SOCIOEMOTIONAL FUNCTIONING IN ADULTHOOD AND OLD AGE

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The aim of this competing renewal application is to continue a programmatic line of research undertaken in 1990 that seeks to understand age differences in social motivation in adulthood and old age. The behavioral phenomenon that originally prompted this investigation was the reliable age-related reduction in social contact and social interaction in old age. At that time, "concern" best described the societal and research response to the phenomenon. General consensus in the field was that observed reductions in social contact were associated with deleterious consequences for physical and mental health. Senior centers were established in virtually every American city, intervention efforts aimed at drawing out older people were undertaken, and studies aimed at documenting the nature of emotional distress in old age were in full force. Over the past ten years, however, findings from this laboratory have contributed to a small but growing literature that shows clearly that older people are not suffering emotionally from a reduction in social contact. On the contrary, emotional functioning is at least well maintained in old age, and possibly improves. Compared to their younger counterparts, older people pay greater attention to emotion in everyday life, prefer emotionally close social partners and, by self-report, regulate their emotions better. Yet, beyond these provocative findings, we know less about emotion in old age than any other time in life. Five studies of emotion are proposed. Three examine potentially complementary cognitive and biological mechanisms that may play a role in improved emotion functioning. A fourth study involves a third wave of data collection in a longitudinal sequence design based on an experience sampling of emotions in everyday life. The fifth study proposes to extend investigation of emotional preferences from social relations to consumer behavior by examining relative preferences for advertisements that are couched in emotional versus non-emotional terms. Emotion is at the core of goal directed behavior and if society is to harness the potential of the aging population, and to intervene where necessary with effective interventions, understanding what motivates older people is clearly prerequisite.