Choose Your Friends Wisely - Shaping Social Networks As We Age

Choose Your Friends Wisely: Shaping Social Networks As We Age I. About Social Networks: What is a social network? A social network is the set of people a person has a direct personal relationship with (e.g. spouse, friends) (vs. not personal or at a personal level but not maintained) How can a social network be measured? • Social Convoy Questionnaire • Goal list method • Partner list method Social Convoy Questionnaire: Participant is instructed to write the names of social network members in each circle. • Inner: “Feel very close, so close that it would be hard to imagine life without.” • Middle: “Don’t feel quite so close as those in the inner circle, but are still very close.” • Outer: “Feel less close but who are still important.” Goal list method Participant is given a list of social goals and asked to name the people in their network who meet those goals. • “Talk to when you are upset about a personal matter” John, Sara, Dad • “Get intellectual stimulation and exchange from” Michelle, Ted Partner list method Participant is given a list of possible social partners and asked who they would prefer to spend free time with. • “A member of your immediate family” • “The author of a book you’ve read” II. Social Network Change: • A well-documented finding in aging literature: as people get older their social networks get smaller • 2 Theoretical explanations: *Activity Theory: Due to age-related losses and limited access to social contacts * Disengagement Theory: Due to mutual withdrawal between the individual and society (person is getting nearer to death) Both explanations conclude: Decrease in social networks = negative emotional state BUT… Some recent research has found: Emotional experience may improve with age: • increased or maintained positive emotion • decreased negative emotion • improved emotional control III. Socioemotional Selectivity Theory: • Laura Carstensen’s Socioemotional Selectivity Theory (SST): As people age they systematically narrow their social networks to keep people close to them who satisfy emotional needs • Carstensen argues that this is an active selection process that requires shifting goals of social interaction. • According to SST the goals of social interaction fall into two major categories: * Acquisition of Knowledge (seek information about the self, expand one’s horizons, compare self to others, affiliate with acquaintances/novel others, seek information about the social and physical world) * Emotion Regulation (feel good, find emotional meaning in life, deepen intimacy, feel socially embedded) • Possible Goal Conflict? Meeting Acquisition of Knowledge may mean not meeting Emotion Regulation goal Gain information = risk negative emotion Examples: negative feedback from supervisor, first day of school As we age: • less willing to take the emotional risks involved in acquiring knowledge • already know a lot so it is less likely someone new will teach us something we don’t know Socioemotional Selectivity Theory: as people age, priority in social interaction shifts from acquisition of knowledge goals to emotion regulation goals We maintain social networks with people who: aren’t threatening to our sense of self and meet our emotional needs…allowing us to feel good and to feel close and connected to others!!! IV. Empirical Research: • Findings using Social Convoy Questionnaire: With age, there is a decrease in number of people listed in peripheral circles… BUT Virtually no change in size of inner circle Conclusion: While the size of the network may be decreasing, it is those people who are less close dropping out • Findings using partner list method: Older adults prioritize spending time with familiar social partners… BUT Young adults show an equal preference for spending time with novel partners and acquaintances as they do for familiar social partners V. Future Time Perspective • Future Time Perspective = how much time we feel we have left… Expansive = time is open-ended, infinite Limited = time is running out • According to SST: Future Time Perspective is critical to the selection of goals: * When time is viewed as expansive person pursues knowledge-related goals * When time is viewed as limited person pursues emotion-regulation goals * Age is correlated with Future Time Perspective: younger adults – time as expansive older adults – time as limited • Affect of Future Time Perspective on Social Networks? * Younger adults view time as expansive, thus they have a priority to meet knowledge-related goals, and thus they have a larger social network. * Older adults view time as limited, thus they have a priority to meet emotion-regulation goals, and thus they have a smaller social network. • Future Time Perspective can also be manipulated: * In natural settings: Younger adults who were HIV+ (time limited)…showed preference for partners meeting emotion regulation goals (same as older, healthy individuals) * In research lab: Younger participants who imagined moving alone across the country (time limited)…showed preference for emotionally meaningful partners * Older participants who imagined a breakthrough to live 20 years longer (time expanded)…Didn’t show the usual preference for emotionally meaningful social partners. Conclusion • Social networks can be measured through Social Convoy Questionnaire, goal list method, partner list method • Research has found that as people age, their social network size decreases but emotional experience improves • Socioemotional Selectivity Theory: * as people age they narrow their social networks to reflect the change in their social goals from acquisition of knowledge to emotion regulation * social goals shift as a result of a change in Future Time Perspective: -time expansive (younger adults): knowledge-related goals - time limited (older adults): emotion-related goals