Summary: We assume youth explore as they prepare for careers, and older people prefer to consolidate positions. But perceptions and choices in life can change.
We know by common knowledge that the emotional, cognitive and motivational states of elders and youth are opposites.
The difference
Organizations generally recruit and retain on the age basis because they assume that human faculties only diminish with advancing years.
Old-young differences are in attention focus, in taking in and remembering informational details.
Certainly time impacts people’s motivations. But are stereotypical choices an undeniable fact of ageing – or simply stereotypical thinking?
Preparation and consolidation
Preparing, and consolidating in life and work are goals generally associated with younger and older age groups respectively.
In stages of preparation - as for a career – people seek the acquisition of knowledge. They explore and experience novelty, and gather information to broaden intellect, looking forward to the future.
In the consolidative stages, short-term results become important, as people look back on the life they have led and the careers they have built. Therein they seek the psychological wellbeing of fulfilment, and achievements.
The positivity effect
Youth finds that which is negative far more attractive, even soothing. Like they’d call destruction, art!
Older people seem to prefer positive information and emotionally satisfying.
This focus on negative stimuli in youth dissipating across adulthood to the focus on the positives in old age is called the positivity effect.
Perception
To test the age theory, researchers developed pairs of advertisements, identical except for their slogans. One slogan invited expanded horizons, and the other promised emotional rewards.
These were used on the two different age groups. Initially, both groups reacted to the slogans just as might have been predicted.
Older people responded to emotion-related slogans, and remembered products associated with them better.
And just as surely, younger people didn’t look out for emotionally closeness with social partners, but looked forward to novelty.
Changing choice
But then, researchers introduced the ‘experimental’ variable to alter scenarios.
They asked the older participants to first imagine an expanded future before choosing. The younger people were asked to imagine moving to a new geographical location.
The responses changed dramatically in result. Older people, visualizing a bright future, preferred the knowledge-based slogans. And challenged by the unknown location, the young people began to look like they were old, and chose emotionally close social partners instead!
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