Creativity in Adulthood and Old Age: Relations to Intelligence, Sex and Mode of Testing

1985 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan-Erik Ruth ◽  
James E. Birren
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Verbal Ability ◽  
Educational Goals ◽  
Technical Creativity ◽  
Speed Of Information Processing ◽  
Age Relations ◽  
Better Than

A total of 150 well-educated subjects 46 young persons (25-35 yrs.), 54 middle-aged persons (45-55 yrs.) and 50 old persons (65-75 yrs.) participated in a study of creativity and age. Of these, 86 were men and 64 women. The results showed that there were age differences in creativity to the disadvantage of the old. A model based on the variables, reduced speed of information processing, a lower level of complexity and a decreased willingness to risk original solutions by age, are offered as explanations. Social factors such as educational goals and methods, as well as occupational and social roles, are further considered as modifiers of creative ability throughout life. The results further indicate that an informal way of testing was beneficial for all age groups. The men performed better than the women on the two creativity tests in which answers pertaining to technical creativity were generated. Age differences were also found in intelligence connected with logical reasoning, but not connected with verbal ability.

SPECIAL SECTION: Medication Instruction Design: Younger and Older Adult Schemas for Taking Medication

1996 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 556-573 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel G. Morrow ◽  
Von O. Leirer ◽  
Jill M. Andrassy ◽  
Elizabeth Decker Tanke ◽  
Elizabeth A. L. Stine-Morrow
Keyword(s):  
Age Differences ◽  
Special Section ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Verbal Ability ◽  
Instruction Set ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Environmental Support ◽  
Medication Information ◽  
Secondary Analyses

We examined whether older and younger adults share a schema for taking medication and whether instructions are better recalled when they are organized to match this schema. Experiment 1 examined age differences in schema organization. Participants sorted medication items (e.g., purpose, dose, possible side effects) according to similarity and then ordered the items to create a preferred instruction set. Cluster analysis of the sort and order data showed that younger and older adults share a schema for taking medication. Secondary regression analyses found that verbal ability (i.e., vocabulary scores) predicted individual differences in schema organization. In Experiment 2 participants recalled instructions that were either compatible with this schema in terms of grouping and order of items or were presented in nonpreferred orders. Younger participants remembered more information than did older participants, but both age groups better remembered and preferred the more schema-compatible instructions. Secondary analyses showed that recall was also positively related to verbal ability. Along with our earlier research, this study suggests that older and younger adults possess a schema for taking medication and that instructions that are compatible with this schema provide an environmental support that improves memory for medication information.

Visibility Distance of Highway Signs among Young, Middle-Aged, and Older Observers: Icons Are Better than Text

1990 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 609-619 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theresa J. Babbitt Kline ◽  
Laura M. Ghali ◽  
Donald W. Kline ◽  
Steven Brown
Keyword(s):  
Age Differences ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Considerable Variability ◽  
Middle Aged ◽  
Lighting Conditions ◽  
Visibility Distance ◽  
Highway Signs ◽  
Better Than

The visibility distances for young, middle-aged, and elderly observers of text and icon versions of four different highway signs were compared under day and dusk lighting conditions. No age differences were observed. Icon signs, however, were visible at much greater distances than were text signs for all three age groups, a difference that was more pronounced under dusk conditions. There were no age differences in the comprehension of icon signs, but there was considerable variability from one icon sign to another in the degree to which they were comprehended. Acuity was found to be a better predictor of the visibility distance of text signs in both day and dusk conditions than it was of icon signs. To the degree that they are comprehended, icon signs appear to offer drivers of all ages almost twice as much time in which to respond to them.

scholarly journals Age Differences in Age Stereotypes

GeroPsych ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clara De Paula Couto ◽  
Ronja Ostermeier ◽  
Klaus Rothermund
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young People ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Life Domains ◽  
Old People ◽  
Age Stereotypes ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Better Than

Abstract. We examined the domain-specific views of young and old people held by young (18–30 years, n = 278) and older adults (60–85 years, n = 289) in Germany, the USA, and India. Views about old and young people differed between life domains but were mostly similar across age groups and countries. Older adults in the USA and Germany – but not in India – held slightly less negative views about old people than did young people in some domains, possibly indicating a projection of better-than-expected own aging experiences of older adults into their in-group stereotypes in Western countries. The findings of our study can be explained by socialization processes, supporting mostly a developmental perspective regarding the acquisition and endorsement of age stereotypes.

scholarly journals Indicators of mental health of pre-school children in Irkutsk amid the wide introduction of information technologies

2013 ◽  
Vol 94 (6) ◽  
pp. 864-866 ◽  
Author(s):  
E A Tkachuk
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
School Children ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Mental Activity ◽  
Quality Of Information ◽  
Speed Of Information Processing ◽  
Central District ◽  
Childcare Center

Aim. To assess the mental activity of pre-school children amid the wide introduction of information technologies. Methods. 176 children aged from 5.5 to 6.5 years were observed at the institution of pre-school education of Irkutsk central district from 1998 to 2012. Two groups were formed: the first group included 101 child who attended childcare center in 1998, the second group - 76 children who attended childcare center in 2012. Age groups of pre-school children were formed according to their age (from 5 years 5 months 30 days of age to 6 years 5 months 30 days of age). The mental activity was assessed using the figure tables by V.Y. Anfilov assessing the number of made mistakes and number of lines run through. Every missed line was equal to one mistake made. The productivity coefficient Q was calculated as Q=c2/c+d, where с - the number of lines run through; d - the number of mistakes (mistakes were not standardized). Results. The parameters of productivity did not change significantly in 2012 compared to 1998. The number of lines run through at Anfilov’s test increased by 1.8 times (р 0.05) in children of the second group (examined in 2012), the number of mistakes made increased by 7.5 times (р 0.05). Among the girls of the second group, the number of lines run through increased by 1.6 times (р 0.05), the number of mistakes made increased by 6.3 times (р 0.05). The trend was clearer in boys, in whom the number of lines run through increased by 2.0 times (р 0.05), the number of mistakes made increased by 8.3 times (р 0.05). Conclusion. The speed of information processing has increased, and the quality of information processing has dropped in contemporary pre-school children. The overall productivity did not change.

scholarly journals Do Non-Decision Times Mediate the Association between Age and Intelligence across Different Content and Process Domains?

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Mischa von Krause ◽  
Veronika Lerche ◽  
Anna-Lena Schubert ◽  
Andreas Voss
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Diffusion Model ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Decision Time ◽  
Speed Of Information Processing ◽  
Content Domain ◽  
Process Domains ◽  
Different Content ◽  
Decision Times

In comparison to young adults, middle-aged and old people show lower scores in intelligence tests and slower response times in elementary cognitive tasks. Whether these well-documented findings can both be attributed to a general cognitive slow-down across the life-span has become subject to debate in the last years. The drift diffusion model can disentangle three main process components of binary decisions, namely the speed of information processing, the conservatism of the decision criterion and the non-decision time (i.e., time needed for processes such as encoding and motor response execution). All three components provide possible explanations for the association between response times and age. We present data from a broad study using 18 different response time tasks from three different content domains (figural, numeric, verbal). Our sample included people between 18 to 62 years of age, thus allowing us to study age differences across young-adulthood and mid-adulthood. Older adults generally showed longer non-decision times and more conservative decision criteria. For speed of information processing, we found a more complex pattern that differed between tasks. We estimated mediation models to investigate whether age differences in diffusion model parameters account for the negative relation between age and intelligence, across different intelligence process domains (processing capacity, memory, psychometric speed) and different intelligence content domains (figural, numeric, verbal). In most cases, age differences in intelligence were accounted for by age differences in non-decision time. Content domain-general, but not content domain-specific aspects of non-decision time were related to age. We discuss the implications of these findings on how cognitive decline and age differences in mental speed might be related.

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.

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