Linking possible selves and behavior do

Linking Possible Selves and Behavior: Do

Domain-Specific Hopes and Fears Translate Into

Daily Activities in Very Old Age?

Christiane A. Hoppmann,1 Denis Gerstorf,2

Jacqui Smith,3

and Petra L. Klumb4

1

School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta.

2Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville.

3Department of Psychology and Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

4Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Switzerland.

We used time-sampling information from a subsample of the Berlin Aging Study (N = 83; M = 81.1 years) to

investigate the link between possible selves in three domains (health, everyday cognition, and social relations) and

performance of daily activities. In the domains of health and social relations, hoped-for selves were associated

with higher probabilities of performing daily activities in those domains. There were no associations in the

cognitive domain or between feared selves and activities. Individuals who engaged in hope-related activities

reported concurrent higher positive affect and subsequently had a higher probability of survival over a 10-year

period. These findings speak to important associations between beliefs about possible selves and activities in

advanced old age and the value of considering associations between microlevel and macrolevel indicators of

successful aging.

P

OSSIBLE selves (Markus & Nurius, 1986) have attracted

much interest in research on the processes involved in

adaptation to age-related change across the life span (Dunkel &

Kerpelman, 2006; Hooker & McAdams, 2003; Kerpelman &

Pittman, 2001; Smith & Freund, 2002; Whaley & Shrider,

2005). Possible selves capture the dynamic and goal-oriented

aspects of personality and have been defined as personalized

hoped-for and feared images of the self in the future that direct

behavior over time (Cotrell & Hooker, 2005; Markus & Nurius,

1986). Studies on possible selves have shown that the contents

of possible selves mirror age-related themes of life and that, in

later adulthood, health, cognitive functioning, and social

relationships are among the predominant themes (Cross &

Markus, 1991; Frazier, Cotrell, & Hooker, 2003; Smith &

Freund, 2002). In this study we examine how possible selves in

three salient life domains (health, cognition, and social

relationships) translate into daily activities in old age. To do

so, we use data from participants of the Berlin Aging Study

(BASE; P. B. Baltes & Mayer, 1999) who additionally

participated in a time-sampling study (Klumb & Baltes, 1999a).

Theory suggests that possible selves serve motivational and

evaluative functions. First, possible selves act as motivational

incentives by defining what is to be approached (hoped-for

selves) and what is to be avoided (feared selves; Cotrell &

Hooker, 2005; Cross & Markus, 1991; Markus & Nurius,

1986). Specifically, having an image of what is possible in the

future allows one to mentally simulate future scenarios that

facilitate decisions in favor of or against specific actions and

provide clues about when to persist and when to withdraw.

Representations of hoped-for possible selves involve goals as

well as scenarios about the means and strategies to achieve

them and thereby organize and energize the adoption of

behaviors (Cross & Markus, 1994; Hooker, 1992; Hooker &

Kaus, 1992; Markus & Ruvolo, 1989; Whaley, 2003). For

example, wanting to be a good grandparent might be a possible

self that motivates an older adult to think about ways of

participating in the lives of grandchildren. This simulation may

lead to decisions to engage in relevant activities (e.g.,

babysitting) and fuel long hours of continued patience with

energetic grandchildren. Feared possible selves, in contrast, can

disorganize behavior and cause inaction by providing the

individual with a vivid undesirable image without necessarily

specifying means and strategies of how to avoid it (Hooker,

1992; Markus & Ruvolo, 1989; Oyserman & Markus, 1990).

Thus, we expect that possible selves and, in particular, hoped￾for images in the domains of health, cognition, and social relation￾ships set the stage for daily activities in the respective domain.

Researchers have investigated possible selves by using many

different methods (see Dunkel & Kerpelman, 2006 for an

overview). Using time-sampling methodologies, in the present

study we complement past findings by investigating whether

previously observed between-person relationships regarding

possible selves and activities replicate at the within-person level

in an individual’s own environment. In addition, the respective

online assessments of participants’ daily activities reduce the

effects of memory biases in retrospective reports and in￾corporate context effects as part of the design (Bolger, Davis, &

Rafaeli, 2003; Schwarz, 1999). Given our focus on very old

age, this seems to be particularly important.

In an attempt to examine the evaluative functions of pos￾sible selves, we also consider short-term and long-term out￾comes. Discrepancy-reducing theories of affect (e.g. Carver,

Lawrence, & Scheier, 1999), for example, propose that en￾gaging in activities that are instrumental in either minimizing

the distance between actual and desired situations or maximiz￾ing the distance from a feared scenario contributes to positive

affect. We therefore expect that, at the intraindividual level,

performance of activities in possible self-relevant domains is

Journal of Gerontology: PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES Copyright 2007 by The Gerontological Society of America

2007, Vol. 62B, No. 2, P104–P111

P104