[Orientations and models in psychogerontology (author's transl)]

As Baltes and Willis (1977) state: theories, especially psychological theories are scarce in gerontology. When we look at the short history of psychogerontology, we can differ as the first period: the period of the biological model, which offered only a negative image of growing older. This deficit-model has been unmasked, especially by the growing consciousness of the difference between cross-sectional versus longitudinal research-data. Other models as the disengagement model have been stressed. The present development towards a life-span developmental model as the background for every period of the aging process appears as the only basis for a fruitful growth of the science of psychogerontology.