Successful ageing Flashcards
Socioemotional Selectivity Theory
antaganden x3
Humans are uniquely able to monitor time - including lifetime - and so at both conscious and subconsious levels.
Goals are always set in temporal contexts.
Because chonological age is associated with time left in life, goals change across the life span.
Socioemotional Selectivity Theory
youths strive to…
with age, people strive to…
In youth people strive to:
- expand horizons
- acquire knowledge
- meet new people
- take chances
With age, people strive to:
- Live in the moment
- Know whats important
- Invest in sure things
- Depeen relationships
- Savor life (njuta)
Socioemotional Selectivity theory
df
two experiments
a life-span theory of motivation
“as time horizons shrink, as they typically do with age, people become increasingly selective, investing greater resources in emotionally meaningful goals and activities.”
Two types of goals that individuals are motivated to achieve. Kowledge related goals and emotions related goals (present)
emotional well-being goes up when we narrow our circle of friends and focus on meaningful connection (as older persons both intentionally and intentionally do)
how cognition may change in relation to percieved time:
“Catpture the unexplored world”
“Capture those special moments”
Presented for older and yonger persons and then asked which slogan they remembered.
also
showed negative, positive and neutral images. Youths remebered both qually but old people remebered the positives to a larger extent. It lookes like older people shift their attention toward the positive.
i studien med olika rubriker på affisherna
Predicera genom att applicera the socioemotional selectivity theory åldersrelaterade skillnader i minnesprestation i detta experiment.
a) neutral condition
b) knowledge condition
c) emotion condition
SST aims to describe how our emotional priorities shift as we age. Younger persons have a longer time horizon and are more knowledge oriented. Meanwhile older persons are more focused on hedonic pursuits “here and now” where emotional well-being is given a higher priority.
a) in the neutral condition the YA will outperform OA due to general lower memory functioning of older adults.
b) The knowledge condition would yield a higher memory performance for YA given their knowledge oriented focus.
c) The emotion condition would yield a higher performance for OA, given their focus on emotional well-being.
SST makes sense given the time horizon for younger and older persons. Younger persons pursue knowledge to make their way in the world and older people have shorter time horizons and see a greater need to live in the present.
Ytterligare bevis för SST
magic pill
Older adults when given 20 extra years chose to spend this time on meeting someone new and interesting instead of someone familiar supporting when compared to the normal condition supporting the SST.
The study have two conditions. What one would choose under normal cirumstances and when given a longevity pill
SST - emotional goals and values changes with age due to limited time horizon. Young persones more prone to explore even if that pursuit risks emotionally negative outcomes. Can be seen as adaptive given that they have their life ahead of them. This goal is operationalized in the study as meeting a new and interesting person - which would give possibility for new knowledge and experiences but less certain to result in a positive emotional state. With age, less priority is given to getting new information and experiences. Higher value is insted given to emotional well-being and avoinding negative affect. This due to the diminished time horizon. DEath is nearer and there is less incentive to aqcuire new knowledgde, so the pursuit of happiness will be given higher priority. The goal is operationalized in the study as meeting a familiar social partner - which has less chance of giving new insights but high probability of resulting in a positive emotional state.
Explain sucessful aging from a) brain maintenance and b) the cognitive/brain reserve perspective.
Brain reserve: ‘Individual differences in the brain itself allow some people to cope better than others with brain pathology’ ([33], p. 2016).
Cognitive reserve: ‘Individual differences in how people process tasks allow some to cope better than others with brain pathology’
Maintenance denotes ‘the process of preserving a condition’ [29]. That is, whereas the reserve concept seeks to explain why some individuals have intact functioning in the presence of brain pathology, the concept of maintenance focuses on the conditions that promote the preservation of neurochemical, structural and functional brain integrity in old age.
support for the brain maintenance view:
Preserved hippocampal volume - better episodic memory
Preserved whole brain white matter - less negative changes in working memory
Well preserved dopamine pathways - as fast at younger persons
Low amyloid burden - high memory performance
The story of Lars who had a stroke.
a) diskutera användingen av termen successful aging i relation till två olika modeller/teorier
b) Beskriv hur dessa relaterar till exemplen som nämns i intervjun.
a) Successful aging is about staying as healthy as possible for as long as possible and minimizing the negative effects and reducing riscfactors.
The selection, optimization theory and compensation theory (SOC-strategy)
In neuropsychological terms successful aging is about maintaining functioning (memory and physical training) and using strategies to reduce and delay aging effects. SOC - strategy to counter the reduction in functioning is a way of engaging yourself to age successfully.
-Elective Selection: Developing means or
choosing one goal out of multiple (new) goals and
options
-Loss-Based Selection: Necessary when
resources such as time, energy, and capacity are
limited
Selection: older driver chooses only easier and well-known routes
Optimization: more practice / refresh driving related knowledge
Compensation: GPS navigation system
In socioemotional terms successful aging is about maintaining emotional and social well-being. SST. Explain in relation to successful aging.
b) neuropsychologically - Lars has good protective factors and a sound setting for aging successfully from a high education, the high social engagement and active lifestyle, and in keeping abreast of news after the stroke as well as some professional associations are a good example of putting SOC to use according to his reduced physical capacity.
socioemotionally - Lars keep up his relationships and social engagement with his family and maintaing already established social relationships. By doing this Lars has adapted well according to the theory selecting more close relationships and a reduced social life.
Gains and losses across the life span. Give exemples to illustrate the interplay of gains and losses across the life span.
Life span changes/losses leads to emergence, maintenance, transformation, disengagement in specific goals. Aging involves reduction in scope of goals. Balance between gains and losses becomes less positive with aging.
Childhood: safety, dependency
Young adulthood: loss of certainty and safety, gain of opportunities
Middle age: more stable emotionally, loss of kids
Old age: death, cognitive decline, feel more positive and emotionally better.
