Aging, Social Interdependence and Wisdom in the U.S. and Japan

描述（由申请人提供）：我们测试三个主要假设：（1）老年人比年轻人更相互依赖，（2）因此，他们在认知方面变得更加全面，（3）部分由于更全面的思考，他们在某些方面变得更聪明。我们将对20-79岁的人进行抽样调查。我们将对美国和日本的参与者进行测试，测量独立/相互依赖的社会取向，包括每个参与者的社会网络特征，感知的社会支持，以及各种间接指标，如对音调的敏感性。为了测试年龄组内更大的相互依赖性是否与更全面的思维有关，我们将评估整体认知的几个方面，包括对上下文的关注，因果归因，逻辑与辩证推理，对不确定性的认识，以及上下文相关的学习。与分析能力更强的人相比，更全面的人：更广泛地关注背景，更清楚地认识到情境在产生行为中的作用，对因果关系有更复杂的看法，在争议和评估矛盾命题时寻找中间道路，更能认识到不确定性和变化，并表现出更大的背景依赖性学习效果。我们预计，更大的年龄将被证明与美国人更全面的认知有关，随着年龄的增长，他们变得越来越相互依赖。我们预计，随着年龄的增长，日本人的相互依赖性可能会减少，因此对认知的影响会减少。我们将从美国和日本的一个中产阶级地区和一个工人阶级地区随机抽取样本。我们将测量健康、社会经济地位、晶体智力和流体智力。这些指标将用于衡量美国和日本样本的可比性，并确定它们与相互依存和整体认知与分析认知的关系。因此，这个应用程序检查了长期持有的民间信仰，随着年龄的增长，我们变得更聪明，并评估了假设，即西方人所说的“智慧”很大程度上类似于信息的整体处理。信息的整体处理是通过与其他人的相互依赖来促进的，这更是老年人的特点。这项研究将揭示社会关系如何随着年龄的变化而变化，社会关系的性质如何影响思维，以及某些类型的认知如何鼓励明智的思维。 公共卫生相关性：这项研究将揭示社会关系如何随着年龄的变化而变化，社会关系的性质如何影响思维，以及某些类型的认知如何鼓励明智的思维。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We test three main hypotheses: (1) older people are more interdependent than younger people and (2) as a consequence, they become more holistic in cognition, and (3) in part as a result of more holistic thinking, they become wiser in some respects. We will sample people aged 20-79. We will study American and Japanese participants on tests measuring independent/interdependent social orientation including characteristics of each participant's social network, perceived social support, and various indirect indicators such as sensitivity to vocal tone. To test whether greater interdependence within age groups is associated with more holistic thinking, we will assess several facets of holistic cognition including attention to context, causal attribution, logical vs. dialectic reasoning, recognition of uncertainty, and context-dependent learning. More holistic people, as compared to more analytic people: attend to context more broadly, more clearly recognize the role of situations in producing behavior and have more complex views of causality, look for the middle way in disputes and evaluation of contradictory propositions, are more cognizant of uncertainty and change, and show larger context- dependent learning effects. We anticipate that greater age will prove to be associated with more holistic cognition for Americans, who become increasingly more interdependent as they age. We anticipate that the aging effect on cognition will be less for Japanese, who probably increase less in interdependence as they age. We will draw random samples from one middle-class area and one working-class area of both the United States and Japan. We will measure health, socioeconomic status, crystallized intelligence and fluid intelligence. These measures will be used to gauge comparability of samples in the U.S. and Japan and to determine their relation to interdependence and holistic vs. analytic cognition. Thus this application examines the long-held folk belief that with age, we become wiser, and evaluates the hypothesis that much of what westerners call "wisdom" is similar to holistic processing of information. Holistic processing of information is fostered by interdependence with other people, which is more characteristic of the elderly. The research will shed light on how social relationships change with age, how the nature of social relationships influences thinking, and how certain kinds of cognition encourage wise thinking. Public Health Relevance: The research will shed light on how social relationships change with age, how the nature of social relationships influences thinking, and how certain kinds of cognition encourage wise thinking.