How social and temporal comparisons shape subjective aging.

IF 3.5 1区心理学 Q1 GERONTOLOGY

Psychology and Aging Pub Date : 2025-06-23 DOI:10.1037/pag0000917

David Weiss, M Clara P de Paula Couto, Klaus Rothermund

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

How we perceive and evaluate our own aging is shaped by both social and temporal comparisons. Social comparison involves evaluating oneself in relation to others, whereas temporal comparison focuses on assessing changes within oneself over time. Comparative information can produce opposing effects, causing individuals to feel either relatively younger or older than their chronological age: While temporal comparisons are often perceived as threatening in the second half of life, social comparisons are frequently employed to bolster self-perceptions. We investigated how social and temporal comparisons shape subjective aging in two studies, a longitudinal (Study 1, N = 2,425, 39-93 years; 55.5% women) and an experimental study (Study 2, N = 160, 50-75 years, 58% women). The results of both studies demonstrate that "me vs. them" comparisons result in feeling relatively younger, whereas "me vs. past/future me" comparisons lead to feeling relatively older. Study 2 also reveals evidence for the mediating role of self-perceptions of aging in this relationship. We discuss how social and temporal comparisons influence subjective age in opposite ways, offering important insights into the cognitive and motivational processes underlying subjective aging. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

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社会和时间的比较如何塑造主观衰老。

我们如何看待和评估自己的衰老是由社会和时间的比较所决定的。社会比较涉及评估自己与他人的关系，而时间比较侧重于评估自己随着时间的变化。比较信息可以产生相反的效果，使个人感觉相对年轻或比实际年龄更老：虽然时间比较通常被认为是后半生的威胁，但社会比较经常被用来增强自我认知。我们在两项研究中调查了社会和时间比较如何影响主观衰老，一项纵向研究(研究1，N = 2425, 39-93岁；55.5%女性)和一项实验研究（研究2，N = 160, 50-75岁，58%女性）。两项研究的结果都表明，“我与他们”的比较会让人感觉相对年轻，而“我与过去/未来的我”的比较会让人感觉相对年长。研究2也揭示了衰老自我认知在这一关系中的中介作用。我们讨论了社会和时间比较如何以相反的方式影响主观年龄，为主观衰老背后的认知和动机过程提供了重要的见解。（PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA，版权所有）。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Psychology and Aging Multiple-

CiteScore

6.40

自引率

10.80%

发文量

期刊介绍： Psychology and Aging publishes original articles on adult development and aging. Such original articles include reports of research that may be applied, biobehavioral, clinical, educational, experimental (laboratory, field, or naturalistic studies), methodological, or psychosocial. Although the emphasis is on original research investigations, occasional theoretical analyses of research issues, practical clinical problems, or policy may appear, as well as critical reviews of a content area in adult development and aging. Clinical case studies that have theoretical significance are also appropriate. Brief reports are acceptable with the author"s agreement not to submit a full report to another journal.