Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Lentzeallee 94, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
Dev Psychol. 2013 Feb;49(2):384-97. doi: 10.1037/a0028325. Epub 2012 Apr 30.
Two studies investigated the overpowering hypothesis as a possible explanation for the currently inconclusive empirical picture on age differences in affective responding to unpleasant events. The overpowering hypothesis predicts that age differences in affective responding are particularly evident in highly resource-demanding situations that overtax older adults' capacities. In Study 1, we used a mobile phone-based experience-sampling technology in 378 participants 14-86 years of age. Participants reported their momentary negative affect and occurrences of unpleasant events on average 54 times over 3 weeks. In Study 2, a subsample of 92 participants wore an ambulatory psycho-physiological monitoring system for 24 hr while pursuing their daily routines and additionally completed an average of 7 mobile phone-based experience-sampling reports. Affective responding was analyzed by comparing, within persons, affective states in situations without and with preceding unpleasant events. Results support the overpowering hypothesis: When dealing with complex unpleasant events that affected multiple life domains, both psychological (Study 1) and cardiovascular (Study 2) responding to unpleasant events were more pronounced the older the participants were. When dealing with circumscribed unpleasant events, however, no age differences in psychological responding were observed (Study 1), and cardiovascular responding was even less pronounced the older the participants were (Study 2). These findings are consistent with the notion of preserved affect regulation throughout adulthood, as long as the resource demands exerted by an event do not overtax the individual's capacities. We conclude that the overpowering hypothesis can bridge previously opposing positions regarding age differences in affective responding.
两项研究调查了压倒性假设，作为目前关于不愉快事件的情感反应的年龄差异的不确定经验图片的可能解释。压倒性假设预测，在高度资源需求的情况下，情感反应的年龄差异尤其明显，这些情况会使老年人的能力过度劳累。在研究 1 中，我们使用基于移动电话的体验抽样技术，对 378 名年龄在 14 至 86 岁之间的参与者进行了研究。参与者平均在 3 周内通过移动电话报告了 54 次他们的即时负面情绪和不愉快事件的发生情况。在研究 2 中，92 名参与者的子样本佩戴了 24 小时的动态心理生理监测系统，同时从事日常活动，并平均完成了 7 次基于移动电话的体验抽样报告。通过在没有和有先前不愉快事件的情况下比较个体内的情感状态，来分析情感反应。结果支持压倒性假设：当处理影响多个生活领域的复杂不愉快事件时，参与者年龄越大，对不愉快事件的心理反应（研究 1）和心血管反应（研究 2）就越明显。然而，当处理特定的不愉快事件时，在心理反应方面没有观察到年龄差异（研究 1），并且参与者年龄越大，心血管反应就越不明显（研究 2）。这些发现与在事件的资源需求不超过个体能力的情况下，整个成年期保持情感调节的观点一致。我们得出结论，压倒性假设可以弥合关于情感反应的年龄差异的先前对立观点。
