Age differences in empathy: Multidirectional and context-dependent

Psychology and Aging

Volumn 30, Issue 2, 2015, Pages 407-419

  Wieck, Cornelia ^a   Kunzmann, Ute ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LEIPZIG   (Germany)

Author keywords

Adult life span; Age differences; Emotional congruence; Empathic accuracy; Sympathy

Indexed keywords

ACCURACY; ADULT; AGE DISTRIBUTION; AGED; ANGER; ARTICLE; AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY; CONTROLLED STUDY; EMOTIONALITY; EMPATHY; FEMALE; HAPPINESS; HUMAN; HUMAN EXPERIMENT; NORMAL HUMAN; SADNESS; STIMULUS RESPONSE; VISUAL STIMULATION; AGE; AGING; EMOTION; EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE; EPISODIC MEMORY; MIDDLE AGED; MOVIE; PSYCHOLOGY; THINKING; VERY ELDERLY; YOUNG ADULT;

ADULT; AGE FACTORS; AGED; AGED, 80 AND OVER; AGING; ANGER; EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE; EMOTIONS; EMPATHY; FEMALE; HAPPINESS; HUMANS; MEMORY, EPISODIC; MIDDLE AGED; MOTION PICTURES AS TOPIC; THINKING; YOUNG ADULT;

EID: 84930763885     PISSN: 08827974     EISSN: 19391498     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1037/a0039001     Document Type: Article

References (55)

1. Adolphs, R. (2002). Recognizing emotion from facial expressions: Psychological and neurological mechanisms. Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Reviews, 1, 21- 62. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1534582302001001003
2. Adolphs, R. (2006). How do we know the minds of others? Domainspecificity, simulation, and enactive social cognition. Brain Research, 1079, 25-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2005.12.127
3. Baltes, P. B. (1987). Theoretical propositions of life-span developmental psychology: On the dynamics between growth and decline. Developmental Psychology, 23, 611-626. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.23.5.611
4. Baltes, P. B., & Baltes, M. M. (1990). Psychological perspectives on successful aging: The model of selective optimization with compensation. In P. B. Baltes & M. M. Baltes (Eds.), Successful aging: Perspectives from the behavioral sciences (pp. 1-34). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511665684.003
5. Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173-1182. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.51.6.1173
6. Batson, C. D., Ahmad, N., Lishner, D. A., & Tsang, J. A. (2002). Empathy and altruism. In C. R. Snyder & S. J. Lopez (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology (pp. 485-498). London, UK/New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
7. Carstensen, L. L. (2006). The influence of a sense of time on human development. Science, 312, 1913-1915. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1127488
8. Carstensen, L. L., Isaacowitz, D. M., & Charles, S. T. (1999). Taking time seriously. A theory of socioemotional selectivity. American Psychologist, 54, 165-181. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.54.3.165
9. Charles, S. T., & Campos, B. (2011). Age-related changes in emotion recognition: How, why, and how much of a problem? Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 35, 287-295. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10919-011-0117-2
10. Davis, M. H. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidi-mensional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 113-126. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.44.1.113
11. Davis, M. H. (1994). Empathy: A social psychological approach. Madison, WI: Brown & Benchmark.
12. Decety, J., & Jackson, P. L. (2006). A social-neuroscience perspective on empathy. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15, 54-58. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0963-7214.2006.00406.x
13. Derntl, B., Finkelmeyer, A., Eickhoff, S., Kellermann, T., Falkenberg, D. I., Schneider, F., & Habel, U. (2010). Multidimensional assessment of empathic abilities: Neural correlates and gender differences. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 35, 67-82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2009.10.006
14. Duan, C. (2000). Being empathic: The role of motivation to empathize and the nature of target emotions. Motivation and Emotion, 24, 29-49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1005587525609
15. Eisenberg, N., & Fabes, R. A. (1990). Empathy: Conceptualization, measurement, and relation to prosocial behavior. Motivation and Emotion, 14, 131-149. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00991640
16. Eisenberg, N., & Fabes, R. A. (1992). Emotion, regulation, and the development of social competence. In M. S. Clark (Ed.), Emotion and social behavior (pp. 119-150). Review of personality and social psychology, Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
17. Eisenberg, N., & Lennon, R. (1983). Sex differences in empathy and related capacities. Psychological Bulletin, 94, 100-131. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.94.1.100
18. Ennis, G. E., Hess, T. M., & Smith, B. T. (2013). The impact of age and motivation on cognitive effort: Implications for cognitive engagement in older adulthood. Psychology and Aging, 28, 495-504. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0031255
19. Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity, youth and crisis. New York, NY: Norton.
20. Fisher, R. A. (1956). Statistical methods of research workers. London, UK: Oliver and Boyd.
21. Fung, H. H., & Carstensen, L. L. (2003). Sending memorable messages to the old: Age differences in preferences and memory for advertisements. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 163-178.
22. Gross, J. J., & Levenson, R. W. (1993). Emotional suppression: Physiology, self-report, and expressive behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 970-986. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.64.6.970
23. Grühn, D., Rebucal, K., Diehl, M., Lumley, M., & Labouvie-Vief, G. (2008). Empathy across the adult lifespan: Longitudinal and experiencesampling findings. Emotion, 8, 753-765. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0014123
24. Haase, C. M., Seider, B. H., Shiota, M. N., & Levenson, R. W. (2012). Anger and sadness in response to an emotionally neutral film: Evidence for age-specific associations with well-being. Psychology and Aging, 27, 305-317. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0024959
25. Havighurst, R. J. (1976). Developmental tasks and education. New York, NY: David McKay.
26. Hess, T. M. (2014). Selective engagement of cognitive resources: Motivational influences on older adults' cognitive functioning. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 9, 388 - 407. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1745691614527465
27. Hess, T. M., Rosenberg, D. C., & Waters, S. J. (2001). Motivation and representational processes in adulthood: The effects of social accountability and information relevance. Psychology and Aging, 16, 629-642. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.16.4.629
28. Ickes, W. (1993). Empathic accuracy. Journal of Personality, 61, 587-610. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.1993.tb00783.x
29. Isaacowitz, D. M., Löckenhoff, C. E., Lane, R. D., Wright, R., Sechrest, L., Riedel, R., & Costa, P. T. (2007). Age differences in recognition of emotion in lexical stimuli and facial expressions. Psychology and Aging, 22, 147-159. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.22.1.147
30. Isaacowitz, D. M., & Stanley, J. T. (2011). Bringing an ecological perspective to the study of aging and recognition of emotional facial expressions: Past, current, and future methods. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 35, 261-278. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10919-011-0113-6
31. Kunzmann, U., & Grühn, D. (2005). Age differences in emotional reactivity: The sample case of sadness. Psychology and Aging, 20, 47-59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.20.1.47
32. Kunzmann, U., Kappes, C., & Wrosch, C. (2014). Emotional aging: A discrete emotions perspective. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 380. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00380
33. Kunzmann, U., Richter, D., & Schmukle, S. C. (2013). Stability and change in affective experience across the adult life span: Analyses with a national sample from Germany. Emotion, 13, 1086-1095. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0033572
34. Kunzmann, U., & Thomas, S. (2014). Multidirectional age differences in anger and sadness. Psychology and Aging, 29, 16-27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0035751
35. Levenson, R. W., Carstensen, L. L., Friesen, W. V., & Ekman, P. (1991). Emotion, physiology, and expression in old age. Psychology and Aging, 6, 28-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.6.1.28
36. Levenson, R. W., & Ruef, A. M. (1992). Empathy: A physiological substrate. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 234-246. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.63.2.234
37. Lindenberger, U., von Oertzen, T., Ghisletta, P., & Hertzog, C. (2011). Cross-sectional age variance extraction: What's change got to do with it? Psychology and Aging, 26, 34 - 47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0020525
38. Noh, S. R., & Isaacowitz, D. M. (2013). Emotional faces in context: Age differences in recognition accuracy and scanning patterns. Emotion, 13, 238-249. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0030234
39. O'Brien, E., Konrath, S. H., Grühn, D., & Hagen, A. L. (2013). Empathic concern and perspective taking: Linear and quadratic effects of age across the adult life span. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 68, 168-175. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbs055
40. Oswald, W. D., & Roth, E. (1987). Der Zahlen-Verbindungs-Test. Göttingen: Hogrefe.
41. Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40, 879-891. http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/BRM.40.3.879
42. Preston, S. D., & de Waal, F. B. M. (2002). Empathy: Its ultimate and proximate bases. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 25, 1-20.
43. Rahhal, T. A., May, C. P., & Hasher, L. (2002). Truth and character: Sources that older adults can remember. Psychological Science, 13, 101-105. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00419
44. Reed, A. E., Chan, L., & Mikels, J. A. (2014). Meta-analysis of the age-related positivity effect: Age differences in preferences for positive over negative information. Psychology and Aging, 29, 1-15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0035194
45. Richter, D., Dietzel, C., & Kunzmann, U. (2011). Age differences in emotion recognition: The task matters. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 66B, 48-55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbq068
46. Richter, D., & Kunzmann, U. (2011). Age differences in three facets of empathy: Performance-based evidence. Psychology and Aging, 26, 60-70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0021138
47. Ruffman, T., Henry, J. D., Livingstone, V., & Phillips, L. H. (2008). A meta-analytic review of emotion recognition and aging: Implications for neuropsychological models of aging. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 32, 863-881. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2008.01.001
48. Salthouse, T. A. (1996). The processing-speed theory of adult age differences in cognition. Psychological Review, 103, 403-428. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.103.3.403
49. Scheibe, S., & Carstensen, L. L. (2010). Emotional aging: Recent findings and future trends. The Journals of Gerontology. Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 65B, 135-144. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbp132
50. Scherer, K. R. (1995). Expression of emotion in voice and music. Journal of Voice, 9, 235-248. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0892-1997(05)80231-0
51. Singer, T. (2006). The neuronal basis and ontogeny of empathy and mind reading: Review of literature and implications for future research. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 30, 855-863. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2006.06.011
52. Sze, J. A., Goodkind, M. S., Gyurak, A., & Levenson, R. W. (2012). Aging and emotion recognition: Not just a losing matter. Psychology and Aging, 27, 940-950. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0029367
53. Sze, J. A., Gyurak, A., Goodkind, M. S., & Levenson, R. W. (2012). Greater emotional empathy and prosocial behavior in late life. Emotion, 12, 1129-1140. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0025011
54. West, R. L. (1996). An application of prefrontal cortex function theory to cognitive aging. Psychological Bulletin, 120, 272-292. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.120.2.272
55. Zhang, X., Fung, H. H., Stanley, J. T., Isaacowitz, D. M., & Ho, M. Y. (2013). Perspective taking in older age revisited: A motivational perspective. Developmental Psychology, 49, 1848-1858. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0031211