Relationship between Emotions and Age - Research Paper Example

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMOTIONS AND AGE s Research process involves taking careful considerations and approaches which are chronological and meticulous in nature. In this state and issue, there was need to establish the functional relationship between age and emotional reactivity of a person. Hypothetically, it is critical to establish if the emotional expressivity of a person would increase or decrease as time progresses. Study groups are thus chosen to confirm the hypothesis through the set out steps and stages of research. Introduction An emotion is a state of mind that is instinctive and dependent on someone’s circumstances, their mood, and how they relate to others. There are five theories that try to explain why people experience emotion. The James-Lange theory of emotion argues that people experience feeling after interpretation of physiological arousal to an external event. Cannon-Bard theory states that both physiological arousal and experience of emotion happens at the same time. Schachter and Singer proposed that people’s experience of emotion depend on physiological arousal and the cognitive interpretation of that arousal. Lazarus Theory claims that people experience emotions depending on the way they evaluate things around them. According to the facial feedback theory, emotions result from blends of several primary emotions including happiness, sadness, fear, anger, and so on (Ebner & Fischer, 2014). Events greatly influence emotions. Documentation shows that older people tend to have less negative emotional expressivity. There are various signs indicating that a life span analysis may be significant. Several emotion researchers have found out that there is an agreement that emotional experience is inseparable with cognitive appraisals of a situation, as well as motivation to realize particular objectives. These findings suggest that age may involve changes in the domain of emotion (Ebner & Fischer, 2014). Subsequently, some other studies have also strived to articulate the different emotional behaviors of different age groups. Several studies that have considered emotional experience with age indicate that emotional experience frequency and intensity decreases with age. According to Isaacowitz and Blanchard, Affect Intensity Measure (AIM) administered to assess positive and negative effect intensity accordingly. In addition, it measures the General Behavioral inventory that collects the symptoms of mood disturbance to a white sample of all participants between 16 to 68 years (Samanez, Robertson, Mikels, Carstensen & Gotlib, 2009). The results indicated age correlated at age 26 with the affect intensity measure and age 32 with general behavioral inventory, suggesting age decline in emotional experience for positive and negative emotions. In addition, a study used a community sample of three different age groups (Ebner & Fischer, 2014). The participants included young people in the range between 18 to 29 years, middle aged were between 30 to 59 years, and old were 60 years and above. This report indicated the age-related decrease in emotional intensity (Ebner & Fischer, 2014). Older participants were more likely to say that other people are excited about things they do than themselves, and their negative moods were minor. The self-reported incidence and intensity of negative affect were lower in the order participants than in the younger participants. In another study, ten women across different age groups (ages 24-40, ages 40-60, and 65 and above) were considered. It was found out that there was evidence on age and intensity in negative emotions, according to (Isaacowitz & Blanchard 2012). This study indicates that there is a distinction between emotional experience in terms of younger ages and the level of experienced or older people’s emotions. For this reason, this study will investigate age-related differences in emotionally negative and positive arousal. The participants read two stories, one of which has positive emotional content while the other contained negative emotional content. After reading each story, we interviewed the participants to assess emotional expressivity. The hypothesis for the study was older participants reported feeling less intense and less frequent emotions. Method of research We used the direct interview in our research. We engaged our participants, and they felt part of the research rather than tools for research. In the end, we did record their emotional status before the testing kit was introduced to them and another one after exposing them to the emotional kit. The Consent form is included herein Appendix A. Participants We recruited three participants from different age groups to take part in an emotional experience study. The three different age groups were emerging adult (19-25 years), adult (26-59 years) and older adult (60 years and above). These participants were drawn from the same demographic classification, in that they belonged to the same religious and economic class. They belonged the middle class and all professed the Christian faith, this was so because diverse religion could have a bearing on this study and skew the results. It is important to mention that they were of the same race-whites so that there is uniformity of the participants. For he purpose of this study, we used males participants who live within the vicinity of the school to have their insights and input. Materials In our research, we used different types of material. We had a book to record our data and findings. We had two pens for writing. In addition, we carried with us drinking water for the participants in our research. We also carried a camera for taking photos of the participants in our research for later analysis. From the outset, the stories were varied in two formats. The first one was a seemingly sad and heart-wrenching story where a boy was engaged in some gruesome accident. The boy was riding home after spending a day at school while going home a car appeared from nowhere and hit the boy; then it ran away. The boy started to bleed profusely with no help in sight, as the car which hit him ran away. The second story is about another boy, the firstborn in the family who has been lonely, is going to the hospital to see his sibling. Apparently his mother has given birth to twins and the boy will have playmates. Similarly, we ask them to record their emotional status on a scale of one to ten, with one being weak emotional intensity and ten being strong emotional intensity. This is to ask how the feel after being read to both stories, how they felt in the scale of one to ten. The questions would be qualitative in nature and they include: 1. How do you feel in a scale of 1-10? 1 mild emotional response, 10-severe or worst feeling of sadness. 2. Which part of the read stories excite or sadden you the most? Why?-to know which part evokes the strongest emotions 3. What is your overall feeling about the stories read?-to gauge their emotional stance and view 4. What is your particular feeling towards the specific characters in the story read?-to gauge who excites or saddens the participants the most Procedure The three participants read stories with differing emotional arousal, positive and negative emotion. Then we interviewed them to assess the individual difference in their emotional expressivity (Isaacowitz and Blanchard-Fields, F. 2012). We divided the interview into three parts namely: Impulse Strength, positive and negative expression. Impulse strength is the expressivity of emotions by the participants. For example, if there a reaction of whichever part of the participants, the reaction is noted and recorded, for instance, any change in their facial reactions. A positive expression is when there is a smile or nod on the part of the participants while negative expression is when they show disgust or frown in their face during the stories. Results The primary aim and objective of the study was to establish the functional link that exists between the emotional disposition and age of people. This research and study operated under the assumption and theoretical viewpoint that elderly people exhibit lesser emotional fits and strength as compared to younger people. In principle, this is to mention that younger people are more emotionally acute and alert as compared to their elderly counterparts. In order to gauge the effect of the range of emotion, we observed features such as facial expression, fidgeting or in extreme cases and situations tears or laughter. Subsequently, when we began to read the story to the research participants, the younger participants of ages 19-25 seemed contorted their faces and showed a variety of facial expressions. In the seemingly sad parts of the story, they showed disdain and even shed tears when we read the part where the boy was hit while riding a bike. At some point, these participants become sorrowful especially the parts after the boy had been hit by the runaway car, they were asking what happened to the boy or if he the driver was ever caught. Sorrow was expressed in their emotional disposition forthwith, o the other hand they giggled and smiled when the second story of a newborn baby was read to them. The second group of participants of 26-59 years showed relative composure compared to the first group when the stories were read. For instance, they never shed tears ad instead expressed shock and some level of sadness that such a young life could be lost recklessly. These participants only wondered why the driver drove away after hitting the boy, but they showed the sense of composure. On the second story of a newborn they just smiled and appreciated. The last group showed the most composure emotionally and they did not cry, or become extremely sad or sorrowful at the first story of the boy being hit. They just nodded in awe in a manner suggesting they disapproved the boy being hit such recklessly. On the other story, they also nodded in agreement and appreciation of a new life coming to life Discussion The youngest participants showed extreme emotional response and reaction because probably they have not seen horrible things in their lives that is why they expressed emotional extremities. For instance, the birth of a new born is just too sweet for them and that is why they laughed and giggled. On the other hand, a boy being knocked down was just too much for them to bear thus they shed tears. In brief, they have probably rarely witnessed such things and that is why they shed tears or cried depending on the story being read. The second group on their part showed relative restraint and maturity since they did not cry or laugh at the stories. This is so because they may have experienced such things in their lives thus they did not come as a shock to them. Secondly, they are mentally mature to accept the happenings of reality thus they controlled their emotions. The last group of over 60 years are very mature emotionally and mentally since they showed less emotional extremities. This is so because they must have seen and witnessed several instances as those read in the book and stories. Therefore, they could only relate reality to the stories and accept the stories as part of human life. For instance, a newborn could not excite them so much since they must have seen children being born and growing thus a new one could not elicit strong emotions in them. This is the reason the elderly showed less emotional responsiveness to the different situations. In principle, it implies that the hypothesis set to be achieved by the result found at the end of the research process. This is apparently supported by the facts, figures and reasons articulated above included here on the same issue. Limitations of the study The study was limited in practice by the number of realistic features of the research. For instance, there was no static reference point which ought to be used to measure emotional acuteness. This stems from the fact that the research was exploratory and qualitative in nature since emotions cannot be gauged or measured with the static point of reference. Similarly, there was limited materials to measure or invoke an emotional response. The book or material could not have been sufficient to invoke emotions in all the people since the events in the books may not have been enough to gauge and invoke emotions to the research participants. Importance in real life In reality, it helps people to know and understand the functioning of human life. For instance, why elderly people are most composed even in times of difficulty or stress while younger ones exhibit emotional disparagement. Similarly, it shows why and how human emotions work in people thus enabling and preparing the whole human society to relate to different situations. Conclusion The above research process has articulated and shown the functional relationship that exits between age and emotions. It is clear that the older a person gets, the lesser emotional the person is likely to get. This is so because the person would have some experience and would just relate with the happenings of any tragedy or issue which may invoke emotions. It is important to note and mention that the participants are from the same demographic class and thus there is little or no variation in the qualities and properties. . References Ebner, N. C., & Fischer, H. (2014). Emotion and aging: evidence from brain and behavior. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 996. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00996 Isaacowitz, D. M., & Blanchard-Fields, F. (2012). Linking process and outcome in the study of emotion and aging. Perspectives on Psychological Science,7(1), 3-17. Samanez-Larkin, G. R., Robertson, E. R., Mikels, J. A., Carstensen, L. L., & Gotlib, I. H. (2009). Selective Attention to Emotion in the Aging Brain. Psychology and Aging, 24(3), 519–529. doi:10.1037/a0016952 Read More