GOALS CHANGE WHEN LIFES FRAGILITY IS PRIMED LESSONS LEARNED精品.pdfVIP

Social Cognition, Vol. 24, No. 3, 2006, pp. 248-278 AGE DIFFERENCES IN SOCIAL PREFERENCESFUNG AND CARSTENSEN GOALS CHANGE WHEN LIFE’S FRAGILITY IS PRIMED: LESSONS LEARNED FROM OLDER ADULTS, THE SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS AND SARS Helene H. Fung Chinese University of Hong Kong, China Laura L. Carstensen Stanford University Socioemotional selectivity theory maintains that the perception of time systematically influences motivation. Most experimental research testing this postulate has relied on paradigms in which participants are asked to make choices under conditions where they imagine that time is con- strained or expanded. The present studies tested key theoretical postulates under naturalistic conditions by examining social goals before and after the September 11 attacks and throughout the SARS epidemic in Hong Kong. Findings suggest that sociocultural events that presumably prime the fragility of life increase motivation to derive emotional meaning from life in both the young and old. Socioemotional selectivity theory (Carstensen, 1993, 1995; Carstensen, Isaacowitz, Charles, 1999; Carstensen, Fung, Charles, 2003) maintains that when people are reminded of the finitude of their lives, attention shifts from future–oriented goals This research was supported by Hong Kong Research Grants Council Earmarked Re- search Grant CUHK4256/03H and a Chinese University of Hong Kong Direct Grant awarded to Helene Fung and NIA grant RO1–8816 to Laura L. Carstensen. Please direct correspondence concerning this manuscript to Helene H. Fung, Depart- ment of Psychology, Rm. 328, Sino Bldg., Chung Chi College, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong. 248 AGE DIFFERENCES IN SOCIAL PREFERENCES 249 to emotionally meaningful goals. The theory was originally for- mulated to predict and explain age dif