|
|
|
|
||
|
||
|
|
||
| SEARCH | SUBSCRIBE | ||
|
 |
It's
the young who are often the grumpy ones By Marilyn EliasUSA
Today, June 1, 2003 So-called
grumpy old men (and women) apparently are more a Hollywood fantasy than a
fact of life. Young adults
are most likely to recall and fixate on unpleasant events, while older
people focus on the positives, an approach that may be programmed into
their brains, suggest studies out Sunday. This
age-linked, selective memory could help explain a growing pool of evidence
that older adults are often more content than their kids or grandkids, who
are at higher risk for serious depression. "It's as
though older people are saying 'Don't sweat the small stuff' because they
realize life is short, and they don't want to spend their time looking at
the bad things," says psychologist Susan Turk Charles of the
University of California-Irvine. She and co-author Laura Carstensen report
on their studies with 208 adults, 18 to 86 years old in the journal Experimental
Psychology: General. Study
participants looked at negative, positive and neutral images on a
computer. For example, one negative photo showed sad people leaving a
plane crash; some positive images featured families enjoying the beauty in
nature. Afterward,
everyone was asked to describe as many images as they could recall. Then
researchers showed images and asked whether these were among shots
participants had viewed before. Adults in
their 60s and older tended to remember about as many pleasant events as
younger people. But the younger their age, the more likely adults were to
recall unhappy images. Young adults
may need antenna for ugly or threatening aspects of life as they jockey to
establish careers and find partners, Charles says. As adults age, they put
more value on emotional meaning in life, often through deep intimacy and
peace of mind. Selective memory for positive events may further these
goals, she says. In another
study using brain scans, young and older adults who saw pleasant images
showed equal activation of the amygdala region of their brains, a key
emotional center linked to memory areas. But negative images triggered
more activation in young people. "This
could reflect brain changes with aging or mean that pursuing different
goals changes the brain," says psychologist Mara Mather of the
University of California at Santa Cruz, who did the brain scans. Shrugging off
the nasty aspects of life is good for mental health, but it might have a
down side, says Charles. Researchers are studying if older people's rosy
outlook could lead them to overlook the pitfalls in important documents,
such as health insurance policies. "No
doubt there are some grumpy old men," adds Robert Butler, president
and CEO of the International Longevity Center-USA, a New York think tank.
But research and experience refute the popular view that most older people
are miserable whiners, says Butler. With 76 million baby boomers heading into elder years, "I hope it will have a transformative effect," he says, "and we'll finally lose these negative stereotypes." Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging
|
