Positive versus negative priming of older adults' generative value: do negative messages impair memory?

Give and take? Knowledge exchange between older and younger employees as a function of generativity and development striving

Purpose

Knowledge exchange between older and younger employees enhances the collective memory of an organization and therefore contributes to its business success. The purpose of this paper is to take a motivational perspective to better understand why older and younger employees share and receive knowledge with and from each other. Specifically, this study focuses on generativity striving – the motivation to teach, train and guide others – as well as development striving – the motivation to grow, increase competence and master something new – and argues that both motives need to be considered to fully understand intergenerational knowledge exchange.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper takes a dyadic approach to disentangle how older employees’ knowledge sharing is linked to their younger colleagues’ knowledge receiving and vice versa. The study applied an actor-partner interdependence model based on survey data from 145 age-diverse coworker dyads to test the hypotheses.

Findings

Results showed that older and younger employees’ generativity striving affected their knowledge sharing, which, in turn, predicted their colleagues’ knowledge receiving. Moreover, the study found that younger employees were more likely to receive knowledge that their older colleagues shared with them when they scored higher (vs lower) on development striving.

Originality/value

By studying the age-specific dyadic cross-over between knowledge sharing and knowledge receiving, this research adds to the knowledge exchange literature. This study challenges the current age-blind view on knowledge exchange motivation and provides novel insights into the interplay of motivational forces involved in knowledge exchange between older and younger employees.

The assessment of views on ageing: a review of self-report measures and innovative extensions

This is a review of existing self-report measures for assessing views on ageing. It provides an overview of instruments, for which basic psychometric properties are available and describes them according to the purposes for which they are suitable. Literature search resulted in the inclusion of 89 instruments which were categorised along eight dimensions. The majority of measures focus on explicit cognitions about people's own age and ageing or other (older) people. A substantial amount of tools account for the multidimensionality and multidirectionality of views on ageing, i.e. the idea that ageing is accompanied by both gains and losses in several different domains. To some extent, measures reflect that ageing is a long-term process and that views on ageing are malleable, rather than just stable traits. Cluster analysis revealed heterogeneity in instruments regarding the dimensions of Ecosystem, Balance, Stability, Dynamics, and Complexity. It becomes apparent, however, that approaches to measure views on ageing should be extended to more specifically target the implicit level as well as affective, physiological, and behavioural manifestations. Additionally, means for capturing views on ageing on the societal level and tools with a distinct time reference are needed. This is particularly important when one wants to account for the lifelong dynamics of views on ageing.

Confucian Values as a Buffer Against Age-Based Stereotype Threat for Chinese Older Adults

OBJECTIVES

Research has shown that stereotype threat can impair older adults' memory in Western cultures. We tested whether this also occurs for older adults from the East Asian Chinese culture. We also tested whether an intervention that highlighted Confucian principles would protect Chinese older adults from stereotype threat's detrimental effects.

METHOD

Culturally-Chinese older adults residing in the United States completed a memory test either under age-based stereotype threat about cognitive decline or not. Prior to this, some participants were also reminded of Confucian traditions of filial piety and were assured these values had been transmitted to the younger generation.

RESULTS

Stereotype threat impaired Chinese older adults' memory performance. However, our intervention was effective in eliminating this deficit. When the Chinese participants were reminded of the Confucian principle of filial piety they did not exhibit stereotype threat effects.

DISCUSSION

Confirming that younger adults have an obligation to respect their elders can eliminate the social-evaluative pressure of stereotype threat for Chinese older adults. These findings are noteworthy since population aging is happening at an unprecedented pace in East Asia. Although our results suggest that stereotype threat can adversely affect older adults' cognitive performance in these societies, we also identify a culturally-based intervention to alleviate this impairment.

Failure to Meet Generative Self-Expectations is Linked to Poorer Cognitive-Affective Well-Being

OBJECTIVES

Generativity, or concern with contributing to others, is theorized to be an important goal of mid-to-late life. Greater self-perceptions of generativity are associated with better well-being over time. The aim of this study is to examine how generative self-perceptions and failure to meet generative expectations over time are linked to specific cognitive-affective states (feelings of connectedness, self-worth, and positive affect), and consequently, life satisfaction.

METHOD

Analyses used data from Waves 2 and 3 of the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS). Multiple mediation was utilized to assess whether these cognitive-affective states linked generative failure to decreased life satisfaction. A Johnson-Neyman moderation analysis determined whether these associations vary with age.

RESULTS

In demographically adjusted regressions, generative contributions and expectations were associated with greater perceived social connectedness, self-worth, and positive effect. Generative failure was associated with lower life satisfaction, a link that was strongest in the middle-aged and young-old and mediated by the cognitive-affective states.

DISCUSSION

Greater feelings of generativity, and more positive expectations for future contributions, are associated cross-sectionally and over time with better affective well-being. Positive affect, social connectedness, and self-worth may partially explain why generative failure over time is linked to decreased life satisfaction.

When Older Adults Outperform Young Adults: Effects of Prior-Task Success in Arithmetic

BACKGROUND

Older adults improve their cognitive performance on a target task after succeeding in a prior task. We tested whether effects of prior-task success occur via changing older adults' ability to select the better strategy and/or to execute strategies efficiently.

METHODS

Young and older participants (n = 162) accomplished a computational estimation task (i.e., providing the best estimates to arithmetic problems) after accomplishing a dot comparison task.

RESULTS

Both groups increased their performance on computational estimation following success on dot comparison. Older adults improved most and outperformed young adults following prior-task success. Prior-task success led older adults to select the better strategy more often and to repeat (or not) the same strategy more often when it was appropriate. Better strategy use mediated effects of prior-task success. Individual differences in baseline performance moderated individuals' sensitivity to effects of prior-task success.

CONCLUSION

Our findings further our understanding of mechanisms underlying effects of prior-task success and provide new perspectives on how social environment modulates age-related differences in cognitive performance.