Abstract

How do orientations toward goals vary as a function of the individual's temporal location in the life course? This is the common theme underlying Chapters 13, 14, and 15, which are reviewed here, although each author takes a different approach to answering this question. Laura Carstensen (Chapter 13) focuses on how location in the life cycle influences which social motives are most important, while Brandtstädter, Rothermund, and Schmitz (Chapter 14) examine transitions to old age and how individuals maintain personal continuity and self-esteem despite the many aversive and uncontrollable declines associated with aging. Gollwitzer and Kirchhof (Chapter 15) address the complementary question: How and why do individuals construct their identities in early adulthood, and how do they respond to threats to their identities? In varying ways, these authors show how individuals are motivated to develop a sense of who they are and then maintain and elaborate that sense of self throughout the life course. In addition to identifying themes common to all three perspectives, each of the three theoretical positions is examined in detail with the aim of identifying strengths, weaknesses, and unanswered questions.

Introduction

Richard Ryan appropriately characterizes motivation as the “cornerstone in the science of human behavior” (see Ryan, Chapter 4, this volume). Assumptions or theories about motivation serve as the building blocks for vast literatures in social, personality, and developmental psychology (H. Heckhausen, 1991).