socioemotional selectivity theory

(noun)

A life-span theory of motivation which maintains that as time horizons shrink, as they typically do with age, people become increasingly selective, investing greater resources in emotionally meaningful goals and activities.

Related Terms

Examples of socioemotional selectivity theory in the following topics:

  • Socioemotional Development in Late Adulthood

    • As we get older, socioemotional selectivity theory suggests that our social support and friendships dwindle in number, but remain as close as, if not closer than, in our earlier years (Carstensen, 1992).
    • Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1969), who worked with the founders of hospice care, described in her theory of grief the process of an individual accepting their own death.

  • Socioemotional Development in Childhood

    • This is known as theory of mind.
    • When children develop theory of mind, they can recognize that others may have false beliefs (Dennett, 1987; Callaghan et al., 2005).
    • False-belief tasks are useful in determining a child’s acquisition of theory of mind.

  • Socioemotional Development in Adulthood

    • There are many theories about the social and emotional aspects of aging.
    • A lack of positive and meaningful relationships during adulthood can result in what Erikson termed the crisis of intimacy vs. isolation in his theory of psychosocial development.
    • Review the milestones and crises of socioemotional development in early and middle adulthood

  • Socioemotional Development in Adolescence

    • Different roles, behaviors, and ideologies must be tried out to select an identity, and adolescents continue to refine their sense of self as they relate to others.

  • Disengagement Theory

    • As such, the theory argues that it is natural and acceptable for older adults to withdraw from society.
    • Disengagement theory was the first theory of aging developed by social scientists.
    • Postulate three: Because men have a centrally instrumental role in America, and women a socioemotional one, disengagement differs between men and women.
    • Postulate nine: Disengagement theory is independent of culture, but the form it takes is bound by culture.
    • Disengagement theory suggests that adults become increasingly withdrawn as they get older.

  • Theories of Life History

    • Modern theories of life history incorporate life and survivorship factors with ecological concepts associated with r- and K-selection theories.
    • The r- and K-selection theory, although accepted for decades and used for much groundbreaking research, has now been reconsidered.
    • Over the years, several studies attempted to confirm the theory, but these attempts have largely failed.
    • Furthermore, the theory ignored the age-specific mortality of the populations which scientists now know is very important.
    • New demographic-based models of life history evolution have been developed which incorporate many ecological concepts included in r- and K-selection theory, as well as population age structure and mortality factors.

  • Clonal Selection and Tolerance

    • Clonal selection and tolerance select for survival of lymphocytes that will protect the host from foreign antigens.
    • The concept of central tolerance was proposed in 1959 as part of a general theory of immunity and tolerance.
    • The theory that self-tolerance is 'learned' during lymphocyte development was a major conceptual contribution to immunology.
    • The preservation of useful specificities is called positive selection.
    • clonal selection of the B and T lymphocytes:1.

  • Expect Selective Exposure

    • In theory, people tend to select specific aspects of exposed information based on their pre-existing perspective, beliefs, attitudes, and decisions.
    • The selective exposure theory is a concept in media and communication research that refers to individuals' tendency to favor information that reinforces preexisting views while avoiding contradictory information.
    • This theory suggests that people tend to select specific aspects of exposed information based on their perspective, beliefs, attitudes, and decisions.
    • This theory has been explored using the cognitive dissonance theory, which suggests information consumers strive for results of cognitive equilibrium.
    • Thus, information that supports the expectations or beliefs held by the person draw greater attention, in keeping with selective exposure theory.

  • Natural Selection and Adaptive Evolution

    • Natural selection drives adaptive evolution by selecting for and increasing the occurrence of beneficial traits in a population.
    • Natural selection only acts on the population's heritable traits: selecting for beneficial alleles and, thus, increasing their frequency in the population, while selecting against deleterious alleles and, thereby, decreasing their frequency.
    • Natural selection does not act on individual alleles, however, but on entire organisms.
    • Amongst the flora and fauna of these enchanted volcanic islands, Darwin formulated his groundbreaking theories on evolution.
    • Through natural selection, a population of finches evolved into three separate species by adapting to several difference selection pressures.

  • For More Information

    • Lev Vygotsky and Vygotsky Resources: Overview of Activity Theory: The Vygotsky Approach http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~cs5724/g5/activity.html
    • The Vygotsky Resources website contains a comprehensive and thorough selection of Internet resources and links pertaining to Vygotsky and his work under the headings of biographical information, theories, information for teachers, Vygotsky's theories in practice, and other resources.
    • This website lists and describes the four principles of a Vygotskian classroom, and also contains links to other information on Social Contructivist theories.
    • It may serve as a quick and easy reference for educators who are interested in developing an instructional plan for their classrooms based on Vygotskian theories.