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Age differences in attitude change: Influences of cognitive resources and motivation on responses to argument quantity
Abstract
This study examined the influences of cognitive resources and motivation on how young and older adults process different quantities of persuasive arguments. In the first experiment session, both young and older adults rated their attitudes toward marijuana legalization and capital punishment. After a week, they read either 3 or 9 similar-quality arguments supporting marijuana legalization and capital punishment. Half of participants were assigned to the high-involvement condition (i.e., told that they were going to discuss the arguments later with the experimenter) and the other half were assigned to the low-involvement condition (i.e., given no instructions). After reading the arguments, participants rated their attitudes toward those 2 social issues again. Highly involved young adults changed their attitudes regardless of the quantity of arguments, whereas lowly involved young adults' attitude change was influenced by the argument quantity. Older adults in both high-involvement and low-involvement conditions changed their attitudes according to the argument quantity. Working memory was found to mediate the age effects on attitude change. This finding demonstrated the importance of a cognitive mechanism in accounting for age differences in attitude change.
... Detta är dock inte möjligt på grund av att myndighetrna ej hade möjlighet att bistå försöksledarna Författarna undersökte därför istället människor (män respektive kvinnor) i sin närhet och i stan för att höra deras attityder mot pedofiler Hypoteserna är att kvinnor har en mildare syn än män av problematiken kring pedofili, samt att äldre människor har svårare att ändra sina attityder än yngre. Man undersöker också medias påverkan i detta samanhang Den åldersgrupp som försöksledarna tror har mest fördömande syn på pedofiler är den äldsta eftersom undersökningar (Exempelvis Wang & Chen, 2006) visar att denna grupp är mer rigid och konservativ i sina attityder än de yngre. Människors syn på pedofiler kan nog till stor del påverkas av medias rapportering pga. ...
... Motivation i sin tur har den innebörden att om man inte är motiverad så blir inte attityden så stark utan ganska så neutral och det krävs också en hel del motivation för att ändra på en viss attityd, till exempel om man skulle träffa en pedofil så kanske man får en större förståelse för denna och är beredd att ändra på sin attityd då denna förklarar situationen och de bakomliggande faktorerna, vilket bidrar till en större förståelse som i sin tur kan resultera i ändrad attityd gentemot personen i fråga (Wang & Chen, 2006). Var man riktar sin uppmärksamhet och vilket humör man är på har också mycket att göra med vad man skapar för attityd gentemot en viss sak eller person. ...
... Detta gäller särskilt äldre människor. Wang & Chen (2006) talar också om att äldre personer kräver fler argument än yngre för att ändra på en attityd och är mer rigida än yngre vilket beror på att deras arbetsminnes kapacitet är mindre än yngre personers. Äldre personer är också mer mottagliga för falsk information när de gör sociala bedömningar än yngre personer, medan medelålders vuxna är minst mottagliga för falsk information (Wang & Chen, 2006). ...
... Previous studies have convincingly shown that health-related problems often prompt early retirement intentions (Heponiemi et al., 2008;Schreurs et al., 2011). Furthermore, experiencing daily emotional exhaustion might strengthen perceptions of physical and cognitive aging, which have been found to impact older employees' career intentions (Gobeski and Beehr, 2008;Wang and Chen, 2006). Building on the theoretical assumptions of the JD-R model, we therefore assume that workplaces with high job demands and/or low job resources push employees into retirement because of the resulting experience of emotional exhaustion. ...
... Because aging is generally associated with losses in energy and physical strength (Warr, 2001), an energy-depletion process might be more easily set-off in older employees, and might even happen in the same high demanding work situations that were challenging when the employee was younger. Likewise, experiencing daily emotional exhaustion might strengthen perceptions of physical and cognitive aging, which have been found to affect older employees' career intentions (Gobeski and Beehr, 2008;Wang and Chen, 2006). Our findings also indicate that high job demands and a lack of job resources can directly enhance employees' desire to quit working. ...
Purpose
– Using the job demands-resources (JD-R) model as a theoretical framework, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how job demands and job resources affect older employees’ desired retirement age, through an energy-depletion and a motivational process. Furthermore, the importance of gain and loss cycles (i.e. recursive effects) for the desired retirement age was investigated.
Design/methodology/approach
– A two wave full panel design with 2,897 older employees ( > 50) served to test the hypotheses. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to test the measurement and research model. Cross-lagged analyses tested the presence of gain and loss cycles.
Findings
– Results from cross-lagged analyses based on two waves over a one-year period indicated the presence of both a gain and a loss cycle that affected the desired retirement age.
Research limitations/implications
– This is the first longitudinal study applying the JD-R model to a retirement context. Limitations relate to employing only two waves for establishing mediation, and using self-reports.
Practical implications
– Because work conditions can create a cycle of motivation as well as a cycle of depletion, organizations should pay special attention to the job resources and demands of older workers. The findings can inspire organizations when developing active aging policies, and contribute to interventions aimed at maintaining older employees within the workforce until – or even beyond – their official retirement age in a motivated and healthy way.
Originality/value
– This is the first longitudinal study applying the JD-R model to a retirement context and finding evidence for gain and loss cycles.
... Applying this conceptualization, empirical studies have shown that at the individual level, factors that influence one's career capacity, such as physical aging (e.g., Gobeski & Beehr 2008, Wang et al. 2008, cognitive aging (e.g., Wang & Chen 2006), and experience and expertise (e.g., Kim & Feldman 2000), may impact retirees' further career engagement and development. At the job level, issues such as keeping up with technology demands at work (Spiegel & Shultz 2003), searching for desirable job characteristics (Adams & Rau 2004, Rau & Adams 2005, and coping with job stressors (Elovainio et al. 2005 have been shown to influence retirees' career pursuit. ...
... Specifically, resources can be broadly defined as the total capability an individual has to fulfill his or her centrally valued needs. In a review of different types of resources studied in previous retirement research, Wang (2007) suggested that this total capability may include one's physical resources (e.g., muscle strength; Jex et al. 2007), cognitive resources (e.g., processing speed and working memory; Wang & Chen 2006), motivational resources (e.g., self-efficacy; Dendinger et al. 2005), financial resources (e.g., salary and pension; Damman et al. 2011), social resources www.annualreviews.org • Retirement (e.g., social network and social support; Kim & Feldman 2000), and emotional resources (e.g., emotional stability and affectivity; Blekesaune & Skirbekk 2012). ...
Retirement as a research topic has become increasingly prominent in the psychology literature. This article provides a review of both theoretical development and empirical findings in this literature in the past two decades. We first discuss psychological conceptualizations of retirement and empirical operationalizations of retirement status. We then review three psychological models for understanding the retirement process and associated antecedents and outcomes, including the temporal process model of retirement, the multilevel model of retirement, and the resource-based dynamic model for retirement adjustment. We next survey the empirical findings regarding how various individual attributes, job and organizational factors, family factors, and socioeconomic context are related to the retirement process. We also discuss outcomes associated with retirement in terms of retirees' financial well-being, physical well-being, and psychological well-being. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Psychology Volume 65 is January 03, 2014. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/catalog/pubdates.aspx for revised estimates.
... In the present context, if reductions in cognitive ability influence the complexity of information processing, then it might be expected that aging would be associated with a relatively stronger influence of superficial cues (i.e., quantity) versus more substantive cues (i.e., evidence strength) on both judgments of guilt and indices of processing. Wang and Chen (2006) examined the impact of argument quantity on persuasion and found some evidence consistent with this hypothesis, but the effects varied with topic suggesting that age differences in knowledge or beliefs may have influenced the results. The present study sought to provide a clearer test by using situations that minimized the impact of bel ...
... Inconsistent with a general deficit view of old age, there were only minimal differences in the degree to which differentaged adults based their judgments on simple versus more complex information. This result appears inconsistent with some previous JDM studies that have found increased reliance on processing shortcuts with age (e.g., Klaczynski & Robinson, 2000; Wang & Chen, 2006), but it is in keeping with others that have found that older adults are as effective as—if not better than—younger adults in many JDM contexts (e.g., Hess, Osowski, & Leclerc, 2005; Kim & Hasher, 2005). The reasons for the variability across studies may center on knowledge. ...
It has been hypothesized that reductions in cognitive resources might result in older adults engaging in less systematic processing than young adults when making everyday judgments. In 2 experiments, the authors tested individuals aged from 24 to 89 years to examine the degree to which task-related information associated with more superficial versus complex processing differentially influenced performance. They also examined the hypothesis that motivational factors would moderate age differences in processing complexity. In both studies, there were no age differences in the use of simple versus complex processing. Increasing age was, however, associated with increasing selectivity in cognitive resource engagement.
... We also changed our social accountability manipulation in order to (a) minimize differences in how high and low accountability participants were treated and (b) eliminate potential alternative explanations for the previously observed accountability effects. Using a manipulation similar to Wang and Chen (2006) , individuals were tested individually rather than in groups and were informed that they would have to explain their reasoning to the experimenter later in the study — although they were never asked to do so. This procedure controls for the unlikely possibility that the previously obtained effects were infl uenced by the group-testing context, which may have hindered performance through evaluation anxiety or bolstered performance through social facilitation . ...
... First, participants were tested individually to eliminate alternative explanations based in a group test format. Using an accountability manipulation similar to that of Wang and Chen (2006) , participants in the high accountability condition were told that they would have to justify their target selection to the experimenter later in the session. No such instructions were given to those in the low accountability condition. ...
Two studies were conducted to examine age differences in the impact of motivation in a social cognitive task. We tested the
hypothesis that aging is associated with an increase in the selective engagement of cognitive resources in support of performance.
Different-aged adults read descriptions of 2 people in order to determine which was better suited for a particular job. These
descriptions contained behaviors that were either consistent or inconsistent with the job, and participants performed the
task under conditions of high versus low accountability. Examination of memory for behavioral information revealed that accountability
disproportionately affected older adults’ performance, with the locus of this effect being in conscious recollection processes.
This supports the aforementioned selective engagement hypothesis by demonstrating that the differential impact of the motivational
manipulation was based in deliberative memory processes.
... Cognitive personal resources are very important in helping retirees achieve a successful retirement in the sense that they are what the individual utilizes in taking decisions on things that could affect his general performance, this is because they are a buttress upon which the performance of an individual rests. The cognitive resources include the speed of information processing and work memory (Wang & Chen 2006) and these are very important factors that the individual could have at his disposal because they are vital in how the individual generally operates. For the prospective retiree to achieve the desired retirement, a careful and effective guide should be given by the counsellor on how to harness his entire cognitive processes in dealing with issues as they arise. ...
The chapter explains the concept of retirement, retirement counselling and retirement planning. It went on further to examine the various theories of retirement planning and then narrowed down specifically to the Resource-Based Dynamic Model (RBDM) for Retirement Adjustment. The chapter then looked into how the RBDM's various forms of personal resources could be utilized to help prospective retirees. Finally, suggestions were made of how counsellors, psychotherapists and other professionals could help retirees in achieving a more fulfilling and satisfying "after-work' life.
... On the other hand, younger residents (below the age of 30) care the most about a community-centred economy (F = 2.018, p < 0.05). Other authors have also noted the link between respondents' age and attitudes (Knauper 1999;Kubiatko 2013;Wang & Chen 2006). Recently, An et al. (2021) further demonstrated that residents' demographic characteristics (age, gender, length of residence) can influence their attitudes toward tourism. ...
One of the most important elements of tourism development is encouraging the participation of the local community. In order to encourage their participation, it is necessary to be aware of the attitudes of the local residents with respect to the development of tourism. The aim of this research is to determine the attitudes of the local community towards the development of sustainable tourism and ecotourism in the protected area Tikvara, along with the local residents' level of nature protection and preservation in the Tikvara Nature Park. A survey was conducted among 301 residents and the results indicate that while good community support for sustainable tourism activities in each area captured by the survey (planning, participation, activities, and decision-making) exists, local residents' attitudes are affected by their sociodemographic characteristics. Nonetheless, a large number of locals were happy 128 Sanja Obradović et al. to participate in protection programs and believed that the environment should be protected for future generations to enjoy the natural and cultural resources of this area. These findings should be considered when designing sustainable tourism management strategies, while respecting the needs and rights of the local community, as the willingness of locals to develop sustainable tourism is essential for the success of this sector.
... According to this model, adjustment to retirement is a direct consequence of an individual's access to resources during the transition (Wang et al. 2011a). These resources may include physical resources, such as health or physical strength (Jex et al. 2007), cognitive resources, including work memory (Wang and Chen 2006), financial resources, such as wage and retirement benefits (Hobfoll 2002), social resources, including social networking and social support (Kim and Feldman 2000), emotional resources, such as emotional stability and mood (Wang et al. 2011b) and motivational resources, like self-efficacy. For people who have adequate resources to meet their retirement needs, transition to retirement will be less challenging than for people who do not have enough resources (Topa and Valero 2017). ...
The aim of this study was to qualitatively explore the adjustment to retirement transition from the point of view of recently retired Slovak individuals. The special focus of the study was on factors which helped or blocked the process of this adjustment. The data obtained from semi-structured interviews were analyzed by Consensual Qualitative Research-Modified (Spangler et al. 2012). Forty seniors (M = 63.36; SD = 2.47) participated in the research. The analysis resulted in the creation of a categorization consisting of four domains: the process of transition from work to retirement; helpful factors during the transition; risk factors during the transition; and perceived positive and negative changes in retirement. The categories and representative statements were the foundation for the creation of three typical cases. The most common case is an individual who looks forward to retirement because the retiree is tired of the job. After retiring, the retiree experiences relief and satisfaction, perceives new possibilities, and experiences positive changes. The main helpful factors in adaption to retirement were identified as engaging in new activities, social relationships, good health, previous retirement planning, as well as protective attitudes, such as acceptance, gratitude, optimism and perception of the finality of life. Overall, the most frequently occurring risk factors in adaptation to retirement were bereavement, prolongation of the retirement age, lack of finances, and a partner’s illness. Positive and negative changes during retirement are discussed.
... Moreover, prior research on the topic has largely operationalized the attitude construct from a unidimensional perspective where it is not possible to simultaneously hold both positive and negative evaluations of the substance depending on purpose of use. Although this may not be as relevant for adolescents and young adults, it is conceivable that older adults are ambivalent: They may disapprove of recreational cannabis and regard it as risky, but at the same time favor the medical application of cannabis for its symptomatic and palliative benefits (Ahmed et al., 2014;Wang & Chen, 2006). However, no previous study has examined attitudes toward medical and recreational cannabis separately. ...
Background and objectives:
Cannabis use among older adults is on the rise. Despite growing interest in the topic, there exists a paucity of standardized measures capturing cannabis-specific attitudes among older adults. Using data from a survey of older Coloradans, we create two scales that separately measure medical and recreational cannabis attitudes. We also examine how these two attitudes relate to individual-level characteristics.
Research design and methods:
We assess reliability using Cronbach's alpha and item-rest correlations and perform confirmatory factor analyses to test the two attitude models. We conduct a seemingly unrelated regression estimation to assess how individual characteristics predict medical and recreational cannabis attitude scores.
Results:
Twelve indicators combined into two valid and reliable scales. Both scales had a three-factor structure with affect, cognition and social perception as latent dimensions. For both scales, fit indices for the three-factor model were statistically superior when compared with other models. The three-factor structure for both scales was invariant across age groups. Age, physical health, and being a caregiver differentially predicted medical and recreational cannabis attitude scores.
Discussion and implications:
Medical and recreational cannabis attitude scales can inform the development and evaluation of tailored interventions targeting older adult attitudes that aim to influence cannabis use behaviors. These scales also enable researchers to measure cannabis-specific attitudes among older adults more accurately and parsimoniously, which in turn can facilitate a better understanding of the complex interplay between cannabis policy, use, and attitudes.
... strength and health status (Jex, Wang, & Zarubin. 2007), b) cognitive resources, including, for example; speed of information processing and work memory (Wang & Chen 2006), c) financial resources, including, for example; wages and the amount of pension (Hobfoll, 2002), d) social resources, e.g. social network and social support (Kim & Feldman, 2000), e) emotional resources, which includes, for example; emotional stability, sensitivity, mood (Wang, Liao, Zhan, & Shi, 2011b) f) motivational resources, e.g. ...
The article aims to provide a review of the currently most accepted models explaining transition and adjustment to retirement, which include role theory, continuity theory, life course perspective, and the resource-based dynamic model for retirement adjustment. One of the main theories explaining adaptation to retirement is role theory. This theory assumes that during the transition from one life period to another, an individual exits one role and enters a different role (George, 1993). Based on this theory, retirement can be characterized as a role transition (Riley & Riley, 1994), when a job role is weakened or even lost, and roles associated with family and community are strengthened (Barnes-Farrell, 2003). In cases when an individual’s job role is central to their identity and they are overly-engaged in their job, transition to retirement is more difficult compared to an individual who perceived their job role as more stressful, more demanding or who had experienced more conflicts with their co-workers. Transition to retirement, thus, can be experienced as a relief, where there is an opportunity to engage in family and community roles in newly-acquired leisure time (Osborne, 2012; Wang, Henkens, & Solinge, 2011a). Unlike the emphasis on role change, the continuity theory argues that retirees adapt effectively to a new life-period if they have developed relationships, activities, a framework of thinking, and adaptive skills during their previous life-period and if they continue to use them after being retired, and thereby they maintain continuity (Atchley, 1989). Research suggests that an individual can maintain continuity even through part-time employment (Feldman & Beehr, 2001) or by maintaining leisure activities (Pushkar et al., 2011) after retiring. Continuity theory, therefore, suggests that a retired person is directly responsible for creating an adaptation strategy which may help them in their transition. Life course perspective theory, on the other hand, discusses two main factors influencing retirement: a) individual history - including past life transitions, working and recreational habits (Carr & Kail 2013), and b) individual attributes - such as demographics, health and financial status and transition capabilities (Griffin & Hesketh 2008; Wang, 2007). From a life course perspective, an individual who has flexibly addressed previous life transitions, who has been less socially integrated with their job and co-workers, and who has attributes effective for retirement adaptation, will experience a smooth transition to retirement (van Solinge & Henkens 2008; Wang & Shultz, 2010; Wang, et al., 2011a). A current model explaining the adaptation to retirement is the resource-based dynamic model for retirement adjustment, which recognizes adaptation as a process that depends on individual resources and changes of these resources (Wang et al., 2011a). The resources can be defined as the overall ability of an individual to meet their needs and are divided into seven categories: a) physical resources, including health or physical strength (Jex, Wang, & Zarubin, 2007); b) cognitive resources, including, for example, work memory (Wang & Chen 2006); c) financial resources, such as wage and retirement benefits (Hobfoll, 2002); d) social resources, e.g. social networking and social support (Kim & Feldman, 2000); e) emotional resources, such as emotional stability, sensitivity, mood (Wang, Liao, Zhan, & Shi, 2011b) and f) motivational resources, e.g. self-efficacy. Adaptation to retirement is a direct consequence of an individual's access to resources. If people have more resources to meet their retirement needs, transition and adaptation to retirement will be less demanding than for people who do not have enough resources (Topa & Valero, 2017; Wang, 2007). Based on the review of these theoretical models, it can be said that an adaptation of an individual depends on the importance he or she attributed to their job role (George, 1993; Osborne, 2012), whether they were able to maintain continuity in their activities, patterns of thoughts or relationships (Atchley, 1989, Pushkar et al., 2011), how well they coped with previous transit events (van Solinge & Henkens 2008), and whether they have sufficient resources, in social, financial or health areas (Wang et al., 2011a).
During recent years, researchers and practitioners have been interested in understanding the factors which affect the transition from work to retirement. With the aim of a complex review of these factors, we have been inspired by the categorization of Wang and Schulz (2010), which was later edited in other articles (Wang et al., 2011; Wang & Hesketh, 2012). Factors in different areas (individual attributions; factors related to work before retirement; variables related to family; factors of transition to retirement, and activities after retiring) have been described and analyzed in terms of their positive or negative affect on retirement.
Individual attributions with the positive effect on retirement adjustment have been identified as: good physical and mental health (e.g. Zhan et al., 2009; Silver et al., 2016), financial status, financial goals and literacy (e.g. Lusardi & Mitchell, 2011; Noone et al., 2009; Pinquart & Schindler, 2007), as well as health-related behavior (Jex et al., 2007; Topa & Vareno, 2017). Factors related to work before retirement with a positive effect on retirement adjustment have been identified as job stress, job demands and challenges (e.g. van Solinge & Henkens, 2008; van den Bogaard et al., 2016), as well as dissatisfaction at work and unemployment before retirement (Marshall et al., 2001; Pinquart & Schindler, 2007), since all of these factors contribute to experiencing relief from previously demanding job, and thereby to a better adjustment. Equally important are the factors related to family, such as marital status (Lee, 2016; Pinquart & Schindler, 2007), the quality of marriage (Szinovacz & Davey, 2004; Wang, 2007), and work status of a partner (Moen, Kim, & Hofmeister, 2001; Wang, 2007). It has been shown that the quality of adjustment also depends on the variables related to transition, whether the retirement was voluntary (Reitzes & Mutran, 2004; van Solinge, Henkens, 2007, 2008) and whether a retiree planned how they were going to spend their retirement (e.g. Hershey et al., 2007; Steffens et al., 2016). Moreover, research has shown that it is important for a retiree to stay active and engage in various activities, whether it is a paid job (e.g. Zhan et al., 2009; Quinn, 2010), voluntary work (Dorfman & Douglas, 2005; Griffin & Hesketh, 2008) or free-time activities (e.g. Silver et. al., 2016).
Factors identified with a negative effect on transition to retirement were: health problems (Kim & Moen, 2002; Wang, 2007), identity of a work role (Reitzes & Mutran, 2004), physical job demands (Pinquart, & Schindler, 2007), number of dependent children and financial claims associated with care-giving (Kim & Feldman, 2000; Marshall et al., 2001), loss of a partner during the transition to retirement (van Solinge & Henkens, 2008) and involuntary early retirement (e.g. Dorn & Sousa-Poza, 2010; Heybroek et al., 2015).
A higher awareness of positive and risk factors of adaptation on retirement may be beneficial to helping professionals as well as to seniors themselves in their transition from work to retirement. It may be therefore recommended that retirement training programs should focus on individual research-based factors with a positive effect on adaptation; such as retirement planning, engagement in free-time activities or voluntary work. Based on the identification of risk factors for adaptation to retirement, working psychologists or various organizations, such as clubs for retirees, could focus on mitigating the negative consequences of these factors. Although it is impossible to prevent some risk factors, such as loss of a partner, it is possible to develop supportive relationships in clubs of seniors, and also to facilitate learning effective coping-strategies as part of various preventive programs.
... Evidence show that the quantity of arguments, rather than merely their quality, can affect arguments' persuasiveness and opinion formation (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986). Evidence shows that this effect is even stronger for specific demographics, such as older voters, and for low salience or low involvement issues (Wang & Chen, 2006). Thus, by touching on a larger set of issues, thematic diversity in news coverage can provide a greater number of reasons for supporting a candidate. ...
The relationship between media and politics has been at the core of communication research for over a century. Previous research has examined the impact of both volume and tone of news coverage of political candidates on their electoral success, and the relationship between the volume of candidates’ social media activity (though not its tone) and electoral success. While past research found a positive relationship between these features and electoral success, recent criticisms have called into question the independent nature of these media factors. Moreover, while past research has paid some attention to volume and tone, researchers have yet to examine other key features of discourse represented in candidates’ coverage as a whole. One such feature is the extent to which a political discourse is unidimensional or multidimensional in nature, referred to in this study as thematic diversity. This is due, in part at least, to the complex nature of thematic diversity making its estimation challenging. Analyzing over 120,000 Tweets written by 142 U.S. Senate candidates during the 2012-2016 election cycles, as well as over 420,000 news articles covering 330 U.S. Senate candidates during the 2008-2016 election cycles, this study systematically explores the relationship between electoral success of political candidates and the volume and tone of their news coverage and social media activity. Using a wide array of controls, this study explores the independent (or dependent) nature of these media features. More importantly, this study goes beyond these previously studied media features, to systematically and empirically explore the relationship between thematic diversity in both candidates’ news coverage and social media activity, and their electoral success. Drawing on the conceptualization of diversity in various fields from biology, to physics and information sciences, and using two unsupervised machine learning methods, semantic network analysis and topic modeling, this study offers a novel approach to the conceptualization and estimation of thematic diversity, accounting for the variety, balance and disparity of various themes in a given corpus. Using these methods, this study offers evidence for a significant, negative, and semi-independent relationship between thematic diversity and electoral success, in both news media and social media.
... For example, to the extent that people use the number of arguments as a heuristic, more counterarguments should be more persuasive, even if those arguments are weak or lack relevance. Correspondingly, Wang and Chen (2006) reported that when being presented with many versus few arguments, attitude change in participants was largely determined by argument quantity rather than quality (unless participants were highly engaged with the task and had high working memory capacity; i.e., unless they had both the cognitive resources and motivation to thoroughly consider argument quality). This corresponds with the typical pattern found in the persuasion literature more generally, namely that a greater number of arguments is typically found to be more convincing unless personal involvement is very high (e.g., Burnstein, Vinokur, & Trope, 1973;Petty & Cacioppo, 1984). ...
This study investigated the refutation of equivocal claims using counterarguments. Common sense suggests that more counterarguments should be more effective at inducing belief change. However, some researchers have argued that in persuasive reasoning, using too many arguments might lead to counterproductive skepticism and reactance. Thus, there have been calls to actively curtail the number of counterarguments used in refutations to avoid risking an “overkill backfire effect”—an ironic strengthening of beliefs from too many counterarguments. In three experiments, we tested whether calls to limit the number of counterarguments are justified. We found that a larger number of counterarguments (between four and six) led to as much or more belief reduction compared to a smaller number of (two) counterarguments. This was not merely an effect arising from a simple numerosity heuristic, as counterarguments had to be relevant to affect beliefs: irrelevant counterarguments failed to reduce beliefs even though perceived as moderately persuasive.
... Moreover, one should note the emergence and development of interest groups for the aged, like the Townsend movement or the American Association of Retired People with its 24 million members, which automatically contribute to increasing occasions for mobilization and activism (Amenta 2008). Finally, recent work on age differences in learning and training, and on responses to major life transitions, provides evidence of the adaptability of older people to changes in social circumstances (Wang & Chen 2006). ...
The notion of life cycle was first used in the social sciences in the 1930s and remained prominent until the end of the sixties in political behavior studies, despite its lack of empirical consistency. The basic idea is that stage specific needs result in the adoption of particular political attitudes. Based largely on Freudian psychodynamic theory, the life cycle approach has mainly been interested in explaining adolescent rebellion (and, more rarely, the conservatism of the elderly) and attempted to attribute social protest in the sixties to young people's life-cycle characteristics and needs, and to deep-seated emotional conflicts between youth and adults (Erikson 1968; Feuer 1969). In a more structuro-functionalist perspective, life-cycle theory has given birth to a cohort-generational perspective, in which youth unrest is viewed as a product of a rapidly changing social order and unique growing-up experiences that exacerbate age-group relations, and may generate organized protest behaviors. However, contemporary research has found no clear diminution with age in the number of left-oriented attitudes nor any rush to conservatism more generally, as life cycle theories would suggest. Here, the main result is that social unrest is not causally linked to chronological age and that people do not seem to become more conservative with age (Glenn 1980; Binstock & Quadagno 2001).
... Although such attitudes were higher among those who previously had taken cannabis, nearly two out of every three who never took cannabis at any point during their life also held such favorable attitudes about medical benefits. Wang and Chen (2006) suggested that such attitude changes can occur when a person assigns a higher degree of relevance to an issue. In this case, when facing a health crisis, an older adult may be more likely to engage in processing new information that ultimately may alter a long-standing attitude about how to treat the health problem. ...
Cannabis use among older Americans is increasing. Although much of this growth has been attributed to the entry of a more tolerant baby boom cohort into older age, recent evidence suggests the pathways to cannabis are more complex. Some older persons have responded to changing social and legal environments and are increasingly likely to take cannabis recreationally. Other older persons are experiencing age-related health care needs, and some take cannabis for symptom management, as recommended by a medical doctor. Whether these pathways to recreational and medical cannabis are separate or somewhat tangled remains largely unknown. There have been few studies examining cannabis use among the growing population of Americans aged 65 and older. In this essay, we illuminate what is known about the intersection between cannabis and the aging American population. We review trends concerning cannabis use and apply the age-period-cohort paradigm to explicate varied pathways and outcomes. Then, after considering the public health problems posed by those who misuse or abuse cannabis, we turn our attention to how cannabis may be a viable policy alternative in terms of supporting the health and well-being of a substantial number of aging Americans. On the one hand, cannabis may be an effective substitute for prescription opioids and other misused medications; on the other hand, cannabis has emerged as an alternative for the undertreatment of pain at the end of life. As intriguing as these alternatives may be, policy makers must first address the need for empirically driven, representative research to advance the discourse.
... Second, the changing temporal perspective that underlies Socioemotional Selectivity Theory might also increase susceptibility to attitude change late in life, as people who see time as limited are more likely to modify their attitudes to match their social partners and to achieve peer consensus (DeWall, Visser, & Levitan, 2006). With regard to cognitive loss, evidence suggests that diminished working memory also plays a role in increased susceptibility to persuasion among older adults, as working memory losses mediated age differences in attitude change when people's attitudes were challenged (Wang & Chen, 2006). ...
... Walker(2001)에 따르면, 영국의 경우 고령 근로자에게 훈련기회를 제공하고 있는 기업은 전체의 18.5%에 불 과했다 [19]. Wang과 Chen(2006) ...
This paper explores the relationship between senior workforce's education & training and job satisfaction. Further, the mediating effect of knowledge-sharing practice is also analyzed. We used 970 senior workforce's survey data from Human Capital Corporate Panel. Using structural equation modeling, the results suggest as follows. First, senior workforce's education & training had a positive effect on job satisfaction. Second, senior workforce's knowledge-sharing practice had a positive effect on job satisfaction. Third, a mediation analysis reveals that knowledge-sharing practice significantly mediates the relationship between education & training and job satisfaction. Several theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.
... Moreover, it is well established that social perceivers use normative judgment and decision rules only when sufficiently motivated (e.g., by "fear of invalidity") and when capacity for detailed processing is unconstrained (see: Chaiken, Liberman, & Eagly, 1989;Neuberg & Fiske, 1987;Tetlock, 1983;Kruglanski et al., 1993). The reduced cognitive and/or motivational capacity is more likely to lead to biased outcomes (e.g., Wang & Chen, 2006). Thus, assuming that working memory capacity is related to individual differences in need for cognitive closure, we expected that working memory capacity should mediate the relationship between need for closure and the well studied effects of information processing, as for example, the amount of prototypical information sought in a judgmental task. ...
... Cognitive ability losses occur in the area of fluid intellectual abilities including processing speed, working memory, attention, and abstract reasoning (Park, 2000). Because of these age-related cognitive declines it may be more difficult for older adults to complete tasks that require the retention of large amounts of information or vigilant monitoring of the environment (Wang & Chen, 2006). These would seem to make it more likely that older workers would experience more cognitive overload compared to younger workers. ...
A series of well-established demographic trends such as increased life expectancies and changing patterns of birthrates are bringing about an aging of the world's population (Kin-sella & He, 2009). One of the key issues stemming from population aging is the aging of the workforce and older people's continued participation in paid work. Continued workforce participation among aging workers is currently being encouraged by a number of forces including social concerns, the needs of employing organizations and older workers themselves. At a societal level retaining older people in the workforce is at least partially driven by economic concerns about the viability of old age social insurance programs (e.g., The Economist, 2011). At an organizational level, employers are interested in retaining older workers as a means to avoid potential for skills shortages and the loss of organizational specific knowledge that can occur when older workers leave the workforce (Burke & Ng, 2006; DeLong, 2004; Manpower Group, 2011). Older workers themselves express interest in continued work owing to financial concerns as well as the desire to remain active, maintain social relationships and other non-financial returns from work (Dendinger, Adams, & Jacobson, 2005; Loi & Shultz, 2007). The combined effect of these trends is an increasingly older workforce. The aging of the workforce brings with it a number of issues which are explored among the various chapters that comprise this Handbook. Among these issues are the topics of occupational stress and safety. Despite the fact that the workplace has become safer in many regards and that, in general, continued work is associated with better physical and mental health (Yeomans, 2011); the workplace can still be hazardous to one's health (International Labour Organization, 2011). These hazards stem from (1) occupational stress issues arising mainly from the psy-chosocial work environment and (2) safety 15
... Likewise, only college students participated in this study. On the one hand, considering that young adults are more likely to engage in central processing, and thus, are more affected by argument quality than by peripheral cues (Wang & Chen, 2006), the effects of review quality observed herein might have been overrated. On the other hand, Sundar (2007) suggested that today's youth make rather quick judgments about the credibility of online information based on several heuristics. ...
A web-based experiment (N = 201) examined (a) how the quality of online product reviews affects the participants’ acceptance of the reviews as well as their evaluations of the sources and (b) how such effects vary depending on the product type and the availability of reviewers’ photos. For the product type, an experience good (computer game) whose quality is difficult to assess before firsthand experience and a search good (vitamin) whose quality can be easily evaluated by reading a product description were compared. After reading overall positive reviews, those exposed to the high-quality (vs. low-quality) reviews evaluated the product more positively, which in turn, led to a stronger purchase intention. However, review quality also had a negative direct effect on the purchase intention for the experience good, with no corresponding effect for the search good. High-quality reviews induced more positive evaluations of the reviewers (primary source), but they enhanced website evaluation (secondary source) only when the reviewers’ photos were present, suggesting that such visual cues may facilitate systematic message processing.
... Indeed, there appear to be age differences in how people learn, including, for example, the training regimens that are most effective, the amount of time it takes to acquire new skills, and the speed at which tasks can be completed (Czaja and Moen 2004;Hardy 2006). Nevertheless, relatively recent work on age differences in learning, responses to training, changes in brain structure, and adaptability suggest that change can occur at older ages (Wang and Chen 2006). Further, life-course research on responses to major life transitions provides evidence on the adaptability of older people to changes in social circumstances, family structure, living arrangements, and health status. ...
Prevailing stereotypes of older people hold that their attitudes are inflexible or that aging tends to promote increasing conservatism in sociopolitical outlook. In spite of mounting scientific evidence demonstrating that learning, adaptation, and reassessment are behaviors in which older people can and do engage, the stereotype persists. We use U.S. General Social Survey data from 25 surveys between 1972 and 2004 to formally assess the magnitude and direction of changes in attitudes that occur within cohorts at different stages of the life course. We decompose changes in sociopolitical attitudes into the proportions attributable to cohort succession and intracohort aging for three categories of items: attitudes toward historically subordinate groups, civil liberties, and privacy. We find that significant intracohort change in attitudes occurs in cohorts-inlater- stages (age 60 and older) as well as cohorts-in-earlier-stages (ages 18 to 39), that the change for cohorts-in-later-stages is frequently greater than that for cohorts-inearlier-stages, and that the direction of change is most often toward increased tolerance rather than increased conservatism. These findings are discussed within the context of population aging and development.
... Physical aging may also influence retiree's career goals by motivating them to seek a job with good quality health care. Age-related reductions in people's cognitive capacities (Wang & Chen, 2006) highlights the importance for retirees to receive appropriate training in order to take advantage of new technologies to assist their career pursuit (Hedge et al., 2006). On the other hand, retirees who have higher levels of task-related experience and expertise are attractive to employers, as hiring them saves considerable training cost and results in better performance than new job incumbents (AARP, 2005;Hedge et al., 2006). ...
Despite the obvious importance of retirement to employees, their employing organizations, and the larger society, the last comprehensive review of employee retirement in the field of organizational science was published more than 20 years ago. As such, the first purpose of this review is to provide a summary of key theoretical and empirical developments in employee retirement research since Beehr in 1986. A second purpose of this review is to highlight inconsistent findings revealed by studies that were designed to answer the same research questions. By identifying and scrutinizing those inconsistent findings, this study expects to provide suggestions and recommendations to further the theoretical development in the field of retirement research to address these research gaps. As a result, this proposed review would be of interest to scholars in a wide variety of areas within the organizational sciences, including human resource management, organizational behavior, organizational theory, and research methods.
... Thus, generalization of global feelings on satisfaction dimensions is unfeasible. The findings for age based overall job satisfaction are consistent with previous studies (Kaya, 1995; Wang and Chen, 2006; Kanfer and Ackerman, 2004; Paton, 2006; Brunet and Sabiston, 2011; Hildebrandt and Eom, 2011; Zhou et al., 2011; Maasberg et al., 2011; Zakharova et al., 2009). They concluded that job satisfaction increased with age due to capability in adapting their needs and wants to an outcome for work done. ...
This study aimed to examine the influence of demographic factors of gender and age on job satisfaction and its facets in Malaysian utility sector. A total of 689 employees from the sector participated in this study. A gap analysis was utilized to determine the significant difference on the levels of job satisfaction and its facets based on gender and age. The t test result revealed that female experienced greater overall job satisfaction rather than male. Significant difference in satisfaction for female only recorded for pay, benefits, rewards, coworkers and communications. The ANOVA result revealed that job satisfaction increased with age. Four facets of JSS which are pay, benefits, coworkers and nature of work also found to be a determinant of JSS with older workers experienced greater satisfaction. The result of this study will facilitate the utility sector or other organization to understand the crucial aspects considered in employee's evaluation on job satisfaction is changes over time. The interesting findings provided an evidence to better understand personal characteristics of employees as a function of the individual's characteristics and the characteristics of the job itself. The study suggested that it is impossible to generalize the key aspects of job satisfaction in diverse personal characteristics of employees.
... Moreover, it is well established that social perceivers use normative judgment and decision rules only when sufficiently motivated (e.g., by "fear of invalidity") and when capacity for detailed processing is unconstrained (see: Chaiken, Liberman, & Eagly, 1989;Neuberg & Fiske, 1987;Tetlock, 1983;Kruglanski et al., 1993). The reduced cognitive and/or motivational capacity is more likely to lead to biased outcomes (e.g., Wang & Chen, 2006). Thus, assuming that working memory capacity is related to individual differences in need for cognitive closure, we expected that working memory capacity should mediate the relationship between need for closure and the well studied effects of information processing, as for example, the amount of prototypical information sought in a judgmental task. ...
Motivation and cognitive ability represent two basic determinants of information processing, influencing the ability to learn
new knowledge and to carry out judgment and decision making tasks. However, cognitive and motivational influences on the results
of information processing and performance are usually studied separately. On the one hand, numerous studies have investigated
the role of cognitive-intellectual abilities in predicting individual differences in task performance. On the other hand,
incentives, goal assignments, achievement motivation, expectancies, subjective valuation of outcomes, self-efficacy expectations,
and a host of other motivational factors have been shown to influence goal choice, intended effort, task behavior, and mental
performance. While the body of literature examining the role of cognitive ability and motivation in task performance is growing
(e.g., Mitchell & Silver, 1990; Harris & Tetrick, 1993; Thompson, Roman, Moskowitz, Chaiken, & Bargh, 1994; Muraven & Slessareva,
2003), little research has been conducted on the cognitive processes involved in, and affected by, motivation (but see Kossowska,
2007a, b).
... There is evidence in the literature that a reduction in the availability of cognitive resources can affect a variety of sociocognitive tasks. For example, the age-related reduction in cognitive resources can affect causal attribution, social vigilance, social judgment biases and attitude change (Wang & Chen, 2006); as does stereotype threat (Beilock & Carr, 2005;Beilock, Rydell, & McConnell, 2007;Croizet, Després, & Gauzin, 2004;Schmader & Johns, 2003;Schmader, Johns, & Forbes, 2008). One phenomenon that can explain this reduction in working memory capacity is that dissonance creates intrusive thoughts that are irrelevant to the task in hand but are related to the management or reduction of this discomfort. ...
This article examines how performance is facilitated with simple tasks and is impaired with complex ones in individuals experiencing dissonance. Experiment 1 measured the performance of dissonance participants at a simple reaction time task. Reaction times were shortest in the dissonance condition. This facilitation effect was interpreted as resulting from increased arousal with dissonance. In Experiment 2, participants performed a more complex secondary memory task that required to memorize and to recall short and long series of numbers. Participants in the dissonance condition performed less well than participants in the no-dissonance condition only under a high memory load and did not differ with a low load. It is suggested that dissonance requires some working memory resources. Accordingly, it is assumed that the arousal properties of dissonance facilitate performance with simple task that do not involve working memory and require a dominant response, but that dissonance impairs performance with tasks that strongly involve working memory.
... Brewer and Shapard (2004) reported an effect of age on burnout which, among others, covers symptoms of fatigue (Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter, 2001 ). Furthermore , it may be that work demands involving a high cognitive processing workload are perceived as more threatening by older than by younger employees (Shultz, Wang, Crimmins, & Fisher, 2010; Wang & Chen, 2006). negative affect. ...
This study investigated within-person relationships between daily problem solving demands, selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) strategy use, job satisfaction, and fatigue at work. Based on conservation of resources theory, it was hypothesized that high SOC strategy use boosts the positive relationship between problem solving demands and job satisfaction, and buffers the positive relationship between problem solving demands and fatigue. Using a daily diary study design, data were collected from 64 administrative employees who completed a general questionnaire and two daily online questionnaires over four work days. Multilevel analyses showed that problem solving demands were positively related to fatigue, but unrelated to job satisfaction. SOC strategy use was positively related to job satisfaction, but unrelated to fatigue. A buffering effect of high SOC strategy use on the demands-fatigue relationship was found, but no booster effect on the demands-satisfaction relationship. The results suggest that high SOC strategy use is a resource that protects employees from the negative effects of high problem solving demands.
The authors investigated retired public workers' involvement in entrepreneurship by describing the choice of entrepreneurship activities by retirees, factors that motivate or compel them to partake in entrepreneurship, and challenges encountered by retirees in managing their ventures. The study employed a snowball sampling technique to ensure that the appropriate respondents were contacted and included in the sample. The study found that, to a large extent, retired workers became involved in entrepreneurship due to push factors that include fear of boredom and failure to meet personal and family needs. On the other hand, other retirees enter into entrepreneurship due to pull factors that include the desire for profits and capital gains, and the desire to accumulate wealth and assets. The study also found that retirees prefer to participate in crop and livestock production, retail businesses, and service-oriented businesses. The study found that limited seed and growth capital and inaccessibility to financial and credit markets are the main challenges facing retirees' businesses.
The notion of lifecycle was first used in the social sciences in the 1930s and remained prominent until the end of the 1960s in political behavior studies, despite its lack of empirical consistency. The basic idea is that stage‐specific needs result in the adoption of particular political attitudes. Based largely on Freudian psychodynamic theory, the lifecycle approach has mainly been interested in explaining adolescent rebellion (and, more rarely, the conservatism of the elderly) and attempted to attribute social protest in the 1960s to young people's lifecycle characteristics and needs, and to deep‐seated emotional conflicts between youth and adults. In a more structuro‐functionalist perspective, lifecycle theory has given birth to a cohort‐generational perspective, in which youth unrest is viewed as a product of a rapidly changing social order and unique growing‐up experiences that exacerbate age‐group relations, and may generate organized protest behaviors. However, contemporary research has found no clear diminution with age in the number of left‐oriented attitudes nor any rush to conservatism more generally, as lifecycle theories would suggest. Here, the main result is that social unrest is not causally linked to chronological age and that people do not seem to become more conservative with age.
Despite extensive research on attitudes and a rapid growth of the video game market, there is currently no meta-analysis mapping the link between narrative video games and attitude change. Here, we present such meta-analysis. The findings suggest that narrative video games affect players’ attitudes towards the topics depicted in games. This effect was present in studies focused on changes in both implicit (g = 0.36, k = 18) and explicit attitudes (g = 0.24, k = 101), with longer intervention duration and game mechanics such as stereotyping and meaningful feedback resulting in larger implicit attitude change. Regarding the robustness of the underlying evidence, half of the included studies were judged to be at high risk of bias. On the other hand, the impact of publication bias in this literature was found to be negligible. Altogether, this meta-analysis provides evidence that video games shape how we think about events they represent.
Toplumda nadiren temas edilen gruplara yönelik tutum ve sosyal mesafe, geçmişten günümüze kadar sosyal psikolojinin ve gelişim psikolojisinin yakından çalıştığı konulardan biri olmuştur. Sağır bireyler toplumda görece daha seyrek temas edilen sosyal gruplardandır (Dikyuva, Makaroğlu ve Arık, 2015; İlkbaşaran, 2016). Özellikle Türkiye'de yürütülen ve çeşitli demografik özellikleri ile bu gruplara yönelik tutum ve inançları inceleyen sınırlı sayıda çalışma (örn.,Kemaloğlu, 2016) bulunmaktadır. Alan yazında özellikle çeşitli demografik özellikler ile tutumlar ve inançlar arasındaki ilişkiyi betimleyerek resimleyen yeni çalışmalara ihtiyaç vardır. Buradan yola çıkılarak bu çalışmada çeşitli demografik özelliklerin sağır bireylere yönelik inançlar ile ilişkisi incelenmiştir. Böylelikle gelecek çalışmalar için ilgili değişkenlerin ilişkisini ön bir çalışma yaparak betimlemek hedeflenmiştir. Araştırmaya yaş ortalaması 27.44 olan 18-62 yaş arasında 164 kişi katılmıştır. Sağırlara yönelik tutumu ölçmek Berkay, Gardner ve Smith'in (1995) Sağırlar Hakkındaki Düşünceler Ölçeği [Opinions About Deaf Peoples Scale] kullanılmıştır. Sonuçlar, örneklemimizin çok küçük bir kısmının birinci derece (n=6) ve/veya ikinci derece (n = 13) yakınlarının sağır bireyler olduğunu, bu kişilerden de yalnızca dördünün işaret dili aracılığıyla iletişim kurabildiğini göstermiştir. Katılımcıların günlük hayatlarında sağır bir bireyle temas etme ortalamaları (M = 2.02 / 5'li Likert tipi ölçüm üzerinden) oldukça düşüktür. Yaş ve sağırlara yönelik tutum arasında bir ilişki yoktur. Eğitim düzeyi (r = .22) ve ailede kişi başına düşen maddi gelir (r = .24) yükseldikçe sağırlara yönelik tutum olumlu yönde artmaktadır. Kadınların sağırlara yönelik tutumları (M = 4.31) erkeklerden (M = 3.99) daha olumludur, p < .001. Bu çalışma cinsiyet, eğitim düzeyi ve maddi gelir gibi demografik özelliklerin sağırlara yönelik düşünceler ile ilişkili olduğunu göstermiştir.
This new book looks at the unique career issues faced by those workers in their mid and late career stages, particularly with regard to the psychosocial dynamics of mid and late careers. With the growth in aging workers worldwide, we need a deeper understanding of the unique challenges and issues as well as the practical implications related to the shifting demographics to an older workforce, particularly the aging of the baby boom generation. This book reviews, summarizes and integrates the literature on a wide variety of issues and organizational realities related to these workers. Numerous case studies based on one-on-one interviews with older workers and recent retirees provides illustrative examples of the key concepts discussed in each chapter. Students, researchers, and professionals in industrial organizational psychology, human resource management, developmental psychology, vocational psychology and gerontology will find this authoritative book of interest.
Responses from college-age students and those 50 years and older were compared using the Attitudes Toward Women Scale and the Attitudes Toward Feminism Scale. Results from a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis showed groups differed on each scale, suggesting unidimensional scales no longer represent attitudes toward women or feminism. © Association for Assessment in Counseling and Education, a division of the American Counseling Association 2011.
Organizations worldwide are currently experiencing shifts in the age composition of their workforces. The workforce is aging and becoming increasingly age-diverse, suggesting that organizational researchers and practitioners need to better understand how age differences may manifest in the workplace and the implications for human resource practice. Integrating socioemotional selectivity theory with the performance feedback literature and using a time-lagged design, the current study examined age differences in moderating the relationships between the characteristics of performance feedback and employee reactions to the feedback event. The results suggest that older workers had higher levels of feedback orientation on social awareness, but lower levels of feedback orientation on utility than younger workers. Furthermore, the positive associations between favorability of feedback and feedback delivery and feedback reactions were stronger for older workers than for younger workers, whereas the positive association between feedback quality and feedback reactions was stronger for younger workers than for older workers. Finally, the current study revealed that age-related differences in employee feedback orientation could explain the different patterns of relationships between feedback characteristics and feedback reactions across older and younger workers. These findings have both theoretical and practical implications for building theory about workplace aging and improving ways that performance feedback is managed across employees from diverse age groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).
There have been many tests of Karasek's demand-control model of work stress. However, no studies have examined how the model may differentially apply to older versus younger workers. Due to age changes in cognitive processing, the psychological demands of jobs may interact differently with controls for younger versus older workers. Therefore, the study uses data from the Eurobarometer to examine how the demand-control model of work stress may function differently for older versus younger workers. The results indicate that different controls may in fact buffer different types of job demands for younger versus older workers. The findings reveal that only the interaction between problem solving and time to complete tasks was significant for younger workers. For older workers, however, the interactions between time deadlines and having sufficient time to complete tasks, autonomy, and the interaction between problem solving and schedule flexibility are significant predictors of self-reported stress.
This chapter outlines the two basic routes to persuasion. One route is based on the thoughtful consideration of arguments central to the issue, whereas the other is based on the affective associations or simple inferences tied to peripheral cues in the persuasion context. This chapter discusses a wide variety of variables that proved instrumental in affecting the elaboration likelihood, and thus the route to persuasion. One of the basic postulates of the Elaboration Likelihood Model—that variables may affect persuasion by increasing or decreasing scrutiny of message arguments—has been highly useful in accounting for the effects of a seemingly diverse list of variables. The reviewers of the attitude change literature have been disappointed with the many conflicting effects observed, even for ostensibly simple variables. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) attempts to place these many conflicting results and theories under one conceptual umbrella by specifying the major processes underlying persuasion and indicating the way many of the traditionally studied variables and theories relate to these basic processes. The ELM may prove useful in providing a guiding set of postulates from which to interpret previous work and in suggesting new hypotheses to be explored in future research.
Copyright © 1986 Academic Press Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Two studies examined the hypothesis that chunking—defined as the degree to which information is grouped into explicitly labeled categories of distinct valence—moderates the impact of motivation to think on order effects in persuasion. Studies 1 and 2 examined motivation to think in terms of perceived personal relevance and need for cognition, respectively. In both studies, participants read arguments for and against a hypothetical exam policy. These arguments were presented in varying orders and in either a chunked or an unchunked format. Results were consistent with the predictions: Under chunked conditions, participants who were highly motivated to think were more susceptible to primacy effects than were those low in motivation to think. Under unchunked conditions, this pattern was reversed—those highly motivated to think were more susceptible to recency effects than those low in motivation to think.
Two experiments were conducted to test competing accounts of the distraction-persuasion relationship, thought disruption and effort justification, and also to show that the relationship is not limited to counterattitudinal communication. Exp I, with 132 undergraduates, varied distraction and employed 2 discrepant messages differing in how easy they were to counterargue. In accord with the thought disruption account, increasing distraction enhanced persuasion for a message that was readily counterarguable, but reduced persuasion for a message that was difficult to counter-argue. The effort notion implied no interaction with message counterarguability. Exp II, with 54 undergraduates, again varied distraction but the 2 messages took a nondiscrepant position. One message elicited primarily favorable thoughts, and the effect of distraction was to reduce the number of favorable thoughts generated; the other, less convincing message elicited primarily counterarguments, and the effect of distraction was to reduce counterarguments. A Message * Distraction interaction indicated that distraction tended to enhance persuasion for the counterarguable message but reduce persuasion for the message that elicited primarily favorable thoughts. The experiments together support the principle that distraction works by inhibiting the dominant cognitive response to persuasive communication and, therefore, it can result in either enhanced or reduced acceptance. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Two central constructs of applied psychology, motivation and cognitive ability, were integrated within an information-processing (IPR) framework. This framework simultaneously considers individual differences in cognitive abilities, self-regulatory processes of motivation, and IPR demands. Evidence for the framework is provided in the context of skill acquisition, in which IPR and ability demands change as a function of practice, training paradigm, and timing of goal setting (GS). Three field-based lab experiments were conducted with 1,010 US Air Force trainees. Exp 1 evaluated the basic ability–performance parameters of the air traffic controller task and GS effects early in practice. Exp 2 evaluated GS later in practice. Exp 3 investigated the simultaneous effects of training content, GS and ability–performance interactions. Results support the theoretical framework and have implications for notions of ability–motivation interactions and design of training and motivation programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Important differences have emerged between introspective measures of learning, such as recall and recognition, and performance measures, in which the performance of a task is facilitated by prior experience. Introspective remembering of unattended stimuli is poor. We investigated whether performance measures would also show a strong dependence on attention. Subjects performed a serial reaction time task comprised of a repeating 10-trial stimulus sequence. When this task was given under dual-task conditions, acquisition of the sequence as assessed by verbal reports and performance measures was minimal. Patients with Korsakoff's syndrome learned the sequence despite their lack of awareness of the repeating pattern. Results are discussed in terms of the attentional requirements of learning, the relation between learning and awareness, preserved learning in amnesia, and the separation of memory systems.
Two experiments were conducted to examine correction for perceived bias in persuasion situations. Study 1 showed that, although a manipulation of source likability had an impact on attitudes when no instruction to remove bias was present, when people were asked to remove any bias from their judgments, the effect of the source likability manipulation disappeared. The fact that the correction instruction did not increase the impact of an argument quality manipulation on attitudes suggested that effort aimed at correction is conceptually distinct from effort aimed at processing a message in general. Study 2 showed that a correction for source likability took place under low elaboration conditions--where a manipulation of source likability had an impact when no correction instructions were provided, and under high elaboration conditions--where a manipulation of source likability had no impact when no correction instructions were provided. In the high elaboration conditions, correcting for an impact that was not actually present led a dislikable source to be more influential than a likable source. Journal Article
This study investigated age-related differences in the ability to utilize integrative relationships between target and context as a memory support by directly manipulating the relationship between a target picture and context. We hypothesized that as the active integration required between target and cue increased, age differences would increase. Old and young adults were instructed to remember target pictures, each presented with a pictorial cue. The cue/target relationship was one of three types: categorically related (high integration condition), visually interacting (high integration condition), or unrelated and noninteracting (low integration condition). Cued recall of the targets was tested. The results indicated that the poorly integrated target-context relationship produced the largest age difference, supporting the integration hypothesis.
A theory is proposed to account for some of the age-related differences reported in measures of Type A or fluid cognition. The central hypothesis in the theory is that increased age in adulthood is associated with a decrease in the speed with which many processing operations can be executed and that this reduction in speed leads to impairments in cognitive functioning because of what are termed the limited time mechanism and the simultaneity mechanism. That is, cognitive performance is degraded when processing is slow because relevant operations cannot be successfully executed (limited time) and because the products of early processing may no longer be available when later processing is complete (simultaneity). Several types of evidence, such as the discovery of considerable shared age-related variance across various measures of speed and large attenuation of the age-related influences on cognitive measures after statistical control of measures of speed, are consistent with this theory.
Age-related differences in everyday reasoning biases were explored. In each of 2 social domains, examination of theoretical beliefs and biases along 2 dimensions of scientific reasoning, involving the law of large numbers and the evaluation of experimental evidence, revealed that, across age groups, scientific reasoning was used to reject evidence that contradicted prior beliefs; relatively cursory reasoning was used to accept belief-consistent evidence. Biased reasoning was more common among middle-aged and older adults than among young adults. Dispositions to engage in analytic processing were negatively related to biases, but intellectual abilities and bias were not related. The findings support a 2-process view of adult cognitive development and suggest that the tendency to rely on heuristic information processing increases with age.
The role of motivation in determining age differences in social representations was examined. Adults aged 20 to 83 years were given an impression formation task that attempted to manipulate motivation by varying the characteristics of the target and the extent to which participants would be held accountable for their impressions. It was hypothesized that increasing age would be associated with greater selectivity in the use of available cognitive resources to support the construction of accurate representations. Support for this hypothesis was obtained when trait inferences and recall were examined. Specifically, older adults made more accurate trait inferences and recalled more information when the target was similar in age or they were held accountable for their impressions. In contrast, younger adults demonstrated similar levels of accuracy across conditions. The fact that these effects were observed when cognitive resources was controlled suggests a motivational effect that is independent of age differences in cognitive ability.
Age differences in the prevalence and underpinnings of the fundamental attribution error were examined. Young, middle-aged, and older adults observed an actor providing responses to questions about political issues. In the no-choice condition, the actor was instructed how to respond, whereas in the choice condition, he was allowed to select his response. Consistent with previous research, middle-aged adults were less prone to the fundamental attribution error than were young and older adults. This was evidenced by their reduced tendency to make attitude attributions in the no-choice condition relative to the choice condition. Although high levels of both cognitive and attributional complexity were associated with reductions in attributional bias, complexity did not systematically account for the between-age-group differences in performance. It is suggested that the observed pattern of age effects is related to variations in both cognitive complexity and cognitive resources.
The research examined whether age-related cognitive declines affect performance when people form impressions of others. The results from Experiment 1 showed that young and old participants who held positive expectancies about an individual spent more time processing and had better memory for information that was inconsistent rather than consistent with their expectancies. But participants who held negative expectancies tended to focus on information that was consistent rather than inconsistent with their expectancies. In Experiment 2 the task was made more demanding by limiting the amount of time participants had to form their impressions. Under these conditions, older participants who had positive expectations showed deficits in memory for negative information compared with young participants. As expected, both groups performed similarly when they held negative expectancies for the target. The results suggest that although both older and younger adults process social information similarly under self-paced conditions, older adults may be at a disadvantage processing negative information about positively characterized individuals when the context in which impression formation occurs is cognitively demanding.
We examined the degree to which the dispositional biases observed in older adults reflect their use of the situational information available to them. Using the paradigm of Jones and Harris, we had young, middle-aged, and older adults read essays that were written under constrained or unconstrained conditions and estimate the writer's attitude. Middle-aged and older adults demonstrated a larger correspondence bias, that is, inferring the target's true attitude to be consistent with the essay content in the no-choice condition. Studies 2 and 3 increased the salience of the situational constraint placed on the target and found that perceptually increasing salience did not have an impact on age differences in attribution ratings. However, when the situational constraints reflected plausible motives for the target's essay writing behavior, the age differences between young and older adults were eliminated.
This article explores the relation of age to manifestations and antecedents of attitude strength. Three studies demonstrate that susceptibility to attitude change is greater during early and late adulthood than during middle adulthood. Three additional studies demonstrate that attitude importance, certainty, and perceived quantity of attitude-relevant knowledge are greater in middle adulthood than during early or late adulthood. These antecedents may therefore explain life cycle shifts in susceptibility to change. Susceptibility to change, importance, certainty, and perceived knowledge differ from one another in;terms of their correlations with education, gender and race, challenging the notion that attitude strength is a unitary construct. Evidence that people incorrectly believe that susceptibility to change declines steadily over the life course reinforces the distinction between operative and meta-attitudinal measures of attitude strength.
The term working memory refers to a brain system that provides temporary storage and manipulation of the information necessary for such complex cognitive tasks as language comprehension, learning, and reasoning. This definition has evolved from the concept of a unitary short-term memory system. Working memory has been found to require the simultaneous storage and processing of information. It can be divided into the following three subcomponents: (i) the central executive, which is assumed to be an attentional-controlling system, is important in skills such as chess playing and is particularly susceptible to the effects of Alzheimer's disease; and two slave systems, namely (ii) the visuospatial sketch pad, which manipulates visual images and (iii) the phonological loop, which stores and rehearses speech-based information and is necessary for the acquisition of both native and second-language vocabulary.
The term working memory refers to a brain system that provides temporary storage and manipulation of the information necessary
for such complex cognitive tasks as language comprehension, learning, and reasoning. This definition has evolved from the
concept of a unitary short-term memory system. Working memory has been found to require the simultaneous storage and processing
of information. It can be divided into the following three subcomponents: (i) the central executive, which is assumed to be
an attentional-controlling system, is important in skills such as chess playing and is particularly susceptible to the effects
of Alzheimer's disease; and two slave systems, namely (ii) the visuospatial sketch pad, which manipulates visual images and
(iii) the phonological loop, which stores and rehearses speech-based information and is necessary for the acquisition of both
native and second-language vocabulary.
This study examined the possibility that increased speech rate can affect persuasion either by acting as an agreement cue or through its impact on message processing. Participants heard messages that were either moderate or high in personal relevance, consisted of weak or strong arguments, and were presented at either moderate (180 words per minute) or fast (220 wpm) rates of speech. Consistent with hypotheses derived from the elaboration likelihood model, fast speech served to inhibit participants' tendency to differentially agree with strong versus weak message arguments under both moderate and high relevance. However; fast speech was associated with increased persuasion only for moderate involvement subjects, and this influence was mediated by perceptions of source credibility. Polarity of message-based elaborations predicted attitudes of both moderately and highly involved subjects. Thus, central and peripheral route processes appeared to be co-occurring for moderately involved participants.
The present study tested strategies to help older adults correct their context-induced biases. Two hundred and seventy-two young and older adults participated in this study. Participants read vignettes about two target persons, with true statements printed in black and false statements (either positive or negative trait information) printed in red. Participants in the no-strategy condition were asked to rate the target persons on the relevant trait scales immediately after reading the vignettes. Participants in the feedback condition took a traditional source memory test and received feedback of correct sources of true and false statements. For the participants in the next two conditions, accountability was induced either before or after they encoded information about the target persons. It was found that the feedback manipulation helped older adults correct their context-induced biases. In addition, accountability induced before encoding helped older adults reduce their context-induced biases, whereas accountability induced after encoding did not help.
Two experiments were conducted to test the Spinozan model of believing. Because of their reduced cognitive resources, older adults were predicted to be more likely than young adults to believe false information. Experiment 1 used a dispositional attribution paradigm to test this hypothesis. Young and older adults were exposed to both true and false (either positive or negative) trait information about the target persons. Participants then made dispositional ratings and evaluated the target persons on overall likeability scales. Results supported the Spinozan model of believing. Older adults were more likely than young adults to believe false information and their dispositional ratings were reliably biased by the valence of false information. Experiment 2 further examined whether these false beliefs of older adults were actually conscious beliefs. It was found that older adults consciously recollected the false statements as true and these false beliefs mediated age differences in dispositional attribution.
These studies examined the facilitative role of verbal and pictorial elaborations in younger and older adults' recall of verbal material. During acquisition, subjects studied short sentences under one of several encoding/retrieval conditions where the presence of verbal and pictorial elaborations was systematically varied. Subjects later recalled the target adjectives, given the sentence frames as a prompt. In Experiment 1, explanatory verbal elaborations at study and test enhanced verbal recall for both age groups, but no benefit of pictorial elaborations was observed. In Experiment 2, pictorial elaborations improved recall for both age groups. A significant Age x Encoding Condition interaction effect revealed that the benefit was especially pronounced for the older adults. the implications of these results for understanding the facilitative effects of pictorial illustrations on older adults. recall of verbal material are discussed.
Previous attitude-attribution studies indicate that people are often quick to draw conclusions about the attitudes and personalities of others-even when plausible external or situational causes for behavior exist (an affect known as the overattribution effect or fundamental attribution error). This experiment explores whether accountability-pressures to justify one's causal interpretations of behavior to others-reduces or eliminates this bias. Subjects were exposed to an essay that supported or opposed affirmative action. They were informed that the essay writer had freely chosen or had been assigned the position he took. Finally, subjects either did not expect to justify their impressions of the essay writer or expected to justify their impressions either before or after exposure to the stimulus information. The results replicated previous findings when subjects did not feel accountable for their impressions of the essay writer or learned of being accountable only after viewing the stimulus information. Subjects attributed essay-consistent attitudes to the writer even when the writer had been assigned the task of advocating a particular position. Subjects were, however, significantly more sensitive to situational determinants of the essay writer's behavior when they felt accountable for their impressions prior to viewing the stimulus information. The results suggest that accountability eliminated the overattribution effect by affecting how subjects initially encoded and analyzed stimulus information.
This chapter advances to a testable middle-range theory predicated on the politician metaphor: the social contingency model of judgment and choice. This model does not map neatly in any of the traditional levels of analysis: the individual, the small group, the organization, and political system. The unit of study is the individual in relation to these social milieux. The model borrows, qualifies, and elaborates on the cognitive miser image of the thinker that has been so influential in experimental work on social cognition. The model adopts the approval and status-seeker image of human nature that has been so influential in role theory, symbolic interactionism, and impression management theory. The model draws on sociological and anthropological theory concerning the necessary conditions for social order in positing accountability to be a universal feature of natural decision environments. The social contingency model is not tightly linked to any particular methodology. The theoretical eclecticism of the model demands a corresponding commitment to methodological eclecticism. The social contingency model poses problems that cross disciplinary boundaries, and that require a plurality of methodologies. The chapter ends with considering the potential problem of proliferating metaphors in social psychological theory.
Three experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that primacy effects, ethnic stereotyping, and numerical anchoring all represent “epistemic freezing” in which the lay-knower becomes less aware of plausible alternative hypotheses and/or inconsistent bits of evidence competing with a given judgment. It was hypothesized that epistemic freezing would increase with an increase in time pressure on the lay-knower to make a judgment and decrease with the layknower's fear that his/her judgment will be evaluated and possibly be in error. Accordingly, it was predicted that primacy effects, ethnic stereotyping, and anchoring phenomena would increase in magnitude with an increase in time pressure and decrease in magnitude with an increase in evaluation apprehension. Finally, the time-pressure variations were expected to have greater impact upon “freezing” when the evaluation apprehension is high as opposed to low. All hypotheses were supported in each of the presently executed studies.
This research examines how the major phenomena of visual search for single characters generalize to word search and word-category search. Experiment 1 examined word and category visual search when the target and distractor sets had a varied mapping (VM) across trials. Reaction time was a linear function of the number of comparisons with a positive slope of 48 msec per word, 92 msec per category. The VM reaction time data indicated a self-terminating comparison process, and there was little or no improvement with practice. Experiment 2 examined search with a consistent mapping (CM) between targets and distractors. Category search slope dropped to 2 msec, and the function became nonlinear. Word search slope dropped to 18 msec, but the function became nonlinear. Word search slope dropped to 18 msec, but the function was still linear. Experiment 3 examined category detection carried out concurrently with serial recall of digits, allowing assessment of search performance under high workload. High workload caused a severe performance reduction in VM category search, and this decrement did not decrease with practice. High workload reduced initial performance in CM category search, but this decrement was eliminated with practice. The present category search results are similar to previous letter search results. Four principles of search are discussed in the context of a theory of automatic/control processing.
This study introduces an attributional processing approach to study age differences in dispositional attributions. Dispositional attributions made in the context of relationship vignettes were examined among younger and older adults in 2 conditions (immediate and delayed rating conditions). By using a direct assessment of a 2-step process for making dispositional attributions, it was inferred that a spontaneous adjustment stage occurred following an initial characterization stage as a function of age group and content of vignettes. Older adults made lower dispositional ratings if they were given more time to think about the situations than if asked to make an immediate judgment. By contrast, younger adults made higher dispositional ratings if they were given more time to make the judgments. Qualitative analyses of schemas elicited by a subsample of participants for each vignette suggested a relationship between dispositional attributional ratings and content-evoked schemas.
This article explores the relation of age to manifestations and antecedents of attitude strength. Three studies demonstrate that susceptibility to attitude change is greater during early and late adulthood than during middle adulthood. Three additional studies demonstrate that attitude importance, certainty, and perceived quantity of attitude-relevant knowledge are greater in middle adulthood than during early or late adulthood. These antecedents may therefore explain life cycle shifts in susceptibility to change. Susceptibility to change, importance, certainty, and perceived knowledge differ from one another in terms of their correlations with education, gender, and race, challenging the notion that attitude strength is a unitary construct. Evidence that people incorrectly believe that susceptibility to change declines steadily over the life course reinforces the distinction between operative and meta-attitudinal measures of attitude strength.
Using multiple classification models applied to self-report data on initiation of drug use from nine National Household Surveys on Drug Abuse conducted between 1982 and 1995, this paper shows that the directions of change in period and cohort effects were similar for marijuana and alcohol and for males and females. Period effects--indicative and societal tolerance or support for drug use during 5-year periods between 1961 and 1990--declined between the early 1970s and late 1980s, while cohort effects--indicative of early experiences of birth cohorts favoring drug use--increased. One interpretation is that trends in incidence were determined by two opposing vectors of social forces: Beginning in the 1970s, changes in social policies, values, and drug markets--as reflected in period effects--increasingly acted to reduce incidence, while changes in conditions of childhood socialization--as reflected in cohort effects--increasingly facilitated or encouraged incidence. Especially for marijuana, the increase in cohort effects is larger among females, which gives rise to gender convergence--approximately equal male and female incidence rates for both drugs--by the late 1980s. An innovative method of the paper is the adjustment of incidence rates for reporting bias.
This study use a false information paradigm to study age differences in the correction of social judgments. Younger and older adults read 2 criminal reports, with true information printed in black and false information in red. Following the reports, all participants were asked to recommend prison terms among other ratings. Age differences in baseline measures were also assessed by corresponding control groups who read only true information. Compared with younger adults under full attention, older adults under full attention and younger adults under divided attention were reliably influenced by the nature of the false statements (either extenuating or exacerbating the severity of the crimes). When contrasted with their relevant control groups, older adults under full attention and younger adults under divided attention failed to correct their social judgments. This study lends support to a processing resource explanation for age differences in the correction process for social judgments.
Previous research has demonstrated that older adults are more susceptible than young adults to context-induced biases in social judgments. The primary goal of this study was to examine the conditions under which older adults could or could not correct their biases. Young and older adults completed a social judgment task that normally would produce contrast biases in 3 correction cue conditions: no cue, subtle cue, and blatant cue. It was found that both young and older adults corrected their biases in the blatant cue condition, but only young adults corrected in the subtle cue condition. The results suggest that older adults may need more environmental support in correcting their biases.