Connecting in-game performance, need satisfaction, and psychological well-being: A comparison of older and younger players in World of Tanks

The need satisfaction and psychological benefits derived from gameplay are generally understudied for older video game players. This study connects the Self-Determination Theory, Motivational Theory of Life-Span Development, and Socioemotional Selectivity Theory to understand players’ in-game behaviors and their corresponding need satisfaction from a developmental perspective. Survey data from 1213 randomly sampled World of Tanks players were combined with their behavioral data to investigate how players’ behaviors and their corresponding need satisfaction differ or converge across age. Age and in-game behaviors were tested as moderators for the relationship between perceived need satisfaction and psychological well-being. The results showed that despite underperforming and having fewer in-game connections, older players reported no significant difference in their perceived competence and relatedness than younger players. Perceived competence and relatedness contributed to psychological well-being for both older and younger players, although it carried more weight for the younger. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Do You Still Trust?

Recently, data breaches, especially insider data breaches, have become increasingly common. However, there is a limited amount of research on the factors associated with the decrease in users' trust in response to these events. In this study, social role theory and socioemotional selectivity theory are applied to understand the role of age (younger and older), biological (male and female) and cultural (masculinity and femininity) gender, and the four dimensions of privacy concern-collection, secondary use, unauthorized access, and error-on initial trust and the corresponding decrease in trust associated with the three trust beliefs of ability, benevolence, and integrity. A scenario-based approach is used to focus on a case study of an insider breach. The findings also provide helpful insights into the comparative roles of trust builders (e.g., reputation and design) and trust crashers (e.g., privacy concerns) in the process of trust building and trust decrease in different demographics (e.g., older and younger, males and females) for overall trust and trusting beliefs. Theoretical, managerial, and social implications are discussed.

Socioemotional Goals and Definitions of Emotion Terms: A Qualitative Analysis Across Age

Major theories of adult development posit that knowledge about emotion might evolve across the lifespan. Socioemotional Selectivity Theory (SST) and the Strength and Vulnerability Integration (SAVI) models imply that the manner in which older (OA) and younger adults (YA) conceptualize emotions may differ in valence, arousal, reference to social partners, time perspective, and the self. Quantitative accounts of age differences in conceptualizations of emotion-terms offer mixed support for theoretical expectations, but many predictions have yet to be tested qualitatively. In this study, 90 OA and 210 YA provided narrative descriptions of 11 (5 positive, 6 negative) emotion-terms. Responses were coded on valence, reference to self/others, and arousal. O/YA used similar synonyms to define emotion-terms. As predicted, YA used high arousal language in their definitions of negative (OR = 10.29, p = 0.018) and positive terms more than OA (i.e. Happy: OR = 1.27, p<0.001); OA referenced other persons such as family and friends (pos: OR = 0.13, p<0.001; neg: OA = 0.32, p=0.002) more than YA. Contrary to predictions, OA self-referenced more often than YA in positive (OR = 0.12, p=0.001) and negative definitions (OR= 0.11, p=0.004); this may be attributed to OA providing more situational examples in their responses than YA. Somewhat consistent with SAVI and SST, OA may reference high-arousal states less when conceptualizing emotions and associate their definitions more with social partners than YA. Future research should address OA greater use of situational examples when defining emotion terms, motivational factors and emotional impact of these age differences.

Age Differences in Awe Among Young, Middle-aged, and Older Adults: Extensions of Socioemotional Selectivity Theory

Increases in motivation for the pursuit of emotionally meaningful goals and activities as people age (socioemotional selectivity theory; SST) necessitates the investigation of means in which these goals and activities can be realized. In the present study adults (N = 130) aged 25 to 78 (M = 53.32; SD = 15.181) watched awe-inducing (view of space) and happiness-inducing (comedian Robin Williams interacting with Koko the “talking gorilla”) videos and then completed measures associated with awe, affect, and well-being (measured via PGC Positive and Negative Affect Scales). Analyses of Variance (ANOVAs) were conducted to examine the effect of age (split by young, middle-aged, and older) on experiences of awe and positive affect in response to watching each video. There was a main effect of age on experiences of awe for both videos (ps < 05). Specifically, older adults experienced significantly higher levels of awe than young adults (p < .05) in response to video 1. They also experienced significantly higher levels of awe than young adults (p < .01) in response to video 2. Bivariate correlations among awe, well-being, and happiness were similar in strength and magnitude in each age group (ps < .05). Overall, consistent with Socioemotional Selectivity Theory, our findings suggest that affective reactions of awe and happiness, induced by videos, relate to well-being across age-groups. Future work should test whether the use of these awe-inducing videos can improve well-being.

COVID-Related Perceptions of the Future and Well-Being Among Older Canadian Women

Socioemotional Selectivity Theory (SST; Carstensen, 1993) posits that time horizons - or Future Time Perspective (FTP) - change with age and/or the priming of endings. Fung and Carstensen (2006) found that SARS-CoV in 2003 naturalistically primed fragility, with consequences for both FTP and well-being. The current SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic provides a similar context: During the early months of COVID-19, age and time horizon were related to greater emotional well-being for American adults (Carstensen et al., 2020); Dozois (2020) found that, for Canadian adults, anxiety and depression rose. The current study examines relationships between FTP, COVID-19 impact, and psychological well-being in older Canadian women (N = 190; Mage = 70.38). We found that COVID-19 impact and FTP were both related to well-being; additionally, COVID-19 impact moderated the relationship between FTP and well-being. The complexity of what remains or becomes increasingly important for older women during a global health crisis is discussed.

What Do Introduction to Psychology Textbooks Have to Say About Older Adults?

Introduction to Psychology is one of the most popular undergraduate courses, an entry course for psychology majors and also popular with students from other disciplines. Consequently, the content in introductory psychology textbooks has the potential to influence undergraduates’ knowledge, attitudes, and interests, including those related to aging. The purpose of this study was to analyze aging-related content in introductory psychology textbooks to understand the topics to which students are exposed in this important course. We analyzed the indices of 21 best-selling Introduction to Psychology textbooks for both advanced and intermediate audiences, published between 2018 and 2020. We extracted and aggregated 275 unique, aging-specific index terms from the textbooks and analyzed their relative frequency. We identified 61 superordinate index terms corresponding to general terms (e.g., “aging,” “death”). The indices also included 214 unique subordinate terms that were more specific (e.g., “aging, and cognition”). Across textbooks, the most frequent topics reflected negative consequences of aging (e.g., “Alzheimer disease” = appeared in 100% of textbooks, “death” in 52%). In contrast, positive aspects of aging appeared less often (e.g., “generativity” in 47%, “longevity” in 10%). Terms describing career opportunities were rare (e.g., “gerontology” in 5%, “geropsychology” in 5%), as were modern theories (e.g., “socioemotional selectivity theory” in 28%). Advocacy for comprehensive and balanced representation of aging in introductory psychology textbooks is critical for educating students and promoting interest in the field.

Purpose in Life: A Reconceptualization for Very Late Life

Across disciplines, we have long sought to understand the factors that contribute to purpose in life. Theorists have posited that having life goals, feeling productive, and remaining active are essential contributing elements to purpose in life (Crumbaugh & Maholick, 1969; Rowe & Kahn, 1997; Ryff, 1989). While these factors can undoubtedly contribute to purpose in life, they may not fully explain purpose in life for older adults in very late life (85 years old and older) who have long past and short future time horizons. In this presentation, we explore the concept of purpose in life for older adults in very late life and how current measures may not fully or accurately apply to this group. We examine the two most commonly used measures of purpose in life, the Purpose in Life Test (Crumbaugh & Maholick, 1964, 1969) and the Ryff Purpose Subscale (Ryff, 1989; Ryff & Keyes, 1995), and identify specific items that should be reconsidered for use with older adults in very late life. We then reconceptualize purpose in life for the oldest old based on several foundational theories, including Socioemotional Selectivity Theory, the Theory of Gerotranscendence, and Terror Management Theory. Stemming from this analysis, we posit that purpose in life in very life consists of three domains – the very long past, the very near future, and the transcendental post-mortem. Based upon this reconceptualization, we recommend the development of new measures of purpose of life in very late life that capture these three domains.

Age Differences in Preparedness for the Continuation of COVID-19: Important Roles of Social Support

This study examined the association between age and preparedness for the continuation of COVID-19. The moderation effects of three types of social support, namely, emotional, financial, and instrumental assistance were also tested. Using a sample of 443 adults in Dallas county which has the most confirmed cases in Texas, results of multiple linear regressions showed that compared to those aged between 18 and 64, older adults aged 65 and reported better preparedness for the continuation of COVID-19. Receiving emotional, financial, and instrumental assistance were respectively more important for older people to get better prepared than for younger adults, which is consistent with the socioemotional selectivity theory. Our findings directed attention to the strengths and resilience of older adults during COVID-19 from a life course perspective and highlighted the importance of social support and social relationship in their post-disaster recovery and ongoing preparedness.

Motivational Processes in Emotional Aging

This chapter considers the role of motivation in emotion-cognition links and how goals may relate to age differences (and similarities) in emotion regulation. Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) posits that, as their future time perspective shrinks, older adults become more motivated to prioritize their emotional well-being and exhibit “positivity effects” in attention and memory. After reviewing basic evidence on age-related positivity effects, the chapter turns to studies that have attempted to highlight the role of goals specifically in contributing to age-related positivity effects. While some studies suggest that goals are important in producing age differences in emotion-cognition links, others have not found support for clear links to goals. The chapter considers these mixed findings in the context of recent work suggesting fewer age differences in emotion regulation than might be expected, as well as presents goals other than emotion regulation that may drive age differences in cognition.

Does Social Interaction Improve Emotional Experience Across Different Relationships? A Study Using Experience Sampling in Older Chinese Adults

Social interaction is an important way that we as humans connect with others. Socioemotional selectivity theory emphasizes the importance of close relationships, and Chinese culture attaches great importance to family members. As such, this study aimed to examine the differences in the quality of interactions that older Chinese adults have with close partners (e.g., children, friends, and relatives) as well as with other partners (e.g., neighbors, colleagues, and strangers) and to examine the association between interaction quality and emotional experience across these interactions. We collected data from 213 older adults over the course of 14 days. Results indicate that (1) compared to other partners, interactions with close partners are considered to be of higher quality; (2) in interactions with children and relatives, interaction quality is positively associated with positive affect (PA) and negatively associated with negative affect (NA); in interactions with friends and neighbors, interaction quality is only associated with PA; in interactions with colleagues and strangers, interaction quality is not associated with either PA or NA. Overall, interactions with close partners were shown to be considered to be of higher quality, and that the quality of interactions with family members was closely associated with emotional experience.