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The Malleability of Possible Selves and Expectations Regarding AgingShoshana H. Bardacha; Christopher C. Gayera; Tiffanie Clinkinbearda; Faika Zanjania; John F. Watkinsa

a Graduate Center for Gerontology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA

Online publication date: 01 April 2010

To cite this Article Bardach, Shoshana H. , Gayer, Christopher C. , Clinkinbeard, Tiffanie , Zanjani, Faika and Watkins,John F.(2010) 'The Malleability of Possible Selves and Expectations Regarding Aging', Educational Gerontology, 36: 5, 407— 424To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/03601270903212393URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03601270903212393

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THE MALLEABILITY OF POSSIBLE SELVESAND EXPECTATIONS REGARDING AGING

Shoshana H. BardachChristopher C. GayerTiffanie Clinkinbeard

Faika ZanjaniJohn F. Watkins

Graduate Center for Gerontology, University of Kentucky,Lexington, Kentucky, USA

Many people are apprehensive about old age and their future years. Thispilot study sought to improve participants’ sense of possibility in, andexpectations for, old age. Students and middle-aged volunteers completeda survey including the Expectations Regarding Aging 38-item question-naire (ERA-38) and a possible-selves questionnaire before and after apositive-aging-intervention presentation. While there were no significantpossible-selves changes, respondents demonstrated an improvement inexpectations about aging. This study demonstrates the potential for abrief positive aging intervention to impact expectations for the future.Implications for decision making and health choices are discussed.

The self concept encompasses the persons one was in the past, is now,and can become in the future (Lee & Oyserman, 2009). The selfconcept incorporates an accumulation of knowledge about one’sself including beliefs, physical characteristics, personality traits,values, and goals (Fleming & Courtney, 1984). The future-orientedcomponents of the self concept are considered possible selves

We thank all participants, both from the intervention development and testing phases of

the study.

Address correspondence to Shoshana H. Bardach, 303 E. Wethington Health Sciences

Bldg., Graduate Center for Gerontology, University of Kentucky, 900 S. Limestone, Lexington,

KY 40536-0200. E-mail: shbardach@uky.edu

Educational Gerontology, 36: 407–424, 2010

Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

ISSN: 0360-1277 print=1521-0472 online

DOI: 10.1080/03601270903212393

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(Markus & Nurius, 1986), the selves one believes one might becomein the near and the more distant future. These selves can be bothpositive (those he or she desires and expects to become) and negative(those he or she wishes to avoid becoming) (Markus & Nurius, 1986).Researchers have suggested that these possible selves serve a motiva-tional function, as individuals strive to obtain their desired-possibleselves and avoid their feared possible selves (Frazier, Johnson,Gonzalez, & Kafka, 2002; Lee & Oyserman, 2009; Markus & Nurius,1986). Research has also demonstrated that individuals with morepositive self-perceptions of their later years engage in more prevent-ative health behaviors and place more importance on health care(Levy & Myers, 2004; Sarkisian, Hays, & Mangione, 2002a).

Many individuals hold negative views of old age, making themsomewhat apprehensive about what their future has in store for them(Heckhausen & Krueger, 1993). As older adults reach retirement age,they begin to look to the future and try to envision their life post-retirement. Similarly, college students may envision their moreimmediate future as well as their post-retirement life, though it is stillmany years ahead. When contemplating the future, individuals of allages are likely to consider their possible future selves.

Possible future selves may be influenced by medial portrayals ofolder adults. Media refers to communication that can reach a wideaudience, such as television, magazines, and newspapers. One studythat compares the representation of older adults in prime time tele-vision to population statistics concluded that the portrayals signifi-cantly underrepresent older adults (Signorielli, 2004). In otherwords, the proportion of older adults in the population significantlyexceeds the proportion of older adults in prime time television.Numerous other studies examining various forms of popular culture,which include media as well as fictional books directed at narroweraudiences, echo the conclusion that older adults are underrepresented(Bramlett-Solomon & Subrananian, 1999; Bramlett-Solomon &Wilson, 1989; Chinen, 1985; de Luce, 2001; Kessler, Rakoczy, &Staudinger, 2004; Vernon, Phillips, Williams, & Wilson, 1990).

In the instances that older adults are portrayed, studies have foundthat they are generally portrayed in a negative, less favorable light thanyounger characters (Lill & Peterson, 2001; Vasil & Wass, 1993).Further, there is also a tendency to inaccurately portray older adults.Specifically, depictions of older adults’ social networks are often dis-torted: family and spouses are deemphasized despite being importantfigures in older adults’ actual lives (Kessler et al., 2004). In addition,older adults are often portrayed in isolation with very few intergenera-tional portrayals. Or they are portrayed as dependent on their children,

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with the implicit message that the older adult’s life is incomplete ormeaningless without children (Baker & Goggin, 1994; Chinen, 1985).

Lyons (2000) explains how media influence individuals’ beliefs,attitudes, and understanding, which in turn impact other areas, suchas risk perception and health behaviors. She suggests that mediainfluences are significant because (a) individuals are socially locatedand gain their beliefs about health and illness from the discoursesand constructions that are available to them; (b) media representa-tions of health, illness, and disease produce and reproduce meaningconcerning health and illness for lay people and professionals alike;and (c) media representations mediate individuals’ lived experiences(Lyons, 2000). Other researchers have found that exposure to nega-tive aging stereotypes may negatively impact health. This resultsfrom elevated cardiovascular responses to the stress of the negativestereotypes. Conversely, the presentation of positive aging stereo-types may reduce cardiovascular stress (Levy, Hausdorff, Hencke,& Wei, 2000). Thus, research suggests that media content may impactviewers in various ways.

The current study was informed by possible-selves’ theory, socialcognitive theory, and control theory. Possible-selves’ theory suggestspossible selves are influenced by individual and contextual factors.Others can serve as role models and antimodels for future possibleselves. These others can be either familiar or unfamiliar individualswho provide a general sense of what others like oneself are capableof doing (Lee & Osyerman, 2009). There is also evidence that possibleselves are malleable, and the interventions to influence them canhave long-lasting benefits (Oyserman, Bybee, & Terry, 2006). There-fore, possible-selves’ theory provided support for the present study’suse of positive role models for motivating change in the self.

Social cognitive theory (SCT) is a learning theory that proposesthat portions of an individuals’ knowledge acquisition can be directlyrelated to observing others within the context of social interactions,experiences, and outside media influences. SCT suggests that peoplelearn from observing others in real life or from visual media suchas television, which is easily accessible and readily captures viewers’attention (Bandura, 1977). SCT is particularly useful as a frameworkfor understanding, predicting, and changing human behavior(Bandura, 1977). For example, choosing a celebrity for a socialcampaign based on his age, gender, and race so that the target groupcan identify with this individual involves social cognitive theory.Identifying with the celebrity may also increase self-efficacy andresult in imitation of his behaviors (Bandura, 1988). Accordingly,SCT provides support for the current study’s approach of utilizing

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an intervention presenting individuals aging positively. If the inter-vention is effective, SCT would suggest that participants identifiedwith the individuals in the intervention presentation and thus, experi-enced an increased sense of personal possibility.

Finally, control theory contributed to the rationale for the presentstudy’s targeting of future possible selves. Possible selves are anoutgrowth of developmental systems theory, which is a variation ofcontrol theory (Hooker, 1999). Control theory specifies theself-regulatory processes that determine the actions, plans, and beha-viors brought to bear on possible selves (Frazier et al., 2002). Accord-ing to control theory, individuals compare their current selves to theirideal future selves and are motivated to reduce the discrepancies.Control theory asserts that individuals engage in a comparison pro-cess in which they compare their current selves to their ideal selves.When discrepancies exist, they are motivated to change their currentself to minimize the discrepancy (Frazier et al., 2002). For purposesof this study, control theory provided support for an inside-outmotivation for change. That is, if the intervention could prompt part-icipants to consider their ideal possible selves, they may be motivatedto compare that self to their current self and reduce the discrepancies.

Based on this research, we hypothesized that participants in bothgroups would experience the following: (a) an increase in quantity(total number of) future positive possible selves as a result of the inter-vention, (b) an increase in variety (number of categories) of futurepositive possible selves as a result of the intervention, and (c) animprovement in reported expectations regarding aging due to theexposure to positive media demonstrating positive possibilities inold age. We had very modest literature to properly justify a hypothesis

Figure 1. Proposed model.

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for future-feared possible selves, but we speculated that they wouldlikely remain stable (because they were not being targeted) or decreaseslightly (due to a post-intervention positivity bias) as a result of theintervention. Figure 1 presents the hypothesized model.

METHOD

Participants

Two age groups participated in the testing phase of our study—students and middle-age adults. The research did not strive to com-pare the two groups or the effectiveness of the intervention betweenthe two groups; rather, both age groups were included to see if theintervention would be effective across age groups. The student groupwas chosen because age 65 would still be decades away, and wewanted to see if it would be possible to influence sense of possibilityand expectations despite the perception that these realities may seemdistant. In contrast, the middle-age adult group was chosen becausethey were nearing retirement age, and it seemed likely that they wouldbe considering their future and, thus, this intervention’s potentialwould be considerable.

The students were recruited from a 300-level undergraduate courseon aging. The middle-aged group was recruited primarily throughan e-mail invitation sent out to participants in a lifelong learningprogram; the e-mail was supplemented by a few personal invitationsfor participation. All participation was voluntary. There were a totalof 22 participants.

There were 12 students (2 male, 10 female), between the ages of20–24, with a mean age of 21.36 years. None of the students in thissample had ever been married. One of the students was a college grad;the rest had some college. The majority of the participants wereCaucasian, and two of the students were African American. All ofthe student respondents indicated being in ‘‘Good,’’ ‘‘Very Good,’’or ‘‘Excellent’’ health.

There were 10 middle-age adults (4 male, 6 female) between theages of 51–63, with a mean age of 59.90 years. Nine were currentlymarried or living with a partner and one was widowed. One hadcompleted trade school or community college, one had some college,two were four-year college graduates, and six had completedprofessional or graduate school. The majority of the participantswere Caucasian, one was African American, and one identifiedherself as ‘‘other’’ race and of Hispanic ethnicity. Most of the middle

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age participants indicated being in ‘‘Good,’’ ‘‘Very Good,’’ or‘‘Excellent’’ health; two indicated being in ‘‘Fair’’ health.

Procedures

This study was conducted to fulfill a class requirement and wasapproved by the university Institutional Review Board. All parti-cipants completed an informed consent document and were askedto complete the pre-survey prior to the intervention presentation.The intervention presentation consisted of a series of brief narrativesdescribing older adults who were between the ages of 66 to 100 andaging positively. The narratives were accompanied by a photo andkey quote for each individual presented. All narratives and quoteswere read aloud by one of the study investigators (for additionalinformation about the presentation or its development please contactthe corresponding author). The intervention presentation lastedapproximately 30 minutes.

For the student group, the intervention presentation was duringtheir class, and their instructors offered them extra credit for partici-pation. The students completed the surveys on their own andreturned them during their next class. Therefore, it was possible tocomplete one survey without completing both if a student failedto complete the pre-survey prior to the intervention or was absenton the intervention day. Consequently, there was one student missinga pre-survey and two missing post-surveys. The middle-age parti-cipants came to the university to view the intervention presentationin small groups. Three separate sessions were conducted to includeall 10 participants. Immediately following the intervention, parti-cipants completed the post-survey.

Measures

The first page of the pre-survey consisted of a demographic page thatincluded age, sex, race, ethnicity, marital status, years of education,and health status. Following the demographic page, there was apossible-selves questionnaire. This questionnaire was based on theinterview guide used by Frazier et al. (2002) and was modified to referspecifically to future selves for age 65. Following the future selvesquestionnaire, the 38-item Expectations Regarding Aging Survey(ERA-38) was administered. The ERA-38 includes questions pertain-ing to general health, cognitive function, mental health, functionalindependence, sexual function, pain, urinary incontinence, sleep, fati-gue, and appearance. Each statement is followed by the four response

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options: ‘‘Definitely True,’’ ‘‘Somewhat True,’’ ‘‘Somewhat False,’’and ‘‘Definitely False.’’ Most items are phrased such that disagreeingwith the statement indicated higher expectations of aging. A fewitems were phrased such that agreeing with the statement indicatedhigher expectations for aging. The ERA-38 is reported to have goodinternal consistency reliability (alpha �.73) and item discrimination(�.80) among adults ages 65þ (Sarkisian et al., 2002b); however,no psychometrics were found about use of this survey with collegeor middle-age respondents. The post-questionnaire was identical tothe pre-questionnaire but omitted the demographic section. The sur-veys took approximately 10–20 minutes to complete.

Data Preparation

Responses to the possible-selves questionnaire were coded by theinvestigators using the coding scheme utilized by Frazier et al.(2002). See Table 1 to view examples from the present study.Responses varied in length: some had just a few items, and othershad extensive paragraphs and organizations; some were in completesentences, and others were in bullet points or lists. The following isan example of one participant’s response to the hoped for possibleself-prompt: ‘‘I hope to still be actively doing things, such as volun-teering in the community and having a social life. I hope to becomea wife and mother and grandparent.’’

The response was broken up into references to different possibleselves. The first phrase, ‘‘I hope to still be actively doing things, suchas volunteering in the community,’’ was coded as an instance of apossible self in the domain of social responsibility. The next phrase,‘‘and having a social life,’’ was coded as an instance of a possible selfin the domain of relationships. The next instance of a possible selfwas ‘‘I hope to become a wife,’’ which was coded as an example ofthe domain family. The final two possible selves ‘‘and mother’’ and‘‘and grandparent’’ were also both coded as examples of the domainfamily. Thus, in total, this example demonstrates a total of fivepossible selves (one ‘‘social responsibility,’’ one ‘‘relationship,’’ andthree ‘‘family’’) and three categories of possible selves (‘‘socialresponsibility,’’ ‘‘relationship,’’ and ‘‘family’’). These numbers—thetotal number of possible selves and the number of categories ofpossible selves—were then used to compare the pre- and post-surveys.

Possible-selves responses were independently coded by the studyinvestigators and an interrater reliability rating of 85.9% was foundbased on a sample of responses. Given this high level of consistencyacross raters, the remaining interviews were independently coded

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Table

1.

Possible

selves

domain

examples

Sample

hoped

forselves

response

Sample

fearedselves

response

Personal

Towork

onthinkingpositively

aboutthe

processofaging

Beinggrumpyallthetime

Physical

Tobephysicallyfit

Ifearbeingim

paired

andnotable

tobeactive

Abilitiesanded

ucation

Toget

betterwiththekeyboard

None

Lifestyle

Iwantto

beable

tohavefree

timeto

explore

Tobelivinganywhereother

thanthecountry

Family

Iwantto

spen

dtimewithmygrandkids

Tohaveadisconnectedorweakfamilyunit

Relationships

Havefriendsto

dothingswith

Nothavingsomesort

ofsociallife

orfriends

Occupation

Iwantto

beretired

Idogivesomethoughtto

alwaysworkinguntilIcannot

doso

inthefuture.

Material

Tobefinanciallystable

Nothavingaretiremen

tfundthatwillsupport

mydesired

livingstandards

Success

Ihopeto

havelivedasuccessfullife

Toovercomethefearfulthoughts

Socialresponsibility

Tocontinuevo

lunteer

activities

Tobeuninvo

lved

Leisure

Ihopeto

travel

Tohavenever

traveled

ortaken

vacations

Health

Tohavegoodhealth

Ifearthepossibilityofsickness

Indep

enden

ce=dep

enden

ce

Tobeindep

enden

tCannottakecare

ofself

Death

None

Beingdead

Bereavemen

tNone

Becomingawidow

Cognitive

Tobemen

tallyfit

Cognitivelypassive

Caregiving

Helpwithdisabledhusband

Continueto

caretakeTBIhusbandwithouthelp

Note.Examplesare

from

curren

tstudyresponses.

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by the investigators. No respondents indicated a possible self in thedomain of ‘‘threat’’; thus, this category is omitted from Table 1.

The ERA-38 was scored following the procedures used bySarkisian et al. (2002b) for reverse scoring of particular questionsand grouping responses into the domains of general health, cognitivefunction, mental health, functional independence, sexual, pain,urinary, sleep, fatigue, and appearance. The domain groupings werecalculated only for the purposes of imputing missing values. Sarkisianet al. (2002b) indicated using a ‘‘hotdeck method’’ of imputing miss-ing values, where values for missing items were copied from indivi-duals of a similar age group. However, given the small sample sizein the current study, missing values for three participants wereinferred from other items within the same domain. One participantwas missing nine items in the post-survey ERA-38; given the degreeof missing items, no values were imputed and no total score wascalculated. In addition, the linear transformation performed bySarkisian et al. (2002b) was used to make the final total score moreeasily interpretable. For the ERA-38, higher scores correspond tomore positive attitudes regarding aging.

RESULTS

Since this research sought to see if the intervention presentationwould be effective for both groups, rather than to compare the effec-tiveness between groups, this research does not involve any betweengroup comparisons. All statistical analyses compare pre- to post-testresults within each group. All data were entered into and analyzedusing SPSS V16.0.

Total Number of Future Possible Selves

The total number of possible selves in the pre- and post-surveywere compared using paired-sample t-tests. There were no significantdifferences between the pre- and post-test for hoped for or fearedpossible selves for either participant group. Despite the lack ofstatistical significance, the changes are still reported. Contrary toexpectations, there was actually a slight decline for both age groupsin the number of hoped for and number of feared future possibleselves from the pre- to the post-survey (see Figure 2).

For the middle-age group, the mean decline in hoped for possibleselves was 3.50 (a decline from 13.00 to 9.50), and the mean decline infeared selves was .2 (from 5.90 to 5.70). For the student group, the meandecline in hoped for possible selves was .44 (a decline from 6.27 to 5.90).

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The mean decline in feared selves for the student group was also .44(from 5.91 to 5.50). For the student group, the difference in the meanpre- and post-values differs slightly from the mean decline. This isdue to different participants completing the pre- and post-surveys.

Total Number of Categories of Future Possible Selves

The total number of categories of possible selves in the pre- and post-survey were compared using paired-sample t-tests. There were no sig-nificant differences between the pre- and post-test for number ofcategories of hoped for or feared possible selves for either participantgroup. Despite the lack of statistical significance, the changes are stillreported (see Figure 3).

Figure 2. Total number of possible selves.

Figure 3. Total number of categories of possible selves.

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There was a decline in number of categories of feared possibleselves for both age groups from the pre- to the post-survey. Forthe student participants, the change was from 4.33 to 4.11, and forthe middle age participants it was from 3.80 to 3.60. There was a simi-lar decline for the middle age adults for categories of hoped for poss-ible selves from 6.60 to 5.40. For students, there was a very slightincrease in categories of hoped for selves from 4.33 to 4.44. Noneof the changes in number of categories of possible selves indicatedwere statistically significant.

Expectations Regarding Aging

In terms of the changes in total scores for the ERA-38, there wereincreases for both age groups from the pre- to the post-survey (seeFigure 4). For the student group there was a statistically significantincrease of 7.99 from the pre- (mean¼ 61.42) to post-survey(mean¼ 66.94). A paired-sample t-test indicated that this differencewas significant at p< .001. The difference in means is slightly less thanthe mean difference due to the differences in respondents completingthe pre- and post-surveys. For the middle-age group, there was astatistically significant increase of 3.09 from the pre- (mean¼ 62.89)to the post-survey (mean¼ 65.99). A paired sample t-test indicatedthat this difference was significant at the level of p¼ .034.

DISCUSSION

The purpose of this study was to see whether brief exposure to narra-tives and photos demonstrating older adults aging positively could

Figure 4. Expectations regarding aging-38.

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influence college student and middle-age adults’ sense of futurepossible selves and expectations regarding aging.

The first hypothesis—that total number of hoped for possibleselves would increase—was not supported. Contrary to expectations,there was actually a slight decline for both participant age groups innumber of possible selves. Similarly, the second hypothesis—that thenumber of categories of hoped for possible selves would increase—was also not supported. Total number of categories of hoped forpossible selves declined for the middle-age adult group. For thestudent group there was a very slight increase, but it was too smallto be interpreted as support for this hypothesis. While there was noexplicit hypothesis about feared selves, the number and variety offuture selves decreased for both age groups, but not to a significantextent. The third hypothesis—that expectations regarding agingwould improve—was supported. Both age groups had statisticallysignificant improvements in expectations regarding aging from thepre- to the post-survey.

Thus, the results support the following model’s connectionbetween the positive aging intervention and increased expectationsregarding aging (see Figure 5). The model suggests the possibilitythat expectations regarding aging need to change before future

Figure 5. Revised model.

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possible selves can be enhanced. Expectations may be more easilymalleable than possible selves, and improved expectations may bea necessary prerequisite to being able to envision more and morevaried future possible selves. If this model is correct, it is possiblethat while future possible selves did not increase immediately afterthe intervention, a longer delay after the presentation could allowfor the improved expectations to be internalized and possible selvesto be increased.

Another possible explanation for the failure to see an increase infuture possible selves is participant fatigue. The pre- and post-surveyswere given within a matter of days of each other. It is possible thathaving just completed the questionnaire so recently, the participantswere less willing to spend as much thought or time with it the secondtime around. This explanation seems consistent with informalparticipant feedback, where some participants expressed somedisinterest in completing an identical survey.

While the intention of this study was not to compare groups, it isinteresting to note that while both participant groups experiencedimprovements in expectations regarding aging post-intervention,the student group saw a larger improvement. The student groupstarted with lower expectations than the middle age adult groupand ended with higher expectations. This may be due to the factthat middle age adults likely have more contact with adults overthe age of 65. Thus, their expectations are more firm and, therefore,less malleable from a single positive-aging exposure. It is possiblethat since middle-age adults are likely to be more familiar withold age, the intervention presentation content is likely to involve lessnovelty for them than for the student group, and, consequently,the change anticipated would be less as well (Erikson, Erikson, &Kivnick, 1994).

In addition to this potential measurement issue just discussed, thestudy also faced a number of other limitations. The interventioninstrument lacked significant racial or economic diversity, so it ispossible that some research participants may have had a hard timeidentifying with the presentation content. Bandura (1994) discussesthe idea that modeling is likely to have a greater impact when viewersperceive greater similarity between themselves and the models. Ifviewers do not see the models as similar to themselves they will be lesslikely to be influenced by their behaviors or experiences (Bandura,1994; Orleans et al., 1998). A couple of the middle-aged participantsin the present study noted the financial lack of diversity in thepresentation narratives. It is unclear whether this was simply anobservation or a comment that their personal experiences were not

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represented. However, the lack of diversity within the presentationmay have limited the extent to which the intervention resonated withstudy participants. The current intervention, therefore, may not haveimpacted participants’ sense of future possible selves or expectationsregarding aging as strongly as it could have if the racial and economicdiversity of the intervention were increased.

Another limitation to consider in this study is the use of a con-venience sample (Marshall, 1996). Both participant groups had anexpressed interest in gerontology, either through their choice to bein a class on aging or their willingness to participate in a gerontologyclass project. Further, the middle-age adult participants were allmembers of a lifelong learning program, demonstrating a commit-ment to continued educational involvement. Consequently, the cur-rent study may not generalize to individuals who are not similarlyinterested in aging issues or involved in later-life learning. However,it seems likely that a sample without an expressed interest in agingmay actually be more likely to show changes in future possible selvesand expectations regarding aging. Because they may have less base-line aging-related knowledge. In addition, while four of the 22 parti-cipants in this study were minorities (three African American, oneHispanic), there were no Asian Americans or members of smallerminority groups. Increased participant racial=ethnic diversity wouldimprove generalizability.

The significant improvement in expectations regarding aging isespecially encouraging given the study’s small sample size. However,the small sample size prevented us from doing any analysis bydemographic factors such as health, race, gender, or even age. Suchan analysis could have provided helpful information as to whetherdifferent population segments may be more likely to respond to thistype of positive-aging exposure. Future research, using larger sam-ples, may want to analyze between group differences to understandthe differential impact of positive media exposure. This informationcould be valuable for designing tailored interventions to maximizethe positive impact of the positive-aging exposure (Marcus, Owen,Forsyth, Cavill, & Fridinger, 1998; Rakowski, 1999).

While the present study did not seek to compare the two partici-pant age groups, there are some findings that suggest future researchmay want to explore age differences. For instance, the middle-ageadult group seemed to report more and more varied numbers offuture hoped for possible selves. It would be interesting to exploreif this reflects a greater ability to envision old age, perhaps due toproximity to the age or greater interaction with people in the over-65age range, or simply a more committed group of volunteers who were

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more thoughtful about their survey responses. Another observationthat can be made from the present study is that the student groupdemonstrated a larger change in expectations regarding aging, start-ing with poorer expectations and ending with higher expectationsthan the middle age adult group. It would be interesting to explorewhether expectations regarding aging are more malleable in indivi-duals further from old age and, if so, what contributes to this greatermalleability.

For between group comparisons to be valid, researchers shouldutilize the same testing methods for both groups, rather than haveone group complete the post-survey at their leisure (the studentgroup) and the other immediately after the testing session (themiddle-age adult group). Additionally, a more consistent recruitmentapproach would also be necessary for meaningful comparisonsbetween age groups. In addition, future interventions should striveto include greater levels of racial and economic diversity in the posi-tive aging examples presented. Finally, supplemental backgroundinformation, such as how much and how regularly participants havecontact with adults over the age of 65, may help to explain individualdifferences in post-intervention change.

Previous research has examined adults’ possible selves in a descrip-tive manner (Frazier et al., 2002) and has examined possible selves’interventions with school-age children (Oyserman, Bybee, & Terry,2002). However, this is the first study the authors are aware of thatattempted to influence college and middle-age adults’ possible selvesthrough the use of an intervention. Future researchers should not bediscouraged by the lack of change in possible selves in the present study;instead, study designs should utilize a longer delay between the pre-testand the intervention=post-test to limit the concern of participant fatiguefrom the pre-test and to increase the likelihood of detecting change(Marx, Menezes, Horovitz, Jones, & Warren, 2003). Further, researchshould examine the extent to which changes are sustained over time.Repeated post-testing would also help elucidate whether there is sup-port for the proposed model’s secondary relationship, the connectionbetween expectations regarding aging and possible selves.

The finding that a brief positive aging intervention can sig-nificantly improve expectations regarding aging has importantimplications. This suggests that the under- and misrepresentation ofolder adults in the media (Bramlett-Solomon & Subrananian, 1999;Bramlett-Solomon & Wilson, 1989; Chinen, 1985; de Luce, 2001;Kessler et al., 2004; Signorielli, 2004; Vernon et al., 1990) is a missedopportunity for improving expectations regarding aging. If such abrief exposure to positive aging was able to have an impact, at this

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point one can only imagine what the influence of longer or repeatedexposure may have on aging related expectations. Future researchcan explore these relationships by varying the intervention exposureand frequency, as well as experimenting with increased time delaysbetween the intervention and the post-test.

Having higher expectations regarding aging may decrease currentanxiety and worry regarding one’s older years. Further, the abilityto influence expectations regarding aging also demonstrates thepotential for positive aging media to be utilized to challenge ageism.

In addition, expectations regarding aging can have importantimpacts for future planning—if one expects to have a better, oldage they may be more likely to work towards and be successful inachieving it. Further, in terms of health decision making, if oneexpects decline, problems may be normalized and individuals maybe less likely to seek adequate health services or engage in appropri-ate preventative health behaviors (Levy & Myers, 2004; Sarkisianet al., 2002; Sarkisian, Lee-Henderson, & Mangione, 2003). Conse-quently, there may be somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophesy: indivi-duals who expect a negative old age will be more likely to have anegative old age. Prior research has also found that those with higherexpectations of aging engage in more physical activity than thosewith lower expectations (Sarkisian, Prohaska, Wong, Hirsch, &Mangione, 2005). This research is correlational, not causal; but,hopefully, improving expectations would make a positive old ageseem more feasible and would lead to increases in physical activityto obtain that possible future. Future research should examine thisrelationship between exposure to positive-aging media, expectationsregarding aging, and health and health-decision making.

CONCLUSIONS

This pilot study demonstrated that a short intervention consisting ofexposure to positive aging through short narratives and photos hadno impact on future possible selves, and it significantly improvedexpectations regarding aging. This suggests that there may be valueto remedying the underrepresentation of older adults in the media,since improved expectations regarding aging may translate intoimproved quality of life in the later years. While this study was basedon a small sample, it suggests that minimal exposure to mediadepicting positive aging can have a significant impact. Hopefully,future research will continue to explore the potential impacts of vari-ous positive aging media on a range of audiences.

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