Paths to positivity: the relationship of age differences in appraisals of control to emotional experience
Paths to positivity: the relationship of age differences in appraisals of control to emotional experience
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DOI：
10.1080/02699931.2019.1697647
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发表时间：
2019-12-05
影响因子：
2.6
通讯作者：
Mikels, Joseph A.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Young, Nathaniel A.;Mikels, Joseph A.
有证据表明，与年轻人相比，老年人的情感幸福感更强。情绪评价理论认为，情绪体验的差异是评价差异的结果。因此，评价的年龄差异可能与情绪的年龄差异有关。为了调查这一点，本研究的重点是控制的评价。研究表明，失去控制会导致更大的负面影响。因此，老年人被预测与自我控制的评价增加和负面影响减少有关。为了研究这个想法，我们使用了一个情感模糊的场景范式。年长和年轻的参与者阅读了14个模糊的场景，把自己想象成主角。在每个场景之后，参与者对三个不同的控制维度进行评估：自我控制、他人控制和环境控制。之后，他们根据七种不同的情绪状态对自己对这些场景的感受进行了评估。结果表明，与年轻人相比，老年人评价更多的自我控制相对于其他和环境控制，也经历了较少的负面影响，在应对的情况。重要的是，在中介分析中，自我控制相对于他人控制解释了对情景的情绪反应的年龄差异。这一发现反映了考虑评价在情绪体验的年龄差异中的作用的重要性。
Evidence suggests that older adults experience greater emotional well-being compared to younger adults. Appraisal theories of emotion posit that differences in emotional experience are the result of differences in appraisal. As such, age differences in appraisal may relate to age differences in emotion. To investigate this, the present study focused on appraisals of control. Research suggests that losses of control lead to greater negative affect. Therefore, older adulthood was predicted to be associated with increased appraisal of self-control and less negative affect. To investigate this idea, we used an emotionally ambiguous scenario paradigm. Older and younger participants read fourteen ambiguous scenarios, imaging themselves as the main character. After each scenario, participants appraised the scenarios on three different control dimensions: self-, other-, and circumstantial-control. Afterward, they rated their feelings toward the scenarios on seven different emotional states. The results showed that compared to younger adults, older adults appraised more self-control relative to other- and circumstantial-control, and also experienced less negative affect in response to the scenarios. Importantly, in a mediation analysis, self-control relative to other-control explained age differences in emotional reactions toward the scenarios. This finding reflects the importance of considering the role of appraisal in age differences in emotional experience.