Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

4-25-2025

Keywords

adults, building, cognition, cognitive-affective schemata, components, connections, data collection, development, elements, evaluation, experience, future events, context cues, identity, identity assimilation, identity theory, identity-discrepant experiences, individual, initial observations, inside a process, interactions, life framework, lifespan, lifespan construct, mental constructs, negative feeling-states, organizer, past events, positive feeling-states, present events, regular tracking, research, research design, researchers, shape, Susan K Whitbourne, variables

Disciplines

Developmental Psychology

Abstract

Susan K. Whitbourne’s (1985) lifespan construct derives from her identity theory. Lifespan construct is a combined sense of past, present, and future events that are connected by their common occurrence to the individual. Cognitive-affective schemata are part of building this construct and shape the way adults approach identity-discrepant experiences.  Cognition is the organizer of the experiences, and all events are measured against these experiences. The affective aspect is the individual’s evaluation of events that lead to positive or negative feeling-states.

Download

Share

COinS