Age differences in interpreting ambiguous situations: the effects of content themes and depressed mood
Article
Article Title | Age differences in interpreting ambiguous situations: the effects of content themes and depressed mood |
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ERA Journal ID | 16384 |
Article Category | Article |
Authors | Juang, Christine (Author) and Knight, Bob G. (Author) |
Journal Title | Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences |
Journal of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences | |
Journal Citation | 71 (6), pp. 1024-1033 |
Number of Pages | 10 |
Year | 2016 |
Place of Publication | United States |
ISSN | 1079-5014 |
1758-5368 | |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbv037 |
Web Address (URL) | http://psychsocgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2015/07/28/geronb.gbv037.abstract |
Abstract | Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the boundary conditions of the positivity effect on appraisals of ambiguous situations across content themes and emotional states. We differentiated the processes of interpretation generation and selection to see whether older adults recognize negative aspects of ambiguous situations but tend to select positive interpretations. Method: Seventy-six younger and 67 older adults went through sad and neutral mood inductions and completed ambiguous situation tasks. Participants were asked to generate interpretations and select one as the most likely explanation for each scenario. Results: Results demonstrated that compared with younger adults, older adults selected less negative interpretations across content themes but generated fewer negative interpretations in interpersonal but not in health situations. Depressed mood led to more negative interpretations at both generation and selection for younger adults but not older adults. Conclusions: Our results showed that thematic factors had an effect on the positivity effect on interpretation generation, but regardless of content themes, older adults selected a less negative interpretation as the most likely, despite knowing alternative negative explanations. The positivity effect remained for older adults in high trait and state depressed mood. Together these findings are consistent with the pattern of older adults’ tendency to maximize emotional well-being through less negative interpretations of ambiguous situations. |
Keywords | age differences; ambiguous situations; appraisal; depressed mood; interpretation bias; thematic factors |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 320221. Psychiatry (incl. psychotherapy) |
520199. Applied and developmental psychology not elsewhere classified | |
Public Notes | Files associated with this item cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions. |
Byline Affiliations | University of Southern California, United States |
School of Psychology and Counselling | |
Institution of Origin | University of Southern Queensland |
https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q346y/age-differences-in-interpreting-ambiguous-situations-the-effects-of-content-themes-and-depressed-mood
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