Open AccessA life goals perspective on the information behaviour of elderly adults
Author(s) -
Zinaida Manžuch,
Elena Macevičiūtė
Publication year - 2020
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Conference proceedings
DOI - 10.47989/irisic2005
Subject(s) - socioemotional selectivity theory , perspective (graphical) , thematic analysis , psychology , everyday life , information seeking , the internet , social psychology , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , computer science , sociology , qualitative research , social science , artificial intelligence , library science , political science , world wide web , law
. The paper offers a Socioemotional Selectivity Theory (SST) perspective on the information behaviour of the elderly. It goes beyond biological aging and could usefully explain motives, preferences, influential factors in their information behaviour. Method. A thematic meta-analysis was performed to study the research on the information behaviour of the elderly adults published over the last decade (2010-2019). Analysis. The analysis is focused on manifestations of emotional regulation aimed at information behaviour (needs and motives, information seeking and use) of the elderly. Results. In everyday life situations the elderly prioritise emotional regulation goals, which are the main drive of information activities. Social networks, a safe and familiar environment, and positive emotional experience are influential factors shaping the needs, motivation and ways the elderly seek for and use information. Emotional regulation goals may also limit information seeking and cause distortions in making sense of information. Conclusions. Differently from other approaches to information behaviour of the elderly, SST does not limit the study to biological aspects of aging and offers rich explanations of social and psychological aspects of their lives. It can be complementary to other approaches and provide an explanatory aspect to many descriptive studies, e.g., explain the extensive use for social networks for information seeking, avoidance of certain information activities, or reluctance to learn new internet search skills.