Motivation and Aging: The Role of Goals in Adult Development and Aging

Paul-B.-Baltes Lecture

11. Oktober 2023

Akademiegebäude am Gendarmenmarkt, Leibniz-Saal, Markgrafenstraße 38, 10117 Berlin

Goals are central for motivating behavior over time and across situations. They affect a person’s level of functioning and performance, their well-being, as well as their sense of purpose in life. The importance of goals has been acknowledged in lifespan psychology for a long time (Baltes & Baltes, 1990). More recently, the field of motivated cognition has pointed to the specific role of the cognitive representation of goals for self-regulation, emotional experience, and goal achievement.

In this talk by Alexandra M. Freund (Universität Zürich, Psychologisches Institut), she argues that the perceived availability of goal-relevant resources and assets changes across adulthood. As people grow older, they experience changes in opportunities and affordances, social expectations, as well as individual skills and abilities. These changes result in an overall decline of developmental gains, and an increase in developmental losses (Baltes, 1987; Baltes et al., 2006). These age-related changes lead to changes in how people represent their goals. In turn, the changes in goal representations affect goal-relevant behavior and well-being. In line with this, she will present a recent heuristic model of healthy aging placing goals and goal representations at its center stage.
 


Die Paul-B.-Baltes Lecture geht auf eine gemeinsame Initiative der Psychologie-Institute in Berlin und Potsdam zurück (Freie Universität, Humboldt-Universität, Technische Universität, Universität Potsdam, Max-Planck-Institut für Bildungsforschung). Sie ehrt Paul B. Baltes, den ehemaligen Direktor am Max-Planck-Institut für Bildungsforschung in Berlin, für seine herausragenden Beiträge zur Psychologie der Lebensspanne sowie für seine Verdienste um die psychologische Forschung im Berlin-Potsdamer Raum.


Die Veranstaltung findet in englischer Sprache statt. Eine Anmeldung ist für diese Veranstaltung nicht erforderlich.

Franziska Urban
Veranstaltungskoordinatorin
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franziska.urban@bbaw.de 
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