Cherry Katie E, Brigman Susan
Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge 70803-5501, USA.
J Genet Psychol. 2005 Dec;166(4):435-50. doi: 10.3200/GNTP.166.4.435-450.
The authors examined the role of individual difference and event outcome variables in younger and older adults' memory failures appraisal. Participants read vignettes that described fictitious younger characters (in their 20s-30s) or older characters (in their 60s-70s) who had experienced a minor or severe consequence of their forgetfulness. The authors solicited attribution ratings on the potential causes of the forgetfulness and memory opinion ratings. Younger and older adults' ratings were largely similar, although age differences occurred on the effort and luck attribution scales. The consequences of the forgetting had a sizable impact on both the attribution and memory opinion ratings. Individual differences in self-reported memory had a relatively small impact on causal attribution and memory opinion ratings. These results suggested that people weigh their judgments of fictitious forgetful characters against event outcomes more so than ageist beliefs that portray a negative image of cognitive competence in later life.
作者研究了个体差异和事件结果变量在年轻人和老年人记忆失误评估中的作用。参与者阅读了描述虚构的年轻角色（20多岁至30多岁）或年长角色（60多岁至70多岁）的短文，这些角色经历了因健忘而产生的轻微或严重后果。作者征求了关于健忘潜在原因的归因评分和记忆观点评分。年轻人和老年人的评分在很大程度上相似，尽管在努力和运气归因量表上存在年龄差异。遗忘的后果对归因和记忆观点评分都有相当大的影响。自我报告记忆方面的个体差异对因果归因和记忆观点评分的影响相对较小。这些结果表明，人们在评判虚构的健忘角色时，更多地依据事件结果，而非依据那些描绘晚年认知能力负面形象的年龄歧视观念。
