Time, health, aging and changing preferences

This paper deals with the topic of aging, health, time and preferences. In the studies conducted by Carstensen, positive correlation between supposed time remaining till the death and range of socially relevant preferences was found. Moreover, this correlation was even valid when participants were both lethally-ill and elderly people. The way of above mentioned studies were conducted and the necessity to carry out more studies is discussed.

Introduction

Laura Carstensen, Stanford University professor, has become broadly appreciated researcher on social psychology thanks to her interest in the field of aging. More precisely, she has tried to figure out which psychological mechanisms as to preferences in social domain, are aging dependent.

Time and health

Carstensen (2006) conducted series of studies based on the finding of previously carried out research which showed that socially relevant preferences are predominantly health-related. Group of lethally physically ill people were given several questions asking whether they would prefer to:

a) meet somebody who is celebrated by society (well-known actor/actress, singer, writer, etc.),

b) get to know utterly new friend, who is funny and always represents good company,

c) spend time with an old friend or family member whom they spend a lot of time in the past.

 It may be surprise for most people that lethally physically ill participants chose option C. One might suppose that there is nothing interesting about this finding, but there is a need to mention the typical option of participants from the comparable group, which comprises healthy people. They, like most of us would possibly do, chose options A or B and the last option was not chosen at all (Carstensen & Fredrickson, 1998).

What interpretation offers relevant explanation? People who feel they have just a little time ahead will probably always choose those activities, which fulfill their need for status quo, as well as implicit need for emotional saturation (Carstensen & Turk Charles, 1994). That is, people who count on spending a lot of time on the Earth typically prefer to fill up their spare time by wide range of opportunities to meet new people, have fun and learn some new things. On the contrary, people who are seriously ill and do not see such a bright future ahead of them, do not believe that there is any need to learn new things due to having no opportunity to capitalize on them. At the same time, they neglect what could be perceived as fresh or new in favor of heartwarming discussions and chances to recall old-good-times situations.

Aging

Similar research, as in the case of lethally ill people, were conducted with the participants aged about sixty to seventy years. Those people were both physically and mentally healthy, but for the last years were living their lives in nursing homes without relatives and friends who they were in touch with many years ago. Giving them the same questions pertaining social preferences, their answers were almost the same as in the case of lethally-ill people However, there appeared to be one important finding in addition to the previous conclusion. That is, if researchers asked people from nursing home to try to imagine the God would give them the present in the form of twenty years of live, which option from A, B or C would they prefer? Then, the answers were almost identically the same as in the case of young and health participants. Hence, most of them would prefer to spend time with famous person or prefer to be surrounded by people who can make fun (Fredrickson & Carstensen, 1990). When Carstensen and her colleagues came back to lethally-ill people, their change in preferences as to how and with whom to spend their time were exactly the same.

Series of studies carried out by Carstensen and her colleagues have shown that people can rapidly change their plans and intended actions on the basis of one simple, yet fatal and crucial factor. Thanks to gained results, social scientists can postulate new hypothesis as to possible directions human behavior takes when it comes to the themes of aging, illness and social preferences.

Conclusion

This paper deals with the topic of aging, health, time and preferences. In the studies conducted by Carstensen, positive correlation between supposed time remaining till the death and range of socially relevant preferences was found. Results have shown that people can rapidly change their plans and intended actions on the basis of one simple, yet fatal and crucial factor. Further studies are needed to deepen and expand current net of knowledge regarding aging and social preferences.

 

References

1. Carstensen, L. L. (2006). The influence of a sense of time on human development. Science, 312, 1913-1915.
2. Carstensen, L. L, & Fredrickson, B. L. (1998). Influence of HIV status and age on cognitive representations of others. Health Psychology, 17 (6), 494-503.
3. Carstensen, L. L., & Turk Charles, S. (1994). The salience of emotion across the adult life span. Psychology & Aging, 9 (2), 259–264.
4. Fredrickson, B. L., & Carstensen, L. L. (1990). Choosing social partners: How old age and anticipated endings make people more selective. Psychology & Aging, 5 (3), 335-347.

 Introductory picture [online] was downloaded [2014-07-14] on the WWW: http://the12.squarespace.com/scott-hoezee/2014/5/13/may-thoughts.html