypic realizations depending on functional domains

(e.g., cognition, social), sociocultural contexts, and person-specific features that

vary along the dimensions active-passive, internal-external, and conscious-

unconscious (Freund, Li, & Baltes, 1999).

At the most general level of definition, selection refers to the process of special-

ization or canalization of a particular pathway or set of pathways of development.

Selection includes the delineating and narrowing down of a range of possible al-

ternative developmental trajectories. Selection also serves the management of

limited resources by concentrating resources on delineated domains. Only

through this concentration can specification occur and certain skills and abilities

evolve. Thus, selection is a general-purpose mechanism to generate new re-

sources (P. B. Baltes et al., 2005). Selection can occur electively or as a response to

losses in resources (i.e., loss-based).

Optimization refers to the acquisition, application, coordination, and mainte-

nance of internal and external resources (means) involved in attaining higher lev-

els of functioning (Freund & Baltes, 2000). Optimization is important for

achieving higher levels of functioning, as has been shown in the literature on ex-

pertise. Expertise, a high skill level in a selected functional domain, can be

achieved only through a substantial amount of deliberate practice (Ericsson,

Krampe, & Tesch-Römer, 1993; Krampe & Baltes, 2003).

Compensation refers to the investment of means to avoid or counteract losses in

functions in previously available resources. Given that development entails both

gains and losses across the entire life span (P. B. Baltes, 1987), a model of success-

ful aging needs to take processes of managing losses into account. The SOC

model does this by including loss-based selection (referring to reorientation after

encountering a loss) and compensation (aimed at the maintenance of functioning

in the face of losses).

The SOC theory can be approached from many different theoretical perspec-

tives, such as social, behavioral-learning, cognitive, and neuropsychological (M. M.

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Baltes & Carstensen, 1996; P. B. Baltes et al., 2005; P. B. Baltes & Singer, 2001). Fre-

und and Baltes (2000) propose an action-theoretical conceptualization of SOC. This

approach embeds SOC in the context of active life-management and refers to devel-

opmental regulation through the selection, pursuit, and maintenance of personal

goals.

From an action-theoretical perspective, selection denotes processes related to

goal setting. Elective selection refers to developing and choosing a subset of goals

out of multiple options. Given the finite nature of resources, selection needs to

take place to realize developmental potentials. Loss-based selection refers to adapt-

ing existing or developing new goals to fit losses in resources. Restructuring

one’s goal hierarchy by exclusively focusing on the most important goal, lowering

one’s aspiration level, or finding a substitution for unattainable goals are possible

manifestations. From an action-theoretical perspective, optimization and com-

pensation refer to processes of goal pursuit, that is, the investment of resources

into obtaining and refining goal-relevant means. Optimization refers to means for

achieving desired outcomes and aims at coordination, acquisition, and generation

of new resources or skills, serving the growth aspect of development. Compensa-

tion, from an action-theoretical perspective, addresses the regulation of loss or

decline in means and goal-relevant resources that threatens the maintenance of a

given level of functioning. When previous goal-relevant means are no longer

available, compensation can involve substitution of lost means. It thus denotes a

strategy for managing and counteracting losses by changing goal-relevant means

to attain a certain goal instead of choosing another goal (as in loss-based selec-

tion). The use of hearing aids to counteract hearing losses is one example. Pheno-

typically, the strategies used for optimization and compensation, such as

acquisition and practice of skills, energy and time investment, or activation of

new or unused resources, can overlap.

The theory states that the use of SOC strategies changes over the life span as a

function of available resources. The expected peak of expression of all three reg-

ulatory principles is in adulthood, with elective selection and compensation in-

creasing in importance with advancing age when resource losses become more

salient (Freund & Baltes, 2002b).

DAPTIVE

EVELOPMENT AS

NDORSEMENT OF THE

ODEL OF

ELECTION

PTIMIZATION

AND

OMPENSATION THROUGHOUT

IFE

Several studies provide evidence for the role of SOC in the description, explana-

tion, and modification of development and support their impact on adaptive life-

management (see P. B. Baltes et al., 2005, for an overview). Evidence suggests that

the relative prevalence of using and coordinating SOC changes with age and that

people who engage in SOC behaviors show more positive outcomes. The existing

research comprises different empirical specifications referring to global levels

and specific life contexts. It encompasses different assessment levels such as self-

report measures (P. B. Baltes, Baltes, Freund, & Lang, 1999), behavior observation

(e.g., M. M. Baltes, 1996), and experimental studies (e.g., Li, Lindenberger, Fre-

und, & Baltes, 2001). Some approaches simultaneously investigate all three com-

ponents of SOC as well as their orchestration (e.g., Riediger, Li, & Lindenberger,

2006), whereas others focus on some of the processes only (e.g., Ebner, Freund, &

Baltes, 2006; Freund, 2006a).

Personality Theories of Successful Aging 99

Addressing the question whether there exists cultural and individual knowl-

edge of SOC as strategies of successful development, Freund and Baltes (2002a)

identified a body of proverbs reflecting SOC. This suggests that SOC strategies

are represented in cultural knowledge about pragmatic aspects of everyday

human life as expressed in proverbs. Selection, for instance, is expressed in the

proverb “You can’t have the cake and eat it too.” In a series of studies, these

proverbs were used to examine whether younger and older adults’ lay concep-

tions of, or preferences for, life-management behaviors were consistent with the

SOC model. In a choice-reaction time task, participants were asked to match

SOC-related and alternative proverbs to sentence stems indicative of everyday

life-management situations. Both age groups chose SOC-related proverbs both

more frequently and faster than alternative proverbs. Consistent with the SOC

theory, these preferences for SOC-related proverbs over alternatives existed only

in tasks referring to goals and success, but not in contexts involving relaxation or

leisure. This suggests that both younger and older adults have a preference for

SOC-related proverbs over alternatives in everyday life-management situations

and that their judgment of the adaptive use of these life-management strategies is

in line with what the SOC model proposes.

To investigate the impact of a person’s self-reported engagement in SOC on

adaptive life-management and successful aging, several studies used versions of

the SOC questionnaire developed by P. B. Baltes et al. (1999). Freund and Baltes

(2002b) investigated a heterogeneous sample of younger, middle-aged, and older

adults and found that participants who indicated high engagement in SOC be-

haviors reported more positive emotions and higher levels of subjective well-

being. The associations remained stable after controlling for self-regulation

variables such as tenacious and flexible goal pursuit as well as for person charac-

teristics such as neuroticism, extraversion, and openness to new experiences. As

expected, SOC-related strategies were most strongly expressed in middle adult-

hood; that is, middle-aged adults showed higher endorsement of SOC than

younger and older adults. One exception was elective selection, which showed a

positive age trend. This suggests that older adults are more selective but report

less use of optimization and compensation. This weakening of self-reported opti-

mization and compensation in older ages could be due to the fact that these two

strategies are effortful and resource demanding. Both strategies may exceed re-

sources available in late life. This is especially true for the oldest old and for peo-

ple suffering from severe illness (P. B. Baltes & Smith, 2003; Jopp, 2002). Using the

SOC questionnaire in the context of the Berlin Aging Study, Freund and Baltes

(1998) showed that SOC is effective well into very old age. They found that older

adults between 72 and 102 years who reported more engagement in SOC-related

strategies also showed higher expressions of subjective well-being such as posi-

tive affect, satisfaction with aging, lack of agitation, and absence of loneliness.

Wiese and colleagues (Wiese, Freund, & Baltes, 2000, 2002) applied the SOC

model to goal pursuit in the work and family domains. In a cross-sectional

questionnaire study, Wiese et al. (2000) measured self-reported use of SOC be-

haviors of younger to middle-aged professionals in general as well as domain-

specifically. Higher endorsement of general and work- and family-related SOC

strategies was positively related to various indicators of well-being. Longitudi-

nal data replicated these positive associations between self-reported engage-

ment in SOC behaviors and global as well as work-related subjective well-being

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(Wiese et al., 2002). Moreover, participants with primarily work-oriented goals

reported higher levels of general and work-related well-being than those who

engaged in both work and family goals. These findings underscore the impor-

tance of selecting goals and setting priorities as adaptive regulatory mecha-

nisms in personal goal involvement and development.

Taken together, the summarized self-report studies support a positive associa-

tion between the endorsement of SOC-related strategies and indicators of global

and domain-specific well-being. Similar findings supporting the adaptive use of

SOC are reported by Lang, Rieckmann, and Baltes (2002; see also M. M. Baltes &

Lang, 1997). Thus, SOC seems to contribute to successful development and aging

throughout the adult years and into old and very old age.

Taking a more process-oriented approach, a number of studies addressed the

question of what aspects of and how selection, optimization, and compensation are

related to positive functioning across life. A life span-developmental perspective

argues that the overall dynamic between optimization or approach goals (i.e.,

goals directed at approaching positive outcomes) and compensation or avoidance

goals (i.e., goals directed at preventing negative outcomes) should change with

age. Given the increase of losses and the decrease of gains over the life span, goals

are hypothesized to shift from a gain orientation (i.e., optimization, approach) in

young adulthood to an orientation toward maintenance or loss avoidance (i.e.,

compensation, avoidance) in later life (Ebner, 2005; Freund & Baltes, 2000; Freund

& Ebner, 2005; Staudinger, Marsiske, & Baltes, 1995). If such an age-related shift

in goal orientation is adaptive for managing successfully the changing balance of

gains and losses, younger adults should profit more from adopting goals that aim

at optimizing their performance and older adults more from working on goals

that are geared toward compensating losses in previously available means. Using

a behavioral measure of persistence, namely, time, on a simple sensorimotor task

that was framed in terms of either (a) optimizing performance or (b) compensat-

ing for losses, Freund (2006a) found evidence for age-differential motivational ef-

fects of optimization versus compensation. Compared to younger adults, older

adults were more persistent when pursuing the goal to compensate for a loss and

less persistent when pursuing the goal to optimize their performance.

In a similar vein, a series of studies by Ebner et al. (2006) propose that goals can

be directed toward the improvement of functioning, toward the maintenance of

functional levels, and toward avoidance or regulation of loss. In a multimethod

approach (self-report, preference-choice behavior), as well as different life con-

texts (cognitive and physical functioning), Ebner et al. found age-group differ-

ences in goal orientation and in the associations between goal orientation and

subjective well-being. As expected and in line with the results by Freund (2006a),

younger adults showed a primary goal orientation toward growth, whereas goal

orientation toward maintenance and loss prevention became more important in

old age. This age-related difference was shown to be related to perceived avail-

ability of resources. Moreover, loss prevention was negatively related to general

well-being in younger but not older adults. Interestingly, in old age, orienting

goals toward maintaining functions was positively associated with general sub-

jective well-being. Together, the studies by Freund and Ebner et al. suggest that

shifting one’s goal orientation from the promotion of gains toward maintenance

and loss prevention from early to late adulthood constitutes one mechanism of

adaptive goal selection.

Personality Theories of Successful Aging 101

A study by Riediger, Freund, and Baltes (2005) addressed the nature of inter-

goal relations as possible characteristics differentiating between more and less

adaptive aspects of goal selection. Specifically, Riediger et al. examined the ques-

tion whether the relationship among multiple personal goals affects goal pursuit

in everyday life and subjective well-being. The first notable finding of their study

was that older adults reported more facilitation between their goals and less con-

flict than younger adults. This finding can be interpreted as indicating that the

competence to select personal goals so that they form a coherent, congruent, and

nonconflicting goal system increases across adulthood. Moreover, the authors

found that intergoal conflict was negatively related to indicators of psychological

well-being in everyday life over time. Intergoal facilitation, in contrast, was asso-

ciated with higher involvement in goal pursuit and an increased likelihood of

goal attainment over time. This study underscores the importance of taking mul-

tiple goals into account when studying the complex way goals affect behavior and

subjective well-being.

Several studies demonstrate the relevance of SOC as adaptive life-management

strategies on the behavioral level. For instance, Wiese and Schmitz (2002) pro-

vided evidence for the relationship between self-reported SOC and behavioral

outcomes in the context of study success. In a sample of college students, Wiese

and Schmitz found that students high in self-reported SOC behaviors spent more

time studying than students low in self-reported SOC behaviors. Additionally,

students low in self-reported selection and optimization were more likely to skip

their exams.

Several experimental studies identified SOC processes and demonstrated age-

related differences in these processes in the context of dual-task paradigms

(Kemper, Herman, & Lian, 2003; Krampe, Rapp, Bondar, & Baltes, 2003; Li et al.,

2001; Lindenberger, Marsiske, & Baltes, 2000; Rapp, Krampe, & Baltes, 2006). Dif-

ferent from self-selected goals, as assessed in most studies reported earlier, that

allow individuals to pursue one goal after the other, a dual-task situation is char-

acterized by the necessity to manage two tasks (provided for by the experi-

menter) at the same time. Li et al., for example, conducted work on the role of

SOC in coordinating cognitive and sensorimotor behavior (i.e., simultaneous per-

formance of memorizing and walking). Older adults showed greater costs when

performing both tasks concurrently. As expected on the basis that the body is the

primary domain where aging losses occur and serious risks exist, older adults se-

lected walking over memorizing as the primary target of resource allocation.

Moreover, older adults showed more compensatory strategies (i.e., using a

handrail) to keep their balance and to maintain higher levels of performance,

whereas younger adults showed more compensatory strategies in the domain of

thinking (i.e., slowing down the speed of presentation for words to be remem-

bered). These age-associated effects of differential use of SOC in favor of motor

over cognitive tasks were stronger when the behavioral system was tested at its

limits by increasing task difficulty.

Taken together, these findings supplement the relevance of SOC on the behav-

ioral level. Older adults engage in selection (i.e., prioritizing walking over think-

ing) and compensation (i.e., use of a handrail) to preserve their walking

performance when at risk. This preference of older adults to allocate their re-

sources primarily to motor behavior (such as keeping one’s balance) rather than

to solving a memory problem is an example of highly automatized and largely

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subconscious SOC processes. Rapp et al. (2006) obtained similar results with cog-

nitive information processing and motor balance as competing tasks. Bondar,

Krampe, and Baltes (2003) showed that younger and older adults could be in-

structed to allocate resources to different task requirements. In the case of a

motor behavior situation that entailed the risk of falling, however, older adults

were unable to flexibly adjust their resources. Their differential allocation system

manifested itself as robust and asymmetrical, which seems to be adaptive to

maintaining stability.

This selective review of empirical findings on SOC suggests that there exists cul-

tural and individual knowledge about SOC-related strategies and that SOC is re-

lated to specific and general well-being in younger, middle-aged, and older adults.

Moreover, the use of SOC changes over the life span. Whereas younger adults are

more oriented toward optimizing and increasing gains, older adults show a higher

orientation toward maintenance of functioning and counteracting losses. Studies

using a dual-task paradigm suggest that older adults direct their resources to those

domains of functioning that have high priority for their survival.

In summary, self-report, observational, and experimental research strengthens

the assumption that the SOC strategies constitute adaptive developmental

processes. Given this broad empirical support, the SOC model can be regarded as a

general framework for investigating and understanding life span development. It

characterizes a system of strategies that permits individuals to master the general

tasks of life. Focusing primarily on coping with age-related changes in goal-relevant

resources, the dual-process model of assimilative and accommodative coping by

Brandtstädter and colleagues (e.g., Brandtstädter & Renner, 1990), also places a

strong emphasis on the role of goal-related processes for successful development.

This model is presented next.

THE DUAL-PROCESS MODEL OF ASSIMILATIVE AND

ACCOMMODATIVE COPING

HEORETICAL

SSUMPTIONS

Whereas SOC theory provides a general, metatheoretical framework to understand

adaptive development with an emphasis on resource generation and real-location

in the face of loss, the dual-process model of assimilative and accommodative cop-

ing proposed by Brandtstädter and colleagues (e.g., Brandtstädter & Greve, 1994;

Brandtstädter & Renner, 1990; Brandtstädter & Rothermund, 2002; Brandtstädter &

Wentura, 1995) focuses on two distinct but complementary self-regulatory strate-

gies to cope with discrepancies between actual and desired courses of individual

development when faced with difficulties or loss: assimilative (e.g., tenacious goal

pursuit) and accommodative modes of coping (e.g., flexible goal adjustment). Specifi-

cally, the assimilative tendency involves active and intentional efforts to change life

circumstances and the adjustment of developmental situations to personal prefer-

ences and goals. Assimilative means refer to active instrumental, self-corrective,

optimizing, and compensatory activities. An example is intentionally changing

one’s lifestyle, such as altering dietary habits to adapt one’s body appearance to the

desired body self. The accommodative strategy implies the adjustment of personal

preferences, goals, or standards and changes in action resources to situational con-

straints. Accommodative reorientations involve downgrading, or disengagement

from, barren goals, revising evaluative standards, lowering aspiration levels, rescal-

Personality Theories of Successful Aging 103

ing criteria of success, or even selecting new, feasible goals. Accommodation in-

cludes emotional and cognitive reappraisal; it cannot be initiated intentionally, but

shapes the selection of goals, and thus constitutes a basic mechanism of action reg-

ulation in the face of loss.

The model specifies differential situational conditions that selectively activate

or inhibit the two modes of coping. Assimilative tendencies dominate as long as

people feel able to actively change a given situation. When experiences of loss in-

crease or assimilative attempts to change the situation are ineffective and action-

outcome expectancies become low, accommodative tendencies are activated. This

is also the case when assimilative modes are inefficient from the outset. Thus, peo-

ple often first employ assimilative coping efforts to actively overcome obstacles

that block their goals. If these attempts are unsuccessful, a gradual shift to accom-

modative processes of goal adjustment occurs, which is modulated by personal

and situational factors (e.g., goal importance; Brandtstädter & Wentura, 1995).

According to the model, goal attainment leads to positive affect. Negative emo-

tions arise when losses of goal-relevant resources lead to unattainability of goals

and one falls short of one’s ambitions and personal standards. Discrepancies be-

tween actual states and desired outcomes become especially salient in later phases

of life when irrevocable losses and uncontrollable events cumulate. Brandtstädter

and colleagues (Brandtstädter, 1999; Brandtstädter & Greve, 1994; Brandtstädter &

Renner, 1990) maintain that in old age this growing impact of negative events on

personal development favors an age-related shift from an active, assimilative to a

more accepting, accommodative coping. As the aim of accommodative coping is to

make the given situation appear less negative and more acceptable, this strategy

may help individuals to maintain positive developmental perspectives into old age.

With declining resources, as is especially the case in old age, it may not be possible

to maintain the highest standard in multiple domains (Brandtstädter & Wentura,

1995). Accommodative coping therefore becomes particularly effective to protect

against decline in well-being and favors adaptive development in later life (see also

Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995). Thus, the dual-process model of coping characterizes

successful aging primarily as a shift from actively counteracting the onset of age-

related losses to cognitively restructuring personal goals and standards.

DAPTIVE

EVELOPMENT AS

HIFTING FROM

SSIMILATIVE TO

CCOMMODATIVE

OPING THROUGHOUT

IFE

Empirical evidence supports the expectation of age-related differences in the em-

ployment of assimilative and accommodative coping strategies. In a self-report

study with younger, middle-aged, and older adults, Brandtstädter and Renner

(1990) found that self-reported tenacious goal pursuit and flexible goal adjustment

were complementarily associated with age. There was an age-graded gradual shift

from active, tenacious goal pursuit to accepting, flexible goal adjustment. In addi-

tion, the study demonstrated a buffering effect of flexible goal adjustment with

regard to the impact of perceived deficits on dissatisfaction with personal develop-

ment. This finding suggests that flexibly adjusting one’s goals helps to maintain a

sense of well-being and satisfaction despite the actual experience of loss.

In a large sample of older adults, Rothermund and Brandtstädter (2003) found

that accommodative strategies to overcome functional impairments had a curvi-

linear, inverted U-shaped relationship to age. The strategies increased up to the

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age of 70 years; with decreasing availability and efficiency of action-related re-

sources beyond this age, accommodative coping then decreased again. Rother-

mund and Brandtstädter explain their results by arguing that the increasing

limitation of action-related resources in very old age limits the usage and effi-

ciency of accommodative coping strategies.

Brandtstädter, Rothermund, and Schmitz (1997) used structured interviews

with elderly people to explore how accommodative thoughts are expressed in bio-

graphical narratives and how they relate to attitudes toward age and aging. They

found that participants who were more prone to express accommodative thoughts

reported greater satisfaction with aging, had a more positive attitude toward

their biography, and found more continuity and meaning in their life.

Summarizing the empirical evidence, there is a general shift from assimilative to

accommodative coping and an increasing adaptiveness of the latter in later adult-

hood when losses become more widespread and resources necessary for tenacious

goal pursuit in the face of obstacles decline (Brandtstädter & Renner, 1990; Brandt-

städter, Wentura, & Greve, 1993). Accommodative coping strategies become more

salient in later adulthood, a phase characterized by increasing losses in temporal,

social, and physical resources that enforce adjustments of goals and priorities. Ac-

commodative processes seem to help the person to cope with irreversible losses

and constraints and to come to terms with developmental outcomes that diverge

from originally selected goals. In this sense, the dual-process model of coping

lends support to the idea that balancing gains and losses as a function of aging-

related changes in goal-related resources across the life span constitutes one aspect

of successful development. Similarly, the model of optimization in primary and

secondary control by Heckhausen and Schulz (1995) aims at explaining how people

can successfully navigate the decline in goal-related resources in adulthood.

THE MODEL OF OPTIMIZATION IN PRIMARY

AND SECONDARY CONTROL

HEORETICAL

SSUMPTIONS

The model of optimization in primary and secondary control (OPS) by Heck-

hausen and Schulz (1995) is another prominent theory of adaptive developmental

regulation. This theory is based on two assumptions (Heckhausen, 1997, 1999):

(1) A person tries to actively influence his or her development by selecting goals,

and (2) he or she tries to adapt to the constraints of a given developmental ecol-

ogy. Individuals are seen as highly motivated to enact control over their lives. In

line with SOC theory, OPS theory conceptualizes selectivity and compensation as

the two central principles for successful developmental regulation (Heckhausen,

1999; Schulz, 1986; Schulz & Heckhausen, 1996). Different from the SOC model,

however, selectivity in the context of OPS theory refers to the focused investment

of resources into selected goals (corresponding to what P. B. Baltes and Baltes,

1990, termed “selective optimization”). In accordance with the definition in the

action-theoretical approach to the SOC theory, compensation implies the use of

alternative strategies to attain goals when goal-relevant resources are insufficient

or loss has occurred. In the OPS framework, optimization is the higher order

regulatory process that balances selectivity and compensation (Heckhausen &

Schulz, 1998).

Personality Theories of Successful Aging 105

Similar to the dual-process model of assimilative and accommodative coping,

the OPS model particularly emphasizes the role of perceived personal control for

developmental regulation. It assumes that humans have a basic need for control,

that is, to protect themselves in the face of difficulties and setbacks. The primary

way to achieve control is by modifying the environment according to one’s goals

by making instrumental efforts (i.e., primary control). If such primary control ef-

forts are not available or fail, secondary control takes place, that is, modifying one’s

goals and standards or engaging in self-protective attributions and favorable so-

cial comparisons. Secondary control aims at focusing and protecting motivational

resources for primary control and buffers negative effects of failing in primary

control strivings. The theory posits a primacy of primary over secondary control

strategies. According to the model, people aim at maximizing primary control.

Secondary control strivings serve to bolster primary control. They are the second-

best strategy after primary control strivings fail or are not available.

Two forms of primary and secondary control strategies are distinguished: selec-

tive and compensatory. Selective primary control comprises actions that are di-

rectly aimed at goal achievement. It denotes the focused investment of resources

into the pursuit of a chosen goal. Examples are time investment or investment of

effort and skills into pursuing one’s goals. Compensatory primary control refers

to the investment of external resources. It involves the recruitment of external

help or technical aids for the attainment of a chosen goal. It comes into play when

internal resources for goal achievement are insufficient or depleted. Examples are

employing the help of others or applying new, alternative resources. Selective sec-

ondary control is directed at the internal world to promote the volitional com-

mitment to a chosen goal. It subsumes metavolitional strategies to keep oneself

focused on the pursuit of selected goals, for example, by avoiding distractions.

Examples are boosting the value of a chosen goal or the perception of personal

control. Finally, compensatory secondary control refers to cognitive reframing of

goals such as down-regulating the desirability of a blocked goal or disengaging

from it. It serves as a buffer for negative effects of failure. It involves strategies

such as disengagement from unattainable goals, downward social comparison,

and external causal attributions.

According to the authors, none of these four strategies is functional per se.

Rather, a higher order optimization process is postulated that coordinates control

strivings such that the potential for primary control is maximized across life.

Consistent with this proposition, empirical evidence indicates that self-protective

compensatory strategies (compensatory secondary control) become more preva-

lent and more adaptive in later adulthood and when opportunity structures for

goal attainment are unfavorable (Wrosch & Heckhausen, 1999), whereas contin-

ued involvement in primary control efforts is maladaptive in such situations

(Chipperfield, Perry, & Menec, 1999; Heckhausen, Wrosch, & Fleeson, 2001).

According to the OPS model, maximization of primary control potential char-

acterizes adaptive functioning. This, however, becomes particularly difficult in

olderageswhenlossesbecomemoreprominentandlessunderpersonalcontrol

and when declines in goal-relevant resources make the achievement of resource-

intensive goals increasingly difficult (Schulz, 1986). As a consequence, with ad-

vancing age, compensatory primary and secondary control strategies gain

increasing importance for successful life management. The use of secondary

control strategies is theorized to contribute to a long term increase in primary