Age differences in emotional reactivity to facets of sadness and anger

Abstract

ABSTRACT Emotional reactivity, based on the discrete emotions approach (DEA), is related to opportunities or constraints across development. While prior research suggests sadness to be more adaptive in old age and anger to be more adaptive in young adulthood, there may be facets within these discrete emotion categories that further expand the DEA framework: loss-based vs. failure-based sadness and frustration-based vs. moral violation-based anger. A sample of 49 younger adults (M age = 20.00, SD = 2.26) and 51 older adults (M age = 66.00, SD = 4.94) were asked to relive and describe an emotional memory associated with facets of sadness and anger. Emotional reactivity was operationalized through self-report ratings on distinct facet categories. Results revealed a significant age difference in emotional reactivity to moral violation-based anger, with older adults being more reactive than younger adults. No other significant age differences were observed. These findings are discussed in terms of how further distinctions across emotional facets can inform a better understanding of affective experience across adulthood and old age.