Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Binzmuehlestrasse 14 (P.O. Box 11), CH–8050 Zurich, Switzerland.
Psychol Aging. 2011 Sep;26(3):695-700. doi: 10.1037/a0023281.
This study investigated age-related differences between younger (M = 25.52 years) and older (M = 70.51 years) adults in avoidance motivation and the influence of avoidance motivation on gaze preferences for happy, neutral, and angry faces. In line with the hypothesis of reduced negativity effect later in life, older adults avoided angry faces and (to a lesser degree) preferred happy faces more than younger adults did. This effect cannot be explained by age-related changes in dispositional motivation. Irrespective of age, avoidance motivation predicted gaze behavior towards emotional faces. The study demonstrates the importance of interindividual differences beyond young adulthood.
本研究调查了年轻（M=25.52 岁）和年长（M=70.51 岁）成年人在回避动机方面的年龄相关差异，以及回避动机对他们观看快乐、中性和愤怒面孔时的偏好的影响。与生命后期负性效应减弱的假设一致，年长成年人回避愤怒面孔，更喜欢快乐面孔（程度较低），而年轻成年人则不然。这种效应不能用与年龄相关的动机变化来解释。无论年龄大小，回避动机都预测了对情绪面孔的注视行为。该研究证明了个体差异在成年早期之后的重要性。
