Findings from different approaches to gerontology were evaluated in terms of cognitive theory of personality. Contributions of this theory to the theory of aging are demonstrated by formulating three postulates referring to the relationship between objective situational change, perceived change, motivational change, behavioral change, and adjustment to aging.

The article presents the concepts and methodologies used in a series of studies on responses to stress in different areas of life and in different age and social groups. The studies described include findings of the Bonn Longitudinal Study of Aging and several studies on reactions to stress, e.g. coping with chronic disease and other distressing life situations. The discussion of the empirical findings presented focuses on the concept of 'response hierarchy' and its possibilities for examining consistency in reactions to stress across time and different situations. The data presented emphasize the need for a process-centred view on stress and responding to stress in the context of a cognitive theory of personality comprehending the individual and herlhis world as an undivisible dynamic unit.

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In agreement with Costa and McCrae (1992), the principle of ‘multiple uses’ of longitudinal studies is stressed based on a comparative review of the history of the Berkeley longitudinal studies and their different uses, and of those of the Bonn Longitudinal Study on Aging (BOLSA). Of the many uses of BOLSA, its contribution to the testing of a cognitive theory of aging is discussed. A selection of the findings of BOLSA and other studies of the Bonn Department of Psychology and the Institute of Gerontology, University of Heidelberg, is reported. These findings support three postulates of this theory: ( 1 ) the perceived rather than the objective situation directs behaviour; (2) perceptions of situations are related to dominant concerns of the person; and (3) adjustment to aging is achieved when a balance between the cognitive and motivational systems of the person has been attained.

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