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1 results

  • 17 - Changes in Social and Emotional Well-Being over the Lifespan

  • from Part III - Aging in a Socioemotional Context
  • Edited by Ayanna K. Thomas, Tufts University, Massachusetts, Angela Gutchess, Brandeis University, Massachusetts
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Cognitive Aging
    Published online:
    28 May 2020
    Print publication:
    28 May 2020, pp 315-331

  • Summary

    Although preserving social relationships plays a critical role in successful aging, a large body of work has shown that the size of older adults’ social networks declines with age. This decline could reflect older adults’ increased desire to preserve their emotional well-being (having greater positive than negative affect). However, because emotional well-being is associated with longer lifespans whereas having smaller social networks is not, other factors may contribute to older adults’ declining network. This chapter reviews one such possibility: age-related declines in social cognition. Core social cognitive functions that play an integral role in developing and maintaining social relationships – understanding the mental states of others, emotion recognition, inhibiting socially inappropriate responses, and prejudice reduction – are impaired in aging populations. This chapter reviews each of these, and considers how they might influence older adults’ ability to develop and maintain high-quality social networks.