First Published in 1998. This book provides a state-of-the-art overview of age-related changes in cognitive functioning and explores the implications of these changes for the self-report of attitudes and behaviors. The contributors are leading researchers in cognitive aging and survey methodology, and chapters are written to be accessible to non-specialists. The first part of the book provides an authoritative review of the current state of cognitive aging research, covering topics such as working memory, inhibition, autobiographical memory, metacognition, and attention. A second section examines the unique issues associated with aging, language comprehension and interpersonal communication, while the final section reviews researcher into age-related differences in survey responding. Of particular interest is how age-related changes in cognitive and communicative functioning influence the question-answering process in research situations. Experimental research illustrates that older and younger respondents are differentially affected by question order, question wording and other features of questionnaire design. As a result, many age-related differences in reported attitudes and behaviors may reflect age-related differences in the response process rather than differences in respondents' actual attitudes or behaviors. Implications for research design and psychological theorizing are addressed, and practical solutions are offered. As such, the book will be of interest not only to those in the fields of cognitive aging and gerontology, but also to survey methodologists and researchers in public opinion, marketing, and related fields, who rely on respondents' answers to questions in their research.

0 e The contributors to this book review our current knowledge of context effects in survey research, psychological testing, and social judgement. Drawing on recent developments in cognitive psychology, they offer theoretical accounts of the conditions that lead to the emergence of various context effects and report a number of new experimental studies. At stake now are clear, practical needs in the structuring of reliable tests, and a strong interest to develop a coherent theoretical framework to assess and scrutinize context effects, in addition to the desire to align some of the findings in survey research studies with the discoveries made in the information-processing field. This book attests to a fruitful dialogue between cognitive psychologists and survey researchers, as the cognitive processes initiated by question probes are really beginning to be understood and context effects classified and differentiated.

Autobiographical Memory and the Validity of Retrospective Reports presents the collaborative efforts of cognitive psychologists and research methodologists in the area of autobiographical memory. The editors have included an esteemed group of researchers whose work covers a wide range of issues related to autobiographical memory and the validity of retrospective reports, reflecting the diverse traditions in cognitive psychology and survey research. The first part of the book provides different theoretical perspectives on retrospective reports, along with supporting experimental evidence. The second part of this volume focuses specifically on retrospective reports of behaviors, including recall of the frequency and intensity of physical pain, of the number of cigarettes smoked, of dietary habits, and of child support payments. The following sections address the cognitive processes involved in event dating and time estimation, and a discussion of the differences between self and proxy reports. The final part extends the discussion of autobiographical memories in different directions, including the impact of autobiographical memories on individuals' assessment of their current life, the assessment of social change on the basis of retrospective reports, and the issue of collective memories. This book, an indispensable and timely resource for researchers and students of cognitive psychology as well as to survey methodologists and statisticians, demonstrates the considerable progress made in understanding the cognitive dynamics of retrospective reports.

Survey researchers have long been aware that the way in which questions are asked determines the obtained responses. However, the exact processes that mediate response effects remained elusive. In the present volume, cognitive psychologists and survey methodologists explore the cognitive processes that underlie respondents' answers to survey questions. The contributors provide an introduction to information processing theories for survey researchers, review current knowledge of response effects in the light of recent theorizing in cognitive psychology, and report a number of experimental studies on question context and question wording. In combination, the chapters provide a theoretical framework for the analysis of response effects in surveys and raise a number of applied and theoretical issues that have so far not been addressed in cognitive psychology.