On the Role of Personal Goals for the Appraisal of Everyday Problems and the Employment of Problem-Solving Strategies over the Adult Lifespan

拟议研究的重点是个人目标与成人一生中日常问题解决之间的关系。尽管个人目标和日常问题解决都会影响整个生命周期的成功发展，但它们之间的相互关系却很少被研究。这项研究的目的是通过检查个人目标的发展变化是否代表了先前观察到的日常解决问题的年龄差异的潜在机制来弥合这一差距。采用多种研究方法，包括定性访谈、实验室实验和时间抽样，提出的研究旨在回答以下核心问题：首先，个人目标的发展差异是否与整个生命周期中解决问题策略使用的个体间差异有关？第二，与年轻人相比，老年人解决日常问题的经验是否会使他们的个人目标和解决问题的策略使用更加契合？最后，个人目标导向和问题解决策略使用之间的契合是否会影响解决问题的有效性和成年期的成功发展？这些问题将与亚特兰大佐治亚理工学院的Fredda Blanchard-Fields教授合作解决，他是社会认知发展和成人日常问题解决方面的权威专家。

The focus of the proposed research is on the relationship between personal goals and everyday problem-solving across the adult lifespan. Despite the fact that both personal goals and everyday problem-solving influence successful development across the lifespan, their interrelationship has been investigated infrequently. The aim of the proposed research is to bridge this gap by means of examining whether developmental changes in personal goals represent one potential mechanism underlying previously observed age-differences in everyday problem-solving. Using multiple research methodologies including qualitative interviews, laboratory experimentation, and time-sampling the proposed research aims at answering the following central questions: First, are developmental differences in personal goals linked to interindividual differences in problem-solving strategy-usage across the lifespan? Second, does increasing experience with solving everyday problems lead to a greater fit between personal goals and problem-solving strategy-usage in older adults as compared to younger adults? And finally, does the fit between personal goal-orientation and problem-solving strategy-usage affect problem-solving effectiveness and successful development across adulthood? These questions shall be addressed in collaboration with Prof. Fredda Blanchard-Fields at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta who is a leading expert on social cognitive development and everyday problem solving in adulthood.