The Implicit Association Test and its difficulty(ies): Introducing the test difficulty concept to increase the true-score variance and, consequently, the predictive power of implicit association tests.

We introduce the test difficulty concept from classical test theory to tackle the issue of low predictive power of implicit association tests (IATs). Following classical test theory, we argue that IATs of moderate difficulty (defined as mean IAT scores of zero) have more predictive power than IATs of extreme difficulties (defined as mean IAT scores deviating strongly from zero). Furthermore, we assume this relationship to be mediated by the true-score variance in IAT scores, with moderate difficulty resulting in more true-score variance. To test our hypotheses, we used nonexperimental (Studies 1 and 2) and experimental designs (Study 3). In Studies 1 and 2, we compared IATs of different test difficulties with regard to their ability to predict direct attitude measures, drawing on the Attitudes, Identities, and Individual Differences study. In Study 1, a subset of 95 attitude IATs (n = 127,259) was analyzed using multilevel structural equation models. As expected, IAT test difficulty strongly moderated the predictive power of IATs, and this effect was mediated by IAT true-score variance. In Study 2, we replicated the results with the same analyses but a different subset of 95 identity IATs (n = 43,745). In Study 3, we experimentally manipulated the IAT test difficulty. In total, three IATs (n = 480) were analyzed using multigroup structural equation models. Again, the IAT closer to moderate difficulty had more true-score variance and predictive power than the IATs of extreme difficulty. Accordingly, for correlational research, we recommend developing moderately difficult IATs to maximize IAT true-score variance and provide suggestions on how to achieve that. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

'Does it matter how old I feel?' The role of subjective age in a psychosocial intervention for improving depressive symptomatology among older adults in Brazil (PROACTIVE).

OBJECTIVES: Depression is a prevalent mental health condition that also often affects older adults. The PROACTIVE psychosocial intervention was developed to reduce depressive symptomatology among older adults within primary care settings in Brazil. An important psychological marker that affects individuals' aging experience relates to how old people feel. Known as subjective age, this marker has been shown to be a risk factor for experiencing greater depressive symptoms if individuals report feeling older than their (chronological) age. In this study, we perform secondary analyses of the PROACTIVE cluster-randomized controlled trial to examine the role of subjective age. METHOD: The sample included 715 Brazilian older adults (74% female, Mage 68.6, SD = 6.9, age range: 60-94 years) randomized to intervention (n = 360, 74% female, Mage 68.4, SD = 6.6, age range: 60-89 years) or control (n = 355, 74% female, Mage 68.9, SD = 7.2, age range: 60-94 years) arms. Here our primary outcome was depressive symptoms at the 8-month follow-up assessed with the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) as a continuous variable. Our previous analyses demonstrated improved recovery from depression at follow-up in the intervention compared with the control arm. RESULTS: Relevant main effects and interactions in regression models for PHQ-9 presented here found that those reporting older subjective age had worse depressive symptoms at follow-up but that they benefitted more from the intervention when initial levels of depression were high. For participants who reported younger subjective ages the intervention showed positive effects that were independent of initial levels of depression. CONCLUSION: Our findings emphasize the importance of investigating possible underlying mechanisms that can help clarify the impact of mental health interventions.

One Link to Link Them All.

A conditioned response to a stimulus can be transferred to an associated stimulus, as seen in sensory preconditioning. In this research paper, we aimed to explore this phenomenon using a stimulus-response contingency learning paradigm using voluntary actions as responses. We conducted two preregistered experiments that explored whether a learned response can be indirectly activated by a stimulus (S1) that was never directly paired with the response itself. Importantly, S1 was previously associated with another stimulus (S2) that was then directly and contingently paired with a response (S2-R contingency). In Experiment 1a, an indirect activation of acquired stimulus-response contingencies was present for audiovisual stimulus pairs wherein the stimulus association resembled a vocabulary learning setup. This result was replicated in Experiment 1b. Additionally, we found that the effect is moderated by having conscious awareness of the S1-S2 association and the S2-R contingency. By demonstrating indirect activation effects for voluntary actions, our findings show that principles of Pavlovian conditioning like sensory preconditioning also apply to contingency learning of stimulus-response relations for operant behavior.

Selective Engagement in Preparations for Aging.

OBJECTIVES: Preparing for old age is an adaptive behavior with positive consequences on well-being. This study examined; (a) the degree to which the importance associated with positive outcomes within specific domains of everyday functioning (e.g., social relationships, health) varies across ages and cultures; (b) the impact of importance on preparing for old age; and (c) whether the effects of importance were greater in later life. METHODS: Using data from adults aged 30-85 years in Germany (n = 623), Hong Kong (n = 317), and the United States (n = 313) collected over 5 years, we examined variations in importance ratings across age, cultures, and behavioral domains, and the extent to which age and importance predicted preparations. RESULTS: Importance ratings were found to vary with age, time of test, domains, and culture, reflecting the expected contextual effects. Importance also was a positive predictor of preparations, with the strength of prediction being somewhat greater in old age. DISCUSSION: The results provide evidence that the perceived importance of functioning within domains is affected by a number of contextual factors, including the domain of everyday function and culture. Given that importance also predicts preparations, such variation may help explain differences in preparations across contexts. In line with selective engagement theory, some support was also obtained for the prediction that older adults are more selective in engaging resources in support of preparations. Such selectivity can be viewed as an adaptive response to diminishing personal resources in later life.

Nothing else matters: Stimulus-response binding and retrieval is independent of affective consequences.

Stimulus-response binding and retrieval (SRBR) is a fundamental mechanism driving behavior automatization. In five experiments, we investigated the modulatory role of affective consequences (AC) on SRBR effects to test whether binding/retrieval can explain instrumental learning (i.e., the "law of effect"). SRBR effects were assessed in a sequential prime-probe design, with an orthogonal variation of response relation (response repetition vs. change) by distractor relation (word repetition vs. change). Binding/retrieval effects are measured by an interaction of the two factors, with distractor repetitions inducing a retrieval of the prime episode and a tendency to re-enact the previous response, which leads to facilitation in conditions where the response must be repeated, but leads to interference when the required response changes from prime to probe. Positive, neutral, or negative events signaling changes in points that were linked to monetary gains or losses were delivered after every trial to investigate whether AC modulate the binding/retrieval effect. Consistently across all five experiments (total N= 466), robust SRBR effects were obtained, but we did not find any evidence for an affective modulation of these binding/retrieval effects, indicating that these effects are automatic and independent of AC. In particular, Experiment 5 demonstrated a dissociation between instrumental learning via AC (reflected in higher frequencies of rewarded responses) and SRBR, which was not influenced by AC following a response. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Age stereotypes: Dimensions, origins, and consequences.

We give an overview of what age stereotypes (AS) are, how they are acquired and change across the lifespan, and how they shape development in old age. AS reflect complex beliefs and expectations that vary on the following dimensions: They differ in content and valence, depending on the life-domain to which they are applied (context), they refer to different age-groups (reference), to older people or to oneself as an old person (direction of relevance), and they either describe how older people are or prescribe how they should be (modality). AS are acquired early, and later taint beliefs about one's own aging (internalization). Once they are part of the self-concept, AS act as self-fulfilling prophecies that shape the actual aging process (stereotype embodiment).

Do we all perceive experiences of age discrimination in the same way? Cross-cultural differences in perceived age discrimination and its association with life satisfaction.

Age discrimination is pervasive in most societies and bears far-reaching consequences for individuals' psychological well-being. Despite that, studies that examine cross-cultural differences in age discrimination are still lacking. Likewise, whether the detrimental association between age discrimination and psychological well-being varies across contexts remains an open question. In this study, therefore, we examined cross-cultural differences in perceived experiences of age discrimination and their detrimental association with a specific indicator of psychological well-being, which is life satisfaction. The sample was drawn from the Ageing as Future study and comprised 1653 older adults (60-90 years) from the Czech Republic, Germany, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the USA. Participants self-reported their experiences of age discrimination and their life satisfaction. Findings indicated that participants from Hong Kong and Taiwan reported experiences of perceived age discrimination more often than participants from the Czech Republic, Germany, and the USA. Furthermore, experiences of age discrimination were negatively associated with life satisfaction. Cultural context moderated this relation: We found a smaller detrimental association between perceived experiences of age discrimination and life satisfaction in Eastern cultures, that is, in contexts where such experiences were perceived to be more prevalent. These findings highlight the importance of examining age discrimination across cultures. Experiences of age discrimination are clearly undesirable in that they negatively affect psychological well-being. Our results indicate that a higher self-reported prevalence of perceived age discrimination in the samples studied weakens this negative association. We discuss these findings in terms of adaptation (versus sensitization) in response to discrimination.

Willingness to Live Under Impairment: Factors Associated With Desired Longevity.

Background and Objectives: Longevity is a societal achievement. However, people might not wish to live long lives under all conditions. When deciding about their longevity desires, some individuals may focus on present-oriented, concrete aspects of their lives, like their current state of health, whereas others may weigh up more future-oriented, abstract aspects, such as how important it is to be healthy. We investigated what factors are associated with individuals' willingness to live with impairment. Research Design and Methods: Factors associated with willingness to live with impairment were examined in a sample of N = 790 German participants aged 39-90 years (Mage = 63.38, SD = 14.30, 51% female). To examine age-specific factors related to desired longevity under impairment conditions, chronological age was added as a moderator in the analyses. Results: Findings indicated that for middle-aged adults, fear of becoming a burden and higher importance of health were associated with lower willingness to live with impairment. For older adults, lower willingness to live with impairment was associated with higher levels of instrumental preparation for the end of life. Discussion and Implications: The obtained age differences can be understood as reflecting a shift in time perspective and personal experiences. Among middle-aged adults, willingness to live with impairment is more strongly influenced by distant events that pertain to the future (e.g., fear of becoming a burden). Older adults, however, place more importance on their current life situation (e.g., instrumental preparation), and their willingness to live with impairment seems to be more conditional on practical aspects in the present.

Explaining Variation in Individual Aging, Its Sources, and Consequences: A Comprehensive Conceptual Model of Human Aging.

We define aging as a characteristic deterioration in one (or more) observable attributes of an organism that typically occurs during later life. With this narrow functional definition, we gain the freedom to separate aging from other processes of age-related change (e.g., maturation, growth, illness, terminal decline). We introduce a structural model that distinguishes between (1) the phenomenon of aging, (2) the subjective experience of aging, (3) sources of aging, and (4) consequences of aging. A core focus of the model is on the role of buffering mechanisms of biological repair and personal adaptation that regulate the relations between sources of aging, aging proper, and its consequences. The quality and level of functioning of these buffering mechanisms also varies across the life span, which directly affects the sources of aging, resulting in either resilience against or accelerated aging, and thus can be considered to be a major source of the variation in aging processes among different individuals. External factors comprising attributes of the physical environment and sociocultural characteristics are considered as contexts in which aging occurs. These contextual factors are assumed to feed into the various components of the model. Our model provides an interdisciplinary account of human aging, its sources and consequences, and also its subjective experience, by integrating biological, psychological, lifestyle, and sociocultural factors, and by specifying their interrelations and interactions. The model provides a comprehensive understanding of individual human aging, its underlying processes, and modulating factors. It allows for the derivation of empirically testable hypotheses, and it helps practitioners to identify elements that lend themselves to targeted intervention efforts aimed at increasing the resilience of individuals against aging and buffering its negative consequences.

Manipulating prescriptive views of active aging and altruistic disengagement.

Older adults are faced with prescriptions to remain fit and socially engaged (active aging) or limit consumption of social resources (altruistic disengagement), and violations of these may result in backlash and marginalization. Despite such negative consequences that prescriptive views of aging (PVoA) may have for older adults, whether PVoA endorsement is modifiable is still to be examined. Thus, in our study, we investigated the malleability of PVoA endorsement. Further, we explored whether malleability of PVoA endorsement generalizes across specific age norms (active aging and altruistic disengagement), life domains (health and social), and targets (others and self). We conducted two preregistered experiments in which participants reflected on agreeing or disagreeing with PVoA. In Experiment 1, 536 adults (50-89 years) reflected on their personal agreement or disagreement with PVoA. In Experiment 2, 435 adults (50-87 years) reflected on agreement with PVoA in society. Reflecting on agreement changed endorsement of PVoA in both experiments: Participants who reflected on agreement reported higher endorsement of PVoA, whereas participants who reflected on disagreement reported lower endorsement. Our results indicated that the cognitive representation of PVoA is norm and domain specific: The endorsement effect did not transfer from active aging to altruistic disengagement (or vice versa) nor across health and social domains. Further, participants set the same prescriptions for their behavior as they set for others as shown by a transfer between endorsement of other- to self-related PVoA. Our findings attest to the complexity and specificity of PVoA and offer important insights for designing interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Internalization or Dissociation? Negative Age Stereotypes Make You Feel Younger Now But Make You Feel Older Later.

OBJECTIVES: Negative age stereotypes have negative, assimilative effects on the subjective aging experience due to internalization processes, but sometimes positive contrast effects are reported as well, reflecting dissociation and downward comparisons. Our aim was thus to compare short-term and long-term consequences of age stereotypes on the subjective aging experience, to test the hypothesis that contrast effects are visible cross-sectionally, whereas internalization processes are observed when considering long-term changes. METHODS: We assessed age stereotypes and subjective age in a core sample of N = 459 participants (initial age range 30-80 years) from the Ageing as Future project across 3 consecutive measurement occasions spanning a longitudinal interval of 10 years. Short-term and long-term effects were estimated with latent growth models by assessing the effects of age stereotypes on the intercepts (cross-sectional) and on the slopes (longitudinal) of subjective age, respectively, while controlling for current self-views. RESULTS: Age stereotypes had opposite effects on subjective age depending on the time frame. A cross-sectional contrast effect was found, whereas longitudinal effects were assimilative in nature. DISCUSSION: Our findings support the time-dependent nature of the effects of age stereotypes on the subjective aging experience. Negative age stereotypes temporarily lead to a significantly younger subjective age, indicating dissociation from one's age group and downward comparison. In the long run, however, negative (positive) age stereotypes become internalized into the self-views of older people and are linked to a relatively older (younger) subjective age.

Contact With Older Adults Is Related to Positive Age Stereotypes and Self-Views of Aging: The Older You Are the More You Profit.

OBJECTIVES: Past studies showed that intergenerational contact is beneficial in improving attitudes toward older people. To date, however, research on the benefits of contact with older adults focused on younger adults (intergenerational contact), overlooking the effects for older adults (contact with same-age peers). In this study, we investigated the association between contact with older adults and views of the self in old age in a domain-specific way among younger and older adults. METHODS: The sample (n = 2,356) comprised younger (39-55 years) and older (65-90 years) adults who participated in the aging as future study and were from China (Hong Kong and Taiwan), the Czech Republic, Germany, and the United States. We used moderated mediation models for data analysis. RESULTS: Contact with older adults was related to more positive views of the self in old age and this effect was mediated by more positive stereotypes of older people. These relations were stronger for older adults. Beneficial effects of contact with older adults emerged mostly in the domains of friends and leisure, but less in the family domain. DISCUSSION: Having interactions with other older adults may help favorably shape how younger adults and particularly older adults view their own aging, especially in relation to friends and leisure activities. From the perspective of older adults, having regular contacts with other older adults may increase the heterogeneity of exposure to different aging experiences, thus encouraging the formation of more differentiated stereotypes of older people and of their views of themselves in old age.

Endorsement and embodiment of cautiousness-related age stereotypes.

Endorsement of implicit age stereotypes was assessed with the propositional evaluation paradigm (PEP) in a high-powered, preregistered study, comprising samples of young (n = 89) and older (n = 125) adults. To investigate whether implicit age stereotypes shape the behavior via self-stereotyping ("embodiment"), we examined whether implicit endorsement of the belief of older (young) people being cautious (reckless) predicts older (young) individuals' spontaneous behavior in a speeded response time task. In both age groups, we found significant implicit endorsement effects of age stereotypical beliefs. However, implicit endorsement effects of the cautiousness-related age stereotypes were unrelated to our indicators of spontaneous cautious/reckless behavior in the speeded RT task (as assessed with the parameter a of a diffusion model analysis) for both age groups. The same pattern of results (endorsement of age stereotypic beliefs but no relation with behavioral indicators) was found for explicit measures of age stereotypes. Replicating previous findings, implicit and explicit measures of cautiousness-related age stereotypes were uncorrelated. In sum, our findings provide evidence for the implicit and explicit endorsement of cautiousness-related stereotypical beliefs about old and young people; individual differences in belief endorsement, however, did not predict differences in spontaneous cautiousness-related behavior in a speeded RT task.

Age Differences in Everyday Emotional Experience: Testing Core Predictions of Socioemotional Selectivity Theory With the MIVA Model.

OBJECTIVES: Emotional aging research is dominated by the idea of age-related improvements that result from shifts in motivation. Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) proposes that as individuals age, they increasingly favor emotion-related goals and savor positive but avoid negative emotions. Previous age-comparative studies on everyday emotional experience typically were descriptive or studied the processes underlying emotional experience in isolation. We aimed at a more holistic approach to test hypotheses derived from SST regarding age-related differences in general emotional dispositions (i.e., anchoring), emotional reactivity, and emotion regulation by using a computational approach. METHODS: We applied our Model of Intraindividual Variability in Affect (MIVA) to data on everyday emotional experiences in an age-diverse sample (N = 378, age range 14-86 years). Parameter estimations were carried out within a Bayesian framework. RESULTS: Our results provide partial support for predictions derived from SST. Unexpectedly, anchoring showed a negative age trend, indicating a more positive affect disposition in younger, not older adults. Reactions to pleasant events showed no age trend. Reactivity to unpleasant events was highest in midlife and lower for younger and older adults. Consistent with SST, affect elicited by pleasant events was regulated less strongly by older adults and affect elicited by unpleasant events more strongly. DISCUSSION: As our results provide only partial support for SST, we revisit the phenomena that are at its foundations and provide suggestions on how to refine the theory.

Age, Individual Resources, and Perceived Expectations for Active Aging: General and Domain-Specific Effects.

Exposure to expectations for active aging may be modulated by age and individual resources (socioeconomic status, social integration, and health) via multiple pathways. Using a cross-sectional, nationally representative sample of adults aged 17 to 94 (N = 2,007), we investigated the relations between age, individual resources, and perceived expectations for active aging (PEAA) in three domains (physical health, mental health, and social engagement). Across domains, young adults and individuals aged 70+ reported slightly lower PEAA than emerging adults did; no other age differences emerged. Multiple regression showed that a higher subjective socioeconomic status, better perceived general health, and partnership (in older adults) predicted higher PEAA (almost) across domains, whereas church attendance, employment status, and occupational prestige yielded domain- and age-specific effects, which were not always positive. We conclude that the effects of individual resources on PEAA are limited in general but vary depending on life domain and age.

Implicit and Explicit Age Stereotypes Assessed in the Same Contexts are Still Independent.

OBJECTIVE: In a series of three studies (N = 187), we investigated the correlation between implicit and explicit age stereotypes, both of which were assessed in a context-dependent way. METHODS: To assess implicit age stereotypes, we presented combinations of age category and specific context information as primes in a lexical decision task (LDT) with age stereotypic attributes as targets (e.g., "An old person is passing the crosswalk." - "slow"). To assess explicit age stereotypes, stereotypic traits were rated for their fit with person descriptions containing the same category and context information as the implicit measure. RESULTS: Category effects for the priming and rating tasks emerged within relevant contexts, however, we found no correlations between these two indicators, despite the fact that the same contexts were provided for explicit and implicit assessment. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that implicit and explicit age stereotypes reflect independent belief systems that are activated under different operating conditions (automatic activation vs. controlled reasoning).

A longitudinal study of the effects of well-being and perceived control on preparations for old age: moderation effects of contexts.

Extending research on determinants of preparations for old age across adulthood, we examined the relationship between well-being, perceived control, and preparations for old age over time, along with variation in the strength of these relationships depending on domains of functioning, cultures, and age. We analyzed longitudinal data from the Ageing as Future study assessing changes in well-being, perceived control, and preparations in four different life domains (social relations, finances, work, and health) across a five-year period collected from adults aged from 30 to 85 years in Germany (N = 623), Hong Kong (N = 317), and the USA (N = 315). Positive feelings about one's current situation predicted greater perceived control five years later, and vice versa. Also, perceived control and preparations were positively associated over time, with only a few exceptions within each domain. For example, high control beliefs were related to subsequent greater preparations and well-being within the domain of social relations and finances, with weak effects of culture. These results suggest that current well-being may promote adaptive behaviors in later life, with the accumulated effects over time. Thus, focusing on how to improve our well-being may promote engagement in preparations for old age. Our results also indicate that these relations in our model vary by contexts, highlighting the importance of variability in age-related processes.

What will you do with all that time? Changes in leisure activities after retirement are determined by age-related self-views and preparation.

Retirement is a normative life transition that liberates the individual from the external obligations of employment, being a catalyzer of leisure activity engagement. However, the individual's motivations to engage in leisure activities in the time that is gained after retirement may depend on their future self-views (i.e., views of their own ageing) as well as on their levels of preparation for age-related changes. In this study, therefore, we aim to examine longitudinal changes in levels of engagement in leisure activities that occur around the age of retirement as being influenced by views on ageing and preparation for old age. The sample consisted of 451 persons aged 50-65 years at baseline who participated in the Ageing as Future study at two time points 5 years apart. Participants were split in three age-matched groups: recently retired (in between baseline and follow-up), already retired (at baseline), and individuals who were still working (at follow-up). Findings indicated that changes in levels of leisure differed between groups. Compared to both already retired and still working participants, recently retired participants increased their levels of engagement in leisure activities. Positive views on ageing in the leisure domain (at baseline) predicted subsequent increases in activity levels but group and levels of preparation qualified this effect. A combination of positive views on ageing and preparation for age-related changes is needed for one to make use of the time that is gained with retirement, highlighting their role as determinants of behavior in response to normative life events in later life.

Being in the Know: The Role of Awareness and Retrieval of Transient Stimulus-Response Bindings in Selective Contingency Learning.

Previous studies demonstrated that contingency learning can be both (a) unaware (Schmidt et al., 2007), and (b) explained in terms of an automatic retrieval of stimulus-response bindings from the last episode in which the cue stimulus has been presented (Giesen et al., 2020; Schmidt et al., 2020). We investigated whether learning is selective in a contingency learning paradigm in which pairs of salient and nonsalient cues that were equally predictive of responses to targets (digits) were presented simultaneously. In two pre-registered experiments (total N = 137), we found stronger contingency learning for salient compared to non-salient cues. Transient stimulus-response binding and retrieval processes did not contribute to these selective learning effects in contingency learning, which were instead driven by contingency awareness. Our findings indicate that under conditions of high saliency, contingency learning is mediated by conscious rule detection for which retrieval of transient stimulus-response bindings is irrelevant.

Accounting for Proportion Congruency Effects in the Stroop Task in a Confounded Setup: Retrieval of Stimulus-Response Episodes Explains it All.

Proportion congruency (PC) effects on the strength of distractor interference were investigated in a high-powered (n = 109), pre-registered experiment in which participants had to identify the ink color of color words. Replicating the standard PC effect, Stroop interference was larger in blocks comprising mostly congruent word-color combinations, compared to blocks comprising mostly incongruent trials. These block-level differences in the strength of the Stroop effect were eliminated after controlling for (a) the congruency of the most recent episode in which the current word had been presented ("episodic retrieval of control states"), and also after controlling for (b) the response relation of this episode and the current trial ("episodic response retrieval"). Controlling for the congruency in trial n-1 (congruency sequence effect, CSE), irrespective of word relation did not eliminate the PC effect, nor did controlling for immediate exact and partial repetitions. When predicting PC effects simultaneously by both types of episodic retrieval processes, only episodic response retrieval explained the effect. Our findings attest to the importance of episodic response retrieval processes in explaining the PC effect in Stroop-like tasks in a confounded setup where different processes compete with each, and they speak against explanations in terms of a global adjustment of cognitive control settings or contingency learning under these conditions. The results further support the assumption that the most recent episode in which a stimulus had occurred is crucial for responding in the current trial (the "law of recency"; Giesen et al., 2020).