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Prior research suggests that older adults seek less information in consumer choices than younger adults do. However, it remains unclear if intentional information avoidance plays a role in such effects. To test this possibility, we examined age differences in deliberate information avoidance in consumer decisions and explored a range of potential motives. Adult lifespan samples completed two pre-registered online studies, which assessed information avoidance using a slider scale (Study 1

It has been hypothesized that an increase in literacy within a society is associated with more negative perceptions of aging and older adults. The present study empirically tested this premise among the Dani in West Papua. Sixty-one Dani participants were asked to nominate two individuals within each of the following categories: (1) most respected, (2) best source of life advice, and (3) most satisfied with life. They also reported the age and gender of the nominees. Literacy was associated with nominating younger targets in the life advice and life satisfaction categories. These results add evidence that literacy is associated with perceptions of older adults. We conclude by discussing the scholarly and practical implications of these findings.

Decision makers are more likely to passively accept than to actively reject preselected default options. Age differences in such "default effects" have not been systematically examined, but prior research reports age-related variation in several known determinants of default effects suggesting that they may be more common in older as compared to younger adults. To address this question, a representative life span sample (

The different environmental conditions in which people live might challenge memory in different ways. Moreover, the frequency of usage can be a source of improvement of both short- and long-term memory. The aim of our study was to investigate the effects of environmental differences on short- and long-term memory in a traditional versus a contemporary population (Dani of Papua, n = 62; Polish, n = 134). We found that both short- and long-term memory varied in the two populations, living in totally distinct surroundings. However, there were no age differences between Polish and Dani participants in either short- or long-term memory tasks, indicating that culture was not a significant moderator of the memory differences between populations. The differences in short- and long-term memory between the two populations are consistent with the argument that short-term memory plays a more significant role in contemporary societies because of technical developments, the electronic revolution, and reading ability. The lack of an age difference appears to support the assumption that it is age, not culture, that plays a crucial role in the memory performance.

For millennia, the question of wisdom, its precursors and correlates, and its implications for informing a ‘good life’ has fascinated philosophers and social scientists alike (Sternberg & Gluck, 20...

Objectives Perceptions of time are shaped by sociohistorical factors. Specifically, economic growth and modernization often engender a sense of acceleration. Research has primarily focused on one time perception dimension (perceived time pressure) in one subpopulation (working-age adults), but it is not clear whether historical changes extend to other dimensions (e.g., perceived speed of time) and other subpopulations, such as older adults who are no longer in the workforce and experience age-related shifts in time perception. We therefore examined sociohistorical and age-related trends in two dimensions of time perception in two cohorts of urban older adults. Method Using propensity score matching for age and education, samples were drawn from the Berlin Aging Study (1990–1993, n = 256, Mage = 77.49) and the Berlin Aging Study-II (2009–2014, n = 248, Mage = 77.49). Cohort differences in means, variances, covariance, and correlates of perceived speed of time and time pressure were examined using multigroup SEM. Results There were no cohort differences in the perceived speed of time, but later-born cohorts reported more time pressure than earlier-born cohorts. There were no significant age differences, but perceptions of speed of time were more heterogeneous in the 1990s than in the 2010s. Cohorts did not differ in how time perceptions were associated with sociodemographic, health, cognitive, and psychosocial correlates. Discussion These findings document sociohistorical trends toward greater perceived time pressure and reduced heterogeneity in perceived speed of time among later-born urban adults. Conceptualizations of social acceleration should thus consider the whole adult life span.

Objectives Prior research has documented age differences in risky decisions and indicates that they are susceptible to gain versus loss framing. However, previous studies focused on “decisions from description” that explicitly spell out the probabilities involved. The present study expands this literature by examining the effects of framing on age differences in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), a widely used and ecologically valid measure of experience-based risky decision making that involves pumping a virtual balloon. Methods In a preregistered study, younger (aged 18–30, n = 129) and older adults (aged 60 and older, n = 125) were randomly assigned to either a gain version of the BART, where pumping the balloon added monetary gains, or a loss version, where pumping the balloon avoided monetary losses. Results We found a significant age by frame interaction on risk-taking: in the loss frame, older adults pumped more frequently and experienced more popped balloons than younger adults, whereas in the gain frame no significant age differences were found. Total performance on the BART did not vary by age or frame. Supplementary analyses indicated that age differences in pumping rates were most pronounced at the beginning of the BART and leveled off in subsequent trials. Controlling for age differences in motivation, personality, and cognition did not account for age differences in risk-taking. Discussion In combination, findings suggest that age differences in risk-taking on the BART are more pronounced when the task context emphasizes avoiding losses rather than achieving gains.

ObjectivesPrior research has revealed age differences in the preferred timing of monetary outcomes, but results are inconsistent across studies. The present study examined the role of task type, outcome characteristics, and a range of theoretically implicated covariates that may contribute to variations in age effects.MethodTwo types of intertemporal choice paradigms (temporal discounting and sequence construction) were administered to a diverse life-span sample (n = 287, aged 18–87). The design experimentally manipulated outcome delay (months vs years), amount (hundreds vs thousands), and valence (gain vs loss) while statistically controlling for a range of potential covariates including demographics, affect, personality, time perspective, subjective health, and numeracy.ResultsIn the temporal discounting task, no significant age differences were observed and this pattern did not differ by outcome delay, amount, or valence. In the sequence-construction task, age was associated with a preference for sequences of decreasing impact in the gain condition but not in the loss condition, whereas outcome delay and amount did not moderate age effects. Age patterns in discounting and sequences preferences remained unchanged after controlling for covariates.DiscussionThese findings converge with prior studies reporting weak or null effects of age in temporal discounting tasks and suggest that inconsistent results are not due to variations in outcome valence, delay, or amount across studies. Findings also add to the scarce evidence for age differences sequence-preferences. After discussing methodological limitations, we consider implications for future research and practice.

Trait stability and maturation are fundamental principles of contemporary personality psychology and have been shown to hold across many cultures. However, it has proven difficult to move beyond these general findings to a detailed account of trait development. There are pervasive and unexplained inconsistencies across studies that may be due to ( a) insufficient attention to measurement error, ( b) subtle but age-sensitive differences in alternative measures of the same trait, or ( c) different perspectives reflected in self-reports and observer ratings. Multiscale, multimethod—and ideally multinational—studies are needed. Several hypotheses have been proposed to account for trait stability and change, but supporting evidence is currently weak or indirect; trait development is a fertile if sometimes frustrating field for theory and research. Beyond traits, there are approaches to personality development that are of interest to students of adult development, and these may be fruitfully addressed from a trait perspective.

Background Older versus younger adults are at greater risk from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but descriptive data show they are less likely to seek out related information in the media, although underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Method A representative adult life-span sample (N = 500) completed a preregistered online study assessing changes in media consumption in response to the pandemic, self-reported and behavioral media avoidance, avoidance motives, and demographic, socioemotional, and cognitive covariates. Results Age was associated with reduced media consumption and higher behavioral media avoidance, but lower self-reported media avoidance and lower endorsement of specific avoidance motives. Age differences in aspects of affect, motivation, and cognition statistically accounted for variations in behavioral avoidance but not for the other age effects. Discussion Age differences in media use in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic are not explained by deliberate avoidance intentions and motives but associated with broader age variations in socioemotional and cognitive functioning.

Five-Factor Theory (FFT) is an account of the functioning of the personality system, with three broad classes of dynamic processes: assimilative, accommodative, and developmental. Developmental processes, on which the present chapter focuses, are the mechanisms by which traits grow or change. We review some of the evidence leading to FFT, a general theory of personality that breaks decisively with tradition in positing that the psychological environment has little or no influence on traits. Social Investment (SI) provides an alternative view, in which personality trait development is attributed in part to the requirements of society. We offer new data from 23 cultures (N = 7,449) to test the SI-based hypothesis that cultures whose members enter adult roles earlier will show accelerated personality maturation; no support was found. Other studies challenge FFT, but we argue that a scientific theory is not invalidated by a few counterexamples. Instead, the theory should be judged by the effectiveness with which it summarizes most current knowledge and the guidance that it offers to researchers seeking new knowledge.

Objectives With age, decision makers rely more on heuristic and affect-based processing. However, age differences have not been quantified with respect to the affect heuristic, which derives judgments based on positive and negative feelings toward stimuli and concepts. This study examined whether reliance on the affect heuristic is associated with age, whether these patterns vary by task type, and which covariates account for age effects. Method In a preregistered study, an adult life-span sample (N = 195, 21–90 years, Mage = 52.95, 50% female, 71% non-Hispanic White) completed a battery of cognitive, personality, and socioemotional covariates as well as 3 established affect heuristic tasks: (a) a risk–benefit task, (b) a dread–inference task, and (c) an affect–impact task. Reliance on affect was indexed through (a) a negative relationship between perceived food risks and benefits, (b) a positive relationship between feelings of dread and statistical inferences about mortality risks, and (c) a positive relationship between affective responses and impact judgments when evaluating catastrophes. Results For all 3 tasks, usage of the affect heuristic was documented at the group and the individual levels. Contrary to hypotheses, age was not associated with affect heuristic use for any of the tasks. Affect heuristic indices did not correlate across tasks and showed no consistent associations with the covariates. Discussion Results suggest that the use of affect-based heuristics is context- or stimulus-dependent rather than a stable, age-associated trait. Further research is needed to validate the present results across additional domains, tasks, and stimulus types.

We examined cross-cultural differences in preferences for sequences of realistic stimuli. Prior research on predominantly European American (EA) samples has found that people typically show a preference for improving sequences (i.e., saving the most positive or least intense stimuli for last). Based on cultural differences in ideal affect, regulatory focus, and dialecticism, we predicted that East Asians/East Asian Americans (AA) would prefer more balanced sequences, and intersperse stimuli of different intensities. EA and AA students ( n = 170) were asked to select the order in which they wanted to experience a series of realistic stimuli (emotional pictures, aversive sounds, and physical effort) over the course of a short time interval. Compared with AAs, EAs showed a stronger preference for improving sequences and were more likely to group similar stimuli together. As hypothesized, sequence preferences were associated with affective goals, but we only found this effect among AAs and not among EAs. Regulatory focus and dialecticism were not associated with sequence preferences. Further research is required to examine the mechanisms behind cultural differences and their potential implications for time management and other real-life outcomes.

Objectives Many real-life settings require decision makers to sort a predetermined set of outcomes or activities into a preferred sequence and people vary in whether they prefer to tackle the most challenging aspects first, leave them for the last, or intersperse them with less challenging outcomes. Prior research on age differences in sequence-preferences has focused on discrete and hypothetical events. The present study expands this work by examining sequence-preferences for a realistic, continuous, sustained, and cognitively challenging task. Methods Participants (N = 121, aged 21–86) were asked to complete 10 min of a difficult cognitive task (2-back), 10 min of an easy cognitive task (1-back), and 10 min of rest over the course of a 30-min interval. They could complete the tasks in any order and switch tasks as often as they wished and they were rewarded for correct performance. Additional measures included affective and physiological responses, task accuracy, time-perspective, and demographics. Results The majority of participants constructed sequences with decreasing task difficulty. Preferences for the general trend of the sequence were not significantly related to age, but the number of switches among the tasks decreased with age, and task-switching tended to incur greater accuracy decrements among older as compared to younger adults. Discussion We address potential methodological concerns, discuss theoretical implications, and consider potential real-life applications.

Objectives: People's preferences for temporal sequences of events have implications for life-long health and well-being. Prior research suggests that other aspects of intertemporal choice vary by age, but evidence for age differences in sequence-preferences is limited and inconclusive. In response, the present research examined age differences in sequence-preferences for real outcomes administered in a controlled laboratory setting. Methods: A pilot study examined sequence-preferences for aversive electrodermal shocks in 30 younger and 30 older adults. The main study examined sequence-preferences for electrodermal shocks, physical effort, and monetary gambles in an adult life-span sample (N = 120). It also examined emotional and physiological responses to sequences as well as underlying mechanisms including time perception and emotion-regulation. Results: There were no significant age differences in sequence-preferences in either of the studies, and there were no age differences in responses to sequences in the main study. Instead, there was a domain effect with participants preferring decreasing sequences for shocks and mixed sequences for effort and money. Discussion: After considering potential methodological limitations, theoretical contributions and implications for real-life decisions are discussed.

Life-span development is inherently linked to the perception of time and associated temporal construals. Such concepts are multi-faceted in nature and have important practical implications in areas such as time management, financial planning, or medical choices. A large body of research has documented age-related limitations in global time horizons, but age differences in other aspects of temporal construal are comparatively poorly understood. The present article draws attention to developmental trajectories of self-continuity, defined as perceived associations of one’s present self with past and future selves. After considering historical roots and contemporary views on self-continuity, we turn to the life-span developmental literature and review several convergent streams of research that provide indirect evidence for age-related increases in self-continuity. We then consider a small body of recent studies which have directly assessed age differences in self-continuity and summarize our current understanding of this phenomenon including associations between explicit and implicit measures, symmetry between past and future self-continuity, and differentiation from other aspects of time perception. We conclude by highlighting open theoretical questions and considering the practical implications of an increased sense of self-continuity with advancing age.

Background Declines in health, physical, cognitive, and mental function with age suggest a lower level of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in late life; however, previous studies found that the associations were weak and varied, depending on the study designs and cohort characteristics. Methods The present study examined the paradox of aging in an East Asian context by regressing the age patterns of objective health indicators (physical, cognitive, and mental function), and subjective HRQoL (12-item Short Form, SF-12), on the independent and interactive effects of age and physical function in a cohort study of 5022 community-dwelling adults aged 55 and older in Taiwan. Results Age patterns differed across measures. The SF-12 mental health score (MCS) showed a slight positive association with age and this effect remained stable after controlling for various age-related covariates. The SF-12 physical health score (PCS), in turn, was negatively associated with age. Age differences in PCS were fully explained by age decrements in objective physical health. However, consistent with the so-called paradox of aging, the association between objective and subjective physical health weakened with age. Conclusion These findings add to prior evidence indicating that — in spite of objective health decrements — subjective HRQoL is maintained in later life among Asian Chinese. Also, these paradoxical patterns appear to vary for mental and physical components of HRQoL, and future research is needed to explore the underlying mechanism. Trial registration Healthy Aging Longitudinal Study in Taiwan (HALST) is retrospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.gov on January 24, 2016 with trial registration number NCT02677831.

This article extends socioemotional selectivity theory to online social networking by examining age differences in the size and composition of Facebook networks across a wide age range of Facebook users (18 to 93 years old) in a nationally representative sample. Findings suggest increasing selectivity of Facebook social partners with age. Compared to younger adults, friend networks of older adults are smaller but contain a greater proportion of individuals who are considered to be actual friends. Moreover, a higher proportion of actual to total Facebook friends is associated with lower levels of social isolation and loneliness across the life span.

Background/Study Context: Research suggests that mental representations of time encompass multiple distinct aspects that vary with age, but prior studies rarely assessed more than one aspect of time perception and did not systematically consider relevant covariates. This lack of integration across studies hampers theory building and limits a deeper understanding of underlying constructs. Methods: Five widely used and conceptually distinct measures of time perception (i.e., perceived life position, global future horizons, future orientation and planning, self-continuity, and the temporal extension of episodic future thought) were administered to a demographically stratified adult life-span sample. Theoretically implicated covariates, including cognition, current affect, personality, and subjective health, were also assessed. Results: Principle component analyses suggested a four-component solution. Perceived life position and global future horizons formed a single component reflecting subjective life span; the remaining measures each constituted separate components. The life span component and episodic future thought were negatively associated with age, self-continuity was positively associated with age, and future orientation did not vary by age. Among the covariates, mental and physical health showed the most pronounced associations with time perceptions, but the direction of effects varied across components. Conclusion: Findings suggest that mental representations of time encompass multiple components that show distinct age patterns and associations with covariates. Implications for theory building and practical applications are discussed.

IMPORTANCE: Chronic noncancer pain (hereafter referred to as chronic pain) is common among older adults and managed frequently with pharmacotherapies that produce suboptimal outcomes. Psychological treatments are recommended, but little information is available regarding their efficacy in older adults. OBJECTIVE: To determine the efficacy of psychological interventions in older adults with chronic pain and whether treatment effects vary by participant, intervention, and study characteristics. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, and the Cochrane Library were searched from inception to March 29, 2017. STUDY SELECTION: Analysis included studies that (1) used a randomized trial design, (2) evaluated a psychological intervention that used cognitive behavioral modalities alone or in combination with another strategy, (3) enrolled individuals with chronic pain (pain ≥3 months) with a sample mean age of 60 years or older, and (4) reported preintervention and postintervention quantitative data. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Two of the authors independently extracted data. A mixed-model meta-analysis tested the effects of treatment on outcomes. Analyses were performed to investigate the association between participant (eg, age), intervention (eg, treatment mode delivery), and study (eg, methodologic quality) characteristics with outcomes. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Pain intensity was the primary outcome; secondary outcomes included pain interference, depressive symptoms, anxiety, catastrophizing beliefs, self-efficacy for managing pain, physical function, and physical health. RESULTS: Twenty-two studies with 2608 participants (1799 [69.0%] women) were analyzed. Participants’ mean (SD) age was 71.9 (7.1) years. Differences of standardized mean differences (d(D)) at posttreatment were pain intensity (d(D) = −0.181, P = .006), pain interference (d(D) = −0.133, P = .12), depressive symptoms (d(D) = −0.128, P = .14), anxiety (d(D) = −0.205, P = .09), catastrophizing beliefs (d(D) = −0.184, P = .046), self-efficacy (d(D) = 0.193, P = .02), physical function (d(D) = 0.006, P = .96), and physical health (d(D) = 0.160, P = .24). There was evidence of effects persisting beyond the posttreatment assessment only for pain (d(D) = −0.251, P = .002). In moderator analyses, only mode of therapy (group vs individual) demonstrated a consistent effect in favor of group-based therapy. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Psychological interventions for the treatment of chronic pain in older adults have small benefits, including reducing pain and catastrophizing beliefs and improving pain self-efficacy for managing pain. These results were strongest when delivered using group-based approaches. Research is needed to develop and test strategies that enhance the efficacy of psychological approaches and sustainability of treatment effects among older adults with chronic pain.

The impending retirement of large population cohorts creates a pressing need for practical interventions to optimize outcomes at the individual and societal level. This necessitates comprehensive theoretical models that acknowledge the multi-layered nature of the retirement process and shed light on the dynamic mechanisms that drive longitudinal patterns of adjustment. The present commentary highlights ways in which contemporary life-span developmental frameworks can inform retirement research, drawing on the specific examples of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model, Baltes and Baltes Selective Optimization with Compensation Framework, Schulz and Heckhausen’s Motivational Theory of Life-Span Development, and Carstensen’s Socioemotional Selectivity Theory. Ultimately, a life-span developmental perspective on retirement offers not only new interpretations of known phenomena but may also help to identify novel directions for future research as well as promising pathways for interventions.

Age differences in decision-making are of theoretical interest and have important practical implications, but relevant lines of work are distributed across multiple disciplines and often lack integration. The present review proposes an overarching conceptual framework with the aim of connecting disjointed aspects of this field of research. The framework builds on process models of decision-making and specifies potential mechanisms behind age effects as well as relevant moderators including task characteristics and contextual factors. After summarizing the extant literature for each aspect of the framework, compensatory mechanisms and ecological fit between different components of the model are considered. Implications for real-life decision-making, remaining research gaps, and directions for future research are discussed.

Previous research has found age differences in intertemporal choices that involve trade-offs among events or outcomes that occur at different points in time, but these findings were mostly limited to hypothetical financial and consumer choices. We examined whether age effects extend to unpleasant physical experiences that elicit states of dread which lead participants to speed up the outcomes just to get them over with. We asked participants of different ages to choose among electrical shocks that varied in timing and intensity. We also assessed affective responses as a potential mechanism behind age effects and considered other potential covariates. In Study 1, the choice task involved real outcomes and the sample consisted of younger and older adults. In Study 2, the choice task was hypothetical and the sample was an adult life span sample. Across both studies, there was no evidence of age differences in the preferred timing of shocks. Instead, dread-sensitive choices were associated with higher conscientiousness. Age effects in dread-sensitive choices remained nonsignificant even after controlling for a range of age-associated covariates. We discuss possible explanations for the lack of age effects and consider implications for applied and clinical settings. (PsycINFO Database Record

Attitudes towards aging are often negative, a phenomenon known as ageism. However, personal contact with older adults and intergenerational exchange in the context of close families may mitigate such negative tendencies. So far, these effects have been studied in Western and industrialized contexts. The present study extended this work to the Cook Islands archipelago, a group of islands in the South Pacific characterized by low levels of industrialization and relative isolation from foreign influences. We tested the hypothesis that attitudes toward aging in the Cook Islands would be more positive than in the world at large, and that, within the archipelago, attitudes towards aging would be more positive in smaller, less industrialized communities with closer family ties. Participants (n = 70), were recruited from three islands varying in community size and strength of the family ties among inhabitants. They rated their aging attitudes on four dimensions. Contrary to our hypotheses, attitudes in the Cook Islands did not differ from those reported in industrialized nations and did not vary significantly across islands, even after controlling for personal contact to older adults. Potential limitations and implications for future research are discussed.

New multi-modal annotation tools hold the promise of bringing the benefits of face-to-face contact to remote, asynchronous interactions. One such system, RichReview++, incorporates new techniques to improve access to the embedded multimedia commentary and allows users to annotate with new modalities, like deictic gestures. We conducted a series of field deployments of RichReview++ to characterize how these features benefit students using them for activities in the university classroom. Our first deployment investigated the use of multi-modal annotations as a way for instructors to provide feedback on student term papers. Our second deployment used annotations to support peer discussion about assigned readings in a graduate-level course. We found that presenting voice comments as interactive waveforms seems to facilitate students' consumption of the instructor's voice comments. We also found that gestural annotations clarify voice and give annotators a quick and lightweight way to alter the scope of their voice comments. Based on these results, we suggest ways to best leverage multi-modal annotation tools in education environments.

Compared to younger adults, older adults seek less information before making a decision, prefer to choose among fewer options, and focus selectively on emotionally salient and personally relevant material. Older adults also use less systematic and more experience-based decision strategies and are more likely to avoid and delegate choices. Age differences in decision-making are likely influenced by cognition, emotion, goal priorities, cohort effects, and societal views of aging. However, the relative contribution of these variables may vary across decision contexts and is subject to future research. Importantly, the observed age differences do not necessarily affect objective decision quality. In fact, subjective decision satisfaction is often higher among older adults than among younger adults. Decision-making capabilities and preferences vary widely among older adults. Thus, while practitioners need to be familiar with typical age patterns, they should aim to address the resources and preferences of individual older patients. In general, older adults are likely to benefit from a calm distraction-free environment, an absence of time pressure, opportunities to leverage prior experiences, and the use of written material to reduce memory load and avoid biased recall of novel information.

Well-being development at the end of life is often characterized by steep deteriorations, but individual differences in these terminal declines are substantial and not yet well understood. This study moved beyond typical consideration of health predictors and explored the role of social orientation and engagement. To do so, we used social variables at the behavioral level (self-ratings of social participation) and the motivational level (valuing social and family goals), assessed 2 to 4 years before death. We applied single- and multiphase growth models to up to 27-year annual longitudinal data from 2,910 now deceased participants of the nation-wide German Socio-Economic Panel Study (Mage at death = 74 years; SD = 14; 48% women). Results revealed that leading a socially active life and prioritizing social goals in late life were independently associated with higher late-life well-being, less pronounced late-life decline, and a later onset of terminal decline. Significant interaction effects suggested that the combination of (reduced) social participation and (lowered) social goals magnifies the effects of each other. Findings also indicated that less decline in social participation was associated with less severe rates and a later onset of well-being decline. We found little evidence that valuing family goals is associated with late-life trajectories of well-being. Associations were independent of key correlates of well-being and mortality, including age at death, gender, education, disability, hospital stays, and goals in other life domains. We discuss possible pathways by which maintaining social orientation into late life may help mitigate terminal decline in well-being. This article may not exactly replicate the authoritative document published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record which can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pag0000072

Although perceived continuity with one's future self has attracted increasing research interest, age differences in this phenomenon remain poorly understood. The present study is the first to simultaneously examine past and future self-continuity across multiple temporal distances using both explicit and implicit measures and controlling for a range of theoretically implicated covariates in an adult life span sample (N = 91, aged 18-92, M = 50.15, SD = 19.20, 56% female). Perceived similarity to one's self across 6 past and 6 future time points (1 month to 10 years) was assessed with an explicit self-report measure and an implicit me/not me trait rating task. In multilevel analyses, age was significantly associated with greater implicit and explicit self-continuity, especially for more distant intervals. Further, reaction times (RTs) in the implicit task remained stable with temporal distance for older adults but decreased with temporal distance for younger adults, especially for future ratings. This points toward age differences in the underlying mechanisms of self-continuity. Multilevel models examined the role of various covariates including personality, cognition, future horizons, and subjective health and found that none of them could fully account for the observed age effects. Taken together, our findings suggest that chronological age is associated with greater self-continuity although specific mechanisms and correlates may vary by age. (PsycINFO Database Record

Purpose: The management of chronic noncancer pain (CNCP) involves trade-offs between immediate and delayed consequences of various treatments. Temporal trade-offs may be particularly salient for older adults because of age-related differences in prognosis and perceptions of future time. This study examined how perceptions of time influence the management of CNCP among patients and providers with particular emphasis on age differences. Design and Methods: Focus groups were conducted with 28 CNCP patients (5 groups), 21 physicians (4 groups), and 23 physical therapists (3 groups). Audiotapes were transcribed and analyzed using standard qualitative methods. Results: Analyses identified multiple aspects of time perceptions that are relevant to the management of CNCP: the long-term prognosis, the time horizon used for concrete treatment planning, and concerns about future side effects. Although there was some overlap, these aspects showed divergent patterns across age groups and between patients and providers. Patients and providers agreed that pain is more stable and chronic in older adults. Time horizons in treatment planning differed between patients who were present-focused and providers who were focused on longer term effects, but treatment horizons did not differ by patient age. Finally, although providers were more concerned about future side effects in older people, patients’ concerns did not differ by age. Implications: Time horizons have practical implications for the quality of the patient–provider relationship and self-management of CNCP. A better understanding of the underlying mechanisms could inform interventions to reduce age disparities in pain care.

In prior research, older adults were found to be less responsive to social slights than younger adults, but the mechanisms behind such effects have remained unclear. The present study examined age differences in susceptibility to the deleterious effects of social exclusion and investigated the explanatory role of cognitive and socioemotional variables.Forty younger adults (aged 22-39) and 40 older adults (aged 58-89) played a modified version of "Cyberball," a virtual ball-tossing game, in which they were initially included by 2 other players and progressively excluded in subsequent rounds. After each round, participants reported their emotions and needs satisfaction.Older adults were less likely than younger adults to respond to mild levels of social exclusion, but both age groups responded similarly to more pronounced exclusion. Within the older group, participants with lower cognitive functioning were less responsive to mild exclusion, but this effect did not reach significance in the younger group.Future research on age differences in responses to social exclusion should further explore the role of cognition and examine possible implications for interpersonal functioning.

We examined the influence of personality traits on mean levels and age trends in 4 single-item measures of self-rated health: general rating, comparison to age peers, comparison to past health, and expectations for future health. Community-dwelling participants (N = 1,683) completed 7,474 self-rated health assessments over a period of up to 19 years. In hierarchical linear modeling analyses, age-associated declines differed across the 4 health items. Across age groups, high Neuroticism and low Conscientiousness, low Extraversion, and low Openness were associated with worse health ratings, with notable differences across the 4 health items. Furthermore, high Neuroticism predicted steeper declines in health ratings involving temporal comparisons. We consider theoretical implications regarding the mechanisms behind associations among personality traits and self-rated health.

Theoretical models of the caregiving process (Pearlin, Mullan, Semple, & Skaff, 1990) have emphasized the influence of contextual factors and individual characteristics of the caregiver (CG) and care recipient (CR) on CG outcomes (Pinquart & Sorensen, 2007). One component that has received little attention, however, is CR personality. This is surprising given that personality has been linked to health outcomes for both the CR and the CG (Lockenhoff, Duberstein, Friedman, & Costa, 2011) and was shown to affect dyadic interactions within close relationships (Robins, Caspi, & Moffitt, 2000). This study expands upon the existing literature by exploring how five-factor personality traits of CRs may contribute to individual differences in CG mental and physical health. With regard to mental health, Monin and Schulz (2009) have proposed that, independent of illness attributes (e.g., disability), patient suffering along with CG compassion will affect CGs’ psychological morbidity. Based on this model, we expect that the effects of CR distress on CGs’ mental health are more pronounced if CRs are more likely to express their emotions. Notably, both neuroticism and extraversion are associated with greater catastrophizing and emotional expressiveness (Phillips & Gatchel, 2000). Therefore, CRs who score high on these traits may be more likely to communicate their feelings of anguish to their family members. In partial support of this notion, the single prior study investigating CR personality and CG mental health found that presurgical neuroticism among coronary artery bypass patients predicted postsurgical depression among their CGs (Ruiz, Matthews, Scheier, & Schulz, 2006). Although further research is required, these findings provide a foundation on which to argue that greater expressions of suffering, as conveyed by heightened levels of extraversion and neuroticism, may elicit greater psychological distress among CGs. Even less is known about the role of CR personality in CGs’ physical health. However, evidence from psychoneuroimmunology suggests that prolonged exposure to problematic interpersonal contexts poses challenges to endocrine and immune function, whereas supportive and less conflictual relationships promote physical wellness (Kiecolt-Glaser, Gouin, & Hantsoo, 2010). The physiological consequences of interpersonal experiences may be particularly pronounced in the close physical proximity and mutual dependence of caregiving contexts. Among the five-factor traits, agreeableness and conscientiousness are most closely linked with interpersonal processes and relationship satisfaction (White, Hendrick, & Hendrick, 2004).To date, only one study has examined the relationship between personality among cognitively intact CRs and the physical health of their CGs. Although this study did not consider the full range of CR five-factor personality, it revealed a positive association between CR conscientiousness and CG self-reported physical functioning (Roberts, Smith, Jackson, & Edmonds, 2009). Taken together, the limited research record suggests that CG physical health may be associated with CRs’ standing on agreeableness and conscientiousness. Based on these considerations, we hypothesize that high neuroticism and extraversion in CRs will confer poor emotional health in CGs because of their association with emotional disturbance and pain catastrophizing (Phillips & Gatchel, 2000). In contrast, we expect that high agreeableness and conscientiousness in CRs will promote better physical health among CGs because the prior literature links CR behavior with CG physical functioning (Pinquart & Sorensen, 2007). We expect that facet-level effects will show a similar pattern to the corresponding higher level traits. We also consider the circumplex combinations of factor pairs or personality styles (McCrae & Costa, 2010). For instance, CR styles characterized by high agreeableness (A+) and low neuroticism (N−) (i.e., “easygoing”) may be associated with better health outcomes among CGs, whereas styles characterized by high extraversion (E+) and low agreeableness (A−) (i.e., “leader”) may put CGs at risk for poor health. Given the limited research on personality styles and CG health, we do not propose specific hypotheses regarding styles. Several covariates that have been previously associated with CG health will also be explored: CG sociodemographic characteristics (i.e., age, gender, education), CG strain, and CR pain and physical impairment (Pinquart & Sorensen, 2007).

Time and time perceptions are integral to decision making because any meaningful choice is embedded in a temporal context and requires the evaluation of future preferences and outcomes. The present review examines the influence of chronological age on time perceptions and horizons and discusses implications for decision making across the life span. Time influences and interacts with decision making in multiple ways. Specifically, this review examines the following topic areas: (1) processing speed and decision time, (2) internal clocks and time estimation, (3) mental representations of future time and intertemporal choice, and (4) global time horizons. For each aspect, patterns of age differences and implications for decision strategies and quality are discussed. The conclusion proposes frameworks to integrate different lines of research and identifies promising avenues for future inquiry.

We examined age differences in temporal discounting, the tendency to devalue delayed outcomes relative to immediate ones, with particular emphasis on the role of affective responses. A life-span sample completed an incentive-compatible temporal discounting task involving both monetary gains and losses. Covariates included demographic characteristics, cognitive functioning, personality traits, affective responses, and subjective health. Advanced age was associated with a lower tendency to discount the future, but this effect reached statistical significance only for the discounting of delayed gains. An examination of covariates suggested that age effects were associated with age differences in mental health and affective responses rather than demographic or cognitive variables.

Socioemotional Selectivity Theory suggests that older adults have a stronger relative preference for positive than negative information. In information seeking contexts, this has been studied using gist information (e.g., “very good”, “poor”). According to Fuzzy-Trace Theory, older adults favor relying on gist to relying on verbatim numbers when making decisions. So far, it has not been demonstrated whether the positivity effect can be replicated for verbatim information. In the present study, 70 younger and 70 older adults reviewed positive and negative information before making a medical and a non-medical decision. Information was either expressed as verbatim numbers or gist. As theorized, healthy older adults sought more gist than verbatim information, whereas younger adults sought similar amounts of information across conditions. Contrary to expectations, positivity in review did not differ as a function of age, health status, or information type but between decision domains. Implications for decision quality will be discussed.

Older adults (OAs) are generally more risk averse than younger adults (YAs) on the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), but OAs are also less successful in avoiding explosions than YAs. The present study examines whether these age differences are primarily driven by (1) risk-taking tendencies, or (2) both risk taking and learning. We hypothesized that OAs would perform less well than YAs, particularly with regard to discrimination between balloon capacities, and that this age difference would increase with experience. 49 younger females (mean age = 29.8, SD = 5.4) and 37 older females (mean age = 62.4, SD = 5.4) completed the BART with high- and low-capacity balloons, presented in a randomized order. OAs pumped less and gained fewer points than did YAs. Supporting our hypothesis, OAs, relative to YAs, discriminated less between balloon capacities. Exploratory analyses examining the role of physiological responses in discrimination learning will be discussed.

Although biopsychosocial models of pain have recognized the role of affective responses, prior work has focused on actual affect. No research has explored ideal and avoided affect and their associations with pain experience among chronic pain patients. The present study addressed these gaps by exploring interindividual variations in affective goals, actual affect, and their associations with chronic pain coping, catastrophizing, and intensity. We tested 148 participants aged 45–94 (77% female, 80% non-Hispanic White) and assessed their baseline affective goals and pain experience. For the following week, we administered daily surveys which measured participants’ actual affect and pain experiences over the past day. As expected, actual affect was significantly associated with pain experiences. We also found that in general, smaller ideal-actual and larger avoided-actual affect discrepancies are associated with more adaptive coping and lower pain intensity. Implications for the role of affective goals in chronic pain experience and management are discussed.

We examined properties of culture-level personality traits in ratings of targets (N = 5,109) aged 12 to 17 in 24 cultures. Aggregate scores were generalizable across gender, age, and relationship groups and showed convergence with culture-level scores from previous studies of self-reports and observer ratings of adults, but they were unrelated to national character stereotypes. Trait profiles also showed cross-study agreement within most cultures, eight of which had not previously been studied. Multidimensional scaling showed that Western and non-Western cultures clustered along a dimension related to Extraversion. A culture-level factor analysis replicated earlier findings of a broad Extraversion factor, but generally resembled the factor structure found in individuals. Continued analysis of aggregate personality scores is warranted.

Research on aging has indicated that whereas deliberative cognitive processes decline with age, emotional processes are relatively spared. To examine the implications of these divergent trajectories in the context of health care choices, we investigated whether instructional manipulations emphasizing a focus on feelings or details would have differential effects on decision quality among younger and older adults. We presented 60 younger and 60 older adults with health care choices that required them to hold in mind and consider multiple pieces of information. Instructional manipulations in the emotion-focus condition asked participants to focus on their emotional reactions to the options, report their feelings about the options, and then make a choice. In the information-focus condition, participants were instructed to focus on the specific attributes, report the details about the options, and then make a choice. In a control condition, no directives were given. Manipulation checks indicated that the instructions were successful in eliciting different modes of processing. Decision quality data indicate that younger adults performed better in the information-focus than in the control condition whereas older adults performed better in the emotion-focus and control conditions than in the information-focus condition. Findings support and extend extant theorizing on aging and decision making as well as suggest that interventions to improve decision-making quality should take the age of the decision maker into account.

This study examined longitudinal personality change in response to extremely adverse life events in a sample (N = 458) drawn from the East Baltimore Epidemiologic Catchment Area study. Five-factor model personality traits were assessed twice over an average interval of 8 years. Twenty-five percent of the participants reported an extremely horrifying or frightening event within 2 years before the second personality assessment. Relative to the rest of the sample, they showed increases in neuroticism, decreases in the compliance facet of agreeableness, and decreases in openness to values. Baseline personality was unrelated to future events, but among participants who reported extreme events, lower extraversion and/or conscientiousness at baseline as well as longitudinal increases in neuroticism predicted lower mental health at follow-up.

This paper examines the influence of two interface characteristics on command selection speed: the integration of command selection with direct manipulation (merging), and two-handed operation. We compared four interaction techniques representing combinations of these characteristics (Marking Menu, Two-handed Tool Palette, Toolglass, and Control Menu). Results suggest that the one-handed techniques selected for the present study produced a speed advantage over two-handed techniques, whereas the influence of merging was task dependent. A follow-up study examining Bimanual Marking Menu suggests that the performance of two-handed techniques may be reduced due to a split in visual attention required for certain techniques. Taken together, these findings have important implications for the design of command selection mechanisms for pen-based interfaces.

This study examined the association between personality traits (as measured by the NEO-PI-R) and subjective ratings of mental and physical health (as measured by the SF-36) in two samples of older adults differing in health status (Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, BLSA, n = 393, vs. Medicare Primary and Consumer-Directed Care Demonstration, Medicare PCC, n = 648). The association between personality traits and subjective mental health did not differ significantly across samples. The association between personality and subjective physical health, however, was significantly stronger in the healthy BLSA sample than in the medically challenged Medicare PCC sample. Differences in health conditions and recent hospitalizations partially accounted for this effect. Lifespan developmental considerations and implications for the use of subjective health ratings as outcome measures in clinical studies are discussed.

Objective—To examine the association between personality traits and longevity. Methods—Using the Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey, personality traits were assessed in 2359 participants (38% women; age: 17 to 98 years, M = 50) from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA), starting in 1958. Over the duration of the study, 943 (40%) participants died, on average 18 years after their personality assessment. The association of each trait with longevity was examined by Cox regression controlling for demographic variables. Results—In preliminary analyses among the deceased, those who scored one SD above the mean on General Activity (a facet of Extraversion), Emotional Stability (low Neuroticism), or Conscientiousness lived on average two to three years longer than those scoring one SD below the mean. Survival analyses on the full sample confirmed the association of General Activity, Emotional Stability, and Conscientiousness with lower risk of death, such that every one SD increase was related to about 13%, 15%, and 27% risk reduction, respectively. The association of personality traits with longevity was largely independent from the influence of smoking and obesity. Personality predictors of longevity did not differ by sex, except for Ascendance (a facet of Extraversion). Emotional Stability was a significant predictor when the analyses were limited to deaths due to cardiovascular disease, with comparable effect sizes for General Activity and Conscientiousness. Conclusions—In a large sample of generally healthy individuals followed for almost five decades, longevity was associated with being conscientious, emotionally stable, and active.