Thomas Hess

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

• Antecedents and Consequences of Endorsing Prescriptive Views of Active Aging and Altruistic Disengagement

  Frontiers in Psychology · 2022 · 28 citations

  In this study, we investigated endorsement of two types of prescriptive views of aging, namely active aging (e.g., prescriptions for older adults to stay fit and healthy and to maintain an active and productive lifestyle) and altruistic disengagement (e.g., prescriptions for older adults to behave altruistically toward the younger generation by granting young people access to positions and resources). The study comprised a large international sample of middle-aged and older adults ( N = 2,900),…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Age-Related Attributions of Experienced Changes in Life: Origins and Implications

  The Journals of Gerontology Series B · 2020 · 25 citations

  OBJECTIVES: Attributing life changes to age represents a core marker of the subjective experience of aging. The aims of our study were to investigate views on aging (VA) as origins of age-related attributions of life changes and to investigate the implications of these age-related attributions for personal control (PC) and life satisfaction (LS). METHODS: Life changes and the attribution of life changes to age were independently assessed on a large international sample of older adults (N = 2,900…

  DOI

• Predictors of engagement in young and older adults: The role of specific activity experience.

  Psychology and Aging · 2020 · 23 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Activity that places demands on cognitive resources has positive effects on cognitive health in old age. To further understand determinants of age-group differences in participation, we examined how negative aging stereotypes and responses associated with a cognitively challenging activity influenced future willingness to engage in that activity. Sixty-nine young (20-40 years) and 80 older (63-84 years) adults performed a letter-number sequencing (LNS) task at different levels of demand for 15 m…

  DOI

• Effort Mobilization and Healthy Aging

  The Journals of Gerontology Series B · 2021-02-12 · 15 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Healthy aging is in part dependent upon people's willingness and ability to mobilize the effort necessary to support behaviors that promote health and well-being. People may have the best information relating to health along with the best intentions to stay healthy (e.g., health-related goals), but positive outcomes will ultimately be dependent upon them actually investing the necessary effort toward using this information to achieve their goals. In addition, the influences on effort mobilizatio…

  PublisherDOI

• What will you do with all that time? Changes in leisure activities after retirement are determined by age-related self-views and preparation

  Acta Psychologica · 2022-11-01 · 14 citations

  articleOpen access

  Retirement is a normative life transition that liberates the individual from the external obligations of employment, being a catalyzer of leisure activity engagement. However, the individual's motivations to engage in leisure activities in the time that is gained after retirement may depend on their future self-views (i.e., views of their own ageing) as well as on their levels of preparation for age-related changes. In this study, therefore, we aim to examine longitudinal changes in levels of en…

  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

Similar researchers at North Carolina State University

• Mark Wilsonh-63
• Amy Halberstadth-37
• Jennifer Burnetteh-35