Evidence suggests that older adults rely heavily on easily accessible trait-based information. However, findings to date do not indicate universal increases in social judgment biases for older adults. Plausible mechanisms for explaining attributional biases are not limited to processing capacity, but include motivational goals and cognitive style, and accessibility of beliefs and values. For example, when beliefs or rules are violated, adults of any age tend to be biased toward dispositional attributions. These effects may be heightened in older adults. However, at this point there is no definitive evidence that these variables account for such age differences.
The aim of this research is to address this issue by further examining attributional biases in two contexts, the causal attribution framework and the attitude attribution paradigm. The first series of studies aims 1) to establish age differences social judgment biases in a new context assessing the correspondence bias and 2) to examine the joint influence of plausible mechanisms accounting for these age differences: general and content-specific values and beliefs, need for closure, and processing load. The next series of studies aims to further refine the previously used schematicity measure utilizing a priming method and systematically evaluating schema valence. In this way, the joint effects of social schematicity, character identification, and experientially based modes of processing on age differences in dispositional biases can be examined. This will culminate in a replication and extension of our original model of individual differences dispositional biases with more refined assessment procedures, better measures of values and beliefs, and by utilizing two assessment paradigms for assessing attributional biases. In the long run, this research will help us understand how attitudes, values, and beliefs influence one's social reasoning process. Understanding such individual differences will help to differentiate adaptive from dysfunctional cognitions in dealing with everyday problem situations, in general, and relationship situations, in particular. Furthermore, age/cohort differences in social schemas and beliefs and their relationship to causal reasoning has implications for understanding the nature of dysfunctional attributions and counseling couples of different age/cohort groups
| Horhota, Michelle; Mienaltowski, Andrew; Blanchard-Fields, Fredda (2012) If only I had taken my usual route…: age-related differences in counter-factual thinking. Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn 19:339-61 |
| Blanchard-Fields, Fredda; Hertzog, Christopher; Horhota, Michelle (2012) Violate my beliefs? Then you're to blame! Belief content as an explanation for causal attribution biases. Psychol Aging 27:324-37 |
| Stanley, Jennifer Tehan; Blanchard-Fields, Fredda (2011) Beliefs about behavior account for age differences in the correspondence bias. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 66:169-76 |
| Stanley, Jennifer Tehan; Blanchard-Fields, Fredda (2008) Challenges older adults face in detecting deceit: the role of emotion recognition. Psychol Aging 23:24-32 |
| Blanchard-Fields, Fredda; Chen, Yiwei; Horhota, Michelle et al. (2007) Cultural differences in the relationship between aging and the correspondence bias. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 62:P362-5 |
| Stein, Renee; Blanchard-Fields, Fredda; Hertzog, Christopher (2002) The effects of age-stereotype priming on the memory performance of older adults. Exp Aging Res 28:169-81 |
| Blanchard-Fields, F (1994) Age differences in causal attributions from an adult developmental perspective. J Gerontol 49:P43-51 |
