Mood Regulation in Real Time: Age Differences in the Role of Looking

Mechanisms have been proposed to underlie differences between younger and older adults in real-time mood regulation, but these mechanisms have not yet been shown to predict mood outcomes. One such mechanism is age-related positivity effects in attention and memory. In this article, I take one form of this possible mechanism-positive looking patterns-and consider (a) whether older adults, compared with younger adults, prefer positive looking and (b) whether positive looking helps older adults regulate their mood in real time. Evidence is more consistent for the former than the latter. A similar consideration is needed for other possible forms of positivity effects (e.g., positive memory) and other possible mechanisms that may explain age differences in real-time mood regulation.