Age differences in preferences for emotionally-meaningful versus knowledge-related appeals

Abstract

Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST), an influential life-span theory, suggests that older adults prefer persuasive messages that appeal to emotionally-meaningful goals over messages that appeal to knowledge-related goals, whereas younger adults do not show this preference. A mixed-factorial experiment was conducted to test whether older adults (≥65 years) differ from younger adults (25–45 years) in their preference for emotionally-meaningful appeals over knowledge-related appeals, when appeals are clearly developed in line with SST. For older adults we found the expected preference for emotionally-meaningful appeals for cancer centers but not for grocery stores and travel organizations. As expected, in most cases, younger adults did not show a preference. Implications for SST-based communication research and for practice are discussed.

Traditional Ecological Knowledge of the Tengger Tribe and its Influencing Factors in Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park

“…Conversely, knowledge of the plant did not differ by age (Table 2). These results are not consistent with those of previous studies (Chen et al, 2020;van Der Goot et al, 2021). This may be because living in a particular region for an extended period can be more important than age in terms of acquiring knowledge related to javanese edelweiss.…”

“…Our findings suggest that men had higher knowledge about javanese edelweiss than women (Table 2). Previous studies have shown that men have higher knowledge and experience than women with regard to interaction with nature (Chen et al, 2020;Zhang et al, 2020;van Der Goot et al, 2021). The differences in the knowledge between male and female Tengger people may be due to several reasons.…”

“…Therefore, awareness and knowledge can contribute to support, trust, and compliance with biological conservation efforts in national parks (Tuohy et al, 2022). Sociodemographic characteristics, such as age and sex, are significant predictors of knowledge, experience, and beliefs regarding nature (Chen et al, 2020;Zhang et al, 2020;van Der Goot et al, 2021). The level of education can also affect people's perception of nature and species (Hicks & Cinner, 2014).…”

Redemptive processing of impactful COVID‐19 experiences predicts well‐being among older but not younger adults

“…Another potential explanation is that the association between exploratory processing and well-being in younger adults may be less robust than that between redemptive processing and well-being in older adults. For example, while van der Goot et al (2021) found older adults to prefer emotionally meaningful appeals over knowledge-based appeals, they found younger adults to have no preference.…”

“…For example, while van der Goot et al. (2021) found older adults to prefer emotionally meaningful appeals over knowledge‐based appeals, they found younger adults to have no preference.…”