When familiar social partners are selected in open-ended situations: further tests of the socioemotional selectivity theory.
Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST; Carstensen, 1995, Current Directions in Psychological Science, 4, 151-156) predicts that novel social partners are preferred in open-ended situations, whereas familiar social partners are preferred in future-limited situations. The authors attempted to generalize past research to new familiar and novel partner options. Studies 1 (N=144; undergraduates, community-dwelling adults ages 65 to 95) and 2 (N=336 community-dwelling participants ages 11 to 89) indicated that young and older participants in a future-limited situation preferred familiar partners. However, with different social partner options than have been used in previous research, young participants in an open-ended situation also preferred a familiar partner, contrary to the predictions of SST.
Dudley
Nikki M
NM
Department of Psychology, Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina 28035-7000, USA.
Multhaup
Kristi S
KS
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011336:Probability; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012919:Social Behavior; D012938:Social Perception