Socioemotional Selectivity Theory: The Role of Perceived Endings in Human Motivation

Overview

• Socioemotional Selectivity Theory (SST) posits that perception of time as limited changes motivational priorities.
• Founded by Laura L. Carstensen, PhD, at Stanford University.
• Focuses on how people prioritize emotionally meaningful goals over exploratory goals as they perceive time as limited.
• Major topics: aging, emotions, motivation, social networks, life span.

Background and Development

• Developed to explain high levels of social and emotional well-being in older adults despite age-related losses.
• Influenced by findings from the Epidemiological Catchment Area study indicating lower rates of psychopathology in older adults.
• Contrasted against earlier theories suggesting increased psychopathology and disengagement with age (e.g., Jung, Disengagement Theory).

Key Components of SST

• Temporal Perspective: Perception of time influences goal priorities.
  • Two classes of goals:
    • Preparatory goals: Knowledge acquisition, exploration.
    • Emotional goals: Satisfaction, belonging, purpose.
  • As time horizons shorten, focus shifts to emotional goals.
• Positivity Effect: Older adults show a shift in cognitive processing towards positive information.

Research Findings

• Social Preferences: Older adults prefer emotionally meaningful partners; younger individuals value future utility (Fredrickson & Carstensen, 1990).
  • Time constraints alter preferences across age groups.
  • Terminal illness cases in younger populations show similar patterns to older adults.
• Social Networks: Smaller, emotionally close networks contribute to well-being in older adults.
  • Beginnings of network pruning observed in early adulthood.
• Emotional Experience: Older people report less negative emotion and more emotional stability over time.
  • Longitudinal studies confirm reduced emotional variability with age.
  • Mixed emotions (poignancy) can benefit physical health.
• Cognitive Processing: Older adults better remember positive over negative images.
  • Studies suggest motivational influences over cognitive decline.

Practical Applications

• Positive messaging more effective than negative for older adults in promoting healthful behaviors (Notthoff & Carstensen, 2014).
• Engagement in prosocial activities improves both health and well-being in older adults.

Future Directions

• Exploring the distinct effects of objective vs. subjective time perception.
• Testing hypotheses to refine SST and understand life-span development.

Conclusion

• SST provides insights into how perceived time influences motivation.
• Ongoing research aims to refine understanding of socioemotional development across the lifespan.

Acknowledgments

• Supported by National Institute on Aging.
• Based on Robert W. Kleemeier Award Lecture, 2015.

References

• Multiple studies cited offer robust support and ongoing exploration of SST principles and applications.