Aging and impression formation: the impact of processing skills and goals.
Two studies assessed age differences in representations and judgments about people. Our specific interest was in examining 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, we found that increasing age was associated with: (a) no change in the processing of evaluative information; (b) less use of specific traits to organize impressions; (c) poorer memory for behavioral information, especially when it contradicted expectations; and (d) less systematic relationships between memory and judgments. We also found, however, that more meaningful task goals and a focus on individual behaviors resulted in reduced age differences in the nature of representations about the target person.
Hess
T M
TM
Department of Psychology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27695-7801, USA. hess@poe.coe.ncsu.edu
Follett
K J
KJ
McGee
K A
KA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D012938:Social Perception