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Aging, Attention and Situation Selection: Older Adults Create Mixed Emotional Environments
Derek M Isaacowitz1, Kathryn L Ossenfort1
1Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115.
Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences
|October 31, 2017
Summary
Older adults actively shape their emotional environments, prioritizing meaningfulness over simple positive valence. Both age groups construct mixed emotional experiences, demonstrating nuanced emotional regulation strategies.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Gerontology
- Affective Science
Background:
- Research on aging and emotion often shows positive age trends in affective experience.
- Older adults tend to focus attention on positive stimuli and avoid negative ones.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate age differences in affective experience and attentional deployment.
- To explore how age influences everyday entertainment choices and situation selection.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of age differences in affective experience.
- Examination of attentional deployment patterns across age groups.
- Evaluation of entertainment choices and situation selection tasks.
Main Results:
- Positive age trends observed in affective experience.
- Older individuals show increased attention to positive and decreased attention to negative stimuli.
- Age differences in entertainment choices are more pronounced for meaningfulness and value than valence; older adults avoid arousal.
Conclusions:
- Both younger and older adults actively construct mixed emotional environments.
- Emotional regulation strategies evolve with age, with a focus on meaningfulness and avoidance of high arousal.
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