A Motivational Theory of Life-Span Development

By J. Heckhausen, C. Wrosch, Richard Schulz. Psychology Review, 2010

1,395 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This article had four goals. First, the authors identified a set of general challenges and questions that a life-span theory of development should address. Second, they presented a comprehensive account of their Motivational Theory of Life-Span Development. They integrated the model of optimization in primary and secondary control and the action-phase model of developmental regulation with their original life-span theory of control to present a comprehensive theory of development. Third, they reviewed the relevant empirical literature testing key propositions of the Motivational Theory of Life-Span Development. Finally, because the conceptual reach of their theory goes far beyond the current empirical base, they pointed out areas that deserve further and more focused empirical inquiry.

Subfields: Developmental and Educational Psychology, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/4f72ddff72210319272122bb588007cb12caf8f9

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Developmental and Educational Psychology

1. W. Bleidorn
2. Andrew J. Martin
3. G. Liem
4. S. Colmar
5. H. Zacher
6. Herbert W. Marsh
7. D. Kooij
8. Kristen M Shockley

In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

1. Alexandre J. S. Morin
2. Andrew J. Martin
3. Herbert W. Marsh
4. P. Parker
5. G. Liem
6. Rebecca J. Collie
7. W. Bleidorn
8. Jiesi Guo

In Social Psychology

1. Andrew J. Martin
2. Alexandre J. S. Morin
3. Rebecca J. Collie
4. Herbert W. Marsh
5. Ulla Kinnunen *
6. G. Liem
7. P. Parker
8. H. Zacher

Citations in the corpus

• What Drives Adult Personality Development? A Comparison of Theoretical Perspectives and Empirical Evidence (2014, background): “diagnosis of diabetes or cancer or onset of dementia; Mendelsohn, Dakof, & Skaff, 1995; Roberts, Walton, & Bogg, 2005) and indirectly such as by changing life evaluations and goals (e.g. Carstensen, 2006; Heckhausen et al., 2010).”
• Achieving Work-Family Balance: An Action Regulation Model (2019, methodology): “According to action regulation theorists (Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995; Heckhausen et al., 2010), individuals generally prefer to exert primary control strategies, which involve changing the environment so that it allows fulfillment of one’s goals.”
• Studying Changes in Life Circumstances and Personality: It's about Time (2014, background): “Given that non-events present significant developmental challenges (e.g. Heckhausen et al., 2010), non-events may have equally strong effects on personality as normative life events.”
• Age differences in loneliness from late adolescence to oldest old age. (2016, background): “Among middle-aged adults, working full-time is the norm (with more than 50% working full-time, see Table 1), and building a career is a central developmental goal in this life stage (Heckhausen et al., 2010).”
• Adaptability: Conceptual and Empirical Perspectives on Responses to Change, Novelty and Uncertainty (2012, background): “Behavior regulation is proposed as a capacity to adjust the nature, level and degree of behavioural application to successfully negotiate new and changing situations and conditions (Heckhausen, 1999; Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995; Heckhausen et al., 2010; Schulz & Heckhausen, 1996).”