ArticleThe Gerontologist2021
Socioemotional Selectivity Theory: The Role of Perceived Endings in Human Motivation.
Article in The Gerontologist, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 219 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
219 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Helping hands, flourishing hearts: A meta-analytic study of organizational citizenship behaviors and subjective well-being.Applied psychology. Health and well-being · 2026Pooled it
- Association between emotion recognition and cognitive functioning in multiple sclerosis: a multilevel correlational meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2026Pooled it
- mHealth Adoption by the Older Adults: A Structured Literature Review.F1000Research · 2025Pooled it
- Linking Cognitive Reappraisal and Expressive Suppression to Mindfulness: A Three-Level Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Pooled it
- Quality over quantity - rethinking social participation in dementia prevention: results from the AgeWell.de trial.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Trial
- Trial
- A realist review of the contribution of person-centred cultures to the management of depression among older persons in nursing homes.International journal of nursing studies advances · 2026Review
- Plasma proteomic signatures of social support and their association with cardiovascular disease and mortality: exploratory analyses in a national cohort study.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Time perspective status and associated factors among young and middle-aged women with gynecologic malignancies who have parenting responsibilities.Asia-Pacific journal of oncology nursing · 2026Article
- Article
- Withdrawal-related threat sensitivity mediates associations between perceived rejection and loneliness: Divergent neural correlates in younger and older adults.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2026Article
- Fluid and crystallized cognitive abilities differentially predict successful regulation of positive versus negative emotion.Emotion (Washington, D.C.) · 2026Article
- Novelty-seeking and directed exploration scale with dissociable social network outcomes and brain systems in older adults.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Life after loss: gendered changes in social networks and community participation around widowhood.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026Article
- Day-to-day associations between social interaction valence and awareness of age-related change.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026Article
- Age moderates the association between helping and meaning in daily life.Emotion (Washington, D.C.) · 2026Article
- Physiological Evidence Supporting the Emotional Motivation Account of the Ending Effect: Pupil Diameters Increase Toward the End.Journal of gambling studies · 2026Article
- Understanding Multiple Intelligences Among Older Adults: Development and Validation of the Multiple Intelligence Scale for Older People.Brain and behavior · 2026Article
- Preservation of positive emotion recognition in patients with multiple sclerosis: Artefact related to methodological issues or real feature of the disorder?Journal of neuropsychology · 2026Article
- Self-report measures of subjective time: An overview of existing measures and their semantic similarities.Psychonomic bulletin & review · 2026Review
159 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
Abstract
Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) is a theory of life-span development grounded in the uniquely human ability to monitor time. SST maintains that the approach of endings-whether due to aging or other endings such as geographic relocations and severe illness-elicits motivational changes in which emotionally meaningful goals are prioritized over exploration. Research guided by SST has informed preferences, social networks, and emotional experience and led to the discovery of the positivity effect in cognitive processing. This article, based on my 2015 Robert W. Kleemeier Award Lecture, describes the development of SST and its related program of empirical research.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.