GENEROUS AND EMPATHIC, OR PRAGMATIC AND UTILITARIAN? THE ARGUMENTS OF CHILEAN ELDERLY PEOPLE CONFRONTED WITH A SOCIAL DILEMMA

This paper discusses some results of a research on the argumentative faculty in older adults (aged over 65) from three regions of Chile, particularly their written responses to a social dilemma. The results indicate that older adults who choose to empathize with the protagonist of the social dilemma are mostly 70-year-old women and more educated. Their arguments show greater density in terms of the quantity and relevance of reasons to support their point of view.