The 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has broadly impacted our daily lives. Here, we used a longitudinal approach to investigate older adults’ mood and expectations regarding aging before and during the global pandemic (Study 1). We also examined age differences in mood, expectations regarding aging, COVID-19 attitudes, and loneliness using a cross-sectional approach (Study 2). In Study 1, older adults completed a mood and expectations regarding aging survey up to 2 years prior to the pandemic and again in April, 2020 (during the pandemic). Participants also completed surveys regarding COVID-19 attitudes and loneliness. In Study 2, a United States sample of younger and older adults completed these surveys during the pandemic. Older adults’ mood and expectations regarding aging remained fairly constant, and younger adults showed lower mood and expectations regarding aging than did older adults, despite older adults showing greater concern about COVID-19. Overall, we find that some older adults seem to be resilient with respect to their mood and expectations regarding aging. These findings reveal important preliminary implications for how older adults may be impacted as a result of lifestyle changes necessary for well-being and the well-being of society.

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Aging is associated with declines in cognitive functioning and memory; however, research has shown that older adults can and do compensate for these declines in a variety of ways. This chapter discusses various theories of motivational shifts in older adulthood, older adults’ ability to selectively remember important information, and the importance of prior knowledge in the ability to compensate for declines in memory and cognition as a result of aging. Older adults can also use their metacognitive awareness to engage in strategies to improve memory for goal-specific information by selectively allocating attentional resources to what is most important. Intrinsic motivational influences on memory and cognition, such as emotion and curiosity, are also discussed. The chapter presents an overview of how metacognition, curiosity, emotion, goals, and strategic encoding can bias and enhance memory selectivity such that older adults are often tuned to remember what is most important.