Auflösung des Kriminalitätsfurcht-Paradox : Eine emotionsentwicklungspsychologische Perspektive auf Vorsichtsverhalten

Das Viktimisierungs-Furcht Paradox bezieht sich auf den Forschungsbefund, dass ältere Erwachsene sich mehr davor fürchten, Opfer eines Verbrechens zu werden, als jüngere, obgleich sie statistisch betrachtet seltener Opfer werden. Dieses Ergebnis geht vor allem auf die sogenannte Standardfrage zurück. Im Gegensatz dazu zeigen Fragen nach der Häufigkeit des Kriminalitätsfurchterlebens und der Risikoeinschätzung keine Altersunterschiede. Ältere Erwachsene verhalten sich jedoch vorsichtiger, was zum einen die geringere Viktimisierungsrate erklären könnte, zum anderen jedoch auch die Furchthäufigkeit unterschätzen könnte. Im Rahmen eines handlungstheoretischen Ansatzes wurde der Frage nachgegangen, wie sich die Zunahme im Vorsichtsverhalten erklären lässt. Dabei wurde Kriminalitätsfurcht emotionstheoretisch herausgearbeitet. In den ersten drei Studien wurde Vorsichtsverhalten als Ausdruck einer durch Zunahme an physischer Vulnerabilität bedingten erhöhten Furcht untersucht. Dabei wurde mit Hilfe von Vignetten Furcht situational induziert. Während es einen positiven Zusammenhang zwischen physischer Vulnerabilität, situationaler Furcht und Vorsichtsverhalten gab, reagierten ältere Erwachsene nicht generell mit höherer Furcht. Im Gegenteil, bei zwei Vignetten berichteten jüngere Erwachsene reliabel mehr Furcht als ältere Erwachsene. In zwei weiteren Studien wurden Altersunterschiede in der Bedrohungseinschätzung mit einer modifizierten affektiven Primingaufgabe geprüft. Hierbei zeigten junge Erwachsene einen größeren Primingeffekt als ältere, wobei sich in beiden Altersgruppen der Primingeffekt unter Manipulation des Zeitdrucks erhöhte. Ein negativer Zusammenhang zwischen Furchthäufigkeit und der Höhe des Primingeffekts bei den älteren Erwachsenen liefert Hinweise darauf, dass (negative) Informationen innerhalb dieser Altersgruppe unterschiedlich verarbeitet werden. Die letzte Studie bietet einen vertieften Ausblick auf die Konzeption des Vorsichtsverhaltens als Ausdruck eines für ältere Erwachsene verringerten Anreizes der mit Risikoverhalten potentiell einhergehenden Gewinne und veränderter Möglichkeiten des Vermeidens riskanten Verhaltens. Insgesamt bieten die Studien einen Einblick in die Komplexität des Konstrukts Kriminalitätsfurcht. Während situationale Kriminalitätsfurcht nicht generell mit dem Alter zuzunehmen scheint, verweisen die Ergebnisse der Primingstudien darauf, dass Regulationsmechanismen berücksichtigt werden müssen, welche die Bearbeitung der Aufgaben beeinflussen. Darüber hinaus verdeutlichen die Ergebnisse der einzelnen Studien, dass ein Vorgehen gewählt werden muss, welches sowohl verschiedene Messmethoden als auch unterschiedliche theoretische Ansätze integriert, um dem Untersuchungsgegenstand Rechnung zu tragen.The victimization-fear paradox describes the finding that older adults are more afraid of becoming a victim of crime than younger adults, although they are statistically less frequent victims. This result is mainly based on the so-called standard question. In contrast, questions regarding the frequency of experiencing fear of crime and the risk assessment show no age differences. Older adults, however, behave more cautious, which may explain the lower victimization firstly, on the other hand, however, may underestimate the frequency of fear. Within the framework of an action-theoretic approach, the question was how the age-related increase in precautious behavior can be explained. Fear of crime has been worked out within an emotion theoretical approach. In the first three studies the increase of precautious behavior has been studied as an expression of heightened fear caused by an age-related increase in physical vulnerability. Situational fear of crime was induced by means of a vignette technique. While there was a positive relationship between physical vulnerability, situational fear, and precautious behavior, older adults did not generally respond with higher fear. On the contrary, in two vignettes younger adults reported reliably more fear than older adults. In two other studies, age differences were examined in the threat evaluation with a modified affective priming task. Here, young adults showed a larger priming effect than older adults. When time to respond was shortened experimentally, the magnitude of the priming effect increased in both age groups. A negative correlation between the frequency of fear and the size of the priming effect among the older adults provides evidence that (negative) information is processed differently in this age group. The last study explores precautious behavior as an age-related change in gain-risk calculations. Risk behavior might be associated with gains that lose their incentive value with age. Moreover, older adults might have modified ways of avoiding risky behavior. In general, the studies provide insights in the complexity of the subject matter. While situational fear of crime seems not to generally increase with age, the results of the priming studies indicate that care needs to be taken with regard to potential regulation mechanisms in responding to the tasks. Moreover, the findings clarify that an approach has to be taken that employs various measurement techniques as well as an integration of different theoretical advances

Emotional aging: a discrete emotions perspective

Perhaps the most important single finding in the field of emotional aging has been that the overall quality of affective experience steadily improves during adulthood and can be maintained into old age. Recent lifespan developmental theories have provided motivation- and experience-based explanations for this phenomenon. These theories suggest that, as individuals grow older, they become increasingly motivated and able to regulate their emotions, which could result in reduced negativity and enhanced positivity. The objective of this paper is to expand existing theories and empirical research on emotional aging by presenting a discrete emotions perspective. To illustrate the usefulness of this approach, we focus on a discussion of the literature examining age differences in anger and sadness. These two negative emotions have typically been subsumed under the singular concept of negative affect. From a discrete emotions perspective, however, they are highly distinct and show multidirectional age differences. We propose that such contrasting age differences in specific negative emotions have important implications for our understanding of long-term patterns of affective well-being across the adult lifespan

Kinder und Jugendliche in Deutschland: Gewalterfahrungen, Integration, Medienkonsum. Zweiter Bericht zum gemeinsamen Forschungsprojekt des Bundesministeriums des Innern und des KFN

Zweitveröffentlichung. Download von https://kfn.de/publikationen/kfn-forschungsbericht

Emotional aging: a discrete emotions perspective

Perhaps the most important single finding in the field of emotional aging has been that the overall quality of affective experience steadily improves during adulthood and can be maintained into old age. Recent lifespan developmental theories have provided motivation- and experience-based explanations for this phenomenon. These theories suggest that, as individuals grow older, they become increasingly motivated and able to regulate their emotions, which could result in reduced negativity and enhanced positivity. The objective of this paper is to expand existing theories and empirical research on emotional aging by presenting a discrete emotions perspective. To illustrate the usefulness of this approach, we focus on a discussion of the literature examining age differences in anger and sadness. These two negative emotions have typically been subsumed under the singular concept of negative affect. From a discrete emotions perspective, however, they are highly distinct and show multidirectional age differences. We propose that such contrasting age differences in specific negative emotions have important implications for our understanding of long-term patterns of affective well-being across the adult lifespan

Emotional aging: a discrete emotions perspective

Perhaps the most important single finding in the field of emotional aging has been that the overall quality of affective experience steadily improves during adulthood and can be maintained into old age. Recent lifespan developmental theories have provided motivation- and experience-based explanations for this phenomenon. These theories suggest that, as individuals grow older, they become increasingly motivated and able to regulate their emotions, which could result in reduced negativity and enhanced positivity. The objective of this paper is to expand existing theories and empirical research on emotional aging by presenting a discrete emotions perspective. To illustrate the usefulness of this approach, we focus on a discussion of the literature examining age differences in anger and sadness. These two negative emotions have typically been subsumed under the singular concept of negative affect. From a discrete emotions perspective, however, they are highly distinct and show multidirectional age differences. We propose that such contrasting age differences in specific negative emotions have important implications for our understanding of long-term patterns of affective well-being across the adult lifespan

Sicherheit und Kriminalität in Stade: Ergebnisse einer Schüler- und Erwachsenenbefragung

Zweitveröffentlichung. Download von https://kfn.de/publikationen/kfn-forschungsbericht

Linking the Positivity Effect in Attention with Affective Outcomes: Age Group Differences and the Role of Arousal

Despite its assumed importance for emotional well-being, studies investigating the positivity effect (PE) in older adults’ information processing rarely tested its relationship with immediate or general affective outcome measures like emotional reactivity or emotional well-being. Moreover, the arousal level of the to-be-processed emotional stimuli has rarely been taken into account as a moderator for the occurrence of the PE and its relationship with affective outcomes. Age group differences (young vs. old) in attention (i.e., fixation durations using eye tracking) and subjective emotional reactions (i.e., pleasantness ratings) were investigated in response to picture stimuli systematically varied in valence (positive vs. negative) and arousal (low vs. high). We examined whether there is a link between age group differences in fixation durations and affective outcomes (i.e., subjective emotional reactions as well as emotional wellbeing). Older compared to young adults fixated less on the most emotional part in negative but not in positive low-arousing pictures. This age difference did not occur under high arousal. While age group differences in fixation duration did not translate into age group differences in subjective emotional reactions, we found a positive relationship between fixation duration on negative low-arousing pictures and emotional well-being, i.e., negative affect. The present study replicated the well-known PE in attention and emotional reactivity. In line with the idea that the PE reflects top-down-driven processing of affective information, age group differences in fixation durations decreased under high arousal. The present findings are consistent with the idea that age-related changes in the processing of emotional information support older adults’ general emotional well-being

Linking the Positivity Effect in Attention with Affective Outcomes: Age Group Differences and the Role of Arousal

Despite its assumed importance for emotional well-being, studies investigating the positivity effect (PE) in older adults’ information processing rarely tested its relationship with immediate or general affective outcome measures like emotional reactivity or emotional well-being. Moreover, the arousal level of the to-be-processed emotional stimuli has rarely been taken into account as a moderator for the occurrence of the PE and its relationship with affective outcomes. Age group differences (young vs. old) in attention (i.e., fixation durations using eye tracking) and subjective emotional reactions (i.e., pleasantness ratings) were investigated in response to picture stimuli systematically varied in valence (positive vs. negative) and arousal (low vs. high). We examined whether there is a link between age group differences in fixation durations and affective outcomes (i.e., subjective emotional reactions as well as emotional well-being). Older compared to young adults fixated less on the most emotional part in negative but not in positive low-arousing pictures. This age difference did not occur under high arousal. While age group differences in fixation duration did not translate into age group differences in subjective emotional reactions, we found a positive relationship between fixation duration on negative low-arousing pictures and emotional well-being, i.e., negative affect. The present study replicated the well-known PE in attention and emotional reactivity. In line with the idea that the PE reflects top-down-driven processing of affective information, age group differences in fixation durations decreased under high arousal. The present findings are consistent with the idea that age-related changes in the processing of emotional information support older adults’ general emotional well-being