Interdependent self-construal moderates the age-related negativity reduction effect in memory and visual attention.

2010/06/01 by Helene H. Fung, Derek M. Isaacowitz, Alice Yanhong Lu +1 · 2 citations
Psychology · #Cultural Differences and Values #Aging and Gerontology Research #Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion #Psychology #Negativity effect #Interdependence #Negative information #Developmental psychology #Association (psychology) #Cognitive psychology

paper · doi:10.1037/a0019079

openalex publication_date 2010/06/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/26

Abstract

There is some debate concerning whether people selectively attend to and remember less negative relative to positive or neutral information with age. We argue that such an age-related negativity reduction effect may be attenuated among individuals who are more interdependent, as they are likely to perceive negative information as equally useful and important as positive information. In 2 studies, we tested this hypothesis by examining memory for (Study 1) and visual attention to (Study 2) emotional (positive vs. negative) stimuli among younger, middle-aged, and older Chinese participants. Findings revealed that the age-related negativity reduction effect was found to a lesser extent among older Chinese individuals who were more interdependent than among those who were less interdependent.

Citations

• “Mini-mental state”
• Age-related positivity enhancement is not universal: Older Chinese look away from positive stimuli.
• The self and social behavior in differing cultural contexts.
• Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation.
• The CES-D Scale

Cited by

• A cultural perspective on emotional experiences across the life span.
• Socioemotional selectivity theory [wikipedia]