CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 2,066Aging and Gerontology ResearchPsychology of Development and EducationEgo Development and Educational Practices

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 66 of the 66 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

On the incomplete architecture of human ontogeny: Selection, optimization, and compensation as foundation of developmental theory

Open access
Baltes, Paul B.·1997·American Psychologist
DOI 10.1037/0003-066x.52.4.366
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Drawing on both evolutionary and ontogenetic perspectives, the basic biological-genetic and social-cultural architecture of human development is outlined. Three principles are involved. First, evolutionary selection pressure predicts a negative age correlation, and therefore, genome-based plasticity and biological potential decrease with age. Second, for growth aspects of human development to extend further into the life span, culture-based resources are required at ever-increasing levels. Third, because of age-related losses in biological plasticity, the efficiency of culture is reduced as life span development unfolds. Joint application of these principles suggests that the life span architecture becomes more and more incomplete with age. Degree of completeness can be defined as the ratio between gains and losses in functioning. Two examples illustrate the implications of the life span architecture proposed. The first is a general theory of development involving the orchestration of 3 component processes: selection, optimization, and compensation. The second considers the task of completing the life course in the sense of achieving a positive balance between gains and losses for all age levels. This goal is increasingly more difficult to attain as human development is extended into advanced old age.

Overview

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1037/0003-066x.52.4.366

Cites

66 of 66 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Citations

Cites

Show all 63 references

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Items 801–900 of 1,011

Related

See all

Metadata

Authors
Baltes, P. B.
Affiliations
Max Planck Institute for Human Development (DE)
Corresponding author
Baltes, Paul B.
Venue
American Psychologist
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
1997-04
Volume
52
Issue
4
Pages
366-380
ISSN
  • 0003-066X (ISSN-L)
  • 1935-990X
DOI
10.1037/0003-066x.52.4.366
OpenAlex
W1994817905
Cited by
2,066
References
63
Citations by year
2026: 53 · 2025: 85 · 2024: 54 · 2023: 78 · 2022: 86 · 2021: 100 · 2020: 84 · 2019: 94 · 2018: 88 · 2017: 87 · 2016: 97 · 2015: 125 · 2014: 90 · 2013: 83 · 2012: 111
FWCI
32.01
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
other-oa
Locations
  • American Psychologist (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (submittedVersion)
  • Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion)
  • Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
  • MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Psychology of Development and Education
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Ego Development and Educational Practices
Keywords
human ontogeny, lifespan development, developmental theory, age-related decline, biological plasticity, cultural resources, age correlation, gain and loss, old age
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Child, Child, Preschool, Biological Evolution, Female, Humans, Human Development, Infant, Life Change Events, Male, Middle Aged, Personal Satisfaction, Selection, Genetic, Social Environment

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review