Selectivity in prosociality among older adults: The moderation effect of self- and other-oriented motivation.

Abstract

Prosociality tends to increase with age, but whether older adults (OA) are more willing than younger adults (YA) to extend their prosocial behaviors beyond close social circles remains a topic of debate. This study aimed to address this controversy and explore the underlying mechanisms of age-related differences in prosociality through the lens of social discounting and gain-and-loss framing. One hundred twenty-three younger adults and 135 older adults participated in a social discounting task (measuring prosocial tendencies toward various social relationships) with various framings (self-oriented framing, other-oriented framing, and control condition). Compared to younger adults, older adults exhibited higher overall prosociality and treated socially close and distant others more evenly, indicating lower levels of selectivity in prosociality. Notably, the interaction effect between age and framing revealed that other-oriented framing amplified the prosocial tendencies of older adults, particularly toward socially distant others but not younger adults. These findings suggest other-oriented framing specifically reduced older adults' selectivity in prosociality, highlighting their prioritization of others' welfare and aversion to others' losses. This supports the notion that older adults' prosociality may be driven by other-oriented motivation rather than self-interest. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).