Toward a social psychology of aging

The articles in this special issue highlight how social psychology can furt her the understanding of aging. One goal of this special issue is to genera te more interest in aging as an area of study for social psychologists. A s econd goal is to challenge readers to think about how their research interc onnects with issues in aging. A third goal is to demonstrate how social psy chological processes have direct applications to real-world issues that fac e people as they age. This introduction to the special issue provides addit ional examples of how social psychology can contribute to a better understa nding of aging.