Year: 2017
Type: conference-abstract
Abstract: According to socioemotional selectivity theory (SST; Carstensen & Lang, 1996; Lang & Carstensen, 2002), perceiving time as limited motivates people to selectively structure their daily lives in ways that enhance emotional meaning and experience. To our knowledge, however, no studies have tested whether future time perspective is associated with emotional well-being as a function of selectivity. We predicted that positive emotional experience results when time is perceived as limited and environments provide opportunities to be selective. In Study 1, a life-span sample of 177 adults (aged 18–93) reported their future time perspective (Carstensen & Lang, 1996). We operationalized selectivity as participants’ perceived level of autonomy and environmental mastery (using subscales of Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Scale; Ryff, 1989). Participants also reported emotional experience on 35 occasions randomly sampled over one week. Positive emotional experience was calculated by subtracting mean negative affect from mean positive affect, disaggregated by arousal level (e.g., low arousal positive–high arousal negative). We found that limited future time perspectives predicted greater low-arousal positive emotional experience, but only for people who reported a high level of perceived selectivity. These findings demonstrate that perceiving time as limited enhances emotional experience under conditions that permit selectivity. Results from a related study of emotional experience and inescapable daily stressors in family caregivers will also be presented. The findings lend support to SST’s claim that enhanced emotional experience in people who perceive a limited future is due to selectivity, and help to clarify the understanding of age-related improvements in emotional functioning.
Source: Innovation in Aging
Authors: S. Raposo, T. Sims, J. Barnes, L.L. Carstensen
Institution: Stanford University
Language: English
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,977
OpenAlex ID: W2729882457