Suls J, Mullen B
Int J Aging Hum Dev. 1983;18(2):111-20. doi: 10.2190/33ux-54wu-avmh-082t.
With what standards do the elderly evaluate their abilities, and do these standards differ from those used earlier in the life cycle? As in other stages of the life cycle, two forms of information are important in making self-evaluations-social comparison and temporal comparison. Social comparison refers to comparisons with other persons to gauge one's relative standing, while temporal comparison refers to comparisons of one's present performance with past performances on similar tasks to gauge improvement or deterioration. This study proposes that temporal comparison standards are used more by the elderly than social comparison standards and that this represents a reversal of the tendency found earlier in life. Social, cognitive, and physical reasons for this shift in the manner in which important abilities and traits are evaluated are discussed. Relevant empirical research, which supports the hypothesis, is reviewed. Finally, we discuss how the present hypothesis has an important implication for understanding self-esteem and morale in the elderly.
老年人依据何种标准来评估自身能力，这些标准与生命周期早期所使用的标准是否不同？如同在生命周期的其他阶段一样，两种信息形式在进行自我评价时很重要——社会比较和时间比较。社会比较是指与他人进行比较以衡量自己的相对地位，而时间比较是指将自己当前的表现与过去在类似任务上的表现进行比较以衡量进步或退步。本研究提出，老年人更多地使用时间比较标准而非社会比较标准，这代表着与生命早期所发现的趋势相反。讨论了在评估重要能力和特质的方式上发生这种转变的社会、认知和生理原因。回顾了支持该假设的相关实证研究。最后，我们讨论了当前假设对于理解老年人的自尊和士气具有怎样的重要意义。
