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Laura L Carstensen - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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TIME MATTERS: THE ROLE OF AGE AND MOTIVATIONAL CHANGES IN DECISIONS ABOUT TIME USE
Innovation in Aging, 2018Co-Authors: Hannah L. Giasson, Yochai Z Shavit, Laura L CarstensenAbstract:How we spend our time has important implications for well-being. Socioemotional Selectivity theory postulates that the prioritization of exploratory vs. emotion-regulatory goals shifts across the life span as the finitude of life becomes more salient (Carstensen, 2006). Thus, developmental changes in motivational focus may influence younger and older adults’ decisions to engage in various activities, as well as the importance placed on those activities. This symposium examines motivational factors that underlie decisions people make about time-use across young, middle, and late adulthood. Chu and colleagues integrate Socioemotional Selectivity theory and Erikson’s theory of psychological development in their investigation of the influence of age and time horizons on bucket-list goal motives. Zhang and colleagues discuss age differences in the willingness to donate time to relatives and non-relatives of various social distances and highlight the role of social contextual factors in shaping prosocial behaviors at different points in the life span. Shavit and Carstensen discuss how emotional meaning and strength of affective response shape Selectivity for particular activities across adulthood. Finally, Giasson and colleagues discuss motive profiles of everyday activities among middle-aged and older adults and associations between motive profiles and activity-related well-being. Dr. Laura Carstensen will conclude the session with an integration of common themes, practical implications, and future directions that emerge from the four studies.
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Future Time Perspective: Time Horizons and Beyond.
GeroPsych, 2018Co-Authors: Hsiao-wen Liao, Laura L CarstensenAbstract:The articles in the present volume enhance the understanding of the role of perceived time in human development. Together, they point to the multifaceted nature of perceived future time and the associations different aspects of time have with goals, preferences, and well-being. Specifically, the articles showcase antecedents and consequences of perceived time left in life, consider ways to optimize measurement of future time horizons, and advance novel questions about the neural correlates of domain-specific aspects of subjective time. Findings are considered within the framework of Socioemotional Selectivity theory. Future directions for research on time horizons are discussed.
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Selective narrowing of social networks across adulthood is associated with improved emotional experience in daily life
International journal of behavioral development, 2014Co-Authors: Tammy English, Laura L CarstensenAbstract:Past research has documented age differences in the size and composition of social networks that suggest that networks grow smaller with age and include an increasingly greater proportion of well-known social partners. According to Socioemotional Selectivity theory, such changes in social network composition serve an antecedent emotion regulatory function that supports an age-related increase in the priority that people place on emotional well-being. The present study employed a longitudinal design with a sample that spanned the full adult age range to examine whether there is evidence of within-individual (developmental) change in social networks and whether the characteristics of relationships predict emotional experiences in daily life. Using growth curve analyses, social networks were found to increase in size in young adulthood and then decline steadily throughout later life. As postulated by Socioemotional Selectivity theory, reductions were observed primarily in the number of peripheral partners; the number of close partners was relatively stable over time. In addition, cross-sectional analyses revealed that older adults reported that social network members elicited less negative emotion and more positive emotion. The emotional tone of social networks, particularly when negative emotions were associated with network members, also predicted experienced emotion of participants. Overall, findings were robust after taking into account demographic variables and physical health. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of Socioemotional Selectivity theory and related theoretical models.
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the influence of a sense of time on human development
Science, 2006Co-Authors: Laura L CarstensenAbstract:The subjective sense of future time plays an essential role in human motivation. Gradually, time left becomes a better predictor than chronological age for a range of cognitive, emotional, and motivational variables. Socioemotional Selectivity theory maintains that constraints on time horizons shift motivational priorities in such a way that the regulation of emotional states becomes more important than other types of goals. This motivational shift occurs with age but also appears in other contexts (for example, geographical relocations, illnesses, and war) that limit subjective future time.
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Goals Change When Life's Fragility is Primed: Lessons Learned From Older Adults, the September 11 Attacks and Sars
Social Cognition, 2006Co-Authors: Helene H. Fung, Laura L CarstensenAbstract:Abstract Socioemotional Selectivity theory maintains that the perception of time systematically influences motivation. Most experimental research testing this postulate has relied on paradigms in which participants are asked to make choices under conditions where they imagine that time is constrained or expanded. The present studies tested key theoretical postulates under naturalistic conditions by examining social goals before and after the September 11 attacks and throughout the SARS epidemic in Hong Kong. Findings suggest that sociocultural events that presumably prime the fragility of life increase motivation to derive emotional meaning from life in both the young and old.
Helene H. Fung - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Preference for emotionally meaningful activity in Alzheimer’s disease
Aging & mental health, 2018Co-Authors: Linzy Bohn, Sheree T. Kwong See, Helene H. FungAbstract:Objectives: Socioemotional Selectivity theory (SST) contends that future time perspective is the central determinant of healthy older adults' prioritization of emotional gratification. We have shown elsewhere that individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) are disoriented to future time perspective. This study examined whether these same participants would prioritize emotional gratification despite having distorted time perspective. Method: Performance of individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) was compared against young, young-old, and old-old adults on a social activity preference card-sort task. We examined whether activity preferences differentially related to subjective wellbeing. Results: Multidimensional scaling revealed common dimensions along which groups considered social activities. The importance of these dimensions varied across healthy participant groups in ways predicted by SST. Dimensions related to knowledge acquisition were more important in youth than older age; emotional dimensions were more important to the older age groups. Despite AD, these individuals also prioritzed emotional gratification, suggesting that cognitive impairment is not a barrier to Socioemotional Selectivity. Preference for emotionally meaningful activities was positively associated with subjective wellbeing. Conclusion: Persons with AD are motivated towards emotionally meaningful ends and retain high levels of wellbeing. These findings have implications in the caregiving context for shaping social programs to better match goals and preferences.
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Aging and attention: Meaningfulness may be more important than valence.
Psychology and aging, 2018Co-Authors: Helene H. Fung, Derek M IsaacowitzAbstract:Studies on Socioemotional Selectivity theory have found that compared with younger adults, older adults are more likely to (a) prefer to interact with emotionally close social partners and (b) show preferential cognitive processing of positive relative to negative stimuli. To integrate these 2 lines of findings, this study examined attention toward emotional (positive and negative) facial expressions of experimentally manipulated emotionally close versus nonclose targets among younger and older adults. Compared with younger adults, older adults gazed more at facial expressions of emotionally close than nonclose targets, regardless of valence. This age difference occurred to a greater extent among those who endorsed eudaimonic goals more. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
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Cultural specificity of Socioemotional Selectivity: age differences in social network composition among Germans and Hong Kong Chinese.
The journals of gerontology. Series B Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2008Co-Authors: Helene H. Fung, Franziska S Stoeber, Dannii Yuen-lan Yeung, Frieder R LangAbstract:We examined age differences in social network composition among 330 Germans and 330 Hong Kong Chinese, aged 20 to 91 years. We measured social network composition with the Social Convoy Questionnaire. In both cultures, older age was associated with the same number of close social partners and fewer peripheral social partners than was younger age. However, the patterns of age differences in specific relationships differed across cultures: Age was negatively associated with the proportion of nuclear family members among Germans but the association was positive among Hong Kong Chinese. Age was positively associated with the proportion of acquaintances among Germans but the association was negative among Hong Kong Chinese. We discuss the findings in terms of whether the Socioemotional Selectivity theory holds in both cultures.
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Age-related positivity enhancement is not universal: older Chinese look away from positive stimuli.
Psychology and aging, 2008Co-Authors: Helene H. Fung, Derek M Isaacowitz, Deborah Goren, Heather A. Wadlinger, Hugh R. WilsonAbstract:Socioemotional Selectivity theory postulates that with age, people are motivated to derive emotional meaning from life, leading them to pay more attention to positive relative to negative/neutral stimuli. The authors argue that cultures that differ in what they consider to be emotionally meaningful may show this preference to different extents. Using eye-tracking techniques, the authors compared visual attention toward emotional (happy, fearful, sad, and angry) and neutral facial expressions among 46 younger and 57 older Hong Kong Chinese. In contrast to prior Western findings, older but not younger Chinese looked away from happy facial expressions, suggesting that they do not show attentional preferences toward positive stimuli.
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Goals Change When Life's Fragility is Primed: Lessons Learned From Older Adults, the September 11 Attacks and Sars
Social Cognition, 2006Co-Authors: Helene H. Fung, Laura L CarstensenAbstract:Abstract Socioemotional Selectivity theory maintains that the perception of time systematically influences motivation. Most experimental research testing this postulate has relied on paradigms in which participants are asked to make choices under conditions where they imagine that time is constrained or expanded. The present studies tested key theoretical postulates under naturalistic conditions by examining social goals before and after the September 11 attacks and throughout the SARS epidemic in Hong Kong. Findings suggest that sociocultural events that presumably prime the fragility of life increase motivation to derive emotional meaning from life in both the young and old.
Derek M Isaacowitz - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Aging and attention: Meaningfulness may be more important than valence.
Psychology and aging, 2018Co-Authors: Helene H. Fung, Derek M IsaacowitzAbstract:Studies on Socioemotional Selectivity theory have found that compared with younger adults, older adults are more likely to (a) prefer to interact with emotionally close social partners and (b) show preferential cognitive processing of positive relative to negative stimuli. To integrate these 2 lines of findings, this study examined attention toward emotional (positive and negative) facial expressions of experimentally manipulated emotionally close versus nonclose targets among younger and older adults. Compared with younger adults, older adults gazed more at facial expressions of emotionally close than nonclose targets, regardless of valence. This age difference occurred to a greater extent among those who endorsed eudaimonic goals more. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
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Age-related positivity enhancement is not universal: older Chinese look away from positive stimuli.
Psychology and aging, 2008Co-Authors: Helene H. Fung, Derek M Isaacowitz, Deborah Goren, Heather A. Wadlinger, Hugh R. WilsonAbstract:Socioemotional Selectivity theory postulates that with age, people are motivated to derive emotional meaning from life, leading them to pay more attention to positive relative to negative/neutral stimuli. The authors argue that cultures that differ in what they consider to be emotionally meaningful may show this preference to different extents. Using eye-tracking techniques, the authors compared visual attention toward emotional (happy, fearful, sad, and angry) and neutral facial expressions among 46 younger and 57 older Hong Kong Chinese. In contrast to prior Western findings, older but not younger Chinese looked away from happy facial expressions, suggesting that they do not show attentional preferences toward positive stimuli.
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An Attentional Application of Socioemotional Selectivity Theory in College Students
Social Development, 2006Co-Authors: Katherine Pruzan, Derek M IsaacowitzAbstract:Socioemotional Selectivity theory posits that emotions become increasingly salient as individuals approach endings. Recent findings have linked the theory with biases in information processing in the context of aging. However, these studies all confounded advancing age and the motivational impact of endings. This study represented an attempt to disentangle the effects of large age differences from those of endings on the processing of emotional information by investigating differences in attention to emotional stimuli between college seniors and college first-years. Seniors represented a group approaching the social ending of graduation from college and first-years served as a comparison group not facing an ending. Following recent findings in the literature on aging, it was hypothesized that seniors would selectively avoid negative images in an effort to better regulate their emotions in the face of this social ending. First-years were found to spend a significantly larger portion of their time viewing sad faces than did seniors. Seniors also exhibited significantly higher levels of positive affect than did first-years. These findings are discussed within the context of emotion regulation in the face of impending endings across the lifespan.
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Socioemotional Selectivity and mental health among trauma survivors in old age
Ageing International, 2003Co-Authors: Derek M Isaacowitz, Timothy B. Smith, Laura L CarstensenAbstract:Empirical tests of Socioemotional Selectivity theory support the contention that the developmental trend in adulthood to focus increasingly on fewer, but emotionally significant, social partners is associated positively with psychological well-being. Tenets of the theory, however, also suggest conditions in which Selectivity could instead lead to an increase in negative emotional experiences. In particular, if the Socioemotional world of the individual includes emotional distress, selective focus on emotions and close relationships may detract from rather than enhance well-being. In the current study, we examined Selectivity and associated well-being in Holocaust survivors, Japanese-American internment camp survivors, and comparably-aged people who lived through World War II but did not experience major trauma. We predicted that Selectivity would relate to positive mental health in all groups except the Holocaust survivors who, on average, experience elevated levels of negative affect and social networks that include other survivors also experiencing distress. Results generally supported these hypotheses, and are discussed in light of individual and group differences in Socioemotional ageing, as well as the implications for the generality of social developmental theories of adaptive functioning.
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taking time seriously a theory of Socioemotional Selectivity
American Psychologist, 1999Co-Authors: Laura L Carstensen, Derek M Isaacowitz, Susan T CharlesAbstract:Abstract Socioemotional Selectivity theory claims that the perception of time plays a fundamental role in the selection and pursuit of social goals. According to the theory, social motives fall into 1 of 2 general categories--those related to the acquisition of knowledge and those related to the regulation of emotion. When time is perceived as open-ended, knowledge-related goals are prioritized. In contrast, when time is perceived as limited, emotional goals assume primacy. The inextricable association between time left in life and chronological age ensures age-related differences in social goals. Nonetheless, the authors show that the perception of time is malleable, and social goals change in both younger and older people when time constraints are imposed. The authors argue that time perception is integral to human motivation and suggest potential implications for multiple subdisciplines and research interests in social, developmental, cultural, cognitive, and clinical psychology.
Stephen J. Cutler - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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volunteerism and Socioemotional Selectivity in later life
Journals of Gerontology Series B-psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 2004Co-Authors: Jon Hendricks, Stephen J. CutlerAbstract:Objectives. The goal of this work was to assess the applicability of Socioemotional Selectivity theory to the realm of volunteerism by analyzing data drawn from the September 2002 Current Population Survey Volunteer Supplement. Methods. Total number of organizations volunteered for and total number of hours engaged in volunteer activities were utilized to obtain measures of volunteer hours per organization and volunteer hours in the main organization to determine whether a selective process could be observed. Descriptive statistics on age patterns were followed by a series of curve estimations to identify the best-fitting curves. Results. Logistic age patterns of slowly increasing then relatively stable volunteer activity suggest that Socioemotional Selectivity processes are operative in the realm of voluntary activities. Discussion. Socioemotional Selectivity theory is applicable to voluntary activities.
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Volunteerism and Socioemotional Selectivity in later life.
The journals of gerontology. Series B Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2004Co-Authors: Jon Hendricks, Stephen J. CutlerAbstract:The goal of this work was to assess the applicability of Socioemotional Selectivity theory to the realm of volunteerism by analyzing data drawn from the September 2002 Current Population Survey Volunteer Supplement. Total number of organizations volunteered for and total number of hours engaged in volunteer activities were utilized to obtain measures of volunteer hours per organization and volunteer hours in the main organization to determine whether a selective process could be observed. Descriptive statistics on age patterns were followed by a series of curve estimations to identify the best-fitting curves. Logistic age patterns of slowly increasing then relatively stable volunteer activity suggest that Socioemotional Selectivity processes are operative in the realm of voluntary activities. Socioemotional Selectivity theory is applicable to voluntary activities.
Mengqing Yang - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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health information literacy of the older adults and their intention to share health rumors an analysis from the perspective of Socioemotional Selectivity theory
International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, 2019Co-Authors: Mengqing YangAbstract:Health rumor promises to resolve uncertainty or provide new insight into important health-related phenomena. Older adults who are more concerned about health issues are plagued by the health rumors more seriously. Why do older people prefer to share health rumors and how to protect the elderly from online health rumors are becoming a new public health concern. This study attempts to understand the health information behavior of the elderly from the perspective of Socioemotional Selectivity theory (SST), and to find out the possible relationship between health information literacy and health rumor sharing intention of the older adults. The results showed that health information literacy and knowledge acquisition goal were negatively related to the intention to share health rumors while emotion regulation goal had a positive influence on it. Interaction effects were also significant between the independent variables and the dependent variable. In the process of aging, the competition between knowledge acquisition goal and emotion regulation goal will play an important role in the information behaviors of individuals. Health information literacy not only helps the older adults to identify health rumors to avoid spreading them but also guides the elderly to avoid deception of false information and make incorrect health decisions.
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HCI (28) - Health Information Literacy of the Older Adults and Their Intention to Share Health Rumors: An Analysis from the Perspective of Socioemotional Selectivity Theory
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2019Co-Authors: Mengqing YangAbstract:Health rumor promises to resolve uncertainty or provide new insight into important health-related phenomena. Older adults who are more concerned about health issues are plagued by the health rumors more seriously. Why do older people prefer to share health rumors and how to protect the elderly from online health rumors are becoming a new public health concern. This study attempts to understand the health information behavior of the elderly from the perspective of Socioemotional Selectivity theory (SST), and to find out the possible relationship between health information literacy and health rumor sharing intention of the older adults. The results showed that health information literacy and knowledge acquisition goal were negatively related to the intention to share health rumors while emotion regulation goal had a positive influence on it. Interaction effects were also significant between the independent variables and the dependent variable. In the process of aging, the competition between knowledge acquisition goal and emotion regulation goal will play an important role in the information behaviors of individuals. Health information literacy not only helps the older adults to identify health rumors to avoid spreading them but also guides the elderly to avoid deception of false information and make incorrect health decisions.
