dissertation · University of Southern California Digital Library · 2014
Reacting to the negative consequences of your decisions: an ATSS comparison of cognitive and affective reactions in older versus younger adults
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Abstract
Research on age differences in attention to and memory of emotional stimuli has shown that compared to younger adults, older adults focus relatively more on positive and relatively less on negative stimuli. We employed the Articulated Thoughts in Simulated Situations think?aloud paradigm to determine whether this positivity effect in older adults extends to the way they respond to the negative consequences of decisions. Younger and older adult participants were asked to imagine themselves in a hypothetical airport scenario. One condition required them to choose between their existing flight and an alternative flight heading to the same destination. An unpleasant situation related to their choice unfolds resulting in a delayed flight. The control condition engaged participants in the same scenario without the choice point. Younger adults in our study were found to express more regret, guilt, anger at others, anger at themselves, anxiety, and sadness compared to older adults when reacting to the same situations. Participants in the choice condition were found to express more regret, guilt, and anger at the self compared to those in the control condition. Furthermore, an age by condition interaction was found for expressions of coping language (problem?focused and emotion?focused) which revealed older adults? flexibility in their use of coping strategies depending on the type of situation. These findings support prior research and provide evidence for a positivity effect in older adults in reaction to negative decision outcomes. The ATSS think?aloud procedure allowed us to examine in ways not available with more conventional methods the immediate self?reported thoughts and feelings of subjects to experimenter?controlled social situations including a control context.
Cite this paper
Feng, M. C. (2014). Reacting to the negative consequences of your decisions: an ATSS comparison of cognitive and affective reactions in older versus younger adults. University of Southern California Digital Library. https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-420328
Feng, Michelle C. “Reacting to the negative consequences of your decisions: an ATSS comparison of cognitive and affective reactions in older versus younger adults.” University of Southern California Digital Library, 2014, https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-420328.
Feng, Michelle C. 2014. “Reacting to the negative consequences of your decisions: an ATSS comparison of cognitive and affective reactions in older versus younger adults.” University of Southern California Digital Library. https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-420328.
Feng, M.C. (2014) ‘Reacting to the negative consequences of your decisions: an ATSS comparison of cognitive and affective reactions in older versus younger adults’, University of Southern California Digital Library. Available at: https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-420328.
@phdthesis{feng2014reacting,
title = {{Reacting to the negative consequences of your decisions: an ATSS comparison of cognitive and affective reactions in older versus younger adults}},
author = {Feng, Michelle C.},
school = {University of Southern California Digital Library},
year = {2014},
doi = {10.25549/usctheses-c3-420328}
}Made from the index record. Check names, capitalisation and page numbers against the paper. Need another style? AI for Research has over 10,000.