Why Are There Old People

Mergler, Nancy L.; Goldstein, D. Yitzchak

doi:10.1159/000272872

Cited by 49 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 45 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…For example, in one study, Adams, Smith, Pasupathi, and Vitolo (2002) found that older adults were more sensitive than younger adults to the testing context and that age differences in story recall observed under standard laboratory test conditions were attenuated when participants were instructed to tell the story to a young child. This latter situation is consistent with the knowledge transmission goal that is often associated with old age (e.g., Mergler & Goldstein, 1983). …”

Section: Aging the Costs Of Cognitive Engagement And Motivationsupporting

confidence: 85%

Selective Engagement of Cognitive Resources

Hess

2014

Perspect Psychol Sci

228

124

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this article, I present a framework for understanding the impact of aging-related declines in cognitive resources on functioning. I make the assumption that aging is associated with an increase in the costs of cognitive engagement, as reflected in both the effort required to achieve a specific level of task performance and the associated depletion or fatigue effects. I further argue that these costs result in older adults being increasingly selective in the engagement of cognitive resources in response to these declines. This selectivity is reflected in (a) a reduction in the intrinsic motivation to engage in cognitively demanding activities, which, in part, accounts for general reductions in engagement in such activities, and (b) greater sensitivity to the self-related implications of a given task. Both processes are adaptive if viewed in terms of resource conservation, but the former may also be maladaptive to the extent that it results in older adults restricting participation in cognitively demanding activities that could ultimately benefit cognitive health. I review supportive research and make the general case for the importance of considering motivational factors in understanding aging effects on cognitive functioning.

show abstract

Section: Aging the Costs Of Cognitive Engagement And Motivationsupporting

confidence: 85%

Selective Engagement of Cognitive Resources

Hess

2014

Perspect Psychol Sci

228

124

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Whereas retaining a greater proportion of information processed for fitness-relevance may have been adaptive for prehistoric children and younger adults who had (or would eventually have) the capacity to reproduce (Aslan & Bäuml, 2012; Nairne et al, 2007), it may not have been as functional for the older adults who were past their reproductive prime. Instead, this group would have likely served different societal roles (e.g., preserving and transmitting knowledge, preserving social connections; Mergler & Goldstein, 1983), perhaps shifting their priorities away from fitness goals and toward a more reflective/evaluative approach (Mather, 2010). Because the scenario used in the present studies makes explicit reference to food gathering, locating shelter and other resources, and predator avoidance, it is possible that such actions are less relevant to older adults because of differences in their evolutionary roles within social groups.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of healthy aging on the mnemonic benefit of survival processing

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A number of studies have shown that information is remembered better when it is processed for its survival relevance compared to when it is processed for relevance to other, non-survival-related contexts. Here we conducted three experiments to investigate whether the survival advantage also occurs for healthy older adults. In Experiment 1, older and younger adults rated words for their relevance to a grassland survival or moving scenario and then completed an unexpected free recall test on the words. We replicated the survival advantage in two separate groups of younger adults, one of which was placed under divided-attention conditions, but we did not find a survival advantage in the older adults. We then tested two additional samples of older adults using a between- (Experiment 2) or within-subjects (Experiment 3) design, but still found no evidence of the survival advantage in this age group. These results suggest that, although survival processing is an effective encoding strategy for younger adults, it does not provide the same mnemonic benefit to healthy elders.

show abstract

“…Basic cognitive resources (such as memory span and processing speed) tend to decrease with age (Salthouse, 1996a), creating a need for a more “economic” use of available resources. Age‐related changes in Need for Closure are also implicitly predicted by goal theories that propose a shift in social‐cognitive goals from young adulthood to the more mature years (Labouvie‐Vief, 1990; Mergler & Goldstein, 1983). In younger adulthood, knowledge acquisition goals are more salient (e.g., training for a new job), and the importance of obtaining accurate knowledge and information outweighs the costs of ambiguity.…”

Section: Conservatism and Cognitive Stylementioning

confidence: 99%

Age Differences in Conservatism: Evidence on the Mediating Effects of Personality and Cognitive Style

Cornelis

Hiel

Roets

et al. 2008

Journal of Personality

147

102

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The present study investigates the commonly found age-conservatism relationship by combining insights from studies on the development of personality and motivated social cognition with findings on the relationships between these factors and conservative beliefs. Based on data collected in Belgium (N=2,373) and Poland (N=939), we found the expected linear effect of age on indicators of social-cultural conservatism in Belgium and Poland and the absence of such effects for indicators of economic-hierarchical conservatism. We further demonstrated that these effects of age on indicators of cultural conservatism in both countries were (in part) mediated through the personality factor Openness to Experience and the motivated cognition variable Need for Closure. The consistency of these findings in two countries with a very dissimilar sociopolitical history attests to the importance of the developmental perspective for the study of the relationship between age and conservatism.

show abstract

Why Are There Old People

Cited by 49 publications

References 45 publications

Selective Engagement of Cognitive Resources

Selective Engagement of Cognitive Resources

The effects of healthy aging on the mnemonic benefit of survival processing

Age Differences in Conservatism: Evidence on the Mediating Effects of Personality and Cognitive Style

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About