Motivational Changes Across Adulthood: The Role of Goal Representations for Adult Development and Aging

Abstract

The importance of goals for understanding behavior and performance over time and across situations, for a sense of purpose and psychological well-being, has been acknowledged in the areas of motivation and lifespan development for more than a quarter-century (Baltes & Baltes, 1990). More recently, the field of motivated cognition has pointed to the role of the cognitive representation of goals for self-regulation, affect, and goal achievement (Fujita & Carnevale, 2012). Owing to the decline in the perceived availability of goal-relevant resources across adulthood, I argue that the representation of goals and their effects on behavior, performance, and well-being changes across adulthood. More specifically, I propose that goal representations change dynamically as a response to—and help managing—the developmental gains and losses regarding (i) the orientation toward achieving gains, maintaining performance, or avoiding losses, and (ii) the focus on the means or the outcome of goal pursuit.