Abstract

Social contact declines across adulthood. Socioemotional selectivity theory claims that such reductions are, in large part, volitional and result from changes in the salience of specific social goals. Information acquisition and the regulation of emotion are two principal classes of goals that are achieved through social contact. The essential premise of the theory is that the relative importance of these goals changes as a function of perceived time. When time is perceived as largely open-ended, future-oriented goals such as information acquisition are of paramount importance; however, when time is perceived as limited, present-oriented goals – namely emotional goals – are most important. Place in the life cycle and associated normative events serve as gentle and not so gentle reminders of the passage of time. Subsequently, age is associated with preferences for certain types of social contact (e.g., emotionally satisfying contact) over others (e.g., information-rich contact). This chapter is an overview of empirical evidence for the theory, highlighting aspects that pertain to life-span issues of motivation and control. The adaptiveness of the phenomenon, individual differences, and self-regulation are discussed.

Introduction

Human volition, intention, will, and desire have fascinated psychologists since the field of psychology began (Bandura, 1987; H. Heckhausen, 1991; James, 1890; Maslow, 1968; White, 1959). Each of these important constructs addresses what is arguably the most intriguing question about human behavior: What moves human beings to act?

Very early theory and research attempted to describe an essential set of human motives.