Commentaries

Freund, Alexandra M.; Riediger, Michaela

doi:10.1111/1464-0597.00063

Cited by 62 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 55 publications

(50 reference statements)

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“…Younger adults might be less willing to spend resources such as money on anything but themselves because they need these resources to achieve important developmental goals. Taking an evolutionary perspective, Freund and Riediger (2001) argued that the accumulation and display of resources is particularly important in young adulthood. First, young adults typically have not yet had the same amount of time and number of opportunities to acquire and accumulate resources as middle-aged or older adults have.…”

Section: Age and Altruismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on the hypothesis that altruism-in the sense of a willingness to contribute to the public good, such as the environment or charitable donations-increases with age, these studies investigate adult age-related differences in self-reported and behavioral altruism. As will be elaborated in more detail below, this hypothesis is based on the assumption that maximizing one's own resources becomes less important with increasing age (Freund & Riediger, 2001), and that the shorter future time perspective associated with older adulthood activates altruistic values (see also Brandtstädter, Rothermund, Kranz, & Kühn, 2010;Ritter & Freund, in press). …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Age-related differences in altruism across adulthood: Making personal financial gain versus contributing to the public good.

Freund¹,

Blanchard‐Fields²

2014

Developmental Psychology

121

116

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Four studies utilizing different methodological approaches investigated adult age-related differences in altruism (i.e., contributions to the public good) and the self-centered value of increasing personal wealth. In Study 1, data from the World Values Survey (World Values Survey Association, 2009) provided 1st evidence of a negative association between age and the self-reported wish to be rich. Ecological concerns, a form of contributing to the public good, were positively related to age. Study 2 investigated whether these values are expressed behaviorally when participants solved a complex problem that allowed striving for monetary gains or contributing to a public good. Confirming hypotheses, young adults' strategies were consistent with the aim of optimizing personal financial gain, and older adults' strategies with the aim to contribute to the public good. Studies 3 and 4 showed that older adults were more likely than younger and middle-aged adults to donate money to a good cause than to keep it for themselves. Study 4 manipulated participants' future time perspective as a factor potentially contributing to age-related differences. Partly confirming hypotheses, a longer time perspective reduced donations by older adults, but a shorter time perspective did not increase donations by younger adults. These studies suggest that older adults not only report valuing contributions to the public good more highly but also are more likely to behave altruistically than younger adults. All studies used cross-sectional designs that prevent a strict test of developmental trajectories but rather provide age-related differences at 1 point in time, representing a 1st step in investigating adult age-related differences in altruism. Accepted for publication in DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY Author NoteWe would like to acknowledge financial support for this research from funds of the Swiss National Program for Gender Equality to Alexandra M. Freund. Many thanks for helping in programming the problem-solving task used in Study 2 go to Klaus Oberauer and for assistance in data-collection to Juerg Graf. Thanks also to Marie Hennecke, and Maida Mustafic for collection of the data reported in Studies 3 and 4, as well as to Tamara Herz and Chris Napolitano for carefully editing the manuscript.At the time of data collection of Study 2 Fredda Blanchard-Fields was at the Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Psychology, Atlanta, GA, USA. Sadly, Fredda Blanchard-Fields died on August 3 rd , 2010, so she could not be involved in Studies 3 and 4. However, she was involved in the conception of this research as well as in the discussion of results of Study 2 and the writing of a previous version of this manuscript based on Study 2. Address correspondence to Alexandra M. Freund at the University of Zurich, Dept. of Psychology, Binzmuehlestrasse 11 / 14, CH -8050 Zurich, email: freund@psychologie.uzh.ch. 2 AbstractFour studies utilizing different methodological approaches investigated adult age-related

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Section: Age and Altruismmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Age-related differences in altruism across adulthood: Making personal financial gain versus contributing to the public good.

Freund¹,

Blanchard‐Fields²

2014

Developmental Psychology

121

116

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show abstract

“…Moreover, developmental tasks in young adulthood are primarily geared toward gains (e.g., attaining an education, getting a job, founding a family), whereas those in older adulthood reflect primarily the avoidance of losses (e.g., maintaining health-related and cognitive functioning in the face of age-related decline; Freund & Ebner, 2005). In the developmental phase of younger adulthood, then, attaining gains seems of primary importance in order to achieve developmental tasks and accumulate resources that are important for further development (Freund & Riediger, 2001). In contrast, the maintenance of functioning and avoidance of losses should become more important in older adulthood when losses in resources threaten functioning (Freund & Ebner, 2005).…”

Section: Motivational Changes Across Adulthoodmentioning

confidence: 99%

When choice matters: Task-dependent memory effects in older adulthood.

Freund¹

2013

Psychology and Aging

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As goal orientation shifts across adulthood from a primary orientation toward gains to an increased importance of the prevention of losses, older adults' information processing may be particularly sensitive to potential losses if there is a possibility of avoiding them. In line with these motivational changes, we expected older adults to remember more loss-related information when choosing between 2 options than when not having to make a decision and when compared with younger adults. Using an incidental memory paradigm, we asked younger and older adults to recall as much information as possible of 2 previously presented hypothetical travel packages (Experiment 1) or 2 hospitals (Experiment 2) containing positive (gain-related), negative (loss-related), and neutral information in either a decision or a control condition (evaluating the readability of the texts). Experiment 1 showed that older adults remembered more negative information than younger adults and more negative than positive information in the choice but not in the control condition. Experiment 2 followed the same procedure using a choice between 2 hospitals for minor surgery. This choice was assumed to trigger a stronger orientation toward the prevention of losses than the choice between travel packages. As expected, in this situation, both age groups remembered more negative information relative to neutral and positive information regardless of the condition (choice vs. control). Importantly, older adults remembered more negative information in the choice condition compared with younger adults. Taken together, results suggest that the processing of decision-relevant information promotes a stronger focus on negative information in older adults.

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“…In this way, accumulated resources may be seen as a safeguard against the potential loss from future stressors. Resource accumulation reflects future-oriented thinking and a proactive approach to coping with future events (Aspinwall, 2005;Schwarzer, 2001). Resource surpluses thus should be associated with more positive outcomes (Hobfoll, 1989).…”

Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Daily hassles and uplifts: A diary study on understanding relationship quality.

Totenhagen

Serido

Curran

et al. 2012

Journal of Family Psychology

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In this investigation, we use the Conservation of Resources (CoR) theory as a guide to examine how both uplifts and hassles are associated with positive (e.g., satisfaction, commitment) and negative (ambivalence, conflict) relational quality on a daily basis. In previous studies of hassles and uplifts, the focus has been primarily on negative outcomes at the individual level (e.g., affect). Here, we build on this previous research in examining both positive and negative events (i.e., uplifts and hassles) in associations with positive and negative relational qualities. Further, we focus on examining social and nonsocial events that are external to the relationship (i.e., do not involve the romantic partner) and how they are linked with relational qualities. Finally, we examine which patterns are confined to the same day and which carry over to subsequent days (i.e., lagged effects). Contrary to previous literature, we find that both social and nonsocial hassles are largely unrelated to relationship quality after accounting for the effects of social and nonsocial uplifts. In contrast, nonsocial uplifts bolster positive feelings about the relationship on that day. Results also show that hassles and uplifts may work together to explain relational commitment. Finally, we find that nonsocial uplifts experienced on one day are associated with trend-level declines in next day positive feelings about the relationship. Our findings suggest that preserving relationship quality through daily experiences is best achieved by equipping couples to recognize the benefits of uplifts to the relationship, especially uplifts that are nonsocial, in tandem with managing hassles.

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Commentaries

Cited by 62 publications

References 55 publications

Age-related differences in altruism across adulthood: Making personal financial gain versus contributing to the public good.

Age-related differences in altruism across adulthood: Making personal financial gain versus contributing to the public good.

When choice matters: Task-dependent memory effects in older adulthood.

Daily hassles and uplifts: A diary study on understanding relationship quality.

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