DEVELOPMENT GOALS OF YOUNG, MIDDLE-AGED, AND OLD ADULTS

This study investigated the role of normative expectations about chang e and of characteristic aspects of the self for the selection of devel opmental goals. Young, middle-aged, and old adults (N = 180) rated 50 desirable and 50 undesirable psychological attributes with regard to f our aspects: (1) expected developmental change across adulthood for '' most other people,'' (2) whether they were descriptive for the self, ( 3) whether they were regarded as developmental goals for the subject, (4) the age at which people typically would hold selected developmenta l goals. Optimization of desirable attributes predominates among devel opmental goals, irrespective of subject's age. Young adults aim at dev elopmental gains which are commonly seen as appearing in early adultho od. Old adults try to further promote aspects of their personality tha t are normatively expected to have been optimized in young and middle adulthood. Moreover, they seek to avoid developmental losses normative ly expected for old age. The degree of perceived self-descriptiveness of attributes appears to influence the selection of developmental goal s. Undesirable attributes which were part of subjects' developmental g oals and intended to decrease were more central and relevant to their self-concepts than not chosen undesirable attributes. In contrast, des irable attributes which were part of the developmental investments wer e less central for the self-definition than not chosen desirable ones.