Emotion, Aging, and Decision Making

描述（由申请人提供）：每天我们都在做出重要的健康决定，从我们选择吃什么到我们选择如何进行身体活动。这些决定对广泛的健康结果产生巨大影响，特别是随着年龄的增长。例如，有证据表明，随着年龄的增长，身体活动减少，如何影响老年人的健康促进决策？虽然传统的决策概念化主要集中在决策的认知和审议方面，但最近的观点强调了情感在决策中的作用，这可能在以后的生活中变得更加突出。尽管老年人在决策过程中的审慎心理过程有所下降，但他们在情感过程中表现出稳定性，并且对积极的东西比消极的东西更有偏好。这些不同的年龄相关轨迹可能会影响老年人如何做出与健康相关的决定。在健康领域，影响运动等行为的一种具体方式是通过信息框架。特别是，强调不参与行为的负面后果的损失框架信息对于涉及风险的行为特别有说服力（例如，检测 病）。相比之下，强调参与行为的好处的增益框架信息对于促进预防性行为特别有效（例如，锻炼）。拟议的研究将探讨信息框架的潜在情感和认知机制，适用于老年人和年轻人的锻炼，以及这些信息如何影响实际的身体活动。具体而言，本研究将：（1）阐明情绪和认知过程如何在处理框架健康相关信息时表现出年龄差异，（2）研究信息框架如何影响老年人的锻炼参与，坚持和维护。这些目标将首先通过两个实验室实验来实现，这些实验检查获得与失去框架信息对老年人和年轻人的情感反应、态度和行为意图的影响。此外，三项干预研究将研究这种信息框架如何影响老年人在循证健身计划方面的行为，该计划在改善健康和福祉方面取得了成功，Fit & Strong！通过追求这些目标，该项目承诺：增加我们对认知和情感过程在成年人一生中决策过程中的作用的理解;更好地为如何最好地构建某些健康信息提供指导性建议;并通过健康干预来说明信息框架在增强老年人的身体活动，健康和认知活力方面的有效性

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Every day we make important health decisions ranging from what we choose to eat to how physically active we choose to be. Such decisions have a dramatic impact on broad health outcomes, especially as we age. For instance, in light of evidence documenting decreased physical activity with advanced age, how can the health promotion decisions of older adults be influenced? Although traditional conceptualizations of decision making have focused heavily on the cognitive, deliberative aspects of decision making, recent perspectives have emphasized the role of emotion in decision making, which may become more prominent in later life. Although older adults experience declines in deliberative psychological processes critical to decision making, they show stability in emotional processes and also show a preference for positive over negative material. These divergent age-related trajectories may then impact how older adults make health-related decisions. In the health domain, one specific way in which behaviors such as exercise are impacted is through message framing. In particular, loss-framed messages that emphasize the negative consequences of not engaging in a behavior are particularly persuasive for behaviors involving risk (e.g., detecting an illness). In contrast, gain-framed messages that emphasize the benefits of engaging in a behavior are particularly effective for promoting preventative behaviors (e.g., exercise). The proposed research will examine the underlying affective and cognitive mechanisms of message framing as applied to exercise in older and younger adults as well as how such messages may influence actual physical activity. Specifically, this research will: (1) explicate how emotional ad cognitive processes underlie age differences in the processing of framed health-related messages, and (2) examine how message framing impacts the exercise engagement, adherence, and maintenance of older adults. These aims will be met first through two laboratory experiments that examine the effects of gain- versus loss-framed messages on the affective reactions, attitudes, and behavioral intentions of older and younger adults. In addition, three intervention studies will examine how such message framing impacts the behavior of older adults with respect to an evidence-based fitness program with documented success in improving health and wellbeing, Fit & Strong!. By pursuing these aims, this project promises: to increase our understanding of the role of cognitive and emotional processes in decision making across the adult life span; to better inform prescriptive recommendations for how to best frame certain health messages; and to illustrate the effectiveness of message framing on enhancing the physical activity, health, and cognitive vitality of older adults through a health intervention