Emotions I & II
Theories of emotions during later life
Affective well-being
More positive than negative affect
Research suggests that reasonably high levels of affective well-being and emotional stability are the norm rather than the exception at least until after adults reach 70 or 80 years of age.
One possible explanation, is an increasing motivation to regulate emotional states and increasing competence to do so. (Blanchard- Fields, 2007; Carstensen, 2006).
different strategies older adults use to enhance their emotional well being
Socioemotional Selectivity Theory
Lifespan theory that focuses on motivation and emotion, proposes that normative shifts in emotional goals and strategies take place across adulthood
Posits that emotional goals take primacy with the realization that time is limited (diminished temporal horizon – correlates with age)
Goals centering around emotionally meaningful activities become more important than goals related to information and knowledge acquisition
Increase in emotional saliency, greater tendency to engage in emotion regulation strategies that involve reappraisals of negative events and attentional deployment i.e. focusing attention away from negative stimuli. This helps them to disengage from negative experience quickly
When older adults successfully avoid negative emotional experiences, they experience higher levels of wellbeing than do younger adults.
Strength and Vulnerability Integration Theory (SAVI)
Theories that focus on the use and timing of emotional regulation strategies and age-related physiological vulnerabilities
3 main components
Diminished temporal horizon (SST)
Self-knowledge (SOC)
Accumulated life experiences
Accumulate life experiences
Besides the importance of “time left to live”, time lived provides an important mechanism whereby people gain and practise emotional regulation strategies to navigate problems in life
Accumulated life experiences increase emotional complexity and emotional regulation abilities
Better at predicting emotions of self and others
Factors that influence emotions in later life
Loss in social belonging
Loss of a loved one (e.g. spouse, child) that provided sense of belonging
Loneliness, especially for those who have solely relied on one social partners for their needs
Uncontrollable chronic stressors
Intense poverty, abusive family, caregiver stress and painful and deteriorating health condition
Neurological dysregulation
Cognitive deficits/impairments
Affects one’s ability to engage emotional regulation strategies
Life satisfaction
Definition
Subjective Well-being (SWB)
Global assessment of a person’s quality of life according to his chosen criteria
A measure of well-being, and refers to how satisfied participants are with their life as a whole
Affective dimensions are based on relatively transitory assessments of life quality
Cognitive dimension (life satisfaction) is based on stable, long term assessments of quality of life. (Andrews & McKennell, 1980)
Theories
Approaches
Multiple Discrepancy Theory
Social Comparison Theory
Bottom-up Approach or Domain Life Approach
Top-down Approach
Integrated Model of Bottom-up and Top-down Approach
Bottom-up variables – objective conditions, individual preferences, goals, and choices – contribute to accounts of short and long term changes in SWB
Top-down variables – personality traits and genetic effects – mainly account for stability in SWB.
Individuals compare themselves to multiple standards including other people, past conditions, aspirations, etc.
The greater the discrepancy, the lower the life satisfaction
Individuals learn and assess themselves by comparing with other people
Comparing one’s opinions and abilities to those similar others
3 steps
Acquire social information
Thinking about social information
Reacting to social comparisons
Definition
a complex state of feeling that results in physical and psychological changes that influence thought and behaviour
short-lived feeling-arousal-purposive-expressive
phenomena that helps us to adapt to the opportunities and challenges we face during important life events.
Benefits of emotions
Coping Functions:
Deal with fundamental life tasks
Social functions:
Communicate feelings to others
Influence how others interact with us
Invite and facilitate social interaction
Create, maintain and dissolve relationships
Positive emotions
Promote flexibility in thinking and problem solving
Counteract the physiological effects of negative emotions (Fredrickson & Levenson, 1998; Ong & Allaire, 2005)
Facilitate adaptive coping (Folkman & Moskowitz, 2000a, 2004)
Build enduring social resources (Fredrickson & Branigan, 2001; Keltner & Bonanno, 1997), and Enhance well-being and quality of life
Age-related changes
Negatives/Loss
Gain or Same
Positives