The ‘Positive Effect’ Is Present in Older Chinese Adults: Evidence from an Eye Tracking Study

Wang, Jingxin; He, Lei; Jia, Liping; Tian, Jing; Benson, Valerie

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0121372

Cited by 11 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…For instance, Mather and Carstensen (2005) in a review article found that as people get older, they experience fewer negative emotions. The same positive emotion effect has been found in Chinese older adults from an eye-tracking study (Wang, He, & Jia et al, 2015). Older adults show more emotionally gratifying memory distortion for post choices and autobiographical information than younger adults do.…”

Section: Attitude Toward Ageingsupporting

confidence: 69%

Mind over Body: Positive attitude and flexible control beliefs on positive aging

et al. 2015

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Positive attitude toward aging and a flexible coping style have been found to facilitate successful aging. Cognitive beliefs such as hope and positive attitude towards aging has been found to slow down the negative impact of aging on brain functions; furthermore, the negative effect of stress on aging can be ameliorated by the moderating effects of goal oriented and situation driven selection and compensation of different coping strategies. An empirical study conducted in Singapore is presented. Using both the primary control belief strategies and the secondary control beliefs and strategies, Singaporean elderly studied (ages of 55 and 84 (males: N=81; females: N= 50) showed positive adjustment. Different coping strategies showed different effects on different symptoms assessed by the General Health Questionnaire. We trace the philosophical origins of the Asian conceptualization of lifespan development and the positive beliefs and values on aging to show that: In this modern Asian community, the traditional beliefs and values still persist. With a more positive conceptualization of aging, the Singaporean elderly are actively engaging in situation-oriented and goal-driven selection of a variety of coping strategies to manage their aging.

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Section: Attitude Toward Ageingsupporting

confidence: 69%

Mind over Body: Positive attitude and flexible control beliefs on positive aging

et al. 2015

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“…The age-related positivity effect, which was quite commonly found in the US (see Scheibe & Carstensen, 2010 for a review) was replicated in East Asian cultures in some studies (e.g., Chung & Lin, 2012;Gong et al, 2014;Ko et al, 2011;Kwon et al, 2009;Wang et al, 2015;Zhang et al, 2016), but not others (Fung et al, 2008;Fung & Tang, 2005 with younger adults. These results are consistent with prior findings that there is an age-related positivity effect on gaze preference among US Americans (e.g., Isaacowitz et al, 2006), but no such effect, or even a reverse effect, among Hong Kong Chinese (e.g., Fung et al, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Cultural differences in the age-related positivity effect: Distinguishing between preference and effectiveness.

Fung¹,

Gong²,

Ngo³

et al. 2019

Emotion

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Prior studies have found mixed results regarding whether there are cultural differences in the age-related positivity effect, defined as older adults showing a greater bias in cognitive processing for positively over negatively and neutrally valenced information relative to younger adults. This study attempted to address this controversy by examining visual attention toward culturally relevant versus irrelevant pictures that differed in valence among younger and older US Americans and Hong Kong Chinese. Preferences (attentional biases toward particular valence) and effectiveness (whether the attentional biases are associated with better mood) were also distinguished. Findings revealed that regardless of cultural relevance of the pictures, older US Americans showed more gaze preference for positive over negative pictures compared to younger adults; this age difference was not found among Hong Kong Chinese. In contrast, older Hong Kong Chinese showed better mood as a function of more gaze preference for positive over negative pictures. Younger Hong Kong Chinese, and younger and older US Americans did not show this association. The results suggest that an age-related positivity effect exists at the preference level for US Americans, but at the effectiveness level for Chinese.

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“…When Korean participants were compared to US participants, Korean older adults show a similar age-related positivity effect to US older adults in memory tasks (Kwon et al, 2009 ; Ko et al, 2011 ). A recent study also reveals that Chinese older adults demonstrate larger preferences toward positive stimuli in attention (Wang et al, 2015 ) as observed in US older adults (Knight et al, 2007 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 77%

The Role of Cognitive Control in Age-Related Changes in Well-Being

Yagi

Nouchi

Murayama

et al. 2020

Front. Aging Neurosci.

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Maintaining emotional well-being in late life is crucial for achieving successful and healthy aging. While previous research from Western cultures has documented that emotional well-being improves as individuals get older, previous research provided mixed evidence on the effects of age on well-being in Eastern Asian cultures. However, previous studies in East Asia do not always take into account the effects of cognitive control-an ability which has been considered as a key to enable older adults to regulate their emotions. In the current study, we tested whether cognitive control abilities interact with age in determining individuals' well-being in 59 Japanese females (age range: 26-79; M age = 64.95). Participants' mental health and mental fatigue were tracked for 5 years together with their cognitive control abilities. We found that as individuals became older, they showed improved mental health and decreased mental fatigue. In addition, we found a quadratic effect of age on mental fatigue, which was further qualified by baseline cognitive control abilities. Specifically, in those who had a lower level of cognitive control abilities, mental fatigue declined until the mid-60s, at which point it started increasing (a U-shape effect). In contrast, in those who had a higher level of cognitive control ability, mental fatigue showed a steady decrease with age even after their mid-60s. These results suggest that whether advancing age is associated with positive vs. negative changes in well-being depends on cognitive control abilities, and that preserved cognitive control is a key to maintain well-being in late life.

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The ‘Positive Effect’ Is Present in Older Chinese Adults: Evidence from an Eye Tracking Study

Cited by 11 publications

References 34 publications

Mind over Body: Positive attitude and flexible control beliefs on positive aging

Mind over Body: Positive attitude and flexible control beliefs on positive aging

Cultural differences in the age-related positivity effect: Distinguishing between preference and effectiveness.

The Role of Cognitive Control in Age-Related Changes in Well-Being

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