Young people's reactions change elderly people's generativity and altruistic behavior.

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25870956
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Social psychology; Educational psychology
• Research Institution: Kwansei Gakuin University
• Principal Investigator: TABUCHI Megumi 関西学院大学, 文学研究科, 博士研究員 (70631977)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 世代性(generativity) / 利他的行動 / 高齢者 / 知恵 / 世代間相互作用

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the contents of wisdoms and reactions of young generations on generativity and narratives of the elderly in passing their wisdoms toward young generations. Participants were 48 old Male adults. They were assigned to the “wisdoms from experiences of failure” condition or the “wisdoms from experiences of success” condition. The recipients responded to the participants in either positive or neutral way. Results showed that only in “wisdoms from experiences of failure” condition, generativity was promoted when the young recipients responded in a positive manner and decreased when the young recipients responded in a neutral manner. The effect of reactions of young generations when the elderly would make use of their negative experiences for the youth was discussed.

Free Research Field

高齢者心理学