“Calm Down,” “Cheer Up”: How Age Influences the Way We Manage Emotion in Social Partners

2020 ◽  
pp. 016402752094668
Author(s):  
Ruth E. Jarman ◽  
Tim D. Windsor
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Social Behavior ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Cognitive Change ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Attentional Deployment ◽  
Social Partners ◽  
Emotion Regulation Strategy ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
The Way

This study examines how individuals (regulators) manage emotion in their social partners (targets) and whether the age of the regulator or the age of the target influences extrinsic emotion regulation strategy preference. An online questionnaire was used to assess extrinsic emotion regulation among 580 participants aged 18–87 years ( M = 50.04, SD = 18.13). Participants (regulators) indicated the extent to which they would be likely to use different strategies when interacting with a younger or older target who was upset. Results of multi-level modeling showed that older regulators endorsed less use of situation modification than younger regulators, but age differences in regulators’ use of other strategies were not significant. After adjustment for relationship-specific covariates, regulators endorsed less use of attentional deployment and cognitive change, for older targets than younger targets. Results are discussed in the context of lifespan perspectives on social behavior and emotion regulation.

scholarly journals Age differences in emotion regulation strategy use, variability, and flexibility: An experience sampling approach.

2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (9) ◽  
pp. 1951-1964 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lizbeth Benson ◽  
Tammy English ◽  
David E. Conroy ◽  
Aaron L. Pincus ◽  
Denis Gerstorf ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Experience Sampling ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
Emotion Regulation Strategy ◽  
Sampling Approach

scholarly journals Music-Evoked Nostalgia and Wellbeing During the United Kingdom COVID-19 Pandemic: Content, Subjective Effects, and Function

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Gibbs ◽  
Hauke Egermann
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Subjective Effects ◽  
Music Listening ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
The Past ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Emotion Regulation Strategy ◽  
And Function

Nostalgic music is defined as that which evokes feelings of nostalgia through reminders of certain periods of life, places or people. Feelings of nostalgia are said to occur during times of hardship and difficult transitionary periods, such as the first COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom in 2020. Here, the reassurance of the past might have held certainty that could sustain a sense of meaning and purpose in life and influence wellbeing. The aims of the presented study were to explore the nature of music-induced nostalgia during the lockdown, by analysing participants’ narratives conjured by the music and their emotional responses to them, and to determinethe extent that using nostalgic music listening as an emotion regulation strategy had an impact on wellbeing. Data was collected by means of an online questionnaire, which retrospectively investigated nostalgic music during the lockdown. Participants listened to a self-selected piece of music that they had listened to 3 months prior whichinduced feelings of nostalgia, reported their resulting emotion and the content of memories associated with their nostalgia, and completed a questionnaire rating their experienced effect of nostalgia in relation to their piece of music. Following this, we investigated the functions that nostalgic music tends to have in regulating emotions through means of a pre-validated scale. 570 participants (34% identified as male) were recruited (age years M = 44, SD = 16). Concurrent with existing research, the findings suggest that there are significant differences in the affective and narrative content of nostalgicmusic listening in relation to which emotion regulation strategy was used, and that employing nostalgic music listening as a form of approaching difficult emotions can have a positive impact on wellbeing.

scholarly journals Characterizing age-related positivity effects in situation selection

2017 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 396-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Molly Sands ◽  
Kimberly M. Livingstone ◽  
Derek M. Isaacowitz
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Older Age ◽  
Emotional Information ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Emotion Regulation Strategy ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Existing Data

Situation selection – choosing to enter or avoid situations based on how they will likely make you feel – is theorized to be a useful emotion regulation strategy, especially in older age. However, research on the use of situation selection for emotion regulation is limited, and the existing findings about age differences are mixed, with some studies finding age differences and others not. We investigated whether there are overall age differences in the types of emotional situations people select by conducting a “mini” meta-analysis to synthesize all existing data from a situation selection paradigm used in our laboratory. We also explored potential moderators of age differences in situation selection, including properties of the stimuli options and information available to participants. We did not find overall age differences in the emotional situations younger and older adults select, though age differences are larger in contexts in which emotional information is more relevant or highly arousing.

Video Games and Emotion Regulation

GeroPsych ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 205-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn L. Ossenfort ◽  
Derek M. Isaacowitz
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Interactive Media ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Media Usage ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Media Preferences

Abstract. Research on age differences in media usage has shown that older adults are more likely than younger adults to select positive emotional content. Research on emotional aging has examined whether older adults also seek out positivity in the everyday situations they choose, resulting so far in mixed results. We investigated the emotional choices of different age groups using video games as a more interactive type of affect-laden stimuli. Participants made multiple selections from a group of positive and negative games. Results showed that older adults selected the more positive games, but also reported feeling worse after playing them. Results supplement the literature on positivity in situation selection as well as on older adults’ interactive media preferences.

Comparable Modulation of the Late Positive Potential by Emotion Regulation in Younger and Older Adults

2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 186-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra J. E. Langeslag ◽  
Jan W. Van Strien
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Late Positive Potential ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Apparent Discrepancy ◽  
Positive Potential ◽  
Psychophysiological Responses ◽  
Psychophysiological Measures ◽  
Emotional Pictures

It has been suggested that emotion regulation improves with aging. Here, we investigated age differences in emotion regulation by studying modulation of the late positive potential (LPP) by emotion regulation instructions. The electroencephalogram of younger (18–26 years) and older (60–77 years) adults was recorded while they viewed neutral, unpleasant, and pleasant pictures and while they were instructed to increase or decrease the feelings that the emotional pictures elicited. The LPP was enhanced when participants were instructed to increase their emotions. No age differences were observed in this emotion regulation effect, suggesting that emotion regulation abilities are unaffected by aging. This contradicts studies that measured emotion regulation by self-report, yet accords with studies that measured emotion regulation by means of facial expressions or psychophysiological responses. More research is needed to resolve the apparent discrepancy between subjective self-report and objective psychophysiological measures.

Ecological validity of trait emotion regulation strategy measures.

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (8) ◽  
pp. 796-802
Author(s):  
Tierney P. McMahon ◽  
Kristin Naragon-Gainey
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Ecological Validity ◽  
Emotion Regulation Strategy
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