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Age Differences in Preferences for Emotionally-meaningful Versus Knowledge-related Appeals by Margot J. van der Goot; Nadine Bol; Julia C. M. van Weert is a Social Sciences article available to read on EtoBox.

## Abstract Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST), an influential life-span theory, suggests that older adults prefer persuasive messages that appeal to emotionally-meaningful goals over messages that appeal to knowledge-related goals, whereas younger adults do not show this preference. A mixed-factorial experiment was conducted to test whether older adults (≥65 years) differ from younger adults (25–45 years) in their preference for emotionally-meaningful appeals over knowledge-related appeals, when appeals are clearly developed in line with SST. For older adults we found the expected preference for emotionally-meaningful appeals for cancer centers but not for grocery stores and travel organizations. As expected, in most cases, younger adults did not show a preference. Implications for SST-based communication research and for practice are discussed.

It is typically read by researchers, students, and practitioners in Social Sciences.

Author
Margot J. van der Goot; Nadine Bol; Julia C. M. van Weert
Publisher
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Published
2020
Language
EN
Field
Social Sciences