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Abstract. Does personality stay stable after young adulthood or is there continued change throughout middle and later adulthood? For decades, this question has caused heated debate. Over the last couple of years, a consensus has emerged based on recent cross-cultural as well as longitudinal evidence. This consensus confirms that indeed there is personality change in middle and later adulthood. Many authors have labeled this change personality maturation or growth. In somewhat simplified terms the observed pattern is as follows: neuroticism declines, conscientiousness and agreeableness increase. At the same time it has been argued that this pattern of personality change is the result of coping with the developmental tasks of adulthood and, thus, increased adjustment. We would like to examine this practice of equating developmental adjustment with growth and ask how to define personality growth. To answer this question, we consult theories of personality development as well as lifespan theory.

Across time and cultures, wisdom has been nominated as the ideal endpoint of development. Evidence suggests that the beginnings of wisdom are observed in adolescence. But are the correlates of wisdom‐related performance in adolescence different from those in adulthood because of differences in developmental status? To answer this question, heterogeneous samples of German adolescents (N=148, 14–20 years) and adults (N=143, 35–75 years) responded verbally to 2 wisdom‐related tasks and completed a psychometric battery involving measures of intelligence, personality, and the personality–intelligence interface. As predicted, in the adolescent sample intelligence and personality emerged as the strongest unique predictors of wisdom‐related performance. In contrast, in the adult sample the interface measures were the strongest unique predictors. Implications for the facilitation of positive development in adolescence are discussed.

AbstractSelf-regulation is crucial for learning and achievement in educational and occupational contexts. Educational self-regulation has been conceptualized as a domain-specific, context-bound competence that is open to interventions. Beyond students' educational self-regulation (ESR), few studies have examined ESR across the lifespan as a basis of competence assessments. We contribute to adult ESR by discussing whether ESR competence applies to intermediate and higher self-regulation levels, as represented by workplace learning and career management. Furthermore, we discuss the interplay of epistemic beliefs and metacomprehension as core processes of ESR. Finally, we outline cornerstones of an assessment strategy for adult ESR.

The aging of intelligence features a paradox including both growth and decline in performance, as well as latent potential and aging-related limits to further growth. Two resolutions to the paradox are offered. First, because of the dual-process nature of intelligence—fluid mechanics versus crystallized pragmatics—there is the possibility of differing life-span trajectories characterized by a decline in the mechanics and select growth in the pragmatics. Second, because of the facilitative and enriching effect of knowledge-based pragmatics, highly effective cognitive performances in old age are possible despite an aging-related loss in cognitive mechanics. A model of selective optimization with compensation is presented to elucidate various interventional strategies that allow for intellectual efficacy and growth despite increased biological vulnerability and decreased intellectual reserve capacity. A visionary social policy for old age needs to recognize this double-edged nature of the aging mind: limits and potential.