Livingstone Kimberly M, Isaacowitz Derek M
Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
Soc Psychol Personal Sci. 2015 Nov 1;6(8):904-910. doi: 10.1177/1948550615593148. Epub 2015 Jul 7.
This research investigated age differences in use and effectiveness of situation selection and situation modification for emotion regulation. Socioemotional selectivity theory suggests stronger emotional well-being goals in older age; emotion regulation may support this goal. Younger and older adults assigned to an emotion regulation or "just view" condition first freely chose to engage with negative, neutral, or positive material (situation selection), then chose to view or skip negative and positive material (situation modification), rating affect after each experience. In both tasks, older adults in both goal conditions demonstrated pro-hedonic emotion regulation, spending less time with negative material compared to younger adults. Younger adults in the regulate condition also engaged in pro-hedonic situation selection, but not modification. Whereas situation selection was related to affect, modification of negative material was not. This research supports more frequent pro-hedonic motivation in older age, as well as age differences in use of early-stage emotion regulation.
本研究调查了情境选择和情境修正对情绪调节的使用情况及有效性方面的年龄差异。社会情绪选择理论表明，老年人的情绪幸福感目标更强；情绪调节可能有助于实现这一目标。将年轻人和老年人分配到情绪调节或“仅观看”条件下，他们首先自由选择接触负面、中性或正面材料（情境选择），然后选择观看或跳过负面和正面材料（情境修正），并在每次体验后对情绪进行评分。在这两项任务中，处于两种目标条件下的老年人都表现出享乐主义的情绪调节，与年轻人相比，他们接触负面材料的时间更少。处于调节条件下的年轻人也进行了享乐主义的情境选择，但没有进行情境修正。虽然情境选择与情绪有关，但对负面材料的修正却并非如此。本研究支持了老年人更频繁的享乐主义动机，以及早期情绪调节使用方面的年龄差异。
