Emotion and Aging - Evidence from Brain and Behavior - Research Paper Example

Research Paper on Emotion Research Paper on Emotion The study examined the effects of age related differences in emotion through stories. The three participants, each from a different age a group emerging adult (19-25 years), adult (26-59 years) and older adult (Aged 60 and over), read stories with differing emotional arousal, positive and negative emotion. We hypothesized that older adults are more likely to have less intense and greater emotional control. Afterwards, we interviewed them to know how emotional they found the stories. Results indicated that the older adult have lesser impulse strength, lesser positive expressivity, lesser negative expressivity, and greater emotional control (Isaacowitz and Blanchard-Fields, F. 2012). 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 emotion 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. 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. Nevertheless, little studies have addressed emotion regulation across various age groups. Several studies that have considered emotional experience with age indicate that emotional experience frequency and intensity decreases with age. According to Diener and Associates study, short form of Affect Intensity Measure (AIM) administered to assess positive and negative effect intensity. 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 et al, 2009). The results indicated age correlated at 26 with the affect intensity measure and 32 with general behavioral inventory, suggesting age decline in emotional experience for positive and negative emotions. In addition, a study by Lawton and fellow researchers used community sample of three different age groups. 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 age-related decrease in emotional intensity (Samanez et al, 2009). 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 of 10 women across different age groups (ages 24-40, ages 40-60, and 65 and above) were studied by Malatesta and other researchers. However, they did not find any evidence there is significant difference between age and intensity negative emotions (Samanez et al, 2009) . These studies indicate that there is a distinction between emotional experience capacity and the level of experienced emotion. 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 emotion content, while on contrary the other contained negative emotion 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. 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. Method We used direct interview in our research. We engaged our participants and they felt part of the research rather than tools for research. In addition, we gave out consent forms to all the participants in our research. 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). Procedure The three participants read stories with differing emotional arousal, positive and negative emotion. Then we interviewed them to assess 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 intense emotions that an individual may find difficult to control, whereas positive and negative expressions are positive and negative expression respectively. Impulse strength, for example, those who have strong emotions and cannot hide. The positive and negative expression were rated from very positive to very negative. The negative story was about a boy who had been taken to hospital after a car accident and the positive story was about a boy was taken to hospital to visit a new sibling. Results The participants’ results showed the rating of the positive story most positively, and the rating of the negative story most negatively. However, emerging adult participant and adult participant (ages 19-59 years) reported having more impulse strength, more positive expressivity, more negative expressivity, and lesser emotional control. The older adult (60 years and above) indicated more positive expressivity on the positive story, but less negative expressivity on the negative story. Discussion The purpose of the research was to determine age-related difference in emotion. The results showed that age is associated with reduced intensity of emotional impulses, and lesser signs of both positive and negative emotional expressions, as well as increased emotional control. Therefore, the findings are consistent with my hypothesis. Aging was associated with decreased emotional experience of anger, sadness, and increased happiness. The results on changes in emotional experience in the older adult (60 years and above) age are similar with the literature that indicate that despite high levels of consistency, aging is associated with increases in positive traits and decreases in negative traits. According to environmental change model, biological strength diminishes with emotional impulses. However, there are no changes in the full range of negative and positive emotions. There was a selective decrease in the experience the negative emotions such as sadness, fear, and anger and increases in happiness. Additionally, it would be very difficult to explain for this model is the positive relation between experience and control for happiness because this model would predict that emotional control perceptions increase with age associated with decreases but not increases in emotional experience. However, the emotional control model suggests that increasingly effective emotional control is the cause of the other changes in emotion. Thus, assessment of changes should reveal decreases in negative emotional experience or increases in positive emotional experience. Age related decrease were evident in the negative story, as were increase in the positive story. Interpretation of these findings is that older people have greater control of emotion permits them to selectively enhance positive emotions and selectively dampen their experience of negative emotions such as sadness, anger, and fear. This argument suggests that older people may be better at negative emotion regulation than younger people may. Conclusion Emotion research has increased to help bring the emotion science with the forces of the contemporary revolution. The aim of the study was to examine the effects of age related differences in emotion by telling the participants to read two different stories with a positive and negative emotion. Compared with younger participants, older participants had lesser negative emotion expressivity and positive emotion expressivity. Therefore, it is evident older participant use of emotion coping strategies such as positive reevaluation helped reduce the stress process. The results showed that compared with middle-aged or younger participants, with age individuals report greater emotional control and lesser negative emotional experience (Ebner and Fischer 2014). These age-related changes are due to better regulation of emotion, possibly the result of older participants adopting increasingly effective strategies to influence their emotions. 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 Appendix CONSENT FORM TITLE OF RESEARCH: Research Paper on Emotion IRB PROTOCOL NO.: INVESTIGATOR: SPONSOR: SPONSOR PROTOCOL NO.: For Children (those participants under 18 years of age) taking part in this study, we use “You” to address both the participant ("you") and the parent or guardian ("your child"). Purpose of the Research We intent to study age related differences on emotion. You will be required to read two different stories with a positive and a negative emotion. More than 1000 people in our country have safely participated in a research study of this magnitude. Explanation of Procedures If you enter the study, you will be required to read two different stories. One story is expected to elicit a positive emotion from you and the other a negative emotion. During this time, you will not be subjected to any medications or treatment. You will be expected to respond to the researcher’s questions as far as you are comfortable. The research study shall take a maximum of up to four (4) hours. Incidental Findings We are carrying out this study for the research purposes described above. We are not going to use the findings for any medical or other interpretations that are not stated in our research. Under no circumstance will you be condemned or be described in any manner as abnormal or normal with regards to our findings during the study. Risks and Discomfort Our study will not guarantee you all the comfort you may desire during the study. You may find reading of two different stories uncomfortable and difficult. The story that is likely to elicit a negative emotional response from you is most likely going to be uncomfortable to read. Benefits You may not benefit directly from taking part in this study. However, this study may help us better understand how age difference affects emotional response. Alternatives We have many other ways in which we can meet the objectives stated in our study. We can also expose you to photographs or videos. Nevertheless, for the sake of convenience for our participants, and us we have opted to use this form of research. Confidentiality Information obtained about you from this study shall. We may choose to publish the information from the research but in that case, your identity will remain confidential. In addition, we may choose to share our research findings with relevant institutions as provided by the law. Voluntary Participation and Withdrawal It is your choice to take part in this study or not. Whether or not you take part in this study is your choice. There will be no punishment or charges if you chose not to take part in our study. You are allowed to terminate your participation in our research during any stage as you may wish. We will not take anything against you if you leave the study. Cost of Participation There shall be no costs for you by participating in this study. We have paid for all the study material and we only want your voluntary participation. Payment for Participation in Research Our study is free, your participation is on a voluntary basis, and you do not stand to gain financially. Payment for Research-Related Injuries We may attend to participants who will be affected by our study as far as it is legally provided. However, we assure you that our study do not expose you to any physical harm or injury. Questions Kindly be informed that you are free to ask us any questions during or before the study. We will be more than willing to respond to your questions. Legal Rights You will not be violating any of your legal rights by signing this informed consent form. Signatures Your signature below demonstrates that you are conversant with all the information pertaining our study . 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