The aim of this chapter is to review recent literature describing how developments in cognition may contribute to age-related changes in emotional processes, specifically emotion regulation and emotion perception. In general, older adults are more likely than young adults to report feeling positive. Prominent conceptual models of cognitive and emotional development in aging attempt to explain why the affective lives of older adults might not undergo similar age-related declines as other cognitive and physical systems. In this chapter, we will discuss predictions of cognitive and emotional development from several leading conceptual models of aging. We will then examine how closely the evidence from the fields of emotion regulation and emotion perception coincides with conceptual predictions. Finally, we will attempt to negotiate findings of age differences and age similarities in emotional processes as well as provide suggestions for future studies of emotion and cognition in aging.