Understanding Human Development

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

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2. Why Read Another Book on Human Development? Understanding Human Development Takes a Metatheory and Multiple Disciplines

   1. Why Read Another Book on Human Development? Understanding Human Development Takes a Metatheory and Multiple Disciplines

      • Ursula M. Staudinger, Ulman Lindenberger

      Pages 1-13

3. The Overall Architecture of Lifespan Development

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 15-15

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   2. On the Incomplete Architecture of Human Ontogeny: Selection, Optimization, and Compensation as Foundation of Developmental Theory

      • Paul B. Baltes

      Pages 17-43

   3. Age Differences in Evolutionary Selection Benefits

      • Thomas B. L. Kirkwood

      Pages 45-57

   4. Age Differences in Cultural Efficiency: Secular Trends in Longevity

      • Heiner Maier, James W. Vaupel

      Pages 59-78

4. Basic Processes of Lifespan Development: Selective Optimization with Compensation (SOC)

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 79-79

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

      • Margret M. Baltes, Laura L. Carstensen

      Pages 81-104

   3. Intentionality and Time in Human Development and Aging: Compensation and Goal Adjustment in Changing Developmental Contexts

      • Jochen Brandtstädter, Klaus Rothermund

      Pages 105-124

   4. An Economic Perspective on Selection, Optimization, and Compensation (SOC)

      • Jere R. Behrman

      Pages 125-155

5. A Lifespan View of Self and Personality

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 157-157

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   2. Completing the Psychobiological Architecture of Human Personality Development: Temperament, Character, and Coherence

      • C. Robert Cloninger

      Pages 159-181

   3. The Cumulative Continuity Model of Personality Development: Striking a Balance Between Continuity and Change in Personality Traits across the Life Course

      • Brent W. Roberts, Avshalom Caspi

      Pages 183-214

   4. The Gain-Loss Dynamic in Lifespan Development: Implications for Change in Self and Personality During Old and Very Old Age

      • Jacqui Smith

      Pages 215-241

6. A Lifespan View of Intelligence and Cognition

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 243-243

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   2. Enablement and Constraint

      • Henry M. Wellman

      Pages 245-263

   3. Interrelations of Aging, Knowledge, and Cognitive Performance

      • Timothy A. Salthouse

      Pages 265-287

   4. Formal Models of Age Differences in Task-Complexity Effects

      • Reinhold Kliegl, Ralf T. Krampe, Ulrich Mayr

      Pages 289-313

7. At the Frontiers of Lifespan Methodology

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 315-315

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   2. Structuring and Measuring Change over the Life Span

      • John R. Nesselroade, Paolo Ghisletta

      Pages 317-337

K. Warner Schaie I am pleased to write a foreword for this interesting volume, particularly as over many years, I have had the privilege of interacting with the editors and a majority of the con­ tributors in various professional roles as a colleague, mentor, or research collaborator. The editors begin their introduction by asking why one would want to read yet another book on human development. They immediately answer their question by pointing out that many developmentally oriented texts and other treatises neglect the theoretical foundations of human development and fail to embed psychological constructs within the multidisciplinary context so essential to understanding development. This volume provides a positive remedy to past deficiencies in volumes on hu­ man development with a well-organized structure that leads the reader from a general introduction through the basic processes to methodological issues and the relation of developmental constructs to social context and biological infrastructure. This approach does not surprise. After all, the editors and most of the contributors at one time or an­ other had a connection to the Max Planck Institute of Human Development in Berlin, whether as students, junior scientists, or senior visitors. That institute, under the leader­ ship of Paul Baltes, has been instrumental in pursuing a systematic lifespan approach to the study of cognition and personality. Over the past two decades, it has influenced the careers of a generation of scientists who have advocated long-term studies of human development in an interdisciplinary context.

• Gender
• Temperament
• character
• cognition
• development
• developmental psychology
• intelligence
• psychology

• Dresden University, Germany

  Ursula M. Staudinger

• Saarland University, Germany

  Ulman Lindenberger

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