The Process of Successful Aging: Selection, Optimization, and Compensation

Abstract

Although much of the research done by social gerontologists focuses on the decline and loss associated with old age, many older people experience the last stage in life as a satisfying and productive time in life. Especially as the demographics of the world's population change in future decades, it becomes increasingly important to understand the behavioral, cognitive, and motivational processes involved in optimal aging. This chapter--which draws heavily on an earlier article by Baltes and Cartensen (1996)--considers the historical, societal, and philosophical influences that have directed attention away from successful aging and offers the metamodel of selective optimization with compensation (SOC) (Baltes & Baltes, 1990) as a framework for studying adaptive aging. The process of selection--namely, narrowing the array of goals and domains to which resources are directed--is considered to be the cardinal principle of lifespan development and is discussed generally in terms of selective optimization with compensation and specifically within the realm of social behavior in terms of socioemotional selectivity theory (Cartensen, 1993, 1998; Cartensen, Isaacowitz, & Charles, 1999). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved). (chapter)