Elsevier

Advances in Psychology

Volume 71, 1990, Pages 461-497
Advances in Psychology

Chapter Eleven Affect, Individual Differences, and Real World Problem Solving Across the Adult Life Span

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0166-4115(08)60165-XGet rights and content

Summary

Recent thinking in the area of adult cognitive development suggests that with adulthood comes an integration and consistency in reasoning across cognitive and affective domains. Given this theoretical framework and current research supporting this notion, we decided to extend this research into the realm of real world problem solving.

The literature is replete with studies manipulating experimenter-imposed variables assumed to affect problem solving competence in older adults. However, until recently, relatively little effort has focused on the sensitivity of the dependent measures used to capture possible developmental differences in how the individual structures reality and approaches everyday problems. Thus, quantitative measures (i.e., number of solutions, etc.) may obscure qualitative differences inherent in the solutions themselves.

Given these issues, two studies were conducted which used tasks that require individuals to either generate their own interpretations of problem situations varying in emotional saliency or endorse various problem solving strategies. In addition to qualitative differences in, problem solving, we examined individual difference, indices such as global problem solving ability, openness, to experience, and social desirability, as possible, moderators of variability in performance. The results, from these studies will be discussed in terms of recent, theories of adult cognitive development.

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