Age Differences In Positive Emotions

Sarah Collett*, Alexandria Ebert*, and Julie Patrick

Healthy Aging Lab, Department of Psychology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 26506

Presentation Category: Behavioral & Social Sciences (Poster Presentation #85)

Student’s Major: Psychology

Socioemotional Selectivity Theory (SST; Carstensen et al., 1999) includes a focus on age differences in emotionally-meaningful goals and experiences. In this study, we examined emotional reactions to YouTube videos in 130 adults (M age = 53.3 yr; SD = 15.2; range 25 – 78 yr). To test for statistically significant differences, ANOVAs were used to examine age differences in the experience of affective reactions (e.g., awe, annoyance, happiness) and positive affect in response to watching each video. Consistent with Socioemotional Selectivity Theory, a main effect for age emerged for both awe-inspiring and happiness-inspiring videos, with older adults reporting higher levels of positive emotions in both of the conditions. Moreover, age and reactions to the videos accounted for a significant variance in Negative Affect [F (5, 131) = 3.84, p < .01; R2 = .095) and Positive Affect [F (5, 136) = 15.31, p < .001; R2 = .37]. Ongoing and future work examines whether such videos can be used to alter emotional wellbeing.

Funding:

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: WVU's Research Apprenticeship Program (RAP) & accompanying HONR 297-level course