The fantasized self and life-span development

Journal/Book: Z Sozpsychol. 1997; 28: Langgass-Strasse 76, CH-3000 Bern 9, Switzerland. Verlag Hans Huber. 76-91.

Abstract: Two ways of thinking about the future are distinguished: expectancy judgments and spontaneous fantasies (Oettingen, 1997). While expectancy judgments reflect a person's personal history, spontaneous fantasies are free from past experience. In the first part of the article, an experiment on the fantasized self and life planning is presented which investigates how expectations and fantasies concur in affecting motivation and action. The mental contrasting of the positively fantasized future self with negative aspects of the present reality makes the expected self guide a person's action. Referring to a meta-model of successful development over the life span, the model of selective optimization with compensation (P. Baltes & M. Baltes. 1990), the article then discusses the developmental implications of the mental contrasting, whereby the three processes of selection, optimization, and compensation are analysed in detail. Finally, it is asked, how contextual (e.g., biological, socio-cultural, and non-normative) factors influence the content of self-related fantasies and expectations and thereby determine the three processes of successful aging.

Note: Article Oettingen G, Max Planck Inst Bildungsforsch, Lentzeallee 94, D-14195 Berlin, GERMANY

Keyword(s): thinking about the future; fantasy; expectation; action; life-span development; optimism; self; POSSIBLE SELVES; POSITIVE ILLUSIONS; MENTAL-HEALTH; PSYCHOLOGY; ALCOHOL; EVENTS

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