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Selected Publications

In Press

Ersner-Hersfield, H., Scheibe, S. Simes, T., & Carstensen, L.L. (in press). When feeling bad can be good: Mixed emotions benefit physical health across adulthood. Social Psychological and Personality Science.

2012

Carstensen, L.L., & Fried, L.P. (2012). The meaning of old age. In Work Economic Forum (Ed.), Global population ageing: Peril or promise? (15-17).

Biggs, S., Carstensen, L.L., & Hogan, P. (2012). Social capital, lifelong learning and social innovation. In Work Economic Forum (Ed.), Global population ageing: Peril or promise? (39-41).

2011

Samanez-Larkin, G.R. & Carstensen, L.L. (2011). Socioemotional functioning and the aging brain. In J. Decety & J.T. Cacioppo (Eds.), The Handbook of Social Neuroscience (pp. 507-521). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Ersner-Hersfield, H., Goldstein, D. G., Sharpe, A.F., Fox, J., Yeykelis, L., Carstensen, L.L. & Bailenson, J.N. (2011). Increasing saving behavior through age-progressed renderings of the future self. Journal of Marketing Research, 40, s23-s37. doi: 10.1509/jmkr.48.SPL.S23

Samanez-Larkin, G.R., Mata, R., Radu, P.T., Ballard, I.C., Carstensen, L.L., & McClure, S.M. (2011). Age differences in striatal delay sensitivity during intertemporal choice in healthy adults. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 5, 126. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2011.00126

Turan, B., Goldstein, M., Garber, A. & Carstensen, L.L. (2011). Knowing loved ones’ end-of-life health care wishes: attachment security predicts caregivers’ accuracy. Health Psychology, 30, 814-818. doi: 10.1037/a0025664

Carstensen, L. L. (2011). A long bright future: Happiness, health and financial security in an age of increased longevity. Public Affairs: New York, New York

Scheibe, S., Mata, R., & Carstensen, L.L. (2011). Age differences in affective forecasting and experienced emotion surrounding the 2008 U.S. Presidential election. Cognition and Emotion, 25, 1029-1044. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2010.545543

Carstensen, L. L., Turan, B., Scheibe, S., Ram, N., Ersner-Hershfield, H., Samanez-Larkin, G. R., Brooks, K. P., & Nesselroade, J. R. (2011). Emotional experience improves with age: Evidence based on over 10 years of experience sampling. Psychology and Aging, 26, 21-33. doi: 10.1037/a0021285

2010

Charles, S.T. & Carstensen, L.L. (2010). Social and emotional aging. Annual Review of Psychology, 61, 383-409. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.093008. 100448

Macarthur Foundation Research Network on an Aging Society. (2010, Winter). Policies and politics for an aging America. Contexts, 9(1). Retrieved from http://contexts.org/articles/issues/winter-2010

Mikels, J., Löckenhoff, C., Maglio, S., Goldstein, M., Garber, A. & Carstensen, L.L. (2010). Following your heart or your head: Focusing on emotions versus information differentially influences the decisions of younger and older adults. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 16, 87-95. doi: 10.1037/a0018500

Scheibe, S. & Carstensen, L.L. (2010). Emotional aging: Recent findings and future trends. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 65, 135-144. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbp132

Schober, M.F., & Carstensen, L.L. (2010). Does being together for years help comprehension? In E. Morsella (Ed.), Expressing oneself/Expressing one's self: Communication, cognition, language, and identity.  London, England: Taylor & Francis.

Sullivan, S., Mikels, J. & Carstensen, L.L. (2010). You never lose the ages you’ve been: Affective perspective taking in older adults. Psychology and Aging, 25, 229-234. doi: 10.1037/a0018383

2009

Carstensen, L.L. (2009). A long bright future. New York, NY: Random House.

Charles, S.T. & Carstensen, L.L. (2009). Socioemotional selectivity theory. In H. Reis & S.Sprecher (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Human Relationships (pp. 1578-1581). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Kwon, Y., Scheibe, S., Samanez-Larkin, G.R., Tsai, J.L., & Carstensen, L.L. (2009). Replicating the positivity effect in picture memory in Koreans: Evidence for cross-cultural generalizability. Psychology and Aging, 24, 748–754. doi: 10.1037/a0016054

Samanez-Larkin, G.R., Robertson, E.R., Mikels, J.A., Carstensen, L.L., & Gotlib, I.H. (2009). Selective attention to emotion in the aging brain. Psychology and Aging, 24, 519–529. doi: 10.1037/a0016952

2008

Charles, S.T. & Carstensen, L.L. (2008). Unpleasant situations elicit different emotional responses in younger and older adults.  Psychology and Aging, 23, 495-504. doi:10.1037/a0013284             

Ersner-Hershfield, H., Mikels, J.A., Sullivan, S., & Carstensen, L.L. (2008). Poignancy: Mixed emotional experience in the face of meaningful endings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 158-167. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.94.1.158

Lindberg, C., Carstensen, E.L & Carstensen, L.L. (2008). Lifelong learning and technology. Prepared for the National Research Council's Committee on Learning Science in Informal Environments. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

Löckenhoff, C.E, & Carstensen, L.L. (2008). Decision strategies in healthcare choices for self and others: Older adults make adjustments for the age of the decision target, younger adults do not. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 63, 106-109.

Nielsen, L., Knutson, B., & Carstensen, L.L. (2008). Affect dynamics, affective forecasting, and aging. Emotion, 8, 318-330. doi:10.1037/1528-3542.8.3.318

Ram, N., Morelli, S., Lindberg, C., & Carstensen, L. L. (2008). From static to dynamic: The ongoing dialectic about human development. In K. W. Schaie & R. P. Abeles (Eds.), Social structures and aging individuals: Continuing challenge (pp. 115-130). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Samanez-Larkin, G.R., Hollon, N.G., Carstensen, L.L., & Knutson, B. (2008). Individual differences in insular sensitivity during loss
anticipation predict avoidance learning. Psychological Science, 19, 320-323. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02087

2007

Carstensen, L. L. (2007). Growing old or living long: Take your pick. Issues in Science and Technology, Winter 2007, 41-50.

Charles, S.T. & Carstensen, L.L. (2007). Emotion regulation and aging. In J.J. Gross (Ed.), Handbook of Emotion Regulation (pp. 307-327). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Lindberg, C., & Carstensen, L. L. (2007). Emotions and emotional stability. In W. S. Markides (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Health and Aging (pp. 190-192). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Löckenhoff, C.E. & Carstensen, L.L. (2007). Aging, emotion, and health-related decision strategies: Motivational manipulations can reduce age differences. Psychology and Aging, 22, 134-146. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.22.1.134

Samanez-Larkin, G.R., Gibbs, S.E.B., Khanna, K., Nielsen, L., Carstensen, L.L., & Knutson, B. (2007). Anticipation of monetary gain but not loss in healthy older adults [Supplementary materials]. Nature Neuroscience, 10, 787–791. doi:10.1038/nn1894

2006

Carstensen, L.L. (2006). The influence of a sense of time on human development. Science, 312, 1913-1915. doi:10.1126/science.1127488

Carstensen, L.L. & Hartel, C.R. (Eds.). (2006). When I'm 64. Committee on Aging Frontiers in Social Psychology, Personality, and Adult Developmental Psychology. Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: National Research Council/The National Academies Press.

Carstensen, L.L., Mikels, J.A. & Mather, M. (2006). Aging and the intersection of cognition, motivation and emotion. In J. Birren, & K.W. Schaie (Eds.), Handbook of the Psychology of Aging (6th ed., pp.343-362). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Fung, H.H. & Carstensen, L.L. (2006). Goals change when life's fragility is primed: Lessons learned from older adults, the September 11th attacks and SARS. Social Cognition, 24, 248-278. doi:10.1521/soco.2006.24.3.248

Schaie, K.W. & Carstensen, L.L. (Eds.). (2006). Social structures, aging and self-regulation in the elderly. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.

2005

Carstensen, L.L. & Mikels, J.A. (2005). At the intersection of emotion and cognition: Aging and the positivity effect. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 117-121. doi:10.1111/j.0963-7214.2005.00348.x

Ersner-Hershfield, H., Rice, C., Lindberg, C. & Carstensen, L. (2005). The good, the bad and the poignant. Aging Today, 26, 7-8.

Fung, H.H., Rice, C. & Carstensen, L.L. (2005). Reactive and proactive motivational changes across adulthood. In W. Greve, K. Rothermund & D. Wentura (Eds.), The adaptive self: Personal Continuity and Intentional Self-Development (pp.171-183). New York, NY: Hogrefe & Huber Publishers.

Mather, M. & Carstensen, L.L. (2005). Aging and motivated cognition: The positivity effect in attention and memory. Trends in Cognitive Science, 9, 496-502.

Mikels, J.A., Larkin, G.R., Reuter-Lorenz, P.A. & Carstensen, L.L. (2005). Divergent trajectories in the aging mind: Changes in working memory for affective versus visual information with age. Psychology & Aging, 20,542-553. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.20.4.542

2004

Fung, H. & Carstensen, L.L. (2004). Motivational changes in response to blocked goals and foreshortened time: Testing alternatives to socioemotional selectivity theory. Psychology and Aging, 19, 68-78. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.19.1.68

Kennedy, Q., Mather, M., & Carstensen, L.L. (2004). The role of motivation in the age-related positive bias in autobiographical memory. Psychological Science, 15, 208-214. doi:10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.01503011.x

Löckenhoff, C.E. & Carstensen, L.L. (2004). Socioemotional selectivity theory, aging, and health: The increasingly delicate balance between regulating emotions and making tough choices. Journal of Personality, 72, 1395-1424. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2004.00301.x

Mather, M., Canli, T., English, T., Whitfield, S., Wais, P., Ochsner, K., Gabrieli, J. D. E., & Carstensen, L. L. (2004). Amygdala responses to emotionally valenced stimuli in older and younger adults. Psychological Science, 15, 259-263. doi:10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00662.x

2003

Carstensen, L.L., Fung, H. & Charles, S. (2003) Socioemotional selectivity theory and the regulation of emotion in the second half of life. Motivation and Emotion, 27, 103-123. doi:10.1023/A:1024569803230

Carstensen, L.L., Charles, S.T., Isaacowitz, D. & Kennedy, Q. (2003). Life-span personality development and emotion. In R.J. Davidson, K. Scherer, & H.H. Goldsmith (Eds.), Handbook of affective sciences (pp. 726-746). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Carstensen, L.L. & Löckenhoff, C.E. (2003). Aging, emotion, and evolution: The bigger picture.In P. Ekman, J. J. Campos, R. J. Davidson, & F. B. M. de Waal (Eds.), Emotions inside out: 130 years after Darwin's The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (Vol. 1000, pp. 152-179). New York, NY: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

Charles, S.T. & Carstensen, L.L. (2003). A life-span view of emotional functioning in adulthood and old age.In P. Costa (Ed.), Advances in cell aging and gerontology series: Recent advances in psychology and aging (Vol. 15, pp. 133-162). Amsterdam: Elsevier. doi:10.1016/S1566-3124(03)15003-1

Charles, S., Mather, M. & Carstensen, L.L. (2003). Aging and emotional memory: The forgettable nature of negative images for older adults. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 132, 310-324. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.132.2.310

Fung, H.& Carstensen, L.L. (2003). Sending memorable messages to the old: Age differences in preferences and memory for advertisements. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 163-178. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.85.1.163

Isaacowitz, D., Smith, T.B., & Carstensen, L.L. (2003). Socioemotional selectivity and mental health among trauma survivors in old age. Ageing International, 28, 181-199.

Löckenhoff, C. E., & Carstensen, L. L. (2003). Is the life-span theory of control a theory of development or a theory of coping? In S. Zarit, L. Pearlin, & K.W. Schaie (Eds.), Personal control in social and life span contexts (pp. 263-280). New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.

Mather, M. & Carstensen, L.L. (2003). Aging and attentional biases for emotional faces. Psychological Science, 14, 409-415. doi:10.1111/1467-9280.01455

Pasupathi, M. & Carstensen, L.L. (2003). Age and emotional experience during mutual reminiscing. Psychology and Aging, 18, 430-442. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.18.3.430

2002

Carstensen, L.L. & Charles, S.T. (2002). Human Aging: Why is even good news taken as bad? In L. Aspinwall & U. Staudinger (Eds.), A psychology of human strengths: Perspectives on an emerging field (pp.75-86). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Charles, S. T. & Carstensen, L.L. (2002). Marriage in old age. (pp. 236-254). In M. Yalom, & L.L. Carstensen (Eds.), Inside the American couple: New thinking, new challenges (pp. 236-254). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. (Reprinted in U.S.-Japan Women's Journal, (2000). 27, 3-18.)

Fung, H.H. & Carstensen, L.L. (2002, March-April). The knowledge of our years: Time so limited, life so precious. Aging Today, 23(2), 9, 11.

Lang, F. R. & Carstensen, L.L. (2002). Time counts: Future time perspective, goals and social relationships. Psychology and Aging, 17, 125-139. doi:10.1037//0882-7974.17.1.125

Pasupathi, M., Henry, R. & Carstensen, L.L. (2002). Age and ethnicity differences in storytelling to young children: Emotionality, relationality and socialization. Psychology and Aging, 17, 610-621. doi:10.1037//0882-7974.17.4.610

Rice, C. J., Löckenhoff, C.E., & Carstensen, L.L. (2002). En busca de independencia y productividad: cómo influyen las culturas occidentales en las explicaciones individuales y científicas del envejecimiento. [Chasing independence and productivity: How Western culture influences individual and scientific accounts of aging]. Revista Latinoamericana de Psicología, 34, 133-154.

Yalom, M. & Carstensen, L.L. (Eds.). (2002) Inside the American Couple: New thinking, new challenges. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

2001

Carstensen, L.L. (2001). Adult personality development. In N. J. Smelzer, & P.B. Baltes (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (pp.11290-11295). Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Ltd. doi:10.1016/B0-08-043076-7/01763-0 

Carstensen, L.L. (2001). Emotion and aging. In G. Maddox (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Aging (3rd ed., pp. 327-329). New York, NY: Springer Publishing Co.

Carstensen, L.L. (2001). Margret M. Baltes: Dependency and success in aging. Contemporary Gerontology, 8, 42-45. 

Charles, S.T., Carstensen, L.L., & McFall, R.M. (2001). Problem solving in the nursing home environment: Age and experience differences in emotional reactions and responses. Journal of Clinical Geropsychology, 7, 319-330. doi:10.1023/A:1011352326374

Fisher, J.E., Zeiss, A.M., & Carstensen, L.L. (2001). Psychopathology in the aged. In P.B. Sutker, & H.E. Adams (Eds.), Comprehensive handbook of psychopathology (3rd ed., pp. 921-951). New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.

Fung, H.H., Carstensen, L.L., & Lang, F. (2001). Age-related patterns in social networks among European-Americans and African-Americans: Implications for socioemotional selectivity across the life span. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 52, 185-206.

Kennedy, Q., Fung, H. & Carstensen, L.L. (2001). Aging, time estimation and emotion: An multidisciplinary exploration. In S.H. McFadden, & R.C. Atchley (Eds.), Aging and the meaning of time (pp. 51-74). New York, NY: Springer.

2000

Carstensen, L.L. (2000). Keeping aging minds sharp. The Scientist, 14(22), 6.  

Carstensen, L.L. (2000). Social gerontological theories. In A. Kazdin (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Psychology (Vol. 7, pp. 340-341). Washington D.C.: American Psychological Association.

Carstensen, L.L., Graff, J., & Lang, F. (2000). Psychology’s contributions to gerontology. In J. E. Clair (Ed.), The Gerontological Prism: Developing Interdisciplinary Bridges (pp. 29-48). Amityville, NY: Baywood Publishing.

Carstensen, L.L., Charles, S. & Isaacowitz, D. (2000). Applying science to human behavior. American Psychologist, 55, 343. doi: 10.1037//0003-066X.55.3.343a

Carstensen, L.L., Pasupathi, M., Mayr, U. & Nesselroade, J. (2000). Emotional experience in everyday life across the adult life span. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 644-655. doi: I O.1037//O022-3 514.79.4.64

Isaacowitz, D., Charles, S. & Carstensen, L.L. (2000). Emotion and cognition. In G. Craik, & T. Salthouse (Eds.) Handbook of aging and cognition (2nd ed., pp. 593-631). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers.

Stern, P. & Carstensen, L.L. (Eds.). (2000). The aging mind: Opportunities in cognitive research. Washington, DC: The National Academy Press.

Tsai, J.L., Levenson, R.W. & Carstensen, L.L. (2000). Autonomic, expressive and subjective responses to emotional films in younger and older adults of European American and Chinese descent. Psychology and Aging, 15, 684-693. doi: 10.1037/0882-7974.15.4.684

1999

Baltes, M.M. & Carstensen, L.L. (1999). Social psychological theories and their applications to aging: From individual to collective. In V. Bengtson, & K.W. Schaie (Eds.) Handbook of theories of aging (pp. 209-226). New York, NY: Springer.

Carstensen, L.L., Isaacowitz, D. & Charles, S.T. (1999). Taking time seriously: A theory of socioemotional selectivity. American Psychologist, 54, 165-181.

Carstensen, L.L. & Charles, S.T. (1999). Emotion in the second half of life. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 7, 144-149. (Reprinted in Annual Editions: Human Development, 2000/2001, Sluice Dock: CT: Dushkin/McGraw Hill, 213-217; Reprinted in Current Directions Readers, 2004).

Charles, S.T. & Carstensen, L.L. (1999). The role of time in the setting of social goals across the life span. In F. Blanchard-Fields & T. Hess (Eds.), Social cognition and aging (pp. 319-342). New York, NY: Academic Press.

Fung, H.H., Carstensen, L.L. & Lutz, A. (1999). The influence of time on social preferences: Implications for life-span development. Psychology and Aging, 14, 595-604.

Fung, H.H., Abeles, R.P. & Carstensen, L.L. (1999). Psychological control in later life: Implications for life-span development. M. Lerner & J. Brandtstädter (Eds.), Action and development: Origins and functions of intentional self development (pp. 345-372). Hillsdale, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Pasupathi, M., Carstensen, L.L., Levenson, R.W., & Gottman, J.M. (1999). Responsive listening in long-married couples: A psycholinguistic perspective. Journal of Non-Verbal Behavior, 23, 173-193.

1998 and earlier

Carstensen, L.L., & Fredrickson, B.L. (1998). The influence of HIV status and age on cognitive representations of others. Health Psychology, 17, 1-10.

Lang, F., Staudinger, U. & Carstensen, L.L. (1998). Perspectives on socioemotional selectivity in late life: How personality and social context do (and do not) make a difference. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 53, 21-30.

Gross, J., Carstensen, L.L., Pasupathi, M. Tsai, J., Götestam Skorpen, C. & Hsu, A. (1997). Emotion and aging: Experience, expression and control. Psychology and Aging, 12, 590-599.

Carstensen, L.L., Gottman, J.M., & Levenson, R.W. (1995). Emotional behavior in long-term marriage. Psychology and Aging, 10, 140-149.

Levenson, R., Carstensen, L., & Gottman, J. (1994) The influence of age and gender on affect, physiology and their interrelations: A study of long-term marriages. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 56-68.

Carstensen, L.L. & Turk-Charles, S. (1994). The salience of emotion across the adult life span. Psychology and Aging, 9, 259-264.

Lang, F.R. & Carstensen, L.L. (1994). Close emotional relationships in late life: Further support for proactive aging in the social domain. Psychology and Aging, 9, 315-324.

Levenson, R.W., Carstensen, L.L. & Gottman, J.M. (1993). Long-term marriage: Age, gender and satisfaction. Psychology and Aging, 8, 301-313.

Carstensen, L.L. (1992). Social and emotional patterns in adulthood: Support for socioemotional selectivity theory. Psychology and Aging, 7, 331-338.

Levenson, R.W., Carstensen, L.L., Friesen, W.V., & Ekman, P. (1991). Emotion, physiology and expression in old old age. Psychology and Aging, 6, 28-35.

Meeks, S., Carstensen, L.L., Stafford, P., Brenner, L.L., Weathers, F., Welch, R., & Oltmanns, T.F. (1990). Mental health needs of the chronically mentally ill elderly. Psychology and Aging, 5, 163-171.

Fredrickson, B. L. & Carstensen, L.L. (1990). Choosing social partners: How old age and anticipated endings make us more selective. Psychology and Aging, 5, 335-347. (Reprinted in Essential papers on the psychology of aging. 1998, pp. 511-538.)