WEBVTT

00:00:14.270 --> 00:00:16.126
I know that you know

00:00:17.042 --> 00:00:21.667
that people are living longer
and societies are getting grayer.

00:00:22.213 --> 00:00:23.941
You hear about it all the time.

00:00:24.085 --> 00:00:25.864
You read about it in your newspapers.

00:00:25.888 --> 00:00:28.234
You hear about it on your television sets.

00:00:28.258 --> 00:00:29.522
Sometimes, I'm concerned

00:00:29.546 --> 00:00:35.353
that we hear about it so much
that we've come to accept longer lives

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

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

00:00:44.649 --> 00:00:50.532
And, I believe, will improve
quality of life at all ages.

00:00:52.096 --> 00:00:55.226
Now to put this in perspective,
let me just zoom out for a minute.

00:00:55.250 --> 00:00:57.797
and put the changes
that we're living through

00:00:57.814 --> 00:00:59.481
in kind of a perspective.

00:01:01.324 --> 00:01:07.220
More years were added to average
life expectancy in the 20th century

00:01:08.394 --> 00:01:15.301
than all years added
across all prior millennia

00:01:15.325 --> 00:01:17.499
of human evolution combined.

00:01:18.775 --> 00:01:20.303
In the blink of an eye,

00:01:20.327 --> 00:01:23.699
we nearly doubled the length of time
that we're living.

00:01:24.925 --> 00:01:28.228
So if you ever feel like you don't have
this aging thing quite pegged,

00:01:28.252 --> 00:01:29.566
don't kick yourself.

00:01:29.590 --> 00:01:31.476
It's brand new.

00:01:32.127 --> 00:01:36.278
And because fertility rates fell
across that very same period

00:01:36.302 --> 00:01:38.798
that life expectancy was going up,

00:01:40.097 --> 00:01:45.688
that pyramid that has always represented
the distribution of age in the population,

00:01:45.712 --> 00:01:50.738
with many young ones at the bottom
winnowed to a tiny peak of older people

00:01:50.762 --> 00:01:52.999
who make it and survive to old age,

00:01:53.023 --> 00:01:56.893
is being reshaped into a rectangle.

00:01:58.968 --> 00:02:00.776
And now, if you're the kind of person

00:02:00.800 --> 00:02:03.157
who can get chills
from population statistics,

00:02:03.181 --> 00:02:04.204
(Laughter)

00:02:04.228 --> 00:02:06.022
these are the ones that should do it.

00:02:06.046 --> 00:02:07.476
Because what that means

00:02:07.500 --> 00:02:11.340
is that for the first time
in the history of the species,

00:02:11.364 --> 00:02:15.134
the majority of babies born
in the developed world

00:02:15.158 --> 00:02:18.974
are having the opportunity to grow old.

00:02:20.911 --> 00:02:22.476
How did this happen?

00:02:22.938 --> 00:02:26.946
Well, we're no genetically hardier
than our ancestors were 10,000 years ago.

00:02:27.478 --> 00:02:31.790
This increase in life expectancy
is the remarkable product of culture...

00:02:32.322 --> 00:02:36.015
The crucible that holds
science and technology

00:02:36.039 --> 00:02:41.475
and wide-scale changes in behavior
that improve health and well-being.

00:02:42.659 --> 00:02:48.943
Through cultural changes, our ancestors
largely eliminated early death

00:02:48.967 --> 00:02:51.792
so that people can now
live out their full lives.

00:02:53.024 --> 00:02:55.969
Now there are problems
associated with aging...

00:02:55.993 --> 00:02:58.284
Diseases, poverty, loss of social status.

00:02:58.308 --> 00:03:00.476
It's hardly time to rest on our laurels.

00:03:01.271 --> 00:03:03.347
But the more we learn about aging,

00:03:03.371 --> 00:03:07.410
the clearer it becomes
that a sweeping downward course

00:03:07.434 --> 00:03:09.476
is grossly inaccurate.

00:03:10.454 --> 00:03:13.722
Aging brings some rather
remarkable improvements...

00:03:13.746 --> 00:03:16.476
Increased knowledge, expertise...

00:03:17.605 --> 00:03:21.975
And emotional aspects of life improve.

00:03:23.880 --> 00:03:27.239
That's right, older people are happy.

00:03:28.028 --> 00:03:31.626
They're happier than middle-aged people,
and younger people, certainly.

00:03:31.650 --> 00:03:32.832
(Laughter)

00:03:32.856 --> 00:03:35.970
Study after study
is coming to the same conclusion.

00:03:35.994 --> 00:03:38.826
The CDC recently conducted a survey

00:03:38.850 --> 00:03:41.734
where they asked respondents
simply to tell them

00:03:41.758 --> 00:03:44.873
whether they experienced
significant psychological distress

00:03:44.897 --> 00:03:46.059
in the previous week.

00:03:46.083 --> 00:03:49.717
And fewer older people
answered affirmatively to that question

00:03:49.741 --> 00:03:52.475
than middle-aged people,
and younger people as well.

00:03:53.566 --> 00:03:57.030
And a recent Gallup poll
asked participants

00:03:57.055 --> 00:04:01.541
how much stress and worry and anger
they had experienced the previous day.

00:04:01.858 --> 00:04:05.987
And stress, worry, anger

00:04:06.431 --> 00:04:08.200
all decrease with age.

00:04:08.807 --> 00:04:11.813
Now social scientists call this
the paradox of aging.

00:04:11.837 --> 00:04:14.529
I mean, after all,
aging is not a piece of cake.

00:04:15.291 --> 00:04:19.565
So we've asked all sorts of questions
to see if we could undo this finding.

00:04:20.599 --> 00:04:26.025
We've asked whether it may be that
the current generations of older people

00:04:26.541 --> 00:04:29.071
are and always have been
the greatest generations.

00:04:29.809 --> 00:04:33.477
That is that younger people today
may not typically experience

00:04:33.501 --> 00:04:35.829
these improvements as they grow older.

00:04:36.427 --> 00:04:37.751
We've asked,

00:04:37.775 --> 00:04:41.718
well, maybe older people
are just trying to put a positive spin

00:04:41.742 --> 00:04:44.155
on an otherwise depressing existence.

00:04:44.179 --> 00:04:45.926
(Laughter)

00:04:45.950 --> 00:04:48.803
But the more we've tried
to disavow this finding,

00:04:48.827 --> 00:04:51.325
the more evidence we find to support it.

00:04:52.746 --> 00:04:55.081
Years ago, my colleagues
and I embarked on a study

00:04:55.105 --> 00:04:58.193
where we followed the same group
of people over a 10-year period.

00:04:58.217 --> 00:05:01.176
Originally, the sample was aged 18 to 94.

00:05:01.694 --> 00:05:05.033
And we studied whether and how
their emotional experiences changed

00:05:05.057 --> 00:05:06.962
as they grew older.

00:05:06.986 --> 00:05:10.297
Our participants would carry
electronic pagers

00:05:10.321 --> 00:05:11.822
for a week at a time,

00:05:11.846 --> 00:05:15.145
and we'd page them throughout the day
and evenings at random times.

00:05:15.169 --> 00:05:16.959
And every time we paged them,

00:05:16.983 --> 00:05:19.035
we'd ask them to answer
several questions...

00:05:19.059 --> 00:05:22.124
"On a one to seven scale,
how happy are you right now?"

00:05:22.148 --> 00:05:23.633
"How sad are you right now?"

00:05:23.657 --> 00:05:25.808
"How frustrated are you right now?"...

00:05:25.832 --> 00:05:30.066
So that we could get a sense of the kinds
of emotions and feelings they were having

00:05:30.090 --> 00:05:31.470
in their day-to-day lives.

00:05:32.249 --> 00:05:35.543
And using this intense study
of individuals,

00:05:35.567 --> 00:05:39.421
we find that it's not
one particular generation

00:05:39.445 --> 00:05:41.706
that's doing better than the others,

00:05:41.730 --> 00:05:44.604
but the same individuals over time

00:05:44.628 --> 00:05:49.487
come to report relatively greater
positive experience.

00:05:49.511 --> 00:05:53.949
Now you see this slight downturn
at very advanced ages.

00:05:53.973 --> 00:05:55.610
And there is a slight downturn.

00:05:55.634 --> 00:06:00.623
But at no point does it return
to the levels we see in early adulthood.

00:06:01.510 --> 00:06:08.510
Now it's really too simplistic
to say that older people are "happy."

00:06:09.169 --> 00:06:11.475
In our study, they are more positive.

00:06:11.928 --> 00:06:14.245
But they're also more likely
than younger people

00:06:14.269 --> 00:06:16.442
to experience mixed emotions...

00:06:16.466 --> 00:06:19.083
Sadness at the same time
you experience happiness;

00:06:19.107 --> 00:06:22.551
you know, that tear in the eye
when you're smiling at a friend.

00:06:23.734 --> 00:06:28.377
And other research has shown that
older people seem to engage with sadness

00:06:28.401 --> 00:06:29.807
more comfortably.

00:06:29.831 --> 00:06:32.715
They're more accepting of sadness
than younger people are.

00:06:32.739 --> 00:06:35.332
And we suspect
that this may help to explain

00:06:35.356 --> 00:06:38.076
why older people are better
than younger people

00:06:38.100 --> 00:06:42.352
at solving hotly charged
emotional conflicts and debates.

00:06:44.100 --> 00:06:48.386
Older people can view injustice
with compassion,

00:06:49.060 --> 00:06:50.402
but not despair.

00:06:51.459 --> 00:06:53.196
And all things being equal,

00:06:53.220 --> 00:06:57.311
older people direct their cognitive
resources, like attention and memory,

00:06:57.335 --> 00:07:00.076
to positive information
more than negative.

00:07:00.716 --> 00:07:04.068
If we show older, middle-aged,
younger people images,

00:07:04.092 --> 00:07:06.076
like the ones you see on the screen,

00:07:06.798 --> 00:07:11.424
and we later ask them
to recall all the images that they can,

00:07:11.985 --> 00:07:14.344
older people, but not younger people,

00:07:14.368 --> 00:07:18.075
remember more positive images
than negative images.

00:07:18.752 --> 00:07:22.890
We've asked older and younger people
to view faces in laboratory studies,

00:07:22.914 --> 00:07:24.790
some frowning, some smiling.

00:07:24.814 --> 00:07:29.936
Older people look toward the smiling faces
and away from the frowning, angry faces.

00:07:31.357 --> 00:07:36.465
In day-to-day life, this translates
into greater enjoyment and satisfaction.

00:07:38.933 --> 00:07:43.222
But as social scientists, we continue
to ask about possible alternatives.

00:07:43.246 --> 00:07:46.900
We've said, well, maybe older people
report more positive emotions

00:07:46.924 --> 00:07:49.376
because they're cognitively impaired.

00:07:49.400 --> 00:07:52.720
(Laughter)

00:07:53.276 --> 00:07:54.507
We've said, could it be

00:07:54.531 --> 00:07:58.125
that positive emotions are simply easier
to process than negative emotions,

00:07:58.149 --> 00:08:01.318
and so you switch
to the positive emotions?

00:08:01.342 --> 00:08:03.477
Maybe our neural centers in our brain

00:08:03.501 --> 00:08:07.623
are degraded such that we're unable
to process negative emotions anymore.

00:08:07.972 --> 00:08:09.481
But that's not the case.

00:08:10.014 --> 00:08:13.250
The most mentally sharp older adults

00:08:13.274 --> 00:08:16.376
are the ones who show
this positivity effect the most.

00:08:17.349 --> 00:08:19.631
And under conditions
where it really matters,

00:08:19.655 --> 00:08:22.183
older people do process
the negative information

00:08:22.207 --> 00:08:24.376
just as well as the positive information.

00:08:24.758 --> 00:08:26.955
So how can this be?

00:08:28.576 --> 00:08:30.549
Well, in our research,

00:08:30.657 --> 00:08:34.648
we've found that these changes
are grounded fundamentally

00:08:34.672 --> 00:08:37.889
in the uniquely human
ability to monitor time...

00:08:37.913 --> 00:08:40.962
Not just clock time
and calendar time, but lifetime.

00:08:41.908 --> 00:08:43.926
And if there's a paradox of aging,

00:08:44.370 --> 00:08:47.372
it's that recognizing
that we won't live forever

00:08:47.396 --> 00:08:51.653
changes our perspective on life
in positive ways.

00:08:52.904 --> 00:08:57.710
When time horizons are long and nebulous,
as they typically are in youth,

00:08:57.734 --> 00:08:59.676
people are constantly preparing,

00:08:59.700 --> 00:09:03.455
trying to soak up all the information
they possibly can,

00:09:03.479 --> 00:09:05.725
taking risks, exploring.

00:09:05.749 --> 00:09:08.692
We might spend time with people
we don't even like

00:09:09.016 --> 00:09:11.115
because it's somehow interesting.

00:09:11.139 --> 00:09:13.335
We might learn something unexpected.

00:09:13.359 --> 00:09:15.419
(Laughter)

00:09:15.443 --> 00:09:16.976
We go on blind dates.

00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:20.253
(Laughter)

00:09:20.277 --> 00:09:21.447
You know, after all,

00:09:21.471 --> 00:09:23.976
if it doesn't work out,
there's always tomorrow.

00:09:25.121 --> 00:09:27.698
People over 50 don't go on blind dates.

00:09:27.722 --> 00:09:34.722
(Laughter)

00:09:36.633 --> 00:09:37.633
Not so much.

00:09:43.214 --> 00:09:49.021
As we age, our time horizons grow shorter
and our goals change.

00:09:49.542 --> 00:09:52.534
When we recognize that we don't have
all the time in the world,

00:09:52.558 --> 00:09:55.405
we see our priorities most clearly.

00:09:55.429 --> 00:09:58.150
We take less notice of trivial matters.

00:09:58.174 --> 00:09:59.675
We savor life.

00:10:00.340 --> 00:10:01.958
We're more appreciative,

00:10:01.982 --> 00:10:03.737
more open to reconciliation.

00:10:04.661 --> 00:10:07.491
We invest in more emotionally
important parts of life,

00:10:07.515 --> 00:10:10.176
and life gets better,

00:10:10.624 --> 00:10:13.176
so we're happier day-to-day.

00:10:13.505 --> 00:10:15.445
But that same shift in perspective

00:10:15.469 --> 00:10:19.864
leads us to have less tolerance
than ever for injustice.

00:10:22.661 --> 00:10:24.236
By 2015,

00:10:26.137 --> 00:10:28.775
there will be more people
in the United States

00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:32.136
over the age of 60 than under 15.

00:10:34.019 --> 00:10:38.181
What will happen to societies
that are top-heavy with older people?

00:10:39.363 --> 00:10:42.655
The numbers won't determine the outcome.

00:10:43.210 --> 00:10:44.694
Culture will.

00:10:46.203 --> 00:10:49.308
If we invest in science and technology

00:10:49.332 --> 00:10:53.322
and find solutions for the real problems
that older people face

00:10:54.184 --> 00:11:00.281
and we capitalize on the very real
strengths of older people,

00:11:00.840 --> 00:11:06.710
then added years of life can dramatically
improve quality of life at all ages.

00:11:07.897 --> 00:11:12.364
Societies with millions of talented,
emotionally stable citizens

00:11:12.388 --> 00:11:17.315
who are healthier and better educated
than any generations before them,

00:11:17.339 --> 00:11:21.165
armed with knowledge
about the practical matters of life

00:11:21.189 --> 00:11:25.478
and motivated to solve the big issues

00:11:26.296 --> 00:11:31.063
can be better societies
than we have ever known.

00:11:33.290 --> 00:11:36.726
My father, who is 92, likes to say,

00:11:37.778 --> 00:11:41.347
"Let's stop talking
only about how to save the old folks

00:11:41.450 --> 00:11:45.964
and start talking about
how to get them to save us all."

00:11:47.837 --> 00:11:49.277
Thank you.

00:11:49.301 --> 00:11:52.095
(Applause)