Emotion, Aging, and Decision Making

描述（由申请人提供）：每天我们都要做出重要的健康决定，从我们选择吃什么到我们选择如何锻炼身体。这些决定对广泛的健康结果产生巨大影响，尤其是随着年龄的增长。例如，鉴于有证据表明老年人的身体活动减少，老年人的健康促进决定如何受到影响？虽然传统的决策概念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。尽管老年人对决策至关重要的审慎心理过程有所下降，但他们在情绪过程中表现出稳定性，并表现出对积极而非消极材料的偏好。这些与年龄相关的不同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，强调不参与某种行为的负面后果的“丢失框架”信息，对于涉及风险的行为（例如，发现一个错误）尤其具有说服力

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