Professor of psychology Stacey Wood has conducted extensive research on how the tendency to evaluate and react to positive, neutral, and negative information changes across our lifespan.
These neurological changes associated with aging may help us understand why some older adults are more vulnerable to certain types of consumer fraud.
Her research has attached much attention from the media. The findings have been the subject of articles in MSN Money, MarketWatch, Senior Journal, and will be reported in an upcoming article in the September issue of the AARP magazine.
Professor Wood, who received a grant from the National Institute on Aging to study the cognitive and social aspects of decision-making in older adults, became interested in the financial exploitation of elders after her uncle was defrauded. This unfortunate event led Wood to examine why some older adults may be willing to increase risk-taking behaviors such as gambling when there is little chance for compensation.
This increase in vulnerability may be linked to an increase in mood elevation and a decrease in negative reactions to images. The increase in mood elevation in older adults is supported by other research conducted at Stanford University’s Life-span Development Laboratory.
Stacey Wood and collaborator Michael Kisley, a professor of psychology specializing in neuroscience at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, reported their findings in a 2005 research paper, “The Negativity Bias Is Eliminated in Older Adults.” Their studies of older and younger adults found that older adults are much less likely to react to negative information.
Professor Wood received her B.A. at Middlebury College in Vermont, her M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Houston. She is a member of the International Neuropsychological Society, American Psychological Association, and the Gerontological Society of America. Professor Wood is a clinical neuropsychologist specializing in geropsychology, capacity, and memory disturbances.