0:00:00.642,0:00:04.541
People are living longer[br]and societies are getting grayer.

0:00:05.113,0:00:06.841
You hear about it all the time.

0:00:06.985,0:00:08.764
You read about it in your newspapers.

0:00:08.788,0:00:11.134
You hear about it on your television sets.

0:00:11.158,0:00:12.422
Sometimes, I'm concerned

0:00:12.446,0:00:17.054
that we hear about it so much[br]that we've come to accept longer lives

0:00:17.078,0:00:20.911
with a kind of a complacency, even ease.

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But make no mistake, longer lives can --

0:00:26.249,0:00:32.132
and, I believe, will improve[br]quality of life at all ages.

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Now to put this in perspective,[br]let me just zoom out for a minute.

0:00:37.824,0:00:43.720
More years were added to average[br]life expectancy in the 20th century

0:00:44.894,0:00:51.801
than all years added[br]across all prior millennia

0:00:51.825,0:00:53.999
of human evolution combined.

0:00:55.275,0:00:56.803
In the blink of an eye,

0:00:56.827,0:01:00.199
we nearly doubled the length of time[br]that we're living.

0:01:01.425,0:01:04.728
So if you ever feel like you don't have[br]this aging thing quite pegged,

0:01:04.752,0:01:06.066
don't kick yourself.

0:01:06.090,0:01:07.976
It's brand new.

0:01:08.627,0:01:12.778
And because fertility rates fell[br]across that very same period

0:01:12.802,0:01:15.298
that life expectancy was going up,

0:01:16.597,0:01:22.188
that pyramid that has always represented[br]the distribution of age in the population,

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with many young ones at the bottom[br]winnowed to a tiny peak of older people

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who make it and survive to old age,

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is being reshaped into a rectangle.

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And now, if you're the kind of person

0:01:37.300,0:01:39.657
who can get chills[br]from population statistics,

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(Laughter)

0:01:40.728,0:01:42.522
these are the ones that should do it.

0:01:42.546,0:01:43.976
Because what that means

0:01:44.000,0:01:47.840
is that for the first time[br]in the history of the species,

0:01:47.864,0:01:51.634
the majority of babies born[br]in the developed world

0:01:51.658,0:01:55.474
are having the opportunity to grow old.

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How did this happen?

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Well, we're no genetically hardier[br]than our ancestors were 10,000 years ago.

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This increase in life expectancy[br]is the remarkable product of culture --

0:02:08.822,0:02:12.515
the crucible that holds[br]science and technology

0:02:12.539,0:02:17.975
and wide-scale changes in behavior[br]that improve health and well-being.

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Through cultural changes, our ancestors[br]largely eliminated early death

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so that people can now[br]live out their full lives.

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Now there are problems[br]associated with aging --

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diseases, poverty, loss of social status.

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It's hardly time to rest on our laurels.

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But the more we learn about aging,

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the clearer it becomes[br]that a sweeping downward course

0:02:43.934,0:02:45.976
is grossly inaccurate.

0:02:46.954,0:02:50.222
Aging brings some rather[br]remarkable improvements --

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increased knowledge, expertise --

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and emotional aspects of life improve.

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That's right, older people are happy.

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They're happier than middle-aged people,[br]and younger people, certainly.

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(Laughter)

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Study after study[br]is coming to the same conclusion.

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The CDC recently conducted a survey

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where they asked respondents[br]simply to tell them

0:03:18.258,0:03:21.373
whether they experienced[br]significant psychological distress

0:03:21.397,0:03:22.559
in the previous week.

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And fewer older people[br]answered affirmatively to that question

0:03:26.241,0:03:28.975
than middle-aged people,[br]and younger people as well.

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And a recent Gallup poll[br]asked participants

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how much stress and worry and anger[br]they had experienced the previous day.

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And stress, worry, anger

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all decrease with age.

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Now social scientists call this[br]the paradox of aging.

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I mean, after all,[br]aging is not a piece of cake.

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So we've asked all sorts of questions[br]to see if we could undo this finding.

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We've asked whether it may be that[br]the current generations of older people

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are and always have been[br]the greatest generations.

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That is that younger people today[br]may not typically experience

0:04:10.301,0:04:12.629
these improvements as they grow older.

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We've asked,

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well, maybe older people[br]are just trying to put a positive spin

0:04:18.542,0:04:20.955
on an otherwise depressing existence.

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(Laughter)

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But the more we've tried[br]to disavow this finding,

0:04:25.627,0:04:28.125
the more evidence we find to support it.

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Years ago, my colleagues[br]and I embarked on a study

0:04:31.905,0:04:34.993
where we followed the same group[br]of people over a 10-year period.

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Originally, the sample was aged 18 to 94.

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And we studied whether and how[br]their emotional experiences changed

0:04:41.857,0:04:43.762
as they grew older.

0:04:43.786,0:04:47.097
Our participants would carry[br]electronic pagers

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for a week at a time,

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and we'd page them throughout the day[br]and evenings at random times.

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And every time we paged them,

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we'd ask them to answer[br]several questions --

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"On a one to seven scale,[br]how happy are you right now?"

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"How sad are you right now?"

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"How frustrated are you right now?" --

0:05:02.632,0:05:06.866
so that we could get a sense of the kinds[br]of emotions and feelings they were having

0:05:06.890,0:05:08.270
in their day-to-day lives.

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And using this intense study[br]of individuals,

0:05:12.367,0:05:16.221
we find that it's not[br]one particular generation

0:05:16.245,0:05:18.506
that's doing better than the others,

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but the same individuals over time

0:05:21.428,0:05:26.287
come to report relatively greater[br]positive experience.

0:05:26.311,0:05:30.749
Now you see this slight downturn[br]at very advanced ages.

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And there is a slight downturn.

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But at no point does it return[br]to the levels we see in early adulthood.

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Now it's really too simplistic[br]to say that older people are "happy."

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In our study, they are more positive.

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But they're also more likely[br]than younger people

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to experience mixed emotions --

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sadness at the same time[br]you experience happiness;

0:05:57.007,0:06:00.451
you know, that tear in the eye[br]when you're smiling at a friend.

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And other research has shown that[br]older people seem to engage with sadness

0:06:06.301,0:06:07.707
more comfortably.

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They're more accepting of sadness[br]than younger people are.

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And we suspect[br]that this may help to explain

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why older people are better[br]than younger people

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at solving hotly charged[br]emotional conflicts and debates.

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Older people can view injustice[br]with compassion,

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but not despair.

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And all things being equal,

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older people direct their cognitive[br]resources, like attention and memory,

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to positive information[br]more than negative.

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If we show older, middle-aged,[br]younger people images,

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like the ones you see on the screen,

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and we later ask them[br]to recall all the images that they can,

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older people, but not younger people,

0:06:52.268,0:06:55.975
remember more positive images[br]than negative images.

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We've asked older and younger people[br]to view faces in laboratory studies,

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some frowning, some smiling.

0:07:02.714,0:07:07.836
Older people look toward the smiling faces[br]and away from the frowning, angry faces.

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In day-to-day life, this translates[br]into greater enjoyment and satisfaction.

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But as social scientists, we continue[br]to ask about possible alternatives.

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We've said, well, maybe older people[br]report more positive emotions

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because they're cognitively impaired.

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(Laughter)

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We've said, could it be

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that positive emotions are simply easier[br]to process than negative emotions,

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and so you switch[br]to the positive emotions?

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Maybe our neural centers in our brain

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are degraded such that we're unable[br]to process negative emotions anymore.

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But that's not the case.

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The most mentally sharp older adults

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are the ones who show[br]this positivity effect the most.

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And under conditions[br]where it really matters,

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older people do process[br]the negative information

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just as well as the positive information.

0:08:02.358,0:08:04.321
So how can this be?

0:08:05.876,0:08:07.849
Well, in our research,

0:08:07.957,0:08:11.948
we've found that these changes[br]are grounded fundamentally

0:08:11.972,0:08:15.189
in the uniquely human[br]ability to monitor time --

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not just clock time[br]and calendar time, but lifetime.

0:08:19.208,0:08:21.226
And if there's a paradox of aging,

0:08:21.670,0:08:24.672
it's that recognizing[br]that we won't live forever

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changes our perspective on life[br]in positive ways.

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When time horizons are long and nebulous,[br]as they typically are in youth,

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people are constantly preparing,

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trying to soak up all the information[br]they possibly can,

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taking risks, exploring.

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We might spend time with people[br]we don't even like

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because it's somehow interesting.

0:08:48.139,0:08:50.335
We might learn something unexpected.

0:08:50.359,0:08:52.419
(Laughter)

0:08:52.443,0:08:53.976
We go on blind dates.

0:08:54.000,0:08:57.253
(Laughter)

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You know, after all,

0:08:58.471,0:09:00.976
if it doesn't work out,[br]there's always tomorrow.

0:09:02.121,0:09:04.698
People over 50 don't go on blind dates.

0:09:04.722,0:09:11.722
(Laughter)

0:09:12.014,0:09:17.821
As we age, our time horizons grow shorter[br]and our goals change.

0:09:18.342,0:09:21.334
When we recognize that we don't have[br]all the time in the world,

0:09:21.358,0:09:24.205
we see our priorities most clearly.

0:09:24.229,0:09:26.950
We take less notice of trivial matters.

0:09:26.974,0:09:28.475
We savor life.

0:09:29.140,0:09:30.758
We're more appreciative,

0:09:30.782,0:09:32.537
more open to reconciliation.

0:09:33.461,0:09:36.291
We invest in more emotionally[br]important parts of life,

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and life gets better,

0:09:39.424,0:09:41.976
so we're happier day-to-day.

0:09:42.305,0:09:44.245
But that same shift in perspective

0:09:44.269,0:09:48.664
leads us to have less tolerance[br]than ever for injustice.

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By 2015,

0:09:52.137,0:09:54.775
there will be more people[br]in the United States

0:09:54.799,0:09:58.136
over the age of 60 than under 15.

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What will happen to societies[br]that are top-heavy with older people?

0:10:05.363,0:10:08.655
The numbers won't determine the outcome.

0:10:09.210,0:10:10.694
Culture will.

0:10:12.203,0:10:15.308
If we invest in science and technology

0:10:15.332,0:10:19.322
and find solutions for the real problems[br]that older people face

0:10:20.184,0:10:26.281
and we capitalize on the very real[br]strengths of older people,

0:10:26.840,0:10:32.710
then added years of life can dramatically[br]improve quality of life at all ages.

0:10:33.897,0:10:38.364
Societies with millions of talented,[br]emotionally stable citizens

0:10:38.388,0:10:43.315
who are healthier and better educated[br]than any generations before them,

0:10:43.339,0:10:47.165
armed with knowledge[br]about the practical matters of life

0:10:47.189,0:10:51.478
and motivated to solve the big issues

0:10:52.296,0:10:57.063
can be better societies[br]than we have ever known.

0:10:59.290,0:11:02.726
My father, who is 92, likes to say,

0:11:03.778,0:11:07.347
"Let's stop talking[br]only about how to save the old folks

0:11:07.450,0:11:11.964
and start talking about[br]how to get them to save us all."

0:11:13.837,0:11:15.277
Thank you.

0:11:15.301,0:11:18.095
(Applause)