About

Thomas Hess is a Professor Emeritus and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychology at NC State University. He is associated with the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. His contact information includes a phone number (919-515-1729) and an email address (tmhess@ncsu.edu). He is listed as part of the retired psychology faculty and is involved in research and academic activities within the college. Further details about his specific research focus, background, or key contributions are not provided on the page.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Social psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Medicine
• Gerontology
• Artificial Intelligence
• Computer Science
• Psychiatry
• Cognitive psychology
• Clinical psychology

Selected publications

• How do Process Mining Users Act, Think, and Feel?

  Business & Information Systems Engineering · 2025-02-18 · 4 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract Process mining, a family of techniques for analyzing large amounts of data collected on business processes, has gained significant practical and academic importance. Extant process mining research mainly examines technical aspects. Only recently has research started to investigate organizational aspects of process mining, such as how organizations use process mining to create business value. On an individual level, research has examined the analysis strategies of individual process mining analysts. So far, however, the literature does not provide a holistic investigation of individual process mining use, including individuals’ behavior, cognition, and affective states. Yet, understanding individual process mining use is pivotal for realizing its organizational value. To address this shortcoming, this paper examines the individual use of process mining employing a multiple case study with process mining users from six large organizations in a post-adoption context, i.e., in organizations that have several years of experience with process mining. Based on the configuration of how process mining users act, think, and feel in practice, four distinct process mining user categories were identified: (1) process mining influencers, (2) power users, (3) process participants, and (4) strategic users. For practitioners, the findings provide insights into the actual process mining use of individuals and what shapes their use patterns. This information enables tailoring process mining training and algorithms to specific user categories.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Between the Spark and the System: On the Effects of AI on Ownership and Role Identity in Creative Work

  ScholarSpace (University of Hawaii at Manoa) · 2025-12-23

  articleSenior author

  Advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) have enabled AI systems to take on increasingly active roles in creative work, ranging from supportive augmentation to full automation of creative output generation. This raises important questions about how such systems affect individuals’ role identity in their work. Drawing on Role Identity Theory (RIT), we propose that perceived ownership mediates the relationship between AI mode and role identity. We conducted an interaction- based online experiment (n = 400) in which participants completed a creative task supported by either an augmenting or automated AI system. The results show that augmentation (vs. automation) increases perceived ownership, which in turn enhances creative role identity. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of human-AI collaboration by highlighting the psychological mechanisms through which AI systems shape creative role identity.

  Publisher

• “Time without you”: Transition to widowhood and its impact on time perspective and attitudes toward the future

  European Journal of Ageing · 2025-02-13 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Widowhood is a significant life event that can profoundly alter an individual's perception of time. Those who have lost a spouse often find themselves reflecting on past memories, while simultaneously feeling disconnected from the present. However, the impact of widowhood on one's experience and perception of time has not been thoroughly explored. In this study, we investigate changes in time perspective during the transition to widowhood using a multidimensional approach to temporal experience. This perspective enriches the existing literature, which has primarily focused on the predictive role of time perspective by providing new insights into how major life events can reshape an individual's experience of time. The sample was drawn from seven measurement points between 2009 and 2023 in the Aging-as-Future longitudinal study. It consisted of 1357 participants aged 50 and older who either remained married throughout the study period (n = 1270) or transitioned to widowhood (n = 87). We assessed four facets of time perspective: past-orientation, feelings of obsolescence, concreteness of the future time, and attitudes toward life's finitude as well as subjective life expectancy. While the transition to widowhood predicted an increase in past-orientation and in feelings of obsolescence, it predicted a decrease in concreteness of the future. Spousal loss did not influence individuals' attitudes toward finitude, but those experiencing widowhood reported a decrease in their perceived remaining lifetime. Our study showed that widowhood may lead to shifts in time perspective. Findings underscore the value of considering time perspective as a key indicator of an individual's adjustment and functioning in response to a major life event.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Do we all perceive experiences of age discrimination in the same way? Cross-cultural differences in perceived age discrimination and its association with life satisfaction

  European Journal of Ageing · 2023-11-16 · 11 citations

  articleOpen access

  Age discrimination is pervasive in most societies and bears far-reaching consequences for individuals' psychological well-being. Despite that, studies that examine cross-cultural differences in age discrimination are still lacking. Likewise, whether the detrimental association between age discrimination and psychological well-being varies across contexts remains an open question. In this study, therefore, we examined cross-cultural differences in perceived experiences of age discrimination and their detrimental association with a specific indicator of psychological well-being, which is life satisfaction. The sample was drawn from the Ageing as Future study and comprised 1653 older adults (60-90 years) from the Czech Republic, Germany, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the USA. Participants self-reported their experiences of age discrimination and their life satisfaction. Findings indicated that participants from Hong Kong and Taiwan reported experiences of perceived age discrimination more often than participants from the Czech Republic, Germany, and the USA. Furthermore, experiences of age discrimination were negatively associated with life satisfaction. Cultural context moderated this relation: We found a smaller detrimental association between perceived experiences of age discrimination and life satisfaction in Eastern cultures, that is, in contexts where such experiences were perceived to be more prevalent. These findings highlight the importance of examining age discrimination across cultures. Experiences of age discrimination are clearly undesirable in that they negatively affect psychological well-being. Our results indicate that a higher self-reported prevalence of perceived age discrimination in the samples studied weakens this negative association. We discuss these findings in terms of adaptation (versus sensitization) in response to discrimination.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Contact With Older Adults Is Related to Positive Age Stereotypes and Self-Views of Aging: The Older You Are the More You Profit

  The Journals of Gerontology Series B · 2023-03-02 · 10 citations

  article

  OBJECTIVES: Past studies showed that intergenerational contact is beneficial in improving attitudes toward older people. To date, however, research on the benefits of contact with older adults focused on younger adults (intergenerational contact), overlooking the effects for older adults (contact with same-age peers). In this study, we investigated the association between contact with older adults and views of the self in old age in a domain-specific way among younger and older adults. METHODS: The sample (n = 2,356) comprised younger (39-55 years) and older (65-90 years) adults who participated in the aging as future study and were from China (Hong Kong and Taiwan), the Czech Republic, Germany, and the United States. We used moderated mediation models for data analysis. RESULTS: Contact with older adults was related to more positive views of the self in old age and this effect was mediated by more positive stereotypes of older people. These relations were stronger for older adults. Beneficial effects of contact with older adults emerged mostly in the domains of friends and leisure, but less in the family domain. DISCUSSION: Having interactions with other older adults may help favorably shape how younger adults and particularly older adults view their own aging, especially in relation to friends and leisure activities. From the perspective of older adults, having regular contacts with other older adults may increase the heterogeneity of exposure to different aging experiences, thus encouraging the formation of more differentiated stereotypes of older people and of their views of themselves in old age.

  PublisherDOI

• Erratum

  Gerontology · 2023-04-03

  erratumOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• “OLDER ADULTS SHOULD…”: CROSS-NATIONAL DIFFERENCES IN ENDORSEMENT OF PRESCRIPTIVE AGE STEREOTYPES

  Innovation in Aging · 2023-12-01

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Normative expectations about how older adults should behave are known as prescriptive age stereotypes (or “prescriptive views of aging,” PVoA). Previous research has shown that endorsement of PVoA varies across age groups but has not yet examined the variability of PVoA endorsement across countries. Considering that context may influence the endorsement of PVoA, we investigated differences in endorsement reported by an international sample of adults (N = 2,902) from the Aging as Future study covering the age range from 40 to 90 years in five countries: Czechia, Germany, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the United States (US). We focused on endorsement of two types of PVoA, that is, disengagement (older adults should make way for the younger generation), and activation (older adults should remain socially engaged). Overall, participants reported a stronger endorsement of activation compared to disengagement (i.e., a focus on activation). Replicating previous studies, compared to young and middle-aged adults, older adults more strongly endorsed PVoA. Most importantly, cross-national differences emerged, indicating that overall endorsement of PVoA (averaged across activation and disengagement) was the strongest in Taiwan and the weakest in Czechia and Germany. However, the focus on activation (vs. disengagement) was the highest in the US followed by Hong Kong and Germany, and then by Czechia and Taiwan. Cross-national differences in the belief that the State should support older adults, in cultural values, and in views of own aging predicted the focus on activation and partially explained differences in the strength of this focus between countries.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Perceived Age Discrimination Scale

  PsycTESTS Dataset · 2023-01-01

  dataset
  PublisherDOI

• Selective Engagement in Preparations for Aging

  The Journals of Gerontology Series B · 2023-11-02 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  OBJECTIVES: Preparing for old age is an adaptive behavior with positive consequences on well-being. This study examined; (a) the degree to which the importance associated with positive outcomes within specific domains of everyday functioning (e.g., social relationships, health) varies across ages and cultures; (b) the impact of importance on preparing for old age; and (c) whether the effects of importance were greater in later life. METHODS: Using data from adults aged 30-85 years in Germany (n = 623), Hong Kong (n = 317), and the United States (n = 313) collected over 5 years, we examined variations in importance ratings across age, cultures, and behavioral domains, and the extent to which age and importance predicted preparations. RESULTS: Importance ratings were found to vary with age, time of test, domains, and culture, reflecting the expected contextual effects. Importance also was a positive predictor of preparations, with the strength of prediction being somewhat greater in old age. DISCUSSION: The results provide evidence that the perceived importance of functioning within domains is affected by a number of contextual factors, including the domain of everyday function and culture. Given that importance also predicts preparations, such variation may help explain differences in preparations across contexts. In line with selective engagement theory, some support was also obtained for the prediction that older adults are more selective in engaging resources in support of preparations. Such selectivity can be viewed as an adaptive response to diminishing personal resources in later life.

  PublisherDOI

• A Wearable System for Continuous Monitoring and Assessment of Speech, Gait, and Cognitive Decline for Early Diagnosis of ADRD

  2023-07-24 · 8 citations

  article

  Early detection of cognitive decline is essential to study mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's Disease in order to develop targeted interventions and prevent or stop the progression of dementia. This requires continuous and longitudinal assessment and tracking of the related physiological and behavioral changes during daily life. In this paper, we present a low cost and low power wearable system custom designed to track the trends in speech, gait, and cognitive stress while also considering the important human factor needs such as privacy and compliance. In the form factors of a wristband and waist-patch, this multimodal, multi-sensor system measures inertial signals, sound, heart rate, electrodermal activity and pulse transit time. A total power consumption of 2.6 mW without any duty cycling allows for more than 3 weeks of run time between charges when 1500 mAh batteries are used.Clinical Relevance- Much earlier detection of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias may be possible by continuous monitoring of physiological and behavioral state using application specific wearable sensors during the activities of daily life.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Social Cognition and Aging

  NIH · $6.2M · 1985–2022

• NIH Grant R01AG020153

  NIH · $1.1M · 2014

Frequent coauthors

• Karen L. Fingerman

  The University of Texas at Austin

  78 shared

• Bob G. Knight

  University of Southern Queensland

  52 shared

• Hayden B. Bosworth

  42 shared

• Robert Hudson

  40 shared

• Amy Fiske

  West Virginia University

  40 shared

• Rachel Pruchno

  Rowan University

  40 shared

• Judy Howe

  National Institute on Aging

  40 shared

• Zachary Gassoumis

  University of Southern California

  40 shared

Labs

• Research and EngagementPI

Education

• Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for the Study of Aging and Adult Development

  Duke University

  1981

• Ph.D./Developmental Psychology, Psychology

  Southern Illinois University Carbondale

  1979

• M.A./Experimental Psychology, Psychology

  Southern Illinois University Carbondale

  1977

• B.S./Psychology, Psychology

  Pennsylvania State University University Park

  1975