TY - JOUR
T1 - The positivity effect
T2 - a negativity bias in youth fades with age
AU - Carstensen, Laura L.
AU - DeLiema, Marguerite
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017
PY - 2018/2
Y1 - 2018/2
N2 - Relative to younger adults, older adults attend to and remember positive information more than negative information. This shift from a negativity bias in younger age to a preference for positive information in later life is termed the ‘positivity effect.’ Based on nearly two decades of research and recent evidence from neuroscience, we argue that the effect reflects age-related changes in motivation that direct behavior and cognitive processing rather than neural or cognitive decline. Understanding the positivity effect, including conditions that reduce and enhance it, can inform effective public health and educational messages directed at older people.
AB - Relative to younger adults, older adults attend to and remember positive information more than negative information. This shift from a negativity bias in younger age to a preference for positive information in later life is termed the ‘positivity effect.’ Based on nearly two decades of research and recent evidence from neuroscience, we argue that the effect reflects age-related changes in motivation that direct behavior and cognitive processing rather than neural or cognitive decline. Understanding the positivity effect, including conditions that reduce and enhance it, can inform effective public health and educational messages directed at older people.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85026736137&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.07.009
DO - 10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.07.009
M3 - Review article
C2 - 30327789
AN - SCOPUS:85026736137
SN - 2352-1546
VL - 19
SP - 7
EP - 12
JO - Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences
JF - Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences
ER -