A life-span theory of control.

“This phenomenon was described by Heckhausen and Schulz [40] as primary control directed to the external environment rather than secondary control, which is internal cognitive control directed to self.”

“Heckhausen and Schulz (1995) proposed a three-dimensional model of secondary control focusing on three different action phases (i.e., expectancy, value, and attribution of secondary control), although challenged by Gould (1999; see also Heckhausen & Schulz, 1999, for their rebuttal). More recently, Morling and Evered…”

“Further, increases in age-related physical, cognitive,and social challenges may helpunderstandwhyolderadults exhibited declines in stressor control as well (Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995).”

“For example, upward social comparisons and seeking to rank better than others involves a strong volition towards improving one's skills and capacities (Heckhausen & Dweck, 1998; Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995).”

“Second, more precisely, it lends support for the lifespan theory of control, in which intangible primary control in distress tends to turn people to their God for secondary control or spiritual support (Ai, Tice, Peterson, & Bu, in press; Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995).”

“These fi ndings can be interpreted within the context of the life span theory of control and its action-phase model of developmental regulation (Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995; Schulz & Heckhausen, 1996).”

“Meaningful activities can provide psychological benefi ts, including a sense of control, life satisfaction, and happiness ( Antonucci, 2001 ; Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995 ; Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade, 2005 ; Nimrod & Kleiber, 2007 ; Tkach & Lyubomirsky, 2006 ).”

“As threats to perceived control – for example, those related to health problems – appear to play an important role in emotional regulation for older adults (Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995 ; Rodin & Timko, 1992 ), knowledge about aging could play an important role in protecting against the negative emotional consequences of…”

“Belief in one’s capabilities in turn influences one’s feelings, thinking, and actions from birth to death (Bandura, 1997, 1986; Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995; Little & Lopez, 1997; Skinner, 1997).”

“…has been emphasized in both the organizational (Bindl & Parker, 2011; Grant & Ashford, 2008; Moghimi, Scheibe, & Van Yperen, in press) and life-span developmental literatures (Brandtstädter & Renner, 1990; Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995; Heckhausen, Wrosch, & Schulz, 2010; Schulz & Heckhausen, 1996).”

“Because the home environment is related to healthy aging (Iwarsson et al., 2007; Oswald, Schilling, Sixsmith, Szeman, & Iwarsson, 2007) and a perceived sense of control (Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995), strong cognitive and affective ties to the home are formed as people age.”

“Selective primary control strivings involve attempts at controlling the environment through one’s own direct action (Heckhausen et al. 2010; Heckhausen and Schulz 1995).”

“The life span theory of control indicates that those making the transition from formal schooling to tertiary education or the labor market are particularly at risk of contextual events and influences (Heckhausen, Wrosch, & Schulz, 2010; Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995 ; see also Dietrich, Parker, & Salmela-Aro, 2012) .”

“Zacher and Rudolph based their assumptions on core self-evaluations theory (Judge, 2009; Judge et al., 1997) and the motivational theory of lifespan development (and its preceding theory, the lifespan theory of control; Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995; Heckhausen et al., 2010; Schulz & Heckhausen, 1996).”

“…control strategies such as flexible goal adjustment, positive reappraisal of outcomes, downward social comparison, and focus on the here and now rather than the past and the future (Brandtstädter & Renner, 1990; Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995; Ryff, 1991; Wrosch, Dunne, Scheier, & Schulz, 2006).”

“Psychologists have long demonstrated that people generally claim that personal efforts are responsible for their successes, but often discount their failure as owed to the situation [for a review, see Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995].”

“…in our natural experiment of tracking change before and after a major transition that the trajectory of mastery shifted to be more positive within 1 year of and in the years following placement (for discussion on various other contexts shaping control, see Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995; Skinner, 1995).”

“Previous research indicates that older adults are at risk of age-related normative decline in physical and intellectual capabilities, and there exists therein the potential for loss of perceived primary control over their environment (Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995).”

“Heckhausen and Schulz (1995) , in their life-span theory of control, consider primary and secondary control strategies having selective and compensatory functions in developmental regulation.”

“Such activities are typical expressions of compensatory primary control strategies in the Heckhausen and Schulz (1995) control framework (also see Heckhausen & Schulz, 1998).”

“Control beliefs derive from psychological theories and studies on perceived control in different domains of life (see e.g., Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995) and this concept has been applied to the housing domain (Oswald, Wahl, Martin, & Mollenkopf, 2003).”

“In contrast, the intention of emotion-focused coping is to help the individual mitigate psychological distress and reduce negative affect (Heckhausen and Schulz 1995).”

“This negative association is in line with motivationaldevelopmental theories that emphasize the role of agency, goal-directed action, and control over one’s environment in the development of young adults (e.g., Brandtst€adter, 1998; Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995; Heckhausen, Wrosch, & Schulz, 2010).”

“Further, the motivational theory of life-span development is firmly rooted in the contention that maintaining and enhancing one’s selective primary control potential represents the key criterion for adaptive development (Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995; Heckhausen et al., 2010).”

“However, coping theories (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) and theories on successful ageing (Baltes & Baltes, 1990; Baltes & Carstensen, 1996) have emphasized that avoidance can be positive when control of the situation is not possible (Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995; Heckhausen, Wrosch, & Schulz, 2010).”

“Consistent with theories of disability (Verbrugge & Jette, 1994), control (Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995), and dependency (Baltes, 1996), children perceived more stubbornness when parents had greater disability.”

“Problem-focused coping are behaviors that aim to change the environment that causes distress (Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995).”

“Also, ageing itself enables one to become familiar with the reality that death will eventually occur, which make ones more likely to accept the fact that it is inevitable (Heckhausen and Schulz 1995).”

“The motivational theory of life span development (Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995, 2010) posits that maintaining engagement capacity is a key criterion for adaptive development and that engagement is relatively constant across the adult life span.”

“This can include believing in fate or chance ( Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995 ).”

“They may therefore be classified as ways of cognitive adaptation of the ageing self (Brandtstädter and Greve 1994; Heckhausen and Schulz 1995).”

“Discussion of control, mastery, autonomy, agency, self-efficacy, and age-related threats to them has flourished for decades in both sociological and psychological research (Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995; Lawton, 1991).”

“The selective optimization with compensation model (Baltes & Baltes, 1990) and life-span theory of control (Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995) suggest that older adults employ multiple methods of adapting to their internal and external circumstances, letting go of unattainable goals and relying on…”

“For example, the Motivational Theory of Lifespan Development suggests that aging is categorized, in part, by adaptive flexibility in the use of control strategies with an emphasis on volitional goal-directed behaviors and emotion self-regulation (Heckhausen et al., 2010; Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995).”

“According to the life-span theory of control (Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995; Heckhausen, Wrosch, & Schulz, 2010), people differentially use strategies of goal engagement (striving) and disengagement (in the event of failures and dwindling resources) to respond to changing opportunities and constraints…”

“[3,20]) and also the more specific SoAg [6].”

“Perceived control is the belief in one’s direct outward influence over events and outcomes (Heckhausen & Baltes, 1991; Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995; Skinner, 1995; Wrosch & Heckhausen, 2002), and the notion that one can obtain a desired outcome and avoid undesirable outcomes (Ferguson & Goodwin, 2010).”

“Life-span control theories (Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995) suggest that the use of primary control strategies, such as seeking out new activities and friends and engaging in preventive action, and secondary control strategies, such as regulating the emotions resulting from the prospect of future loss…”

“For example, Patel and Groen (1991) re ported that third- and fourth-year medical interns can recall significantly more than advanced experts about the specific elements of patient symp toms.”

“First, views may be shaped by dominant cultural values of privacy, control, and safety, which are also emphasized by the philosophy of assisted living ( Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995 ).”

“Secondary control strategies fall under three major types (Heckhausen and Schulz, 1995): (a) expectation biases, (b) shifts in goal valuation, and (c) biased attributions of outcomes.”

“…this limited capacity creates a fundamental self-regulatory challenge: People must select which goals to devote their resources to and when (Baltes & Baltes, 1990; Brandtst€adter & Renner, 1990; Freund & Baltes, 1998; Heckhausen, 1999; Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995; Heckhausen, Wrosch, & Schulz, 2010).”

“…job demands and create jobs that are suitable for all age groups in highly physically demanding jobs, we advocate job conditions that are adaptable to age-related changes and in this way enable compensations for age-related losses (see Brandtstädter & Greve, 1994; Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995).”

“However, the personal need for being able to control one’s environments is regarded as a fundamental motive (Heckhausen and Schulz, 1995; Skinner, 1996).”

“When expectations that reaching the desired goals are low, the outcome seems relatively more uncertain, and individuals tend to decrease their involvement in innovative thinking and activities (Heckhausen and Schulz, 1995).”

“Such adaptive effects are likely to be observed if self-protective strategies foster acceptance of, and disengagement from, problems that cannot be overcome through a person’s active coping behaviors (5,31).”

“In light of these developmental trends, control theorists point out that some tracking over time between HLC beliefs and control potential could have adaptive consequences (Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995; Helgeson, 1992; Kunzmann, Little, & Smith, 2002).”

“Thus, future studies may aim to reveal intra-individual adjustment processes more explicitly by additionally incorporating important theories of lifespan development, such as the SOC model (P. B. Baltes & Baltes, 1990), and the lifespan theory of con-trol (Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995).”

“In this respect, an associated theory is the Life-Span Theory of Control, part of an attempt to develop a life-span theory of development (Heckhausen and Schulz, 1995).”

“Wisdom tends to be accompanied by a sense of mastery (Ardelt 2005; Glück 2011; Glück and Bluck in press) and purpose in life (Ardelt 2011a; Staudinger and Kessler 2008), which are also important predictors of aging well (Erikson 1963; Heckhausen and Schulz 1995; McCoy et al. 2000; Ryff 1989).”