Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T01:55:10.307Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Generational Differences Are Real and Useful

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 October 2015

W. Keith Campbell ,
Stacy M. Campbell ,
Lane E. Siedor  and
Jean M. Twenge
W. Keith Campbell
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Georgia
Stacy M. Campbell*
Affiliation:
Department of Management and Entrepreneurship, Kennesaw State University
Lane E. Siedor
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Georgia
Jean M. Twenge
Affiliation:
San Diego State University
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to W. Keith Campbell, Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30606. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

We propose that generational differences are meaningful despite some theoretical and methodological challenges (cf. Costanza & Finkelstein, 2015). We will address five main issues: operationalizing generations, measuring generational differences, theoretical models of generations, mechanisms of generational change, and the importance of science versus stereotypes.

Type
Commentaries
Information
Industrial and Organizational Psychology , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , September 2015 , pp. 324 - 331
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Cohen, S., & Janicki-Deverts, D. (2012). Who's stressed? Distributions of psychological stress in the United States in probability samples from 1983, 2006, and 2009. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 42, 1320–1334.Google Scholar
Costanza, D. P., & Finkelstein, L. M. (2015). Generationally based differences in the workplace: Is there a there there? Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, 8 (3), 308–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gentile, B., Campbell, W. K., & Twenge, J. M. (2013). Generational cultures. In Cohen, A. B. (Ed.), Culture reexamined: Broadening our understanding of social and evolutionary influences (pp. 31–48). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Inglehart, R., & Welzel, C. (2005). Modernization, cultural change, and democracy: The human development sequence. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Konrath, S. H., O'Brien, E. H., & Hsing, C. (2011). Changes in dispositional empathy in American college students over time: A meta-analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 15, 180–198.Google Scholar
Lyons, S., & Kuron, L. (2014). Generational differences in the workplace: A review of the evidence and directions for future research. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35, S139–S157.Google Scholar
Mannheim, K. (1952). The sociological problem of generations. In Kecskemeti, P. (Ed.), Essays in the sociology of knowledge (pp. 276–322). London, United Kingdom: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (2010). Cultures and selves: A cycle of mutual constitution. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5, 420–430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Park, H., Twenge, J. M., & Greenfield, P. M. (2014). The Great Recession: Implications for adolescent values and behavior. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 5, 310–318Google Scholar
Simonton, D. K. (1997). Foreign influence and national achievement: The impact of open milieus on Japanese civilization. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 86–94.Google Scholar
Strauss, W., & Howe, N. (1991). Generations: The history of America's future, 1584 to 2069 (pp. 279–316). New York, NY: Morrow.Google Scholar
Twenge, J. M. (2014). Generation Me: Why today's young Americans are more confident, assertive, entitled—and more miserable than ever before (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Atria Books.Google Scholar
Twenge, J. M., Abebe, E. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2010). Fitting in or standing out: Trends in American parents’ choices for children's names, 1880–2007. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 1, 19–25.Google Scholar
Twenge, J. M., Campbell, W. K., & Carter, N. T. (2014). Declines in trust in others and confidence in institutions among American adults and late adolescents, 1972–2012. Psychological Science, 25, 1914–1921.Google Scholar
Twenge, J. M., Campbell, W. K., & Freeman, E. C. (2012). Generational differences in young adults’ life goals, concern for others, and civic orientation, 1966–2009. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102, 1045–1062.Google Scholar
Twenge, J. M., Campbell, S. M., Hoffman, B. R., & Lance, C. E. (2010). Generational differences in work values: Leisure and extrinsic values increasing, social and intrinsic values decreasing. Journal of Management, 36, 1117–1142.Google Scholar
Twenge, J. M., Carter, N. T., & Campbell, W. K. (2015). Time period, generational, and age differences in tolerance for controversial beliefs and lifestyles in the United States, 1972–2012. Social Forces. Advance online publication. doi:10.1093/sf/sov050Google Scholar
Yang, Y. (2008). Social inequalities in happiness in the United States, 1972 to 2004: An age-period-cohort analysis. American Sociological Review, 73, 204–226.Google Scholar
Zell, E., Krizan, Z., & Teeter, S. R. (2015). Evaluating gender similarities and differences using metasynthesis. American Psychologist, 70, 10–20.Google Scholar