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The shifting self in aging

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Abstract

Background and aims

This study investigated the ability of older adults to shift between self-images.

Methods

We designed a shifting-self task in which older adults and younger adults were invited to produce statements describing their physical self (e.g., “I am tall”) and psychological self (e.g., “I am cheerful”). Participants were invited to shift between physical-self statements and psychological-self statements and, on a control task, to produce two blocks of physical-self statements and psychological-self statements. They also performed a typical shifting task (i.e., the plus–minus task).

Results

Analysis showed slower completion time on the shifting-self task in older adults than in younger adults. Time to complete the shifting-self task was longer than that for the control task in both older and younger adults. Performances on the shifting-self task were significantly correlated with performances on the plus–minus task.

Discussion

We hypothesized that older adults take more time to shift between self-images because they enjoy self-stability. In other words, the tendency of older adults to shift between self-images more slowly than younger adults might be because they have more consistent or stable self-concepts, and are therefore less inclined to “change” their self-images.

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Funding

This study received no funding.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unité de Gériatrie, Centre Hospitalier de Tourcoing, Tourcoing, France

    Emin Altintas, Karim Gallouj & Mohamad El Haj

  2. Laboratoire PSITEC, Psychologie: Interactions Temps Émotions Cognition, Université Lille Nord de France, 59000, Lille, France

    Emin Altintas

  3. Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France

    Mohamad El Haj

  4. Faculté de Psychologie, LPPL, Laboratoire de Psychologie des Pays de la Loire (EA 4638), Université de Nantes, Chemin de la Censive du Tertre, BP 81227, 44312, Nantes Cedex 3, France

    Mohamad El Haj

Authors
  1. Emin Altintas
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  2. Karim Gallouj
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  3. Mohamad El Haj
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mohamad El Haj.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Statement of human and animal rights

All procedures performed in this study which involved human participants were in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Altintas, E., Gallouj, K. & El Haj, M. The shifting self in aging. Aging Clin Exp Res 30, 1505–1512 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-018-1069-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-018-1069-8

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