Personal goals guide behavior toward a desired outcome, motivate behavior over time and across situations, provide direction and meaning, and contribute to the acquisition of skills and subjective well-being. The adaptiveness of goals, however, might vary with dimensions such as their orientation toward the achievement of gains, maintenance of functioning, or the avoidance of losses. We argue that goal orientation is most adaptive when it corresponds to the availability of resources and the ubiquity of losses. In line with this argument, younger adults show a predominant orientation toward the promotion of gains, whereas goal orientation shifts toward maintenance and avoidance of loss across adulthood. This shift in goal orientation seems adaptive both regarding subjective well-being as well as engagement in goal pursuit. A second goal dimension that has been largely overlooked in the literature is the cognitive representation of goal pursuit primarily in terms of its means (i.e., process focus) or its ends (i.e., outcome focus). This chapter investigates the antecedents and consequences of goal focus. In particular, it highlights the importance of factors related to chronological age (i.e., the availability of resources, future time perspective, goal orientation, motivational phase) for the preference for and adaptiveness of an outcome or process focus. Finally, we posit that a process focus leads to more adaptive behavioral and affective reactions when people encounter failure during goal pursuit.
Two studies demonstrate the usefulness of a newly developed, direct assessment method of subjective conceptualizations of development across adulthood. Results of Study 1 (N = 234, 18-83 years) suggest that older adults anticipate stronger decline in four domains of functioning (subjective well-being, social relationships, cognition, physical functioning) than younger and middle-aged adults. Study 2 (N = 166, 20-85 years) showed that older adults' conceptualizations show less differentiation across domains than those of younger and middle-aged adults'. Results of both studies confirm lifespan notions of multidirectionality (expectations of gains and losses) but also show age-related differences in multidimensionality of developmental conceptions (i.e., differences in expected trajectories between domains). Moreover, results provide evidence that favorable conceptions impact perceived controllability and actual subjective well-being.
Previous research has demonstrated that the representation of goals primarily in terms of means (process focus) compared to outcomes of goal pursuit (outcome focus) increases across the lifespan. Nothing is known, however, about the processes underlying this age-related difference. The current study investigates age-related differences in growth and maintenance orientation as one of the factors contributing to age-related differences in goal focus. A self-report study (N=123, 18 to 82 years, M=48.59) presents first evidence that process focus is predicted by maintenance goal orientation, whereas outcome focus is predicted by growth goal orientation. Moreover, maintenance goal orientation mediates the positive association of age and process focus. Results are discussed taking a functional perspective of the role of goal orientation in age-related differences in goal focus.
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