The COVID-19 pandemic represents a context that might influence how people experience significant life events (such as marriage, job change, or relocation). In the present research, we argue that one ...important factor of how positively or negatively the pandemic influences the experience of significant life events is how much control people perceive in the situation. An online sample of N = 882 participants aged 18-82 years reported a significant life event that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants described whether the pandemic influenced the life event, to what extent they perceived control over the life event and how they experienced the life event in terms of valence (i.e., positively or negatively). The results showed that the self-reported pandemic influence was significantly associated with the life-event experience. Furthermore, perceived control partly mediated this association. The results persisted even after controlling for the age of the participants. The present research underscores the important role of control for experiencing significant life events in challenging times such as during the pandemic.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Prosociality (i.e., voluntary thoughts and actions intended to benefit somebody else) is arguably essential for positive social relationships. The present research investigated under what conditions ...a prosocial focus has positive effects on the subjective well-being of a prosocial person. We addressed this question in an intervention study of daily social interactions. All participants (N = 295, 57.6% women, age 19-88 years) started the study with a baseline day with no intervention. Participants then underwent a video-based intervention that trained them to focus on either the well-being of others or the well-being of themselves. Participants applied the corresponding focus in social interactions on the next day. Compared with baseline, focusing on others did not significantly affect subjective well-being, whereas focusing on self significantly reduced subjective well-being (the latter effect was further moderated by age and relationship closeness). The difference between self- and other focus was moderated by age: Younger participants (<36 years) reported lower subjective well-being in the self-focus condition, whereas older adults (>68 years) showed the opposite effect (there was no difference in the middle-aged adults). Taken together, the results suggest that focusing on a social partner increases concerns about the partner's well-being but not necessarily one's own well-being. In contrast, focusing on oneself reduces concerns about the partner's well-being and-particularly for young adults-one's own well-being, rendering a strong focus on oneself a potential risk factor for young adults' well-being. Further research is needed to understand the negative effect of other- versus self-focus on older adults' well-being.
Social interactions are essential aspects of social relationships. Despite their centrality, there is a lack of a standardized approach to systematize social interactions. The present research ...developed (Study 1) and tested (Study 2) a taxonomy of social interactions. In Study 1 (5,676 descriptions of social interactions from
= 708 participants, age range 18-83 years), we combined a bottom-up approach based on the grounded theory with a top-down approach integrating existing empirical and theoretical literature to develop the taxonomy. The resulting taxonomy (APRACE) comprises the components Actor, Partner, Relation, Activities, Context, and Evaluation, each specified by features on three levels of abstraction. A social situation can be described by a combination of the components and their features on the respective abstraction level. Study 2 tested the APRACE using another dataset (
= 303, age range 18-88 years) with 1,899 descriptions of social interactions. The index scores of the six components, the frequencies of the features on the most abstract level, and their correlations were largely consistent across both studies, which supports the generalizability of the APRACE. The APRACE offers a generalizable tool for the comprehensive, parsimonious, and systematic description of social interactions and, thus, enables networked research on social interactions and application in a number of practical fields.
People who are cheerful have better social relationships. This might be the case because happy faces communicate an invitation to interact. Thus, happy faces might have a strong motivational effect ...on others. We tested this hypothesis in a set of four studies. Study 1 (
= 94) showed that approach reactions to happy faces are faster than other reactions to happy or angry faces. Study 2 (
= 99) found the same effect when comparing reactions to happy faces with reactions to disgusted faces. Supporting the notion that this effect is related to motivation, habitual social approach motivation intensified the motivational effect of happy faces (Study 3,
= 82). Finally, Study 4 (
= 40) showed that the reaction-time asymmetry does not hold for categorization tasks without approach and avoidance movements. These studies demonstrate that happy faces have a strong motivational power. They seem to activate approach reactions more strongly than angry or disgusted faces activate avoidance reactions.
In this study, we investigated endorsement of two types of prescriptive views of aging, namely active aging (e.g., prescriptions for older adults to stay fit and healthy and to maintain an active and ...productive lifestyle) and altruistic disengagement (e.g., prescriptions for older adults to behave altruistically toward the younger generation by granting young people access to positions and resources). The study comprised a large international sample of middle-aged and older adults (
= 2,900), covering the age range from 40 to 90 years. Participants rated their personal endorsement of prescriptive views of active aging and altruistic disengagement targeting older adults in general (i.e., "In my personal opinion, older adults should…"). Findings showed that endorsement was higher for prescriptions for active aging than for prescriptions for altruistic disengagement. Age groups in the sample differed regarding their endorsement of both prescriptive views of active aging and altruistic disengagement with older adults showing higher endorsement than middle-aged adults did. Prescriptive views of active aging and altruistic disengagement related positively to each other and to the superordinate social belief that older adults should not become a burden, which attests to their functional similarity. In contrast, prescriptive views of active aging and altruistic disengagement were associated with psychological adjustment in opposite ways, with endorsement of active aging (vs. altruistic disengagement) being related to better (vs. worse) adjustment outcomes such as life satisfaction and subjective health. Our findings highlight the internalization of prescriptive views of aging in older people and their implications for their development and well-being.
The use of the Experience Sampling Method (ESM), which involves repeated assessments in people's daily lives, has increased in popularity in psychology and associated disciplines in recent years. A ...rather challenging aspect of ESM is its technical implementation. In this paper, after briefly introducing the history of ESM and the main reasons for its current popularity, we outline the
experience sampling app which is currently being developed at the University of Vienna.
runs on different operating systems, specifically on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets running either iOS or Android. An internet connection is not necessary during the assessment. Compared to most other ESM apps,
allows event-based random sampling, which is very helpful when assessments need to be collected within specific situations. Currently,
is being utilized at the University of Vienna and will be made available for research groups worldwide upon request. We introduce the technical aspects of
and provide examples of analyses on ESM data collected through this app, such as examining fluctuations in constructs within individuals. Finally, we outline potential next steps in ESM research.
Loneliness can negatively impact peoples' lives. However, it is unclear whether loneliness influences, and is influenced by, people's social experience. Consistent with socio-cognitive models of ...loneliness, we hypothesised that loneliness predicts experienced social behaviour and vice versa. We tested these hypotheses in a sample of
= 245 college students (31.4% male) who participated in a two-year longitudinal survey. A subsample (
= 87, 24.1% male) also participated in a 14-day diary survey. This enabled us to test both long- and short-term associations between loneliness and social behaviour. Moreover, we investigated between-person (i.e. prolonged) and within-person (i.e. temporary) effects between loneliness and reports of social behaviour. Multilevel modelling showed that loneliness predicted individuals' reports of own and others' positive social behaviour, and reports of others' positive social behaviour predicted loneliness at the between-person level (while most of the effects at the within-person level were nonsignificant) in both the short and long term. The results suggest that people with higher levels of prolonged (but not temporary) loneliness tend to report less positive social behaviour, and people who experience others' behaviour less positively are more likely lonely. This study highlights the relation between prolonged loneliness and social behaviour.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract
Theory and research suggest that connection with nature may promote prosocial and environmentally sustainable behaviors. The first objective of the present study was to replicate this ...finding in an age-heterogeneous sample of N = 115 participants (Mage = 38, SDage = 17, age range 18-85) who reported their exposure to nature up to eight times a day for seven days. We examined the relationship between nature exposure and participants’ generativity, i.e., the extent to which they care about future generations and are politically, socially, and environmentally engaged. The second goal of the study was to show that this relationship is particularly pronounced among individuals with a shorter future time perspective that is related to remaining lifetime and associated with the choice of more emotionally significant goals that focus on generativity. We therefore hypothesized that nature experiences would be more strongly associated with generativity among adults whose future time perspective is limited. We found that people who were more exposed to nature in their daily lives also reported higher levels of generativity. This relationship was moderated by future time perspective. As hypothesized, the association was stronger among adults with a limited future time perspective. Contrary to the widely held stereotype that it is primarily younger adults who are concerned about climate and the future of humanity, we showed the opposite: People who perceived their remaining lifetime as limited were the ones for whom nature experiences were more strongly associated with concern for the environment and future generations.
To date, most explanations of adult social development within the field of psychology assume universal age-related processes. The majority of these explanations, however, stem from studies on a ...limited number of cohorts that were socialized in specific social contexts. As a consequence, the current knowledge on adult social development confounds age-related and contextual influences. We argue that it is essential to disentangle these influences to better understand adult social development. In this article, we apply the theoretical framework of developmental contextualism and provide explanations for adult social development that are firmly based on the sociohistorical context that a cohort experienced during young adulthood. This hypothesis is discussed with the example of romantic relationships. We argue that the relatively strong value that today's older adults ascribe to close social ties might be rooted in experiences of limited life-path options, existential concerns, and stressful historical events (i.e., Great Depression, World War II, postwar era) during their young-adult years. Today's young adults, conversely, are socialized in rapidly changing social structures with increasing diversity in life-path options and in relative security with regard to basic material and security needs. We explore how these experiences might shape the future social development of today's young adults with respect to relationship contexts (e.g., living arrangements, digitalization) and relationship needs (e.g., exploration, self-actualization). We conclude with theoretical and methodological recommendations for future research that will be amply equipped to systematically investigate both age-related and contextual influences that drive development in any previous, present, and forthcoming cohort.
Public Significance Statement
This article combines existing theoretical perspectives to disentangle sociohistorical and age-related effects on adult social development. We discuss how the sociohistorical contexts in which young adults have been socialized shape their social development throughout adulthood. We argue that the relatively strong value that today's older adults ascribe to close social ties are rooted in their experiences of limited life-path options, existential concerns, and stressful sociohistorical events in their young adulthood. In contrast, today's young adults in industrialized societies are socialized in rapidly changing social structures with increasing diversity in life-path options and in relative security with regard to basic material and security needs. Such modernization processes are associated with increasing variation in pathways to adult roles as well as with shifts in attitudes, needs, and norms.
Abstract
When it comes to old-age preparation, individuals may be motivated by positive outcomes they wish to approach (e.g., social connectedness) or by negative outcomes they wish to avoid (e.g., ...loneliness). We expected approach motivation to be adaptive in younger ages, when resources and possibilities for old-age preparation should be plentiful. For older adults, whose resources and time for (continued) old-age preparation are limited, the maintenance- and loss-oriented perspective of avoidance motivation may however be the more adaptive one. Using data from 2054 individuals aged 18 to 96 years and representing five cultures, we adopted a domain-specific, cross-cultural, and age-differential perspective on our research question. Results indicate that individuals tend to be both approach- and avoidance-motivated when it comes to old-age preparation and confirm the age-differential adaptivity of approach and avoidance motivation in terms of both, actual preparatory behavior and psychological well-being.
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