and limitations that life presents at each point in the lifespan. Selection
refers to the choice of goals; optimization to their effective pursuit; andcompensation to the use of alternatives when established methods fail.For example, an older person suffering a loss of vision may give upreading (selection) or may use higher-wattage lights (optimization), ormay turn to audio books (compensation). Most people perceive a devel -
opmental curve (like Bühler’s curve of life) in SOC processes: Our op -
tions and abilities increase from childhood into midlife, and decline
thereafter.
SOC is not a theory of personality , but it is related to personality
variables, because there are individual differences in the success withwhich SOC is applied. Some people manage their lives well; they haveclear and focused goals, pursue them diligently , and show flexibility intheir strategies. Other people seem aimless and feckless, unwilling toabandon strategies that have repeatedly proven ineffective. It is perhapsnot surprising that measures of SOC are associated with Conscientious-ness and Openness (Freund & Baltes, 1998). These associations lead tointeresting questions about personality and the lifespan. For example,compensation is most important in the last phase of life, when healthlimitations are most common. Open people should fare better in oldage, and the question of whether people become more or less open withage takes on added significance.
***
This review of the major theories of adulthood reveals their major
strength and one of their weaknesses. The strength lies in the sheer at -
tractiveness of the proposition that individuals continue to grow and
change as adults. Surely all the experience of years counts for some -
thing! Surely the universal changes in health, appearance, and intellec -
tual functioning have some parallel in personality! Surely there must be
some hope for individuals whose current life is not the kind they wouldwant to repeat for the next 50 years!
The first and in some respects the most troubling weakness with
the theories is their mutual inconsistency . A number of very thoughtfuland insightful observers of humankind have contemplated the course ofadult life and have pointed out patterns they seem to see. But these pat -
terns as often contradict as support one another. Gould sees his patients
coming closer and closer to reality; Gutmann detects a retreat from real -18 PERSONALITY IN ADULTHOOD