Data underlying the research of Age Differences in the Effects of Task Difficulty and Outcomes on Affective Forecasting Bias

Objectives: Affective forecasting refers to people's prediction of future emotional experiences. This study aimed to investigate (a) the impact of task completion outcomes (success vs. failure) on affective forecasting bias in young and older adults and (b) the difference in sensitivity to task difficulty between predictors/forecasters and experiencers in the context of success or failure.Methods: A total of 243 older adults and 240 young adults were recruited from China. A 2 (task difficulty: high vs. low) x 2 (role: predictor/forecaster vs. experiencer) x 2 (completion outcome: success vs. failure) x 2 (age: young vs. older) between-subjects design was employed.Results: The results showed that (a) negative events led to affective forecasting bias in both young and older adults, but positive events did not have such an impact; (b) for young people, predictors/forecasters were more sensitive to task difficulty than were experiencers, regardless of the success or failure of the task; and (c) for older adults, predictors/forecasters and experiencers had similar sensitivity to task difficulty when the task was successful, whereas predictors/forecasters were more sensitive to difficulty than were experiencers when the task was unsuccessful.Conclusion: These findings indicate that the influence of task difficulty on affective forecasting bias differs between older and young adults, and this age difference is partially related to their sensitivity to task difficulty.

研究目的：情感预测（affective forecasting）指个体对自身未来情绪体验的预判。本研究旨在探究两个核心问题：其一，任务完成结果（成功vs.失败）对青年与老年群体情感预测偏差的影响；其二，在任务成功或失败的情境下，预判者/预测者（predictors/forecasters）与体验者（experiencers）对任务难度的敏感性差异。
研究方法：本研究从中国境内招募了243名老年个体与240名青年个体，采用2（任务难度：高vs.低）×2（角色：预判者/预测者vs.体验者）×2（任务完成结果：成功vs.失败）×2（年龄：青年vs.老年）的被试间实验设计。
研究结果：结果显示：其一，负性事件会导致青年与老年群体均产生情感预测偏差，但正性事件未产生此类影响；其二，无论任务成功与否，青年群体中预判者/预测者对任务难度的敏感性均显著高于体验者；其三，对于老年群体而言，当任务成功时，预判者/预测者与体验者的任务难度敏感性无显著差异，而当任务失败时，预判者/预测者对任务难度的敏感性显著高于体验者。
研究结论：本研究结果表明，任务难度对情感预测偏差的影响在老年与青年群体中存在显著差异，且该年龄差异与二者对任务难度的敏感性部分相关。