Why Do Older Adults Display More Positive Emotion? It
Might Have to Do with What They're Looking at
Research has shown that older adults display more
positive emotions and are quicker to regulate out of negative emotional states
than younger adults. Given the declines in cognitive functioning and physical
health that tend to come with age, we might expect that age would be associated
with worse moods, not better ones.
So what explains older adults' positive mood regulation?
In a new article in the August issue of Current Directions
in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological
Science, researcher Derek Isaacowitz of Northeastern University explores
positive looking as one possible explanation: older adults may be better at
regulating emotion because they tend to direct their eyes away from negative
material or toward positive material.
Isaacowitz presents evidence indicating that, compared to
younger adults, older adults prefer positive looking patterns and they show the
most positive looking when they are in bad moods, even though this is when
younger adults show the most negative looking.
Research conducted by Isaacowitz and colleagues indicates
that there is actually a causal relationship between positive looking and mood:
for adults with good attentional abilities, positive looking patterns can help
to regulate their mood.
Although older adults prefer to focus on positive
stimuli, the research shows that they aren't necessarily missing any salient or
important information.
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