Leveraging Daily Social Experiences to Motivate Healthy Aging

Abstract

Models of healthy aging highlight the motivating influence of social connections. Social experiences constantly shape our thoughts and behaviors throughout daily life, and these daily processes slowly and consistently influence our health and well-being. In this paper, we discuss research that has moved from cross-sectional laboratory designs emphasizing individual behaviors to more naturalistic within-person paradigms linking daily social experiences to emotional, cognitive, and physical well-being. We mention research gaps that need to be filled to advance our knowledge of the powerful forces of the social environment for motivating healthy aging. We also offer future directions to move this research forward. We conclude with an outlook on how to leverage these powerful forces in novel intervention approaches that are sensitive to the constantly changing nature of the person and the environment.