Centre for Policy on Ageing
 

 
Aging and impression formation: the impact of processing skills and goals
Author(s)Thomas M Hess, Katherine J Follett, Karen A McGee
Journal titleThe Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological sciences and social sciences, vol 53B, no 3, May 1998
Pagespp P175-P187
KeywordsCognitive processes ; Memory and Reminiscence ; Mental clarity ; Older people ; Adults ; United States of America.
AnnotationThe age differences in representations and judgements about people were assessed in two studies which compared younger people (aged 17-29) and older people (aged 60-75). The aim was to examine how presumed age-related changes in processing efficiency and motivation affected performance in an impression formation task. Consistent with age-related declines in processing efficiency, the study found that increasing age was associated with: no change in the processing of evaluative information; less use of specific traits to organise impressions; poorer memory for behavioural information, especially when it contradicted expectations; and less systematic relationships between memory and judgements. It also found, however, that more meaningful task goals and a focus on individual behaviours resulted in reduced age differences in the nature of representations about the target person. (AKM).
Accession NumberCPA-980813415 A
ClassmarkDA: DB: DF: B: SD: 7T

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