0:00:14.270,0:00:16.126
I know that you know

0:00:17.042,0:00:21.667
that people are living longer[br]and societies are getting grayer.

0:00:22.213,0:00:23.941
You hear about it all the time.

0:00:24.085,0:00:25.864
You read about it in your newspapers.

0:00:25.888,0:00:28.234
You hear about it on your television sets.

0:00:28.258,0:00:29.522
Sometimes, I'm concerned

0:00:29.546,0:00:35.353
that we hear about it so much[br]that we've come to accept longer lives

0:00:35.378,0:00:39.211
with a kind of a complacency, even unease.

0:00:40.343,0:00:44.625
But make no mistake, longer lives can...

0:00:44.649,0:00:50.532
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.

0:00:55.250,0:00:57.797
and put the changes[br]that we're living through

0:00:57.814,0:00:59.481
in kind of a perspective.

0:01:01.324,0:01:07.220
More years were added to average[br]life expectancy in the 20th century

0:01:08.394,0:01:15.301
than all years added[br]across all prior millennia

0:01:15.325,0:01:17.499
of human evolution combined.

0:01:18.775,0:01:20.303
In the blink of an eye,

0:01:20.327,0:01:23.699
we nearly doubled the length of time[br]that we're living.

0:01:24.925,0:01:28.228
So if you ever feel like you don't have[br]this aging thing quite pegged,

0:01:28.252,0:01:29.566
don't kick yourself.

0:01:29.590,0:01:31.476
It's brand new.

0:01:32.127,0:01:36.278
And because fertility rates fell[br]across that very same period

0:01:36.302,0:01:38.798
that life expectancy was going up,

0:01:40.097,0:01:45.688
that pyramid that has always represented[br]the distribution of age in the population,

0:01:45.712,0:01:50.738
with many young ones at the bottom[br]winnowed to a tiny peak of older people

0:01:50.762,0:01:52.999
who make it and survive to old age,

0:01:53.023,0:01:56.893
is being reshaped into a rectangle.

0:01:58.968,0:02:00.776
And now, if you're the kind of person

0:02:00.800,0:02:03.157
who can get chills[br]from population statistics,

0:02:03.181,0:02:04.204
(Laughter)

0:02:04.228,0:02:06.022
these are the ones that should do it.

0:02:06.046,0:02:07.476
Because what that means

0:02:07.500,0:02:11.340
is that for the first time[br]in the history of the species,

0:02:11.364,0:02:15.134
the majority of babies born[br]in the developed world

0:02:15.158,0:02:18.974
are having the opportunity to grow old.

0:02:20.911,0:02:22.476
How did this happen?

0:02:22.938,0:02:26.946
Well, we're no genetically hardier[br]than our ancestors were 10,000 years ago.

0:02:27.478,0:02:31.790
This increase in life expectancy[br]is the remarkable product of culture...

0:02:32.322,0:02:36.015
The crucible that holds[br]science and technology

0:02:36.039,0:02:41.475
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

0:02:48.967,0:02:51.792
so that people can now[br]live out their full lives.

0:02:53.024,0:02:55.969
Now there are problems[br]associated with aging...

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Diseases, poverty, loss of social status.

0:02:58.308,0:03:00.476
It's hardly time to rest on our laurels.

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But the more we learn about aging,

0:03:03.371,0:03:07.410
the clearer it becomes[br]that a sweeping downward course

0:03:07.434,0:03:09.476
is grossly inaccurate.

0:03:10.454,0:03:13.722
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.

0:03:35.994,0:03:38.826
The CDC recently conducted a survey

0:03:38.850,0:03:41.734
where they asked respondents[br]simply to tell them

0:03:41.758,0:03:44.873
whether they experienced[br]significant psychological distress

0:03:44.897,0:03:46.059
in the previous week.

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

0:03:49.741,0:03:52.475
than middle-aged people,[br]and younger people as well.

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And a recent Gallup poll[br]asked participants

0:03:57.055,0:04:01.541
how much stress and worry and anger[br]they had experienced the previous day.

0:04:01.858,0:04:05.987
And stress, worry, anger

0:04:06.431,0:04:08.200
all decrease with age.

0:04:08.807,0:04:11.813
Now social scientists call this[br]the paradox of aging.

0:04:11.837,0:04:14.529
I mean, after all,[br]aging is not a piece of cake.

0:04:15.291,0:04:19.565
So we've asked all sorts of questions[br]to see if we could undo this finding.

0:04:20.599,0:04:26.025
We've asked whether it may be that[br]the current generations of older people

0:04:26.541,0:04:29.071
are and always have been[br]the greatest generations.

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

0:04:33.501,0:04:35.829
these improvements as they grow older.

0:04:36.427,0:04:37.751
We've asked,

0:04:37.775,0:04:41.718
well, maybe older people[br]are just trying to put a positive spin

0:04:41.742,0:04:44.155
on an otherwise depressing existence.

0:04:44.179,0:04:45.926
(Laughter)

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

0:04:48.827,0:04:51.325
the more evidence we find to support it.

0:04:52.746,0:04:55.081
Years ago, my colleagues[br]and I embarked on a study

0:04:55.105,0:04:58.193
where we followed the same group[br]of people over a 10-year period.

0:04:58.217,0:05:01.176
Originally, the sample was aged 18 to 94.

0:05:01.694,0:05:05.033
And we studied whether and how[br]their emotional experiences changed

0:05:05.057,0:05:06.962
as they grew older.

0:05:06.986,0:05:10.297
Our participants would carry[br]electronic pagers

0:05:10.321,0:05:11.822
for a week at a time,

0:05:11.846,0:05:15.145
and we'd page them throughout the day[br]and evenings at random times.

0:05:15.169,0:05:16.959
And every time we paged them,

0:05:16.983,0:05:19.035
we'd ask them to answer[br]several questions...

0:05:19.059,0:05:22.124
"On a one to seven scale,[br]how happy are you right now?"

0:05:22.148,0:05:23.633
"How sad are you right now?"

0:05:23.657,0:05:25.808
"How frustrated are you right now?"...

0:05:25.832,0:05:30.066
So that we could get a sense of the kinds[br]of emotions and feelings they were having

0:05:30.090,0:05:31.470
in their day-to-day lives.

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And using this intense study[br]of individuals,

0:05:35.567,0:05:39.421
we find that it's not[br]one particular generation

0:05:39.445,0:05:41.706
that's doing better than the others,

0:05:41.730,0:05:44.604
but the same individuals over time

0:05:44.628,0:05:49.487
come to report relatively greater[br]positive experience.

0:05:49.511,0:05:53.949
Now you see this slight downturn[br]at very advanced ages.

0:05:53.973,0:05:55.610
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."

0:06:09.169,0:06:11.475
In our study, they are more positive.

0:06:11.928,0:06:14.245
But they're also more likely[br]than younger people

0:06:14.269,0:06:16.442
to experience mixed emotions...

0:06:16.466,0:06:19.083
Sadness at the same time[br]you experience happiness;

0:06:19.107,0:06:22.551
you know, that tear in the eye[br]when you're smiling at a friend.

0:06:23.734,0:06:28.377
And other research has shown that[br]older people seem to engage with sadness

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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

0:06:35.356,0:06:38.076
why older people are better[br]than younger people

0:06:38.100,0:06:42.352
at solving hotly charged[br]emotional conflicts and debates.

0:06:44.100,0:06:48.386
Older people can view injustice[br]with compassion,

0:06:49.060,0:06:50.402
but not despair.

0:06:51.459,0:06:53.196
And all things being equal,

0:06:53.220,0:06:57.311
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,

0:07:04.092,0:07:06.076
like the ones you see on the screen,

0:07:06.798,0:07:11.424
and we later ask them[br]to recall all the images that they can,

0:07:11.985,0:07:14.344
older people, but not younger people,

0:07:14.368,0:07:18.075
remember more positive images[br]than negative images.

0:07:18.752,0:07:22.890
We've asked older and younger people[br]to view faces in laboratory studies,

0:07:22.914,0:07:24.790
some frowning, some smiling.

0:07:24.814,0:07:29.936
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

0:07:46.924,0:07:49.376
because they're cognitively impaired.

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(Laughter)

0:07:53.276,0:07:54.507
We've said, could it be

0:07:54.531,0:07:58.125
that positive emotions are simply easier[br]to process than negative emotions,

0:07:58.149,0:08:01.318
and so you switch[br]to the positive emotions?

0:08:01.342,0:08:03.477
Maybe our neural centers in our brain

0:08:03.501,0:08:07.623
are degraded such that we're unable[br]to process negative emotions anymore.

0:08:07.972,0:08:09.481
But that's not the case.

0:08:10.014,0:08:13.250
The most mentally sharp older adults

0:08:13.274,0:08:16.376
are the ones who show[br]this positivity effect the most.

0:08:17.349,0:08:19.631
And under conditions[br]where it really matters,

0:08:19.655,0:08:22.183
older people do process[br]the negative information

0:08:22.207,0:08:24.376
just as well as the positive information.

0:08:24.758,0:08:26.955
So how can this be?

0:08:28.576,0:08:30.549
Well, in our research,

0:08:30.657,0:08:34.648
we've found that these changes[br]are grounded fundamentally

0:08:34.672,0:08:37.889
in the uniquely human[br]ability to monitor time...

0:08:37.913,0:08:40.962
Not just clock time[br]and calendar time, but lifetime.

0:08:41.908,0:08:43.926
And if there's a paradox of aging,

0:08:44.370,0:08:47.372
it's that recognizing[br]that we won't live forever

0:08:47.396,0:08:51.653
changes our perspective on life[br]in positive ways.

0:08:52.904,0:08:57.710
When time horizons are long and nebulous,[br]as they typically are in youth,

0:08:57.734,0:08:59.676
people are constantly preparing,

0:08:59.700,0:09:03.455
trying to soak up all the information[br]they possibly can,

0:09:03.479,0:09:05.725
taking risks, exploring.

0:09:05.749,0:09:08.692
We might spend time with people[br]we don't even like

0:09:09.016,0:09:11.115
because it's somehow interesting.

0:09:11.139,0:09:13.335
We might learn something unexpected.

0:09:13.359,0:09:15.419
(Laughter)

0:09:15.443,0:09:16.976
We go on blind dates.

0:09:17.000,0:09:20.253
(Laughter)

0:09:20.277,0:09:21.447
You know, after all,

0:09:21.471,0:09:23.976
if it doesn't work out,[br]there's always tomorrow.

0:09:25.121,0:09:27.698
People over 50 don't go on blind dates.

0:09:27.722,0:09:34.722
(Laughter)

0:09:36.633,0:09:37.633
Not so much.

0:09:43.214,0:09:49.021
As we age, our time horizons grow shorter[br]and our goals change.

0:09:49.542,0:09:52.534
When we recognize that we don't have[br]all the time in the world,

0:09:52.558,0:09:55.405
we see our priorities most clearly.

0:09:55.429,0:09:58.150
We take less notice of trivial matters.

0:09:58.174,0:09:59.675
We savor life.

0:10:00.340,0:10:01.958
We're more appreciative,

0:10:01.982,0:10:03.737
more open to reconciliation.

0:10:04.661,0:10:07.491
We invest in more emotionally[br]important parts of life,

0:10:07.515,0:10:10.176
and life gets better,

0:10:10.624,0:10:13.176
so we're happier day-to-day.

0:10:13.505,0:10:15.445
But that same shift in perspective

0:10:15.469,0:10:19.864
leads us to have less tolerance[br]than ever for injustice.

0:10:22.661,0:10:24.236
By 2015,

0:10:26.137,0:10:28.775
there will be more people[br]in the United States

0:10:28.799,0:10:32.136
over the age of 60 than under 15.

0:10:34.019,0:10:38.181
What will happen to societies[br]that are top-heavy with older people?

0:10:39.363,0:10:42.655
The numbers won't determine the outcome.

0:10:43.210,0:10:44.694
Culture will.

0:10:46.203,0:10:49.308
If we invest in science and technology

0:10:49.332,0:10:53.322
and find solutions for the real problems[br]that older people face

0:10:54.184,0:11:00.281
and we capitalize on the very real[br]strengths of older people,

0:11:00.840,0:11:06.710
then added years of life can dramatically[br]improve quality of life at all ages.

0:11:07.897,0:11:12.364
Societies with millions of talented,[br]emotionally stable citizens

0:11:12.388,0:11:17.315
who are healthier and better educated[br]than any generations before them,

0:11:17.339,0:11:21.165
armed with knowledge[br]about the practical matters of life

0:11:21.189,0:11:25.478
and motivated to solve the big issues

0:11:26.296,0:11:31.063
can be better societies[br]than we have ever known.

0:11:33.290,0:11:36.726
My father, who is 92, likes to say,

0:11:37.778,0:11:41.347
"Let's stop talking[br]only about how to save the old folks

0:11:41.450,0:11:45.964
and start talking about[br]how to get them to save us all."

0:11:47.837,0:11:49.277
Thank you.

0:11:49.301,0:11:52.095
(Applause)