Introduction
Ageing of the human population throughout the globe is beyond doubt. Medical doctors, policy makers, economists and social psychologists dedicate their time and effort to the promotion of active ageing. Seventy-five years ago, Lawton (Reference Lawton1940) had already foreseen the key question of changes in mental abilities of an older adult. We have come a long way since then, yet dementia and Alzheimer's appear among the most threatening and burdensome images when considering contemporary challenges in mental health care for older adults (Knight and Sayegh Reference Knight and Sayegh2011). How can a person's memory be tested? When dealing with larger groups of people, standardised tests appear to be convenient, fairly inexpensive and quick to administer in a wide array of settings. Therefore, quite often during community screenings we encounter the use of such tests as the Mini-Mental State Examination, judged to be reliable but insufficient by itself as a diagnostic tool to identify dementia (Tombaugh and McIntyre Reference Tombaugh and McIntyre1992), or the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA; Nasreddine et al. Reference Nasreddine, Phillips, Bédirian, Charbonneau, Whitehead, Collin, Cummings and Chertkow2005). This paper is not aimed at questioning the validity of the above instruments. Rather, the goal is to reflect upon the self and multicultural studies from the epistemological stand of the theory of social representations. The discipline of social psychology, often accused of being too focused on an individual and therefore increasingly similar to psychology, has nevertheless demonstrated its considerable potential for a fruitful exchange with clinicians and practitioners (Collins and Stukas Reference Collins and Stukas2006). Extreme specialisation and rigidity in experimental theory testing without sufficient consideration of a wider context have resulted in a fragmentation of the field and difficulties in promoting the practical implications of the results to the main stakeholders.
This paper results from the co-operation of psychotherapists (clinical psychologists) specialised in psycho-diagnostics and social psychologists that work together in Rome, Italy with various types of institutions for older adults. The research question is how contextual (conversational) aspects and socially shared meanings might affect test performance related to the self-concept of participants.
Research on the impact of the context of assessment on older participants' memory performance has taken into account its different aspects, such as stereotypes, memory self-efficacy level, testing instructions and social categorisation within a given culture. Stein, Blanchard-Fields and Hertzog (Reference Stein, Blanchard-Fields and Hertzog2002) have shown that priming a positive stereotype of ageing leads to a significant improvement in memory performance of older individuals. The performance expectation hypothesis (Desrichard and Kopetz Reference Desrichard and Kopetz2005) states that mechanisms other than age play an important role in memory performance among older participants; in particular, the memory self-efficacy level moderates the task-instruction effect. Task-instructions that emphasise the memory component of the task tend to lower the older participants' performance (Rahhal, Hasher and Colcombe Reference Rahhal, Hasher and Colcombe2001). Levy and Langer (Reference Levy and Langer1994), who compared the North American Sign Languages and Chinese communities with other social categories, found that the older participants belonging to the former cultures with more positive views of ageing performed better on the memory tests than the latter.
While brief cognitive assessment tests are useful to detect mild cognitive impairment, they may have negative consequences on a psychological level, depending on the cultural context and inter-group ties. A different type of tool, such as open-ended event-contingent diaries (Williams et al. Reference Williams, Bernieri, Faulkner, Gada-Jain and Grahe2000) or in-depth interviews should accompany administration of a standard test. In this way, not only should the participants' self-concept be less negatively affected, but also on a theoretical level it would be possible to gain a deeper understanding of the context, taking into account common-sense explanations.
The research objectives are two-faceted. First, the aim is to identify an efficient way of impacting the testing context, treating culture as a set of dynamic, co-constructed meanings. Second, the research intends to compare how different ways of elaborating memories that stem from an intergenerational reminiscence activity impact performance on a standardised memory test, taking into account five different areas measured by the MoCA.
Theoretical framework
Memory and memories – two distinct yet interrelated concepts – appear crucial when conducting research on cognitive assessment and reminiscence among older adults. Each one of them influences self-concept in a dialogical relationship (Markus and Herzog Reference Markus and Herzog1991), but the cultural context should also be taken into account, as memory always exists and performs in a context influenced by numerous factors (Hess and Emery Reference Hess, Emery, Naveh-Benjamin and Ohta2012). Reminiscence occurs naturally and may play different functions in relation to mental health, such as the positive function for the self that includes the integration of memories into identity (Westerhof, Bohlmeijer and Webster Reference Westerhof, Bohlmeijer and Webster2010). Concerning the relationship between memory and memories, Janssen et al. have demonstrated that ‘cognitive abilities, such as the ability to retain verbal and visuo-spatial information over short durations of time, are related to the ability to remember personal events over long durations of time’ (Reference Janssen, Kristo, Rouw and Murre2015: 20). Moreover, others have identified strong relationships between cognitive abilities (such as working memory) and episodic memory (Hertzog et al. Reference Hertzog, Dixon, Hultsch and MacDonald2003).
In order to examine the context of testing in a specific setting, we have opted for the theory of social representations, which constitute forms of local, shared knowledge. The theory of social representations, proposed by Moscovici over 50 years ago, ‘hopes to elucidate the links which unite human psychology with contemporary social and cultural questions’ (Moscovici Reference Moscovici and Flick1998: 241). It has constituted a fertile ground for social psychological research in different parts of the world, in the context of ageing and self-concept, especially in Europe and Latin America. The construct of social representation can be defined as ‘the ensemble of thoughts and feelings being expressed in verbal and overt behavior of actors which constitutes an object for a social group’ (Wagner et al. Reference Wagner, Duveen, Farr, Jovchelovitch, Lorenzi-Cioldi, Marková and Rose1999: 95). Oyserman and Markus (Reference Oyserman, Markus and Flick1998) acknowledge the value of a social representational approach to self, which highlights the role of culture and social context, proving that social representations are critical to the process of framing, developing and maintaining a sense of self. The complexity and dynamics between societies, self-inherent in social representations theory (Howarth Reference Howarth2006), cannot be neglected when dealing with real-life situations, such as actual groups of older adults in different institutions. Known as the theory of common sense, it is often used to contrast the points of view of ‘lay people’ and ‘experts’, building on Moscovici's distinction between two types of reality: consensual and reified (Moscovici Reference Moscovici2008). Such opposition makes sense in certain cases, for instance when examining the way in which HIV is transmitted. While ‘experts’ state that saliva is not infectious, there may be a widespread contrary belief among some ‘lay people’. However, as noted by Howarth (Reference Howarth2006), science itself is not asocial and the difference between the consensual and the reified points to a process of reification that privileges certain social representations as ‘expert knowledge’. Speaking of memory, memories and ageing, we shall concentrate on the social representations or common-sense knowledge co-constructed by psychotherapists together with the participants. No human being is free from using common sense, and ‘experts’ also turn to it to make sense of surrounding reality and to interpret new phenomena or surprising findings. The negotiation of meaning occurs simultaneously within individual minds, between persons, between groups and around them as a broader social context; although social psychological research should integrate these levels of analysis (Doise Reference Doise1986), the latter level has been given less attention (Reicher Reference Reicher2004).
In research on social representations, different paradigms have been applied for more than 50 years, including structural, narrative, anthropological, socio-dynamic and modelling approaches (de Rosa Reference de Rosa2013). The modelling paradigmatic approach to the theory of social representations was conceived in order to empirically detect the articulation of social representations with its different constitutive dimensions and other socio-psychological constructs (also anchored in diverse multi-theoretical perspectives, like for example: multidimensional identities, place-identity and identity theories, collective memory, social emotions, etc.), selected in function of the target research object investigated within and by the specific communicative contexts/channels. (de Rosa Reference de Rosa2014: 17.4) Social representations are not used as an external variable but as mediators of the relationship between self (ego) and other (alter) when discussing a specific object, for example ‘ageing’. The epistemic triangle (which constitutes a part of Figure 1) has been designed by Moscovici (Reference Moscovici, Farr and Moscovici1984) to portray social representations as a dynamic process of social construction of meaning, emphasising the crucial role of communication.
Figure 1. Research design.
While ageing has been extensively studied from the point of view of social representations in diverse cultures, to our knowledge no studies concern its representations co-constructed by psychotherapists and older participants as a context of standardised memory testing. Such co-construction of meaning of ageing stems from a discussion of a prior intergenerational group activity, which included simple reminiscence that stimulated social reminiscence and bonding (Westerhof, Bohlmeijer and Webster Reference Westerhof, Bohlmeijer and Webster2010). In North America, Barker and Giles (Reference Barker and Giles2003) have applied the enhanced predicament model of intergenerational communication based on social representations to the case of older Native Americans. Also focusing on the young people's representations of ageing, Wachelke and Lins (Reference Wachelke and Lins2008) concluded that in Brazil they seem to be centred on the understanding of ageing as a process linked to living more closely to the family, characterised by specific signs of the body, accumulation of wisdom, proximity of death and the passing of time, on the one hand, and facing illness, suffering, isolation, decrease in everyday functioning, as well as memory loss and being dependent, on the other. The organisation of social representations of ageing in two dimensions corresponding to biological and psychological gains or losses has been observed in the diverse cultural contexts of Latin America and Europe. In particular, Wachelke and Contarello (Reference Wachelke and Contarello2010) enlist studies carried out in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, as well as France and Italy. Moreover, sexuality seems to play a significant role when representing ageing, as demonstrated in the French context (Ringa et al. Reference Ringa, Diter, Laborde and Bajos2013), while Camargo and Wachelke (Reference Camargo and Wachelke2010) have identified sexuality as one of the three dimensions common to the social representations of AIDS, ageing and the body, organised in a system or network.
The geo-cultural variety in research on social representations of ageing demonstrates that the theory lends itself very well to the study of a specific context. A diffused approach of identifying and describing social representations of ageing in different cultural scenarios is based on using different methods, acceptable and feasible in the context, breaking out of the culture-bound perspective (Berry et al. Reference Berry, Poortinga, Segall and Dasen1992) in research design and emphasising the complex reality of multicultural issues, as proposed by Israelashvili, Taubman-Ben-Ari and Hochdorf (Reference Israelashvili, Taubman-Ben-Ari and Hochdorf2011). In this view, the context is not limited to immediate circumstances, but includes a broader view that takes into account surrounding culture and language.
As Schulze (Reference Schulze2011) points out, the research on social representations of ageing brings to light the shared knowledge of social groups. How young people perceive older adults influences the latter ones' self-concept and can become more positive as a result of intergenerational contact (Abrams, Eller and Bryant Reference Abrams, Eller and Bryant2006). In particular, intergenerational group reminiscence activities have a positive impact on the psycho-social wellbeing of the older adults and their social representations among the youth (Gaggioli et al. Reference Gaggioli, Morganti, Bonfiglio, Scaratti, Cipresso, Serino and Riva2014). Gergen and Gergen (Reference Gergen, Gergen and Schaie2000) conceive ageing from the social constructionist perspective and conclude that if the positive dimensions of the process are emphasised, it may result in a radical change in its social representations. From the theoretical standpoint of social representations, ‘behavior is seen as deriving not only from objective environmental characteristics (education, culture and learning) or compulsive intra-psychic dynamics but also from the way in which persons perceive such conditions and the significance they attribute to them’ (Riva Reference Riva1997: 206).
Methodology
A total of 97 members of centres for older adults located in Rome, Italy (mean age = 76.34, standard deviation (SD) = 8.10; 65 female and 32 male) took part in the research project introduced as a screening concerning memory. All of them were Italian, retired, functioning in an urban environment (each one had lived in Rome for at least 50 years), without physical disabilities and able to reach the centre autonomously. The membership of the municipal centres (which occurs on a voluntary basis) has to be renewed annually. It is inexpensive and offers a series of advantages, such as daily access to the common space, where it is possible to play card games and dance, attend free talks about nutrition and other relevant topics, as well as organise parties for national and religious festivities. The activities are not limited to the physical space available; for an additional fee, the members at times get together to go out on a day-trip, for dinner or to the theatre. One may describe the centres as settings that promote active ageing, although the types of activities depend on the leaders (who are members elected by other members).
A few weeks prior to the screening, a group of volunteersFootnote 1 organised an interactive performance for all members of the centres. The performance was focused on the participants' youth, stimulating reminiscence concerning daily life in Rome. The participants had an opportunity to discuss the photographs of the city from approximately 50 years ago, paying attention to the aesthetic features relevant for the visual aspects of memory. They talked about their memories concerning the public sphere and daily urban routine. Topics such as transportation, shopping (in particular marketplaces), entertainment (swimming in the Tiber River, local games and songs) and artisan work have prevailed in the narratives.
Just like the interactive performance, the memory screening was previously announced at the centre verbally by the leaders and in a written form as an announcement on the bulletin board. Each activity had an authorisation from the district municipality of Rome. The screening took place in a separate room of the centre, ensuring privacy during one-to-one interaction with a psychotherapist (clinical psychologist) specialised in psycho-diagnostics. We opted for this type of clinical psychologist due to their training both in psychotherapy and expertise in assessment (test administration and interpretation). In Italy, in order to obtain these qualifications it is necessary to graduate in psychology (five years), undergo an internship (six months to a year), complete a specialisation in psychotherapy (five years) and additional course in psycho-diagnostics (six months to a year). This type of thorough preparation ensured skill in interaction with the participants, ability to conduct all phases described below in a professional manner, as well as proper administration and interpretation of standardised tests.
During the screening, the participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. In the first case, the psychotherapist who administered the test first talked with each participant about the performance, focusing on ageing and stressing the neutral aspects of its social representations, such as change and time, which according to Wachelke and Contarello (Reference Wachelke and Contarello2009) have a high neutrality index and a low polarity index. The protocol included a number of phrases that were used by the psychotherapist to introduce the screening, making a reference to the activity of reminiscence as a way to demonstrate various changes that occur over time. In the second case, the performance was used to concentrate on positive aspects of the social representations of ageing, namely wisdom and experience, which according to Wachelke and Contarello (Reference Wachelke and Contarello2009) have a high positive polarity index and a low neutrality index. In both cases, the interaction lasted from five to ten minutes. The introductory phrases included a brief presentation (e.g. ‘Hello, I'm Stefania and I'm glad that you're here. What's your name?’) and statements aimed at discussing the reminiscence activity (e.g. ‘I've heard that a few weeks ago there was a performance here, what did you think about it?’ or ‘What a pure Roman accent I hear from you, you must have had a lot to share about the city during the performance a few weeks ago, how was it?’). Then, for the control group the psychotherapist would evoke change and time, using such phrases as ‘Certainly, a lot has changed in Rome. I cannot imagine the city without the metro’, ‘I cannot imagine all the changes you must have seen around here throughout the years, take for example the public transportation. I've heard it came up quite a bit during the performance, didn't it?’, ‘So, during the performance you could really see the role of time in our lives, would you say so?’ On the other hand, the individuals who belonged to the active group were invited to co-construct the meaning of ageing related to positive aspects, such as wisdom and experience, taken for granted as ‘benefits’ of ageing. The phrases aimed at introducing such interaction included the following: ‘So, the performance seemed as a nice opportunity to share some of your wisdom with the kids, don't you think?’, ‘People say “wisdom comes with age”, I wonder if the performance demonstrated it?’, or ‘Certainly, the experience makes a difference, it must be like having an extra gear (Italian expression for more resources to handle problems), did it come out during the performance?’ Without doubt, co-construction of meaning occurs in a number of ways, so the further development of the conversation occurred in a natural, personalised way. In psychotherapy, one may use collaborative or confrontive style (McMinn and Campbell Reference McMinn and Campbell2007); in order to reduce anxiety and encourage the good mood and relaxed atmosphere, in all cases the psychotherapists maintained the collaborative style during the conversations.
Following the above interaction, each participant was administered the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) (Nasreddine et al. Reference Nasreddine, Phillips, Bédirian, Charbonneau, Whitehead, Collin, Cummings and Chertkow2005). In line with the underlying assumptions of the theory of social representations, ‘standardized instruments are an important part of the representations by which psychologists construct and assess the social reality in which they are interested’ (Mana, Orr and Mana Reference Mana, Orr and Mana2009: 465). The MoCA serves as a screening instrument for mild cognitive dysfunction. According to the authors, it should take approximately 10 minutes to administer it; however, in our case the average administration time equalled approximately 20 minutes. This is probably due to the fact that the collaborative style of the psychotherapists, aimed at making the participants feel at ease, required additional small talk that took some extra time. The overall maximum score is 30 points, while a score of 26 or above is considered normal. The test takes into account different cognitive domains: attention and concentration, executive functions, memory, language, visuo-constructional skills, conceptual thinking, calculations and orientation (Nasreddine et al. Reference Nasreddine, Phillips, Bédirian, Charbonneau, Whitehead, Collin, Cummings and Chertkow2005).
Based on the theoretical considerations presented in the preceding section, it is anticipated that focusing on positive aspects of social representations of ageing will enhance participants' performance on the test, in particular in the area of memory. Moreover, such focus is also expected to have a positive influence on their visuo-constructional skills and executive functions, stimulated by the group activities that involved participants in this type of task and that have guided the conversation with the psychotherapist prior to the test. Group reminiscence activities empower older adults and increase their wellbeing (Gaggioli et al. Reference Gaggioli, Morganti, Bonfiglio, Scaratti, Cipresso, Serino and Riva2014); therefore, using them in order to stress positive aspects of social representations of ageing, and thus increasing the participants' self-efficacy, should have a positive influence on memory performance (Desrichard and Kopetz Reference Desrichard and Kopetz2005). The interdisciplinary and holistic approach to testing situates it in a context, assuming the agency of participants who play an active role during the joint process of construction of meaning of ageing.
In line with the modelling paradigmatic approach to social representations (de Rosa Reference de Rosa2013), the hypothesis concerned two interrelated influences (H1 and H2). The research design fits in the framework of the Moscovici's (Reference Moscovici, Farr and Moscovici1984) epistemic triangle, a ‘system where Ego and Alter work jointly towards the (trans)formation of social representations' (Nebe Reference Nebe2003: 10.3), discussed in the previous section. Figure 1 is a visual representation of the research design, which consists of the intergenerational reminiscence activity that contains the elements for the co-construction of meaning of ageing concentrating on the positive aspects of its social representations that in turn has two positive interrelated influences on two specific areas of cognitive assessment.
Results
The 97 participants were randomly assigned to one of the two experimental conditions discussed above. The participants were not aware of this division, thus eliminating the internal validity threat of demand characteristics. Table 1 presents the mean age (including SD), the number of men and women, and the average MoCA scores in each condition.
Table 1. The number of men and women, their mean age and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCa) scores in both conditions
Note: SD: standard deviation.
A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) has been administered in order to verify the statistical significance between the variance of the two groups for each of the five areas tested by the MoCA.
Table 2 presents means, SD and statistical significance within experimental conditions. They support the hypothesis aimed at demonstrating that the focus on positive aspects of social representations of ageing in an intergenerational activity emphasised by the practitioner occurs to be related to a better performance in the test in the area of memory, as well as its positive influence on visuo-constructional skills and executive functions. The maximum score in each case equals five points and the total theoretical range of the score is 0–30.
Table 2. Means, standard deviations (SD) and results of the analysis of variance for the five areas tested by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment
Overall, when comparing the global mean scores of the participants faced with neutral social representations of ageing (Group 1: mean = 16.71, SD = 6.3) with those focusing on positive aspects (Group 2: mean = 21.27, SD = 6.01), the results of the one-way ANOVA are statistically significant between groups: F(95, 1) = 13.275, p < 0.001.
For instance, the results of the one-way ANOVA in each of five areas tested confirm the hypothesis, as the area of memory (delayed recall) shows as being the most influenced by the different experimental conditions (Group 1: mean = 0.42, SD = 1.03; Group 2: mean = 1.47, SD = 1.58) with F(95, 1) = 15.028, p < 0.001, followed by visuo-constructional skills and executive functions (Group 1: mean = 2.04, SD = 1.73; Group 2: mean = 3.29, SD = 1.49) with F(95, 1) = 14.497, p < 0.001.
Discussion
The theoretical framework of social representations provides a useful tool that complements an experimental study design. According to Jost and Kruglanski (Reference Jost and Kruglanski2002: 178), ‘studies of social representation are intended to demonstrate how and why groups create and use shared abstractions as a means of communicating and coordinating activities’. The study presented in this paper in fact analyses how conversation with a psychotherapist immediately prior to the test affected participants' performance. The value of social representations lies in the fact that they are social, and therefore can be accessed by individuals who, by focusing on some aspects rather than others, act in a different way. The hypothesis that focusing on positive aspects of social representations of ageing (wisdom and experience) versus their neutral aspects (change and time) results in improved performance on a standardised memory test has been confirmed.
Social representations are shaped by the context; during the interview with a psychotherapist (clinical psychologist) specialised in psycho-diagnostics, ‘participants jointly construct and position themselves in relation to social representations’ (Reid-Collins Reference Reid-Collins2013: 366). The role of the psychotherapist appears crucial in the preparatory stage, before the actual testing, influenced by multiple factors. Since memory has been deliberately emphasised by the practitioner as related to memories and positive elements of social representations of ageing, participants most probably felt motivated to perform well on the task of delayed recall. In common-sense knowledge at the participants' disposal, the task of remembering lists of items tends to be expected in a memory testing or screening. This may also constitute the most evident area of their lives negatively affected by mild cognitive impairment (Feldman and Jacova Reference Feldman and Jacova2005). Therefore, simply by thinking about memory testing, many participants expected tasks based on delayed recall, when they referred to psychotherapists. During activities with volunteers, all of them were able to share their memories from the distant past related to their lives in the city of Rome, which to many constituted ‘a proof that their memory is still working’. Such statements, fomenting positive self-concept and reducing anxiety, constituted a solid entry point for the practitioner to introduce social representations of ageing.
On the other hand, visuo-constructional skills and executive functions have been stimulated by group interaction based on the visual reconstruction of the city of Rome using photographs. The participants have been involved in this task facilitated by young men and women, which they found pleasant and engaging. Correctly identifying their emotions was possible not only by observation, but also confirmed directly to the psychotherapists. In the case of participants who belonged to Group 1, no specific discussion of this task took place, while for the rest of them it was further emphasised, stressing positive aspects of social representations of ageing. The professionals who administer tests are active in the social construction of reality and, like anyone else's, their communication with patients is marked by social representations (Morant Reference Morant2006). While all participants have been involved in intergenerational activities with the volunteers, the experiment revealed that the role of psychotherapists (clinical psychologists) specialised in psycho-diagnostics in the dialogical process of focusing on certain aspects of social representations rather than others made a significant difference. Co-construction of self by an ageing person with a practitioner has influenced identity processes related to the latter's communication strategy (Breakwell Reference Breakwell2011) that emphasised positive aspects of old age.
Social representations are unique theoretical constructs that incorporate attitudes, opinions, judgements, emotions and perceptions, allowing mapping of ‘the processes whereby socio-cultural, historical and group-specific forces become sedimented in inner experiences’ (Joffe Reference Joffe2003: 60). When speaking of complex phenomena such as ageing, the body of knowledge available to individuals is without doubt rich and diverse, marked by positive, negative and neutral connotations. A clinical psychologist does not operate in a vacuum; due to his or her training and experience a clinical psychologist should be the most skilled health professional to successfully draw attention to certain aspects of social representations rather than others. The results of this study demonstrate that indeed psychotherapists are able to perform such a task, given the nature of social representations as a sensitising and dialogical concept (Liu Reference Liu2004).
The crucial role of psychotherapists who carried out conversations with participants and administered the test demonstrates how social psychologists can benefit from working with practitioners. In the spirit of willingness to extrapolate from the data to the social world at large, Jost and Kruglanski (Reference Jost and Kruglanski2002) have identified the theory of social representations as one of the areas of substantive research that benefited from careful consideration of social constructionist themes. Co-construction of social representations of ageing, together with a practitioner aware of this fact, acknowledges active participation of both sides involved during the testing. Professionals, teachers and social workers – those whom society entrusts with the task of helping and guiding others – are first and foremost themselves members of society who negotiate meanings and use social representations in everyday communication (Danermark et al. Reference Danermark, Englunda, Germundssona and Ratinaud2014). In this study, social psychologists have been able to draw the attention of psychotherapists to this fact and to make a conscious choice of entrusting them with the role of highlighting certain aspects of social representations rather than others.
The above task has been facilitated by the participants' prior involvement in an intergenerational activity that valued their memories of the city of Rome. Practitioners would mention this experience in order to highlight neutral or positive aspects of social representations. In this way, the relational nature of intergenerational solidarity is not normatively constrained (Sanchez and Hatton-Yeo Reference Sanchez and Hatton-Yeo2012), but framed in the discussion with a psychotherapist, a professional open and sensitive to the participants' judgements. Ageing, a part of the self-concept of the older adults, from the theoretical point of view, forms identity representations, defined as ‘steps made by a collective of interacting individuals while making sense of their social reality’ (Paryente and Orr Reference Paryente and Orr2010: 23.7). The intergenerational interaction taken into account in this research has occurred in two specific moments: during the group activity and during the conversation with the psychotherapist. However, the practitioner has almost always tapped into the participants' memories of other experiences of intergenerational solidarity while co-constructing the meaning of ageing centred on positive aspects of its social representations.
Practical implications and limitations
The practical implications of this research point to the importance of the context when considering performance on standardised memory tests. In particular, the person who administers them should be an experienced professional, able to put participants at ease and sensitive to the circumstances of the testing situation. Specific protocols can be developed, taking into account cultural and situational aspects of the older adults' situation to identify a common ground, such as a group activity that stimulates introductory exchange with psychotherapists. The plethora of events organised for this age group by various institutions and organisations, such as art therapy (Sezaki and Bloomgarden Reference Sezaki and Bloomgarden2000) or exposure to technology, can be used as such stimuli to compare how contextual (conversational) aspects and socially shared meanings might affect test performance.
Concerning limitations of the current study, the absence of concomitant measures (mood, state anxiety, expected performance) has a twofold explanatory analysis. Although other underlying mechanisms may be at work (mood improvement, anxiety release, etc.), studies designed to assess their role as mediators have not found a consistent relationship (Hess et al. Reference Hess, Auman, Colcombe and Rahhal2003). Certainly, there are numerous other variables that could account for cognitive functioning among older persons, e.g. retirement, that have a negative effect (Bonsang, Adam and Perelman Reference Bonsang, Adam and Perelman2012). Therefore, having the additional information about the participants could be beneficial. On the other hand, the absence of separate concomitant measures is justified by the nature of the concept of social representations that includes emotions. In this study, such nature has allowed the researcher to incorporate single explanations (such as anxiety) and examine how they are related to certain social representations of ageing. To older participants, awareness of social representations centred on positive aspects of their life-stage has enhanced the belonging and continuity principles of identity, with implications for their psychological wellbeing (Jaspal and Yampolsky Reference Jaspal and Yampolsky2011), reducing anxiety and improving performance. Moreover, the conversation that preceded testing served to reduce anxiety, known to have a negative effect on memory and executive functioning (Yochim, Mueller and Segal Reference Yochim, Mueller and Segal2013), which explains significantly better performance in these two areas among individuals exposed to positive aspects of social representations. The findings reported in this paper support hypotheses confirmed in neuropsychology, social cognition and social gerontology. The use of the theory of social representations provided a conceptual framework that takes into account culture and context, acknowledging that ageing is a diversified phenomenon that integrates biological, psychological and social aspects (Victor Reference Victor2007).
Another possible limitation of this research concerns the context-based protocol. Rooted in the culture from central Italy, the choice of the small talk prior to testing requires familiarity with the particular situation and is difficult to standardise. However, it is precisely due to this challenge that we can demonstrate that we are not building a Rube Goldberg machine to justify a very simple idea: focusing people on positive cultural truism about ageing could improve their memory performance. Identifying in each case such positive aspects and employing them skilfully requires thoughtful preparation, familiarity with the context and ability to develop the most appropriate protocol for the circumstances, not only in terms of culture but also temporal framework.
Conclusion
The theory of social representations has been successfully applied to rethink numerous subjects in social psychology, including ageing (Macia et al. Reference Macia, Duboz, Montepare and Gueye2013). As pointed out by Elcheroth, Doise and Reicher (Reference Elcheroth, Doise and Reicher2011), the defining components of social representations such as shared knowledge, meta-knowledge, enacted communication and world-making assumptions provide a distinct way to assess widely studied phenomena. This paper focuses on ageing, reporting original empirical field research in one of the core areas of social psychology. It highlights the issue of involvement of clinical psychologists in social psychological research, in the effort to bridge the gap between the two disciplines. This issue could be further analysed in a future development of the study within the adopted theoretical framework, e.g. using the narrative paradigmatic approach (Laszlo and Stainton Reference Laszlo and Stainton2002) applied to conversations between the participants and psychotherapists.
The theory of social representations not only provides an outlook on the perception of ageing, but can also serve practitioners to establish a desirable climate prior to performing a cognitive assessment. Taking into account social representations is a step towards a comprehensive strategy of active ageing (Boudiny Reference Boudiny2013), where participants' agency overcomes dichotomies of the positive versus negative aspects of ageing. In fact, psychotherapists encourage discussion and elaboration of a recent event, a group activity, in a creative and personal manner, acknowledging that memory testing is context-dependent and fits into individual and group narratives. Representing themselves and others in a dialogical relationship with practitioners constitutes a way to empower the participants (Thompson and Thompson Reference Thompson and Thompson2001) who have an opportunity to assume the role of active story-tellers (Clarke and Warren Reference Clarke and Warren2007) and not solely subjects to be tested. In line with the position of Westerhof and Bohlmeijer (Reference Westerhof and Bohlmeijer2014), this research demonstrates that synergy of standardised memory testing with narrative psychology provides innovation in the field, emphasising the importance of context manipulated in relation to reminiscence.
Acknowledgements
The paper reports original research and the authors hereby confirm that ethical guidelines have been met, including adherence to the legal requirements of Italy. In accordance with the Italian law, for this type of study the ethical review is not required. There has been no funding for this study. All authors have made a substantial contribution to the conception and design of the study, analysis and interpretation of data, the drafting of the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content and approval of the version to be published. There has been no conflict of interest.
