An examination of daily activities and their scripts across the adult lifespan.
In two normative studies, we examined daily scripted activities from the perspective that scripts are frequency-based knowledge structures. In Study 1 individuals recorded their daily activities for 7 consecutive days. Fifteen activities that were reported with low, moderate, and high frequency were selected for Study 2, in which individuals generated a script for each activity. The 18 most frequently generated events from each script are reported, along with their centrality and distinctiveness rankings and the number of individuals reporting each event. Overall, the mean number of events generated increased with increasing script frequency, suggesting that script representations are subject to frequency effects. Also, we found a high level of consistency across the three age groups in the events generated in each script and in their corresponding rankings of centrality and distinctiveness. Finally, we found no evidence of age or gender bias in the frequency or recency of engaging in each of the scripted activities.
Geriatric Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. rosenv@intra.nimh.nih.gov
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Rosen
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Caplan
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Sheesley
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Rodriguez
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Grafman
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012727:Sex Characteristics