Activities Adjusting Attitudes: The Impact of Lifestyle on Age Stereotype and Beliefs

Negative stereotypes about old age in general, such as the belief the older people are frail and forgetful or the expectation that declines are inevitable with increased age (Hummert, 2011; Kite & Stockdale, 2005) become self-relevant once individuals identify as old (Levy, 2009). In turn, negative attitudes about one’s own aging is linked to impaired performance, such as poorer memory (Levy, 2000) and slower walking (Levy et al., 2012), and detrimental health outcomes, such as worse physical health (Siebert et al., 2016), slower recovery from illness (Nelson, 2016), and reduced longevity (Levy et al., 2002). Research suggests that increased knowledge and awareness about a social group may reduce reliance on the stereotypes and encourage more realistic beliefs (Hess, 2006). Further, engaged lifestyles, such as participation in social activities are cognitively stimulating or physically active may promote healthier aging (Hertzog et al., 2008). We propose that benefits from these lifestyle activities might transfer to enhanced age attitudes. The purpose of the proposed research is to test whether engaged lifestyles, positive intergenerational contact, and more knowledge about aging relate to more positive age attitudes in general and about one’s own age. Members of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), aged 50 years and older, will be compensated with $15 gift cards for completing surveys about their general lifestyle activities, engagement in OLLI activities, quality and frequency of contact with younger adults, and age attitudes. We expect that self-relevant age attitudes will be more positive for individuals who participate in more activities and spend quality time with younger adults. More positive attitudes about old age in general is expected for participants who learned about the “typical” aging process in OLLI classes. Results may inform development of psychosocial interventions to improve aging attitudes and reveal which specific activities are best for healthy aging

Socializing More Linked with Better Aging Attitudes

Social engagement in late life is critical for healthy aging (Jopp & Hertzog, 2010), but motives and goals that direct activity choices change across adulthood. Socioemotional Selectivity Theory (Carstensen, 2006) posits older adults may emphasize present-related goals, such as strengthening emotional connections, because they perceive their futures to be limited. Similarly, generativity increases in aging (Erikson, 1950), so older adults are motivated to “give back” to younger generations and the community. Despite these positive changes, older adults report negative attitudes about old age in general and about their own aging (Strickland-Hughes et al., 2016). Research shows that intergenerational social engagement may improve aging attitudes in early life (Gaggioli et al. 2014), but the benefits to attitudes of older persons is less clear. Our aim was to test the relationships between social engagement and aging beliefs in middle-aged and older adults. Thirty-two participants (56-86 years old, M=74.75, SD=7.56; 88% white; 88% female) volunteered for our correlational study. We operationalized intergenerational social engagement by participation in 3-4 hours of discussion groups with undergraduates. Participants self-reported frequency and quality of contact with younger adults, and their frequency of engagement in public and private social activities (Jopp & Hertzog, 2010). Additionally, participants completed surveys assessing their general attitudes about old age, aging satisfaction, and awareness of age-related gains and losses in their lives. Overall, we expected greater social engagement to be related to more positive and less negative aging beliefs. Consistent with expectations, analyses suggested that more social interaction correlated with awareness of more age-related gains. Reports of more frequent and better quality interactions with younger adults correlated with feeling closer and more connected with younger adults (r = .405, p = .021). Our findings indicate that an actively social lifestyle may contribute to being more conscious of gains in aging

Socializing More Linked with Better Aging Attitudes

Social engagement in late life is critical for healthy aging (Jopp & Hertzog, 2010), but motives and goals that direct activity choices change across adulthood. Socioemotional Selectivity Theory (Carstensen, 2006) posits older adults may emphasize present-related goals, such as strengthening emotional connections, because they perceive their futures to be limited. Similarly, generativity increases in aging (Erikson, 1950), so older adults are motivated to “give back” to younger generations and the community. Despite these positive changes, older adults report negative attitudes about old age in general and about their own aging (Strickland-Hughes et al., 2016). Research shows that intergenerational social engagement may improve aging attitudes in early life (Gaggioli et al. 2014), but the benefits to attitudes of older persons is less clear. Our aim was to test the relationships between social engagement and aging beliefs in middle-aged and older adults. Thirty-two participants (56-86 years old, M=74.75, SD=7.56; 88% white; 88% female) volunteered for our correlational study. We operationalized intergenerational social engagement by participation in 3-4 hours of discussion groups with undergraduates. Participants self-reported frequency and quality of contact with younger adults, and their frequency of engagement in public and private social activities (Jopp & Hertzog, 2010). Additionally, participants completed surveys assessing their general attitudes about old age, aging satisfaction, and awareness of age-related gains and losses in their lives. Overall, we expected greater social engagement to be related to more positive and less negative aging beliefs. Consistent with expectations, analyses suggested that more social interaction correlated with awareness of more age-related gains. Reports of more frequent and better quality interactions with younger adults correlated with feeling closer and more connected with younger adults (r = .405, p = .021). Our findings indicate that an actively social lifestyle may contribute to being more conscious of gains in aging

Activities Adjusting Attitudes: The Impact of Lifestyle on Age Stereotype and Beliefs

Negative stereotypes about old age in general, such as the belief the older people are frail and forgetful or the expectation that declines are inevitable with increased age (Hummert, 2011; Kite & Stockdale, 2005) become self-relevant once individuals identify as old (Levy, 2009). In turn, negative attitudes about one’s own aging is linked to impaired performance, such as poorer memory (Levy, 2000) and slower walking (Levy et al., 2012), and detrimental health outcomes, such as worse physical health (Siebert et al., 2016), slower recovery from illness (Nelson, 2016), and reduced longevity (Levy et al., 2002). Research suggests that increased knowledge and awareness about a social group may reduce reliance on the stereotypes and encourage more realistic beliefs (Hess, 2006). Further, engaged lifestyles, such as participation in social activities are cognitively stimulating or physically active may promote healthier aging (Hertzog et al., 2008). We propose that benefits from these lifestyle activities might transfer to enhanced age attitudes. The purpose of the proposed research is to test whether engaged lifestyles, positive intergenerational contact, and more knowledge about aging relate to more positive age attitudes in general and about one’s own age. Members of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), aged 50 years and older, will be compensated with $15 gift cards for completing surveys about their general lifestyle activities, engagement in OLLI activities, quality and frequency of contact with younger adults, and age attitudes. We expect that self-relevant age attitudes will be more positive for individuals who participate in more activities and spend quality time with younger adults. More positive attitudes about old age in general is expected for participants who learned about the “typical” aging process in OLLI classes. Results may inform development of psychosocial interventions to improve aging attitudes and reveal which specific activities are best for healthy aging

Wildflowers: Memory Recall

Abstract Aroma of stimulants such as coffee, stimulate the frontal cortical areas of the brain associated with working memory (Ortiz and Estrella, 2016). In the research study of Martin and Chaundry (2014), results showed that females significantly outperformed the males when a pleasant scent was used. Our study aims at looking further into the effects of certain aromas on memory recall. In a preliminary experiment, we examined if the aroma of coffee would have an influence on memory recall of University of the Pacific students. Results indicated that the influence of coffee aroma had no significant effect. To further our investigation, we sought to test the effects of citrus and lavender on memory recall. Thirty University of the Pacific students (18-30 years) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (no scent control, citrus scent, and lavender scent). We hypothesize that citrus scent will have a positive effect on memory recall while lavender scent will have a negative influence. We will use a simple memory test consisting of thirty-five words, participants will be given one minute to the study the words on the list. After a twenty second interval, participants will write as many words as they can remember on a blank sheet of paper. Results will be analyzed using a One-way ANOVA test, and an excel program will be used to make graphs and charts. Data collection is ongoing. Our poster will include, brief summary of previous studies, results, discussion, graphs, and limitations