Charles Susan T, Piazza Jennifer R, Mogle Jacqueline A, Urban Emily J, Sliwinski Martin J, Almeida David M
Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine.
Department of Health Science, California State University, Fullerton.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2016 Sep;71(5):798-807. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbv011. Epub 2015 Mar 8.
Older adults often appraise and remember events less negatively than younger adults. These tendencies may influence reports that rely more on nonexperiential, reconstructive processes. As such, the current study examined whether age differences may be more pronounced for reports of emotions that span across increasingly longer temporal epochs compared to reports of more proximal emotional experiences.
Participants (aged 25-74 during Burst 1) from the Midlife in the United States Survey and the National Study of Daily Experiences reported the negative affect they experienced across a month, a week, and throughout the day at two measurement bursts 10 years apart.
Across all negative affect measures, older age was related to lower levels of negative affect. The effect of age, however, varied across the three temporal epochs, such that age differences were smallest when people reported their daily negative affect and greatest when they reported their monthly negative affect.
Taking into account how emotion reports differ based on method provides a more realistic picture of emotional experience in adulthood. Findings suggest that age differences in emotional experiences vary based on whether questions ask about short versus longer time periods. Age advantages are most pronounced when people recall emotions across increasingly longer periods of time.
与年轻人相比，老年人对事件的评价和记忆往往不那么消极。这些倾向可能会影响更多依赖非经验性、重构性过程的报告。因此，本研究考察了与更近期的情绪体验报告相比，在跨越越来越长的时间跨度的情绪报告中，年龄差异是否可能更加明显。
来自美国中年调查和日常经历全国性研究的参与者（在第一次调查期间年龄为25 - 74岁）报告了他们在相隔10年的两次测量中，一个月、一周以及一整天内所经历的负面影响。
在所有负面影响测量中，年龄较大与较低水平的负面影响相关。然而，年龄的影响在三个时间跨度上有所不同，即当人们报告日常负面影响时年龄差异最小，而当他们报告月度负面影响时年龄差异最大。
考虑到情绪报告如何因方法不同而有所差异，能更真实地呈现成年期的情绪体验。研究结果表明，情绪体验中的年龄差异会因问题询问的是短时间还是长时间而有所不同。当人们回忆跨越越来越长时间的情绪时，年龄优势最为明显。
