07/07/2022
By Meltem Karaca

The College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, invites you to attend a doctoral dissertation defense by Meltem Karaca on "The Relationship Between Aging Self-perceptions and Memory Performance in Older Adults: Examining the Effect of Subjective Age on the Positivity Effect in Memory.”

Candidate Name: Meltem Karaca
Degree: Doctoral degree in Applied Psychology and Prevention Science
Defense Date: Thursday, July 21, 2022
Time: Noon to 2 p.m., Eastern Time
Location: Virtual Meeting via Zoom. Please contact meltem_karaca@student.uml.edu or lisa_geraci@uml.edu for a link to attend.

Committee Advisor: Lisa Geraci, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Committee Members:

  • Miko M. Wilford., Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Yan Wang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Steve Balsis, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Brief Abstract:
Research has shown that older adults attend to and remember positive information better than negative information, an effect called the “age-related positivity effect”. Different underlying mechanisms have been offered to explain the basis for the age-related positivity effect, including variations in future time perspective, as well as other changes associated with increased chronological age. However, prior studies have yielded mixed results regarding the basis for the age-related positivity effect. Also, the role of one’s self-perception of aging on memory for positive information has not been examined. Therefore, the primary goal of the dissertation studies is to investigate if subjective age (the age one feels) predicts the age-related positivity effect. In Studies 1 and 2, I examined whether older adults’ subjective age is uniquely associated with the positivity effect. In Study 3, I experimentally manipulated subjective age and examined the causal link between subjective age and the positivity effect in older adults. I also examined potential mechanisms for this relationship, should it be obtained, to determine whether subjective age is a better predictor of the positivity effect than diminished future time perspective, chronological age, or other factors associated with chronological age. These findings help elucidate the underlying mechanisms of the age-related positivity effect and its link with the subjective experience of aging.