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Personality Theories of Successful Aging 97
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THE MODEL OF SELECTION, OPTIMIZATION,
AND COMPENSATION: A GENERAL,
METATHEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR
UNDERSTANDING ADAPTIVE DEVELOPMENT
TutonprrceL Assu M pt'toNS
The model of selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) constitutes a general,
metatheoretical framework for understanding human development (e.9.,
P. B. Baltes, 1997;P. B. Baltes & Baltes, 7980,7990; P. B. Baltes, Freund, & Li,2005).
It assumes a dynamic between developmental gains and losses across various
stages of life (childhood, adolescence, adulthood, old age) that is represented at
different levels of analysis (e.g., neuronal, behavioral) and within and across different
domains of functioning (e.g., physical or cognitive development, emotion
regulation). In the context of SOC theory, life span development is a process of resource
generation and regulation. This theory describes general developmental
processes by addressing both the direction of development and the leael of functioning.
As such, SOC is a model of successful development, specifying processes
that help to manage changing resources over the life span. In particular, the theory
proposes three fundamental and universal processes of successful development:
selection, optirnization, and compensatiotr. All three processes are proposed to
have various possible phenotypic realizations depending on functional domains
(e.g., cognition, social), sociocultural contexts, and person-specific features that
vary along the dimensions active-passive, internal-external, and consciousunconscious
(Freund, Li, & Baltes,7999).
At the most general level of definition, selection refers to the process of specialization
or canalization of a particular pathway or set of pathways of development.
Selection includes the delineating and narrowing down of a range of possible alternative
developmental trajectories. Selection also serves the management of
limited resources by concentrating resources on delineated domains. Only
through this concentration can specification occur and certain skills and abilities
evolve. Thus, selection is a general-purpose mechanism to generate new resources
(P. B. Baltes et al., 2005). Selection can occur electiaely or as a response to
losses in resources (i.e., Ioss-based).
Optinizatiot'L refers to the acquisition, application, coordination, and maintenance
of internal and external resources (means) involved in attaining higher levels
of functioning (Freund & Baltes, 2000). Optimization is important for
achieving higher levels of functioning, as has been shown in the literature on expertise.
Expertise, a high skill level in a selected functional domain, can be
achieved only through a substantial amount of deliberate practice (Ericsson,
Krampe, & Tesch-Romer,7993; Krampe & Baltes,2003).
Compensntion refers to the investment of means to avoid or counteract losses in
functions in previously available resources. Given that development entails both
gains and losses across the entire life span (P. B. Baltes , 7987), a model of successful
aging needs to take processes of managing losses into account. The SOC
model does this by including loss-based selection (referring to reorientation after
encountering a loss) and compensation (aimed at the maintenance of functioning
in the face of losses).
The SOC theory can be approached from many different theoretical perspectives,
such as social, behavioral-learning, cognitive, and neuropsychological (M. M.