Life-Span Developmental Psychology in Europe: Past and Present

Groffmann, Karl J.

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-293850-4.50009-1

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…There is a large body of humanist writing about Sehnsucht and other forms of utopian thinking and feeling (Caze `s, 2001), for example, in German conceptions of life-long education (Bildung; see also Groffmann, 1970;Plessner, 1965). An important facet in these writings is the role of Sehnsucht in the continuous search for collective and individual progress and innovation.…”

Section: Toward the Study Of Sehnsucht (Lls)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a developmental psychology of Sehnsucht (life longings): The optimal (utopian) life.

Scheibe¹,

Freund²,

Baltes³

2007

Developmental Psychology

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The topic of an optimal or utopian life has received much attention across the humanities and the arts but not in psychology. The German concept of Sehnsucht captures individual and collective thoughts and feelings about one's optimal or utopian life. Sehnsucht (life longings; LLs) is defined as an intense desire for alternative states and realizations of life. Presenting a first effort at capturing this phenomenon, the authors conceptualize LLs as composed of 6 interrelated core characteristics: (a) utopian conceptions of ideal development; (b) sense of incompleteness and imperfection of life; (c) conjoint time focus on the past, present, and future; (d) ambivalent (bittersweet) emotions; (e) reflection and evaluation of one's life; and (f) symbolic richness. Self-report data from 299 adults (19-81 years) support the postulated structure and support predictions regarding the functional role of Sehnsucht. Having LLs was evaluated as providing direction to development and helping to manage life's incompleteness. At the same time, the frequent and intense experience of LLs was associated with lower well-being. When LLs were perceived as controllable, however, this negative association disappeared.

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Section: Toward the Study Of Sehnsucht (Lls)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a developmental psychology of Sehnsucht (life longings): The optimal (utopian) life.

Scheibe¹,

Freund²,

Baltes³

2007

Developmental Psychology

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“…German philos-ophers-most notably Ernst Bloch with his works on "concrete utopias" and the principle of hope-deemed the yearning for utopian dreams of a better life as the driving force for persons' development throughout life. Similarly, traditional German "developmental novels" of the 18th to 19th century (e.g., by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe or Gottfried Keller; see also Groffmann, 1970) outline how the utopia of the optimal person and perfect life can help individuals strive for and achieve higher levels of functioning as they move from childhood into adulthood and old age (cf. Baltes, 2008).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Is longing only for Germans? A cross-cultural comparison of Sehnsucht in Germany and the United States.

Scheibe

Blanchard‐Fields

Wiest

et al. 2011

Developmental Psychology

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Sehnsucht, the longing or yearning for ideal yet seemingly unreachable states of life, is a salient topic in German culture and has proven useful for understanding self-regulation across adulthood in a German sample (e.g., Scheibe, Freund, & Baltes, 2007). The current study tested whether findings for German samples could be generalized to the more individualistic and agentic U.S. American culture. Four samples of U.S. American and German participants (total N = 1,276) age 18 to 81 years reported and rated their 2 most important life longings and completed measures of subjective well-being and health. Measurement equivalence was established at the level of factor loadings for central life longing characteristics. German and U.S. American participants did not differ in self-reported ease of identifying personal life longings or their intensity. In comparison to Germans, however, U.S. Americans associated life longings less with utopian, unattainable states and reported less salience of the concept in everyday life. Associations with measures of adaptation suggest that life longings can be both functional and dysfunctional for development in both cultures.

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“…Groffmann, 1970;Reinert, 1979). In German-speaking countries, for instance, philosophy, in addition to biology, was a major springboard for the emergence of life span psychology.…”

Section: Historical Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%