Categorizing and Conceptualizing Styles in Younger and Older Adults

Bibliographic Data

ID20292831
AuthorsNathan Kogan (corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume17
Issue3
Pages218-230
Publication date2009-12-18
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHuman Development (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0018-716X • E-ISSN: 1423-0054
PublisherS. Karger AG (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.1159/000271345
PMID4412352
OpenAlexW2093087456
LanguageEN
Citations received6

The classification behavior of male and female college students was compared with that of healthy, well-educated older males and females. Object-sorting and photo-sorting (male and female faces) procedures were employed. On measures of categorizing style – conceptual differentiation and compartmentalization – older adults were, respectively, lower and higher than college students. On measures of conceptualizing style – categorical-inferential, analytic-descriptive, and relational thematic – younger adults exhibited stronger preferences for the first two, older adults for the third. Five content categories for sorting human faces were derived – physical, age, psychological, demographic, and preferential. No systematic age or sex differences for sorting male photos were obtained. For female photos, however, age and sex differences were observed. On the whole, the results failed to confirm other published evidence maintaining that aging is marked by conceptual deficits or a regressed mode of cognitive functioning

Developmental psychology · Aging and Gerontology Research · Color perception and design · Emotional Intelligence and Performance · Medicine · Psychology · Gerontology