Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-20T00:09:09.678Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

18 - Aging and Cognitive Functioning: The Impact of Goals and Motivation

from Part III - Aging in a Socioemotional Context

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2020

By
Thomas M. Hess
Edited by
Ayanna K. Thomas  and
Angela Gutchess
Ayanna K. Thomas
Affiliation:
Tufts University, Massachusetts
Angela Gutchess
Affiliation:
Brandeis University, Massachusetts
Get access

Summary

Traditional perspectives on the study of aging and cognition have focused on what has been characterized as “cold cognition.” However, recent theoretical and empirical advances have emphasized the need to examine age differences in the factors that energize and direct cognitive activity (i.e., “hot cognition”). In the present chapter, the roles of goals and motivation are considered in terms of both explaining age differences in performance and characterizing adaptive functioning in later life. As an illustration of goal influences, three different perspectives associated with normative changes in goals across adulthood – social cognitive goals, socioemotional goals, and goal priorities – are discussed, along with their impact on cognition. The impact of aging on motivational processes associated with energizing, directing, and sustaining actions directed toward achieving goals is then considered, using selective engagement as an organizational framework.

Keywords

costs and benefitseffortfuture-time perspectivegoalsmotivationpositivityselectionoptimizationand compensation (SOC) modelselective engagement theorysocial-cognitive goalssocioemotional selectivity theory
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Cognitive Aging
A Life Course Perspective
 , pp. 332 - 349
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, C. (1991). Qualitative age differences in memory for text: A life-span developmental perspective. Psychology and Aging, 6, 323–336. doi: 10.1037/0882-7974.6.3.323CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Adams, C., Labouvie-Vief, G., Hobart, C. J., & Dorosz, M. (1990). Adult age group differences in story recall style. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 45, 17–27. doi: 10.1093/geronj/45.1. P17Google Scholar
Adams, C., Smith, M. C., Nyquist, L., & Perlmutter, M. (1997). Adult age-group differences in recall for the literal and interpretive meanings of narrative text. Journal of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 52, 187–195. doi: 10.1093/geronb/52B.4.P187Google Scholar
Adams, C., Smith, M. C., Pasupathi, M., & Vitolo, L. (2002). Social context effects on story recall in older and younger women: Does the listener make a difference? Journal of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 57, 28–40. doi: 10.1093/geronb/57.1.P28CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allard, E. S., & Isaacowitz, D. M. (2008). Are preferences in emotional processing affected by distraction? Examining the age-related positivity effect in visual fixation within a dual task paradigm. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 15, 725–743. doi: 10.1080/13825580802348562Google Scholar
Altgassen, M., Kliegel, M., Brandimonte, M., & Filippello, P. (2010). Are older adults more social than younger adults? Social importance increases older adults’ prospective memory performance. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 17, 312–328. doi: 10.1080/13825580903281308CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baltes, P. B. (1987). Theoretical propositions of life-span developmental psychology: On the dynamics between growth and decline. Developmental Psychology, 23, 611–626. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.23.5.611CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baltes, P. B. (1997). On the incomplete architecture of human ontogeny: Selection, optimization, and compensation as foundation of developmental theory. American Psychologist, 52, 366–380. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.52.4.366CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baltes, P. B., Staudinger, U. M., & Lindenberger, U. (1999). Lifespan psychology: Theory and application to intellectual functioning. Annual Review of Psychology, 50, 471–507. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.50.1.471CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barber, S. J. (2017). An examination of age-based stereotype threat about cognitive decline: Implications for stereotype-threat research and theory development. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 12, 62–90. doi: 10.1177/1745691616656345Google Scholar
Barber, S. J., & Mather, M. (2013). Stereotype threat can reduce older adults’ memory errors. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 66, 1888–1895. doi: 10.1080/17470218.2013.840656Google Scholar
Barber, S. J., & Mather, M. (2014). Stereotype threat in older adults: When and why does it occur and who is most affected? In Verhaeghen, P. & Hertzog, C. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of emotion, social cognition, and problem solving in adulthood (pp. 302–319). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Barber, S. J., Opitz, P. C., Martins, B., Sakaki, M., & Mather, M. (2016). Thinking about a limited future enhances the positivity of younger and older adults’ recall: Support for socioemotional selectivity theory. Memory and Cognition, 44, 869–882. doi: 10.3758/s13421-016-0612-0CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brandtstädter, J., & Rothermund, K. (2002). The life-course dynamics of goal pursuit and goal adjustment: A two process framework. Developmental Review, 22, 117–150. doi: 10.1006/drev.2001.0539CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carstensen, L. L., Isaacowitz, D. M., & Charles, S. T. (1999). Taking time seriously: A theory of socioemotional selectivity. American Psychologist, 54, 165–181. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.54.3.165Google Scholar
Carstensen, L. L., Mikels, J. A., & Mather, M. (2006). Aging and the intersection of cognition, motivation, and emotion. In Birren, J. E. & Schaie, K. W (Eds.), Handbook of the psychology of aging (pp. 343–362). Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Carstensen, L. L., & Turk-Charles, S. (1994). The salience of emotion across the adult life span. Psychology and Aging, 9, 259–264. doi: 10.1037/0882-7974.9.2.259Google Scholar
Cassidy, B., & Gutchess, A. (2012). Social relevance enhances memory for impressions in older adults. Memory, 20, 332–345. doi: 10.1080/09658211.2012.660956CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Czarnek, G., Kossowska, M., & Sedek, G. (2015). The influence of aging on outgroup stereotypes: The mediating role of cognitive and motivational facets of deficient flexibility. Experimental Aging Research, 41, 303–318. doi: 10.1080/0361073X.2015.1021647CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Depping, M. K., & Freund, A. M. (2013). When choice matters: Task-dependent memory effects in older adulthood. Psychology and Aging, 28, 923–936. doi: 10.1037/a0034520CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dixon, R. A., & de Frias, C. (2004). The Victoria Longitudinal Study: From characterizing cognitive aging to illustrating changes in memory compensation. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 11, 346–376. doi: 10.1080/13825580490511161Google Scholar
Dixon, R. A., & de Frias, C. M. (2007). Mild memory deficits differentially affect 6-year changes in compensatory strategy use. Psychology and Aging, 22, 632–638. doi: 10.1037/0882-7974.22.3.632Google Scholar
Ebner, N. C., Riediger, M., & Lindenberger, U. (2009). Schema reliance for developmental goals increases from early to late adulthood: Improvement for the young, loss prevention for the old. Psychology and Aging, 24, 310–323. doi: 10.1037/a0015430Google Scholar
Emery, L., & Hess, T. M. (2008). Viewing instructions impact emotional memory differently in older and young adults. Psychology and Aging, 23, 2–12. doi: 10.1037/0882-7974.23.1.2Google Scholar
English, T., & Carstensen, L. L. (2015). Does positivity operate when the stakes are high? Health status and decision making among older adults. Psychology and Aging, 30, 348–355. doi: 10.1037/a0039121Google Scholar
Ennis, G. E., Hess, T. M., & Smith, B. T. (2013). The impact of age and motivation on cognitive effort: Implications for cognitive engagement in older adulthood. Psychology and Aging, 28, 495–504. doi: 10.1037/a0031255Google Scholar
Fishbach, A., & Ferguson, M. J. (2007). The goal construct in social psychology. In Kruglanski, A. W. & Higgins, E. T. (Eds.), Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles (pp. 490–515). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Freund, A. M. (2006). Age-differential motivational consequences of optimization versus compensation focus in younger and older adults. Psychology and Aging, 21, 240–252. doi: 10.1037/0882-7974.21.2.240CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Freund, A. M., & Ebner, N. C. (2005). The aging self: Shifting from promoting gains to balancing losses. In Greve, W., Rothermund, K., & Wentura, D. (Eds.), The adaptive self: Personal continuity and intentional self-development (pp. 185–202). Ashland, OH: Hogrefe & Huber Publishers.Google Scholar
Germain, C. M., & Hess, T. M. (2007). Motivational influences on controlled processing: Moderating distractibility in older adults. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 14, 462–486. doi: 10.1080/13825580600611302CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greve, W., & Bjorklund, D. F. (2009). The Nestor effect: Extending evolutionary developmental psychology to a lifespan perspective. Developmental Review, 29, 163–179. doi: 10.1016/j.dr.2009.04.001Google Scholar
Growney, C. M., & Hess, T. M. (2019a). Affective influences on older adults’ attention to self-relevant negative information. Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 74, 642–651. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbx108Google Scholar
Growney, C. M., & Hess, T. M. (2019b). The influence of mood versus relevant self-perceptions in older adults’ interest in negative health-related information. Psychology and Aging, 34, 348–361. doi: 10.1037/pag0000333Google Scholar
Grühn, D., Sharifian, N., & Chu, Q. (2016). The limits of a limited future time perspective in explaining age differences in emotional functioning. Psychology and Aging, 31, 583–593. doi: 10.1037/pag0000060Google Scholar
Grühn, D., Smith, J., & Baltes, P. B. (2005). No aging bias favoring memory for positive material: Evidence from a heterogeneity-homogeneity list paradigm using emotionally toned words. Psychology and Aging, 20, 579–588. doi: 10.1037/0882-7974.20.4.579Google Scholar
Heckhausen, J., Wrosch, C., & Schulz, R. (2010). A motivational theory of life-span development. Psychological Review, 117, 32–60. doi: 10.1037/a0017668Google Scholar
Hess, T. M. (2014). Selective engagement of cognitive resources: Motivational influences on older adults’ cognitive functioning. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 9, 388–407. doi: 10.1177/1745691614527465Google Scholar
Hess, T. M., Auman, C., Colcombe, S. J., & Rahhal, T. A. (2003). The impact of stereotype threat on age differences in memory performance. Journal of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 58, 3–11. doi: 10.1093/geronb/58.1.P3Google Scholar
Hess, T. M., & Emery, L. (2012). Memory in context: The impact of age-related goals on performance. In Naveh-Benjamin, M. & Ohta, N. (Eds.), Memory and aging: Current issues and future directions (pp. 183–214). New York: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Hess, T. M., Emery, L., & Neupert, S. D. (2011). Longitudinal relationships between resources, motivation, and functioning. Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 67, 299–308. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbr100Google Scholar
Hess, T. M., & Ennis, G. E. (2012). Age differences in the effort and cost associated with cognitive activity. Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 67, 447–455. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbr129Google Scholar
Hess, T. M., & Ennis, G. E. (2014). Assessment of adult age differences in task engagement: The utility of systolic blood pressure. Motivation and Emotion, 38, 844–854. doi: 10.1007/s11031-014-9433-2Google Scholar
Hess, T. M., Germain, C. M., Rosenberg, D. C., Leclerc, C. M., & Hodges, E. A. (2005). Aging related selectivity and susceptibility to irrelevant affective information in the construction of attitudes. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 12, 149–174. doi: 10.1080/13825580590925170CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hess, T. M., Germain, C. M., Swaim, E. L., & Osowski, N. L. (2009). Aging and selective engagement: The moderating impact of motivation on older adults’ resource utilization. Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 64, 447–456. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbp020Google Scholar
Hess, T. M., Growney, C. M., O’Brien, E. L., Neupert, S. D., & Sherwood, A. (2018). The role of cognitive costs, attitudes about aging, and intrinsic motivation in predicting engagement in everyday activities. Psychology and Aging, 33(6), 953–964. doi: 10.1037/pag0000289CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hess, T. M., Osowski, N. L., & Leclerc, C. M. (2005). Age and experience influences on the complexity of social inferences. Psychology and Aging, 20, 447–459. doi: 10.1037/0882-7974.20.3.447CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hess, T. M., Popham, L. E., Dennis, P. A., & Emery, L. (2013). Information content moderates positivity and negativity biases in memory. Psychology and Aging, 28, 853–863. doi: 10.1037/a0031440Google Scholar
Hess, T. M., Smith, B. T., & Sharifian, N. (2016). Aging and effort expenditure: The impact of subjective perceptions of difficulty, motivation, and performance. Psychology and Aging, 31, 65–660. doi: 10.1037/pag0000127CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higgins, E. T. (1997). Beyond pleasure and pain. American Psychologist, 52, 1280–1300. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.52.12.1280Google Scholar
Hosokawa, A., & Hosokawa, T. (2006). Cross-cultural study on adult age-group differences in the recall of the literal and interpretive meanings of narrative text. Japanese Psychological Research, 48, 77–90. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-5884.2006.00308.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Isaacowitz, D. M., Toner, K., & Neupert, S. D. (2009). Use of gaze for real-time mood regulation: Effects of age and attentional focus. Psychology and Aging, 24, 989–994. doi: 10.1037/a0017706Google Scholar
Isaacowitz, D. M., Wadlinger, H. A., Goren, D., & Wilson, H. R. (2006). Selective preference in visual fixation away from negative images in old age? An eye-tracking study. Psychology and Aging, 21, 40–48. doi: 10.1037/0882-7974.21.1.40Google Scholar
Kalenzaga, S., Lamidey, V., Ergis, A., Clarys, D., & Piolino, P. (2016). The positivity bias in aging: Motivation or degradation? Emotion, 16, 602–610. doi: 10.1037/emo0000170Google Scholar
Kan, I. P., Garrison, S. L., Drummey, A. B., Emmert, B. E. Jr., & Rogers, L. L. (2018). The roles of chronological age and time perspective in memory positivity. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 25, 598–612. doi: 10.1080/13825585.2017.1356262Google Scholar
Kapucu, A., Rotello, C. M., Ready, R. E., & Seidl, K. N. (2008). Response bias in “remembering” emotional stimuli: A new perspective on age differences. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 34, 703–711. doi: 10.1037/0278-7393.34.3.703Google ScholarPubMed
Kensinger, E. A. (2008). Age differences in memory for arousing and nonarousing emotional words. Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 63, 13–18. doi: 10.1093/geronb/63.1.P13CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kensinger, E. A. (2012). Emotion-memory interactions in older adulthood. In Naveh-Benjamin, M. & Ohta, N. (Eds.), Memory and aging: Current issues and future directions (pp. 215–243). New York: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Knight, M., Seymour, T. L., Gaunt, J., Baker, C., Nesmith, K., et al. (2007). Aging and goal-directed emotional attention: Distraction reverses emotional biases. Emotion, 7, 705–714. doi: 10.1037/1528-3542.7.4.705CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kruglanski, A. W. (1996). Goals as Knowledge Structures. In Gollwitzer, P. M. and Bargh, J. A. (Eds.), The psychology of action: Linking cognition and motivation to behavior (pp. 599–618). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Labouvie-Vief, G. (1990). Modes of knowledge and the organization of development. In Commons, M. L., Armon, C., Kohlberg, L., et al. (Eds.), Adult development: Models and methods in the study of adolescent and adult thought (Vol. 2, pp. 43–62). New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Li, K. Z. H., Lindenberger, U., Freund, A. M., & Baltes, P. B. (2001). Walking while memorizing: Age-related differences in compensatory behavior. Psychological Science, 12, 230–237. doi: 10.1111/1467-9280.00341Google Scholar
Livingstone, K. M., & Isaacowitz, D. M. (2018). The roles of age and attention in general emotion regulation, reappraisal, and expressive suppression. Psychology and Aging, 33, 373–383. doi: 10.1037/pag0000240Google Scholar
Löckenhoff, C. E., & Carstensen, L. L. (2007). Aging, emotion, and health-related decision strategies: Motivational manipulations can reduce age differences. Psychology and Aging, 22, 134–146. doi: 10.1037/0882-7974.22.1.134Google Scholar
Maddox, W. T., Gorlick, M. A., & Worthy, D. A. (2016). Towards a three-factor motivation-learning framework in normal aging. In Braver, T. S. (Ed.), Motivation and cognitive control (pp. 313–338). New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.Google Scholar
Mather, M., & Knight, M. (2005). Goal-directed memory: The role of cognitive control in older adults’ emotional memory. Psychology and Aging, 20, 554–570. doi: 10.1037/0882-7974.20.4.554Google Scholar
Mergler, N., & Goldstein, M. D. (1983). Why are there old people? Senescence as biological and cultural preparedness for the transmission of information. Human Development, 26, 72–90. doi: 10.1159/000272872CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Popham, L. E., & Hess, T. M. (2015). Age differences in the underlying mechanisms of stereotype threat. Journal of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 70, 225–234. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbt093Google Scholar
Queen, T. L., & Hess, T. M. (2018). Linkages between resources, motivation, and engagement in everyday activities. Motivation Science, 4, 26–38. doi: 10.1037/mot0000061Google Scholar
Reed, A. E., Chan, L., & Mikels, J. A. (2014). Meta-analysis of the age-related positivity effect: Age differences in preferences for positive over negative information. Psychology and Aging, 29, 1–15. doi: 10.1037/a0035194Google Scholar
Richter, M., Gendolla, G. H. E., & Wright, R. A. (2016). Three decades of research on motivational intensity theory: What we have learned about effort and what we still don’t know. In Elliot, A. J. (Ed.), Advances in motivation science (pp. 149–186). San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Salthouse, T. A. (1991). Theoretical perspectives in cognitive aging. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Sands, M., Livingstone, K. M., & Isaacowitz, D. M. (2018). Characterizing age-related positivity effects in situation selection. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 42, 396–404. doi: 10.1177/0165025417723086Google Scholar
Schapkin, S. A., Freude, G., Gajewski, P. D., Wild-Wall, N., & Falkenstein, M. (2012). Effects of working memory load on performance and cardiovascular activity in younger and older workers. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 19, 359–371. doi: 10.1007/s12529-011-9181-6Google Scholar
Schmader, T., Johns, M., & Forbes, C. (2008). An integrated process model of stereotype threat effects on performance. Psychological Review, 115, 336–356. doi: 10.1037/0033-295X.115.2.336Google Scholar
Schunk, D. J., & Usher, E. L. (2012). Social cognitive theory and motivation. In Ryan, R. M. (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of human motivation (pp. 13–27). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Shamaskin, A. M., Mikels, J. A., & Reed, A. E. (2010). Getting the message across: Age differences in the positive and negative framing of health care messages. Psychology and Aging, 25, 746–751. doi: 10.1037/a0018431Google Scholar
Smith, B. T, & Hess, T. M. (2015). The impact of motivation and task difficulty on resource engagement: Differential influences on cardiovascular responses of young and older adults. Motivation Science, 1, 22–36. doi: 10.1037/mot0000012Google Scholar
Spaniol, J., Voss, A., & Grady, C. L. (2008). Aging and emotional memory: Cognitive mechanisms underlying the positivity effect. Psychology and Aging, 23, 859–872. doi: 10.1037/a0014218Google Scholar
Steptoe, A., Kunz-Ebrecht, S. R., Wright, C., & Feldman, P. J. (2005). Socioeconomic position and cardiovascular and neuroendocrine responses following cognitive challenge in old age. Biological Psychology, 69, 149–166. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2004.07.008Google Scholar
Wong, J. T., & Gallo, D. A. (2016). Stereotype threat reduces false recognition when older adults are forewarned. Memory, 24, 650–658. doi: 10.1080/09658211.2015.1036885Google Scholar
Zhang, X., Fung, H. H., Stanley, J. T., Isaacowitz, D. M., & Ho, M. Y. (2013). Perspective taking in older age revisited: A motivational perspective. Developmental Psychology, 49. 1848–1858. doi: 10.1037/a0031211Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×