Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 24, 2025

Validation of a Psychosocial Intervention on Body Image in Older People: An Experimental Design
Published on: May 31, 2021
Are Thoughts About the Future Associated With Perceptions in the Present?: Optimism, Possible Selves, and
Shelbie G Turner1, Karen Hooker1
12694 School of Social and Behavioral Health Sciences, College of Public Health and Human Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
Abstract:
Despite much literature pointing to the saliency of self-perceptions of aging (SPA) to aging processes, limited research offers empirical analysis on what shapes SPA. In order to identify possible antecedents to SPA, we conducted an exploratory analysis to analyze whether two future-oriented constructs-optimism and self-efficacy associated with possible selves-were associated with SPA. We ran hierarchical linear regressions, with optimism and self-efficacy of possible selves predicting SPA among 244 middle-aged and older adults. Higher optimism, higher self-efficacy to achieve hoped-for selves, and higher self-efficacy to avoid feared selves were associated with higher overall SPA. Results from our study suggest that how someone appraises their future older self impacts how they perceive their current older self.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Unrealistic Optimism Bias
Magical Thinking
Counterfactual Thinking
The Sense of Self: Reflected Self-Appraisal and Social Comparison
Introspection
Aging
Cellular Clock Theory
The cellular clock theory posits that the human lifespan is closely tied to the finite capacity of cells to divide, a phenomenon governed by telomeres, which are protective caps at the ends of...

