A multifactorial training program was developed for older adults, to improve self-efficacy and memory performance. Elements designed to raise self-efficacy were integrated into class discussions, homework readings, and practice exercises, including an emphasis on memory potential at any age, self-set goals, and opportunities for mastery. Strategy training focused on association, organization, attention, imagery, and PQRST. Significant improvements for the training group, as compared to a wait-list control group, were observed for memory self-efficacy, locus of control, name recall and story recall. Trained participants were using effective strategies more so than the control group. Final test scores were predicted by self-efficacy, condition assignment, and baseline ability (with some variation across the three tasks). These findings suggest that an integrated and comprehensive training program that incorporates principles of self-efficacy theory has great potential for improving older adults' memory ability.

Earlier research suggested that goal setting for memory does not have the same advantages for older adults as for younger adults. Using ideal goal-setting conditions with individualized goals, the authors compared goals plus positive feedback, goals plus objective feedback, and control. Performance increased over trials and was higher for both goal conditions than for control. The positive feedback condition showed the highest goal commitment and motivation. Older adults showed strong performance gains and more motivation and goal commitment than the young. The results showed that older adults can benefit from goal setting under optimal learning and feedback conditions.

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Research has established that challenging memory goals always lead to score increases for younger adults, and can increase older adults' scores under supportive conditions. This study examined beliefs and on-task effort as potential mechanisms for these self-regulatory gains, in particular to learn whether episodic memory gains across multiple trials of shopping list recall are controlled by the same factors for young and old people. Goals with feedback led to higher recall and strategic categorisation than a control condition. Strategy usage was the strongest predictor of gains over trials for both age groups. Age, goal condition, and effort also predicted scores across the entire sample. Older adults' gains, but not younger adults' gains, were affected significantly by the interaction of self-efficacy beliefs and goal condition, and condition interacted with locus of control to predict younger adult gains. These results emphasise the importance of self-regulatory effort and positive beliefs for facilitating goal-related memory gains.

We examined the relationships among age, health, beliefs, and possible-selves. Using a new approach based on health-related possible-selves, young-old and older individuals were separated into specific health types: (1) improvement or maintenance health hopes and (2) preventable or unpreventable health fears. The young-old perceived greater capability to achieve health hopes and reported more health activities than older individuals; the older group reported more maintenance than improvement. More unpreventable fears were related to experiencing higher pain and worse physical functioning. Health types provide useful information about individual differences in health behavior and beliefs and are sensitive to current health status.