Login Register Cart 0
Generic placeholder image

Current Aging Science

Editor-in-Chief

ISSN (Print): 1874-6098
ISSN (Online): 1874-6128

Back
Journal Home About Journal Editorial Board Journal Insight Current Issue Volumes/Issues
Subscribe
Research Article

How do “Young-old” Adults Project their Self? A Study of Self-defining Future Projections in Normal Ageing

Author(s): Alain Fritsch*, Virginie Voltzenlogel and Christine Cuervo-Lombard

Volume 16, Issue 3, 2023

Published on: 19 April, 2023

Page: [199 - 210] Pages: 12

DOI: 10.2174/1874609816666230330092556

Price: $65

conference banner
Abstract

Background: Self-defining future projections (SDFP) are mental representations of plausible and highly significant future events that provide core information of one’s understanding of self.

Objective: We explored SDFPs in a large sample of older adults and aimed to target the interrelations between the main dimensions of SDFPs. Moreover, correlations between these dimensions and clinical and cognitive variables were examined.

Methods: We recruited 87 young-old adults (60-75 years) with normal cognitive functioning who were asked to generate three SDFPs.

Results: We found integrative meaning as a salient dimension and older individuals preferentially generated projections containing leisure or relationship events. Anxiety and self-esteem were correlated with integrative meaning and high executive functioning was found to be protective towards the simulation of future events containing dependence and death or end-of-life events.

Conclusion: This study will contribute to the understanding of personal goals and identity in normal ageing.

« Previous Next »
Graphical Abstract

[1]
Conway MA. Memory and the self. J Mem Lang 2005; 53(4): 594-628.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2005.08.005] [PMID: 16076674]
[2]
D’Argembeau A, Lardi C, Van der Linden M. Self-defining future projections: Exploring the identity function of thinking about the future. Memory 2012; 20(2): 110-20.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2011.647697] [PMID: 22292616]
[3]
D’Argembeau A. Van der LM. Emotional aspects of mental time travel. Behav Brain Sci 2007; 30(3): 320-1.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X07002051]
[4]
Cole SN, Berntsen D. Do future thoughts reflect personal goals? Current concerns and mental time travel into the past and future. Q J Exp Psychol 2016; 69(2): 273-84.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2015.1044542] [PMID: 26035211]
[5]
Grysman A, Prabhakar J, Anglin SM, Hudson JA. The time travelling self: Comparing self and other in narratives of past and future events. Conscious Cogn 2013; 22(3): 742-55.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2013.04.010] [PMID: 23703026]
[6]
Berntsen D, Bohn A. Remembering and forecasting: The relation between autobiographical memory and episodic future thinking. Mem Cognit 2010; 38(3): 265-78.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/MC.38.3.265] [PMID: 20234017]
[7]
Singer JA, Moffitt KH. An experimental investigation of specificity and generality in memory narratives. Imagin Cogn Pers 1992; 11(3): 233-57.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.2190/72A3-8UPY-GDB9-GX9K]
[8]
Demblon J, D’Argembeau A. Contribution of past and future self-defining event networks to personal identity. Memory 2017; 25(5): 656-65.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2016.1205095] [PMID: 27385619]
[9]
Garcia Jimenez C, d’Argembeau A. Defining ourselves: Past and future self-defining events increase the accessibility of psychological self-concepts. Annual Meeting of the Belgian Association for Psychological Sciences 2019.https://hdl.handle.net/2268/236132
[10]
Blagov PS, Singer JA. Four dimensions of self-defining memories (specificity, meaning, content, and affect) and their relationships to self-restraint, distress, and repressive defensiveness. J Pers 2004; 72(3): 481-511.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-3506.2004.00270.x] [PMID: 15102036]
[11]
Thorne A, McLean KC, Lawrence AM. When remembering is not enough: Reflecting on self-defining memories in late adolescence. J Pers 2004; 72(3): 513-42.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-3506.2004.00271.x] [PMID: 15102037]
[12]
McAdams DP, Reynolds J, Lewis M, Patten AH, Bowman PJ. When bad things turn good and good things turn bad: sequences of redemption and contamination in life narrative and their relation to psychosocial adaptation in midlife adults and in students. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 2001; 27(4): 474-85.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0146167201274008]
[13]
Singer JA, Blagov PS. Classification system and scoring manual for self-defining autobiographical memories Unpublished manuscript Connecticut College 2000.
[14]
Habermas T. Autobiographical reasoning: Arguing and narrating from a biographical perspective. New Dir Child Adolesc Dev 2011; 2011(131): 1-17.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cd.285] [PMID: 21387528]
[15]
Thorne A, McLean KC. Manual for coding events in self-defining memories Unpublished manuscript, University of California, Santa Cruz. 2001.
[16]
Raffard S, Bortolon C, Iniesta F, Macioce V, Gely-Nargeot MC, Van der Linden M. Projecting the self in aging: An exploratory study of self-defining future projections. Memory 2020; 28(5): 632-41.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2020.1753778] [PMID: 32336202]
[17]
Anelli F, Ciaramelli E, Arzy S, Frassinetti F. Age-related effects on future mental time travel. Neural Plast 2016; 2016: 1-8.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/1867270] [PMID: 27144031]
[18]
De Beni R, Borella E, Carretti B, Zavagnin M, Lazzarini L, Milojevi G. Remembering the past and imagining the future: Age-related differences between young, young-old and old-old. Aging Clin Exp Res 2013; 25(1): 89-97.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40520-013-0003-3] [PMID: 23740638]
[19]
Zavagnin M, De Beni R, Borella E, Carretti B. Episodic future thinking: The role of working memory and inhibition on age-related differences. Aging Clin Exp Res 2016; 28(1): 109-19.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40520-015-0368-6] [PMID: 25963665]
[20]
Zigmond AS, Snaith RP. The hospital anxiety and depression scale. Acta Psychiatr Scand 1983; 67(6): 361-70.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0447.1983.tb09716.x] [PMID: 6880820]
[21]
Folstein MF, Folstein SE, McHugh PR. Mini-mental state. J Psychiatr Res 1975; 12(3): 189-98.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0022-3956(75)90026-6] [PMID: 1202204]
[22]
Hudon C, Potvin O, Turcotte MC, et al. Normalisation du mini-mental state examination (MMSE) chez les Québécois francophones âgés de 65 ans et plus et résidant dans la communauté. Can J Aging 2009; 28(4): 347-57.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0714980809990171] [PMID: 19925700]
[23]
Rosenberg M. Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, Princeton University Oress New Jersey 1965.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9781400876136]
[24]
Borkowski JG, Benton AL, Spreen O. Word fluency and brain damage. Neuropsychologia 1967; 5(2): 135-40.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0028-3932(67)90015-2]
[25]
Wechsler D. Wechsler adult intelligence scale. (4th ed.), American Psychological Association Washington, DC: 2008.
[26]
McLean KC. Stories of the young and the old: Personal continuity and narrative identity. Dev Psychol 2008; 44(1): 254-64.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.44.1.254] [PMID: 18194024]
[27]
McLean KC, Fernandez S, Ngan S, Smith I, Teebi A. Coding manual for connections: To the self and between events Unpublished manuscript, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada 2005.
[28]
Voltzenlogel V, Ernst A, de Sèze J, Brassat D, Manning L, Berna F. Giving meaning to illness: An investigation of self-defining memories in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients. Conscious Cogn 2016; 45: 200-9.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2016.09.010] [PMID: 27656786]
[29]
Castellon P, Sudres JL, Voltzenlogel V. Self-defining memories in female patients with anorexia nervosa. Eur Eat Disord Rev 2020; 28(5): 513-24.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/erv.2739] [PMID: 32363663]
[30]
Raucher-Chéné D, Berna F, Vucurovic K, et al. How to project oneself without positive and integrated memories? Exploration of self-defining memories and future projections in bipolar disorder. Behav Res Ther 2021; 138: 103817.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2021.103817] [PMID: 33524807]
[31]
Lang FR, Carstensen LL. Time counts: Future time perspective, goals, and social relationships. Psychol Aging 2002; 17(1): 125-39.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.17.1.125] [PMID: 11931281]
[32]
Bohn A. Generational differences in cultural life scripts and life story memories of younger and older adults. Appl Cogn Psychol 2010; 24(9): 1324-45.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/acp.1641]
[33]
Berntsen D, Rubin DC. Cultural life scripts structure recall from autobiographical memory. Mem Cognit 2004; 32(3): 427-42.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/BF03195836] [PMID: 15285126]
[34]
Sedikides C, Gregg AP. Self-enhancement: Food for thought. Perspect Psychol Sci 2008; 3(2): 102-16.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6916.2008.00068.x] [PMID: 26158877]
[35]
Sharot T. The optimism bias. Curr Biol 2011; 21(23): R941-5.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2011.10.030] [PMID: 22153158]
[36]
Jumentier S, Barsics C, Van der Linden M. Reduced specificity and enhanced subjective experience of future thinking in ageing: The influence of avoidance and emotion-regulation strategies. Memory 2018; 26(1): 59-73.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2017.1322108] [PMID: 28470139]
[37]
Arnett JJ. Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. Am Psychol 2000; 55(5): 469-80.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.5.469] [PMID: 10842426]
[38]
Brown SL, Asher T, Cialdini RB. Evidence of a positive relationship between age and preference for consistency. J Res Pers 2005; 39(5): 517-33.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2004.07.001]
[39]
Singer J, Rexhaj B, Baddeley J. Older, wiser, and happier? Comparing older adults’ and college students’ self-defining memories. Memory 2007; 15(8): 886-98.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09658210701754351] [PMID: 18033623]
[40]
Lardi C, D’Argembeau A, Chanal J, Ghisletta P, Van der Linden M. Further characterisation of self-defining memories in young adults: A study of a Swiss sample. Memory 2010; 18(3): 293-309.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09658211003601522] [PMID: 20309774]
[41]
Mitas O, Yarnal C, Adams R, Ram N. Taking a “Peak” at leisure travelers’ positive emotions. Leis Sci 2012; 34(2): 115-35.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2012.652503]
[42]
Greenberg J, Pyszczynski T, Solomon S. The causes and consequences of a need for self-esteem: A terror management theory Public self and private self Springer 1986: New York, NY.
[43]
Hallford DJ, Mellor D, Bafit L, et al. The effect of increasing state anxiety on autobiographical memory specificity and future thinking. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 2019; 65: 101488.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbtep.2019.101488] [PMID: 31136879]
[44]
Beck AT, Emery G, Greenberg RL. Anxiety disorders and phobias: A cognitive perspective Basic books 2005 Hachette Book Group.
[45]
Stern Y. Cognitive reserve. Neuropsychologia 2009; 47(10): 2015-28.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.03.004] [PMID: 19467352]

Rights & Permissions Print Cite
© 2024 Bentham Science Publishers | Privacy Policy