In Chapter 2 the biological, sociostructural, and age-normative constraints to the individual's developmental regulation were discussed. This chapter focuses on the role played by the individual in regulating life-span development in the context of these constraints and presents a theoretical model. As argued in Chapter 2, constraints to developmental options are not merely restrictions, but serve as a scaffold to keep the developmental options manageable and help the individual to focus on crucial developmental challenges at any given point in the life course.

Selection, Compensation, and Optimization

As we have seen, the fundamental requirements of developmental regulation across the life span are the management of selectivity and the compensation of failure (Chapter 1). P. Baltes and M. Baltes (M. Baltes 1987; P. Baltes 1987, 1991, 1993; P. Baltes & M. Baltes 1990; P. Baltes, Dittmann-Kohli, & Dixon 1984; Marsiske, Lang, P. Baltes, & M. Baltes 1995) have proposed a metamodel of “selective optimization with compensation” (SOC), which is most relevant here because it involves the aspects of selection and compensation. In the P. Baltes and M. Baltes model, life-span development is conceptualized as a process of continuous selection in the investment of motivational and cognitive resources. This selection process helps the individual to deal with agingrelated decline in the ratio between developmental gains and losses and decreasing reserve capacity.