Fredda Blanchard-Fields - US grants

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There is increasing evidence that older adults display a greater sensitivity to problem solving contexts and select problem-solving and emotion regulation strategies accordingly. In this competing renewal we propose eight studies that will further document this pattern, explore underlying mechanisms, and assess the adaptive consequences. We have accumulated evidence that this age-related pattern of responding is most evident in interpersonal and emotionally-charged problems. In these situations, older adults used passive emotion regulation strategies in combination with proactive strategies, whereas young and middle-aged adults focused more on proactive strategies. We suggest that this differential pattern of everyday problem solving in older adults is adaptive and reflects growing evidence that older adults are more effective in emotion regulation. In the first study we will conduct a time-sampling analysis of naturally occurring emotional and physiological outcomes that occur in association with problem solving and emotion-regulation strategy use including the role discrete emotions and personal goals play in strategy selection. The next four studies will focus on age differences in the fit between goals and strategy use. First we will examine age differences in problem solving goals. The next three studies will relate personal goals to everyday problem solving strategies taking an idiographic approach, and two studies experimentally manipulating goal orientation (future time perspective and social versus instrumental goals) to determine if goals are an important driving mechanism behind age-related differences in problem-solving strategy use. Finally, a third set of three studies will explore the idea that older adults'penchant for emotion regulation is motivated by the increased importance of emotions and the ability to regulate them. In addition, what are benefits and costs of this goal focus? We will use converging methods to assess emotion regulation strategy use as well as psychological and physiological emotional reactivity.

DESCRIPTION (provided by investigator): Evidence suggests that older adults rely heavily on easily accessible trait-based information. However, findings to date do not indicate universal increases in social judgment biases for older adults. Plausible mechanisms for explaining attributional biases are not limited to processing capacity, but include motivational goals and cognitive style, and accessibility of beliefs and values. For example, when beliefs or rules are violated, adults of any age tend to be biased toward dispositional attributions. These effects may be heightened in older adults. However, at this point there is no definitive evidence that these variables account for such age differences. The aim of this research is to address this issue by further examining attributional biases in two contexts, the causal attribution framework and the attitude attribution paradigm. The first series of studies aims 1) to establish age differences social judgment biases in a new context assessing the correspondence bias and 2) to examine the joint influence of plausible mechanisms accounting for these age differences: general and content-specific values and beliefs, need for closure, and processing load. The next series of studies aims to further refine the previously used schematicity measure utilizing a priming method and systematically evaluating schema valence. In this way, the joint effects of social schematicity, character identification, and experientially based modes of processing on age differences in dispositional biases can be examined. This will culminate in a replication and extension of our original model of individual differences dispositional biases with more refined assessment procedures, better measures of values and beliefs, and by utilizing two assessment paradigms for assessing attributional biases. In the long run, this research will help us understand how attitudes, values, and beliefs influence one's social reasoning process. Understanding such individual differences will help to differentiate adaptive from dysfunctional cognitions in dealing with everyday problem situations, in general, and relationship situations, in particular. Furthermore, age/cohort differences in social schemas and beliefs and their relationship to causal reasoning has implications for understanding the nature of dysfunctional attributions and counseling couples of different age/cohort groups