{"id":841,"date":"2013-09-04T19:55:59","date_gmt":"2013-09-04T14:25:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saravanan.org\/?p=841"},"modified":"2018-07-29T15:14:07","modified_gmt":"2018-07-29T09:44:07","slug":"laura-carstensen-age-brings-happiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saravanan.org\/laura-carstensen-age-brings-happiness\/","title":{"rendered":"Laura Carstensen: Age brings happiness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Laura<\/a><\/p>\n

Laura Carstensen<\/a>\u00a0of Stanford had spent her life researching the state of mind of the elderly. \u00a0She and other researchers working in the field have come up with some eye-opening insights, which run completely counter to the conventional wisdom.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Psychological Stability<\/h3>\n

Contrary to the popular image of “grumpy old man\/woman”, older people seem to be psychologically more stable! \u00a0Human brain seem to become more stable with age. \u00a0If an elder person is depressed, they are most probably suffering from\u00a0what started when they were young.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Older<\/a><\/p>\n

Also, people who are neurotic seldom\u00a0learn to become happier with age. \u00a0They often start from such a low baseline that any improvement in the inner happiness simply doesn’t muster enough force.<\/p>\n

By the way, women of all age seem to be reporting more psychological distress than men. \u00a0It is not clear if this is due to self-denial that most men are known\u00a0for.<\/p>\n

Experience more Positive Emotions<\/h3>\n

Older people experience more positive emotions. \u00a0There are lesser threats in their lives and lesser uncertainties. \u00a0With age, sources of anxieties start decreasing, either because they have been resolved or because people learn to live with them. \u00a0Contrary to the popular wisdom, youth, it seems, is the most miserable period in one’s life!<\/p>\n

\"More<\/a><\/p>\n

After about mid sixties, the number of positive emotions being experienced by a person seem to come down with age. \u00a0Part of it has to do with age associated impairment of health. \u00a0If so, with modern anti-ageing techniques, the dip will be postponed by a decade or two. Does it mean that the increase (in positive incidences) will continue for another decade or two is a different question.\u00a0If the answer is yes, then age-extension programs will yield some of the happiest human societies we have seen till today!<\/p>\n

Ignore Negativity<\/span><\/h3>\n

Older people emotionally disassociate themselves from negativity!<\/p>\n

There is a module in the brain called amygdala, which lights up (becomes active) when people encounter emotionally charged stimulus. \u00a0When researchers put younger and older subjects\u00a0in a brain scanner and showed them emotionally positive and negative pictures, something very interesting came out. \u00a0The amygdala of younger subjects\u00a0was activated when they encountered both positive and negative stimulus. \u00a0Older people had much bigger spike for positive stimulus than younger people, and they ignored the negative stimuli!<\/p>\n

\"Emotionally<\/a><\/p>\n

Older people have learnt to ignore the negativity. \u00a0At the same time, they have learnt to appreciate positive emotions better. \u00a0No wonder they are happier! \u00a0This has become more obvious through another experiments conducted by the researchers. \u00a0They showed younger and older subjects\u00a0pictures of positive and negative faces and measured the amount of attention they paid.<\/p>\n

\"Positive<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Older ones\u00a0paid poorer attention to negative faces and paid better (than younger people) attention to positive faces. \u00a0It is as if the\u00a0elders\u00a0have become really good at ignoring negativity! \u00a0It may not always be a good thing (what good can it be if one ignores all atrocities in the news paper). \u00a0At least, it, makes them happier!<\/p>\n

Emotionally dense Social Network<\/h3>\n

With time, emotional life of people becomes richer and more complex. \u00a0As people get older, they tend to retain the emotionally close and meaningful relationships and the casual relationships fall off.<\/p>\n

\"Social<\/a><\/p>\n

With age, people become more selective about who they socialize with. \u00a0The riff-raff, not-so-close, meaningless relationships dwindle in numbers.<\/p>\n

In Laura Carstensen’s words, as people grow older, they tend to<\/p>\n