Pratt M W, Diessner R, Pratt A, Hunsberger B, Pancer S M
Department of Psychology, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Psychol Aging. 1996 Mar;11(1):66-73. doi: 10.1037//0882-7974.11.1.66.
In this study 27 older adults (ages 64-80) and 23 middle-aged adults (ages 35-54) were tested for moral stage, integrative complexity of social reasoning, and perspective-taking levels twice over a 4-year period. Moral reasoning stage levels did not change over time for either age group. Older adults, but not the middle-aged, showed a significant decline over time in level of moral perspective taking. Complexity of reasoning about several interpersonal social issues declined modestly in both age groups. More social-cognitive support, a higher education level, and better self-reported health were all found to be protective factors in forestalling declines in mature adults' sociocognitive reasoning, consistent with other research on cognitive measures in later life.
在本研究中，27名老年人（64 - 80岁）和23名中年人（35 - 54岁）在4年时间里接受了两次道德阶段、社会推理的整合复杂性以及观点采择水平的测试。两个年龄组的道德推理阶段水平均未随时间变化。老年人而非中年人，随着时间推移在道德观点采择水平上出现了显著下降。两个年龄组在处理几个人际社会问题时的推理复杂性均略有下降。更多的社会认知支持、更高的教育水平以及更好的自我报告健康状况，均被发现是防止成年人社会认知推理能力下降的保护因素，这与关于晚年认知测量的其他研究一致。
