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KMID : 0379220190390040921
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Journal of Korea Gerontological Society
2019 Volume.39 No. 4 p.921 ~ p.939
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A study on the regulation of negative emotions in the Ultimatum Game: Comparison between Korean older and young adults
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Jeon Da-Som
Ghim Hei-Rhee
Hur Ah-Jeong
Park Sun-Woo
Park Sun-Woo
Kim Moon-Geol
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Abstract
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According to the social selectivity theory (SST), despite the disadvantages of life conditions, older adults experience less negative emotions because they regulate their emotions by avoiding negative stimuli or situations. Based on the SST, this study attempted to find out whether older adults are better able to regulate negative emotions than young adults in the Ultimatum Game (UG). In an UG, if the proposer proposes to distribute a portion of the money to the responder, the responder must decide whether to accept or reject it. If the responder accepts the offer, the proposer and the responder can each have their own share as proposed, but if s/he reject the offer, both get nothing. Thus, if the responder considers own economic benefits, it is a more reasonable decision to accept the unfair offer no matter how low, than to reject it. To accept an unfair offer, the responder must regulate the anger felt at the proposer. If older adults could regulate anger better than young adults, they would be less likely to reject the unfair offer than young adults. Fifty-seven olders and 60 university students participated in this study. Both the older and young adults accepted most of the fair offers. In contrast, older adults accepted unfair offers at a significantly higher rate than young adults. In addition, compared to young adults, older adults reported anger less frequently at the unfair offers. Accepting unfair offers was negatively correlated with anger report, but positively correlated with the emotion regulation measured by ERQ. The ERQ score was negatively correlated with anger report. Emotion regulation partially mediated the relationship between the age groups and acceptance of unfair offers. The present results showed that older adults accepted the unfair offers at a higher rate than young adults because they could regulate the negative emotions felt at the unfair offer better than young adults. This study provided new evidence for the claim that improving emotional regulation is a major developmental change in adulthood.
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KEYWORD
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emotion regulation, ultimatum game, unfair offer, anger report, older adults
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