The effect of instructions on age differences in practical problem solving

In previous research middle-aged adults have typically been found to perform better on practical, everyday problems than either younger or older adults. However, it has been suggested that young adults may not expend as much effort as middle-aged adults and therefore may not perform as well as they are capable of performing. In order to test this hypothesis, the performance of young, middle-aged, and elderly adults was compared on 10 practical, everyday problems. Half of the subjects were given standard instructions and half were given instructions that encouraged them to perform as well as they possibly could. With the standard instructions, the young adults performed less well than either the middle-aged or the elderly adults. With the more explicit instructions, however, the young adults performed as well as the middle-aged adults and better than the elderly adults. The results of this study indicate that there may be a tendency on the part of young adults to give less than their optimal performance unless explicitly instructed to do their best.