AGING AND IMPRESSION-FORMATION - THE IMPACT OF PROCESSING SKILLS AND GOALS

Two studies assessed age differences in representations and judgments about people. Our specific interest was in examining how presumed age- related changes in processing efficiency and motivation affected perfo rmance in an impression formation task. Consistent with age-related de clines in processing efficiency, we found that increasing age was asso ciated with: (a) no change in the processing of evaluative information ; (b) less use of specific traits to organize impressions; (c) poorer memory for behavioral information, especially when it contradicted exp ectations; and (d) less systematic relationships between memory and ju dgments. We also found, however, that more meaningful task goals and a focus on individual behaviors resulted in reduced age differences in the nature of representations about the target person.