0:00:00.000,0:00:02.000
People are living longer

0:00:02.000,0:00:04.000
and societies are getting grayer.

0:00:04.000,0:00:06.000
You hear about it all the time.

0:00:06.000,0:00:08.000
You read about it in your newspapers.

0:00:08.000,0:00:10.000
You hear about it on your television sets.

0:00:10.000,0:00:12.000
Sometimes I'm concerned

0:00:12.000,0:00:14.000
that we hear about it so much

0:00:14.000,0:00:17.000
that we've come to accept longer lives

0:00:17.000,0:00:19.000
with a kind of a complacency,

0:00:19.000,0:00:21.000
even ease.

0:00:21.000,0:00:24.000
But make no mistake,

0:00:24.000,0:00:26.000
longer lives can

0:00:26.000,0:00:28.000
and, I believe, will

0:00:28.000,0:00:30.000
improve quality of life

0:00:30.000,0:00:32.000
at all ages.

0:00:32.000,0:00:34.000
Now to put this in perspective,

0:00:34.000,0:00:37.000
let me just zoom out for a minute.

0:00:37.000,0:00:40.000
More years were added

0:00:40.000,0:00:42.000
to average life expectancy

0:00:42.000,0:00:44.000
in the 20th century

0:00:44.000,0:00:47.000
than all years added

0:00:47.000,0:00:51.000
across all prior millennia

0:00:51.000,0:00:54.000
of human evolution combined.

0:00:54.000,0:00:56.000
In the blink of an eye,

0:00:56.000,0:00:59.000
we nearly doubled the length of time

0:00:59.000,0:01:01.000
that we're living.

0:01:01.000,0:01:04.000
So if you ever feel like you don't have this aging thing quite pegged,

0:01:04.000,0:01:06.000
don't kick yourself.

0:01:06.000,0:01:08.000
It's brand new.

0:01:08.000,0:01:10.000
And because fertility rates fell

0:01:10.000,0:01:12.000
across that very same period

0:01:12.000,0:01:16.000
that life expectancy was going up,

0:01:16.000,0:01:18.000
that pyramid

0:01:18.000,0:01:21.000
that has always represented the distribution of age in the population,

0:01:21.000,0:01:24.000
with many young ones at the bottom

0:01:24.000,0:01:27.000
winnowed to a tiny peak of older people

0:01:27.000,0:01:29.000
who make it and survive to old age

0:01:29.000,0:01:31.000
is being reshaped

0:01:31.000,0:01:34.000
into a rectangle.

0:01:34.000,0:01:36.000
And now, if you're the kind of person

0:01:36.000,0:01:40.000
who can get chills from population statistics,

0:01:40.000,0:01:42.000
these are the ones that should do it.

0:01:42.000,0:01:44.000
Because what that means

0:01:44.000,0:01:47.000
is that for the first time in the history of the species,

0:01:47.000,0:01:49.000
the majority of babies born

0:01:49.000,0:01:51.000
in the Developed World

0:01:51.000,0:01:54.000
are having the opportunity

0:01:54.000,0:01:56.000
to grow old.

0:01:56.000,0:01:59.000
How did this happen?

0:01:59.000,0:02:01.000
Well we're no genetically hardier than our ancestors were

0:02:01.000,0:02:03.000
10,000 years ago.

0:02:03.000,0:02:05.000
This increase in life expectancy

0:02:05.000,0:02:08.000
is the remarkable product of culture --

0:02:08.000,0:02:10.000
the crucible

0:02:10.000,0:02:12.000
that holds science and technology

0:02:12.000,0:02:15.000
and wide-scale changes in behavior

0:02:15.000,0:02:18.000
that improve health and well-being.

0:02:18.000,0:02:20.000
Through cultural changes,

0:02:20.000,0:02:22.000
our ancestors

0:02:22.000,0:02:25.000
largely eliminated early death

0:02:25.000,0:02:28.000
so that people can now live out their full lives.

0:02:29.000,0:02:32.000
Now there are problems associated with aging --

0:02:32.000,0:02:35.000
diseases, poverty, loss of social status.

0:02:35.000,0:02:37.000
It's hardly time to rest on our laurels.

0:02:37.000,0:02:39.000
But the more we learn about aging,

0:02:39.000,0:02:41.000
the clearer it becomes

0:02:41.000,0:02:43.000
that a sweeping downward course

0:02:43.000,0:02:46.000
is grossly inaccurate.

0:02:46.000,0:02:50.000
Aging brings some rather remarkable improvements --

0:02:50.000,0:02:53.000
increased knowledge, expertise --

0:02:53.000,0:02:59.000
and emotional aspects of life improve.

0:02:59.000,0:03:01.000
That's right,

0:03:01.000,0:03:04.000
older people are happy.

0:03:04.000,0:03:06.000
They're happier than middle-aged people,

0:03:06.000,0:03:08.000
and younger people certainly.

0:03:08.000,0:03:10.000
Study after study

0:03:10.000,0:03:12.000
is coming to the same conclusion.

0:03:12.000,0:03:15.000
The CDC recently conducted a survey

0:03:15.000,0:03:18.000
where they asked respondents simply to tell them

0:03:18.000,0:03:20.000
whether they experienced significant psychological distress

0:03:20.000,0:03:22.000
in the previous week.

0:03:22.000,0:03:25.000
And fewer older people answered affirmatively to that question

0:03:25.000,0:03:27.000
than middle-aged people,

0:03:27.000,0:03:29.000
and younger people as well.

0:03:29.000,0:03:31.000
And a recent Gallup poll

0:03:31.000,0:03:33.000
asked participants

0:03:33.000,0:03:35.000
how much stress and worry and anger

0:03:35.000,0:03:37.000
they had experienced the previous day.

0:03:37.000,0:03:41.000
And stress, worry, anger

0:03:41.000,0:03:44.000
all decrease with age.

0:03:45.000,0:03:48.000
Now social scientists call this the paradox of aging.

0:03:48.000,0:03:51.000
After all, aging is not a piece of cake.

0:03:51.000,0:03:53.000
So we've asked all sorts of questions

0:03:53.000,0:03:57.000
to see if we could undo this finding.

0:03:57.000,0:03:59.000
We've asked whether it may be

0:03:59.000,0:04:02.000
that the current generations of older people

0:04:02.000,0:04:04.000
are and always have been

0:04:04.000,0:04:06.000
the greatest generations.

0:04:06.000,0:04:08.000
That is that younger people today

0:04:08.000,0:04:11.000
may not typically experience these improvements

0:04:11.000,0:04:13.000
as they grow older.

0:04:13.000,0:04:15.000
We've asked,

0:04:15.000,0:04:18.000
well maybe older people are just trying to put a positive spin

0:04:18.000,0:04:20.000
on an otherwise depressing existence.

0:04:20.000,0:04:22.000
(Laughter)

0:04:22.000,0:04:25.000
But the more we've tried to disavow this finding,

0:04:25.000,0:04:27.000
the more evidence we find

0:04:27.000,0:04:29.000
to support it.

0:04:29.000,0:04:31.000
Years ago, my colleagues and I embarked on a study

0:04:31.000,0:04:34.000
where we followed the same group of people over a 10-year period.

0:04:34.000,0:04:38.000
Originally the sample was aged 18 to 94.

0:04:38.000,0:04:41.000
And we studied whether and how their emotional experiences changed

0:04:41.000,0:04:43.000
as they grew older.

0:04:43.000,0:04:46.000
Our participants would carry electronic pagers

0:04:46.000,0:04:48.000
for a week at a time,

0:04:48.000,0:04:51.000
and we'd page them throughout the day and evenings at random times.

0:04:51.000,0:04:53.000
And every time we paged them

0:04:53.000,0:04:55.000
we'd ask them to answer several questions --

0:04:55.000,0:04:58.000
On a one to seven scale, how happy are you right now?

0:04:58.000,0:05:00.000
How sad are you right now?

0:05:00.000,0:05:02.000
How frustrated are you right now? --

0:05:02.000,0:05:04.000
so that we could get a sense

0:05:04.000,0:05:06.000
of the kinds of emotions and feelings they were having

0:05:06.000,0:05:08.000
in their day-to-day lives.

0:05:08.000,0:05:10.000
And using this intense study

0:05:10.000,0:05:12.000
of individuals,

0:05:12.000,0:05:16.000
we find that it's not one particular generation

0:05:16.000,0:05:18.000
that's doing better than the others,

0:05:18.000,0:05:21.000
but the same individuals over time

0:05:21.000,0:05:23.000
come to report relatively greater

0:05:23.000,0:05:25.000
positive experience.

0:05:25.000,0:05:28.000
Now you see this slight downturn

0:05:28.000,0:05:30.000
at very advanced ages.

0:05:30.000,0:05:32.000
And there is a slight downturn.

0:05:32.000,0:05:34.000
But at no point does it return

0:05:34.000,0:05:36.000
to the levels we see

0:05:36.000,0:05:38.000
in early adulthood.

0:05:38.000,0:05:42.000
Now it's really too simplistic

0:05:42.000,0:05:46.000
to say that older people are "happy."

0:05:46.000,0:05:49.000
In our study, they are more positive,

0:05:49.000,0:05:51.000
but they're also more likely than younger people

0:05:51.000,0:05:54.000
to experience mixed emotions --

0:05:54.000,0:05:56.000
sadness at the same time you experience happiness;

0:05:56.000,0:05:58.000
you know, that tear in the eye

0:05:58.000,0:06:01.000
when you're smiling at a friend.

0:06:01.000,0:06:03.000
And other research has shown

0:06:03.000,0:06:05.000
that older people seem to engage with sadness

0:06:05.000,0:06:07.000
more comfortably.

0:06:07.000,0:06:10.000
They're more accepting of sadness than younger people are.

0:06:10.000,0:06:13.000
And we suspect that this may help to explain

0:06:13.000,0:06:16.000
why older people are better than younger people

0:06:16.000,0:06:21.000
at solving hotly-charged emotional conflicts and debates.

0:06:21.000,0:06:24.000
Older people can view injustice

0:06:24.000,0:06:26.000
with compassion,

0:06:26.000,0:06:29.000
but not despair.

0:06:29.000,0:06:31.000
And all things being equal,

0:06:31.000,0:06:33.000
older people direct their cognitive resources,

0:06:33.000,0:06:35.000
like attention and memory,

0:06:35.000,0:06:38.000
to positive information more than negative.

0:06:38.000,0:06:41.000
If we show older, middle-aged, younger people images,

0:06:41.000,0:06:44.000
like the ones you see on the screen,

0:06:44.000,0:06:46.000
and we later ask them

0:06:46.000,0:06:49.000
to recall all the images that they can,

0:06:49.000,0:06:52.000
older people, but not younger people,

0:06:52.000,0:06:54.000
remember more positive images

0:06:54.000,0:06:56.000
than negative images.

0:06:56.000,0:06:58.000
We've asked older and younger people

0:06:58.000,0:07:00.000
to view faces in laboratory studies,

0:07:00.000,0:07:02.000
some frowning, some smiling.

0:07:02.000,0:07:05.000
Older people look toward the smiling faces

0:07:05.000,0:07:08.000
and away from the frowning, angry faces.

0:07:08.000,0:07:10.000
In day-to-day life,

0:07:10.000,0:07:12.000
this translates into greater enjoyment

0:07:12.000,0:07:14.000
and satisfaction.

0:07:16.000,0:07:18.000
But as social scientists, we continue to ask

0:07:18.000,0:07:20.000
about possible alternatives.

0:07:20.000,0:07:22.000
We've said, well maybe older people

0:07:22.000,0:07:24.000
report more positive emotions

0:07:24.000,0:07:27.000
because they're cognitively impaired.

0:07:27.000,0:07:30.000
(Laughter)

0:07:30.000,0:07:32.000
We've said, could it be

0:07:32.000,0:07:35.000
that positive emotions are simply easier to process than negative emotions,

0:07:35.000,0:07:38.000
and so you switch to the positive emotions?

0:07:38.000,0:07:40.000
Maybe our neural centers in our brain

0:07:40.000,0:07:42.000
are degraded such

0:07:42.000,0:07:45.000
that we're unable to process negative emotions anymore.

0:07:45.000,0:07:47.000
But that's not the case.

0:07:47.000,0:07:50.000
The most mentally sharp older adults

0:07:50.000,0:07:54.000
are the ones who show this positivity effect the most.

0:07:54.000,0:07:57.000
And under conditions where it really matters,

0:07:57.000,0:07:59.000
older people do process the negative information

0:07:59.000,0:08:02.000
just as well as the positive information.

0:08:02.000,0:08:05.000
So how can this be?

0:08:05.000,0:08:07.000
Well in our research,

0:08:07.000,0:08:09.000
we've found that these changes

0:08:09.000,0:08:11.000
are grounded fundamentally

0:08:11.000,0:08:14.000
in the uniquely human ability to monitor time --

0:08:14.000,0:08:16.000
not just clock time and calendar time,

0:08:16.000,0:08:19.000
but lifetime.

0:08:19.000,0:08:21.000
And if there's a paradox of aging,

0:08:21.000,0:08:24.000
it's that recognizing that we won't live forever

0:08:24.000,0:08:26.000
changes our perspective on life

0:08:26.000,0:08:29.000
in positive ways.

0:08:29.000,0:08:32.000
When time horizons are long and nebulous,

0:08:32.000,0:08:34.000
as they typically are in youth,

0:08:34.000,0:08:37.000
people are constantly preparing,

0:08:37.000,0:08:40.000
trying to soak up all the information they possibly can,

0:08:40.000,0:08:42.000
taking risks, exploring.

0:08:42.000,0:08:45.000
We might spend time with people we don't even like

0:08:45.000,0:08:48.000
because it's somehow interesting.

0:08:48.000,0:08:50.000
We might learn something unexpected.

0:08:50.000,0:08:52.000
(Laughter)

0:08:52.000,0:08:54.000
We go on blind dates.

0:08:54.000,0:08:56.000
(Laughter)

0:08:56.000,0:08:58.000
You know, after all,

0:08:58.000,0:09:01.000
if it doesn't work out, there's always tomorrow.

0:09:01.000,0:09:03.000
People over 50

0:09:03.000,0:09:06.000
don't go on blind dates.

0:09:06.000,0:09:11.000
(Laughter)

0:09:11.000,0:09:13.000
As we age,

0:09:13.000,0:09:15.000
our time horizons grow shorter

0:09:15.000,0:09:18.000
and our goals change.

0:09:18.000,0:09:21.000
When we recognize that we don't have all the time in the world,

0:09:21.000,0:09:23.000
we see our priorities most clearly.

0:09:23.000,0:09:26.000
We take less notice of trivial matters.

0:09:26.000,0:09:28.000
We savor life.

0:09:28.000,0:09:30.000
We're more appreciative,

0:09:30.000,0:09:33.000
more open to reconciliation.

0:09:33.000,0:09:36.000
We invest in more emotionally important parts of life,

0:09:36.000,0:09:39.000
and life gets better,

0:09:39.000,0:09:42.000
so we're happier day-to-day.

0:09:42.000,0:09:44.000
But that same shift in perspective

0:09:44.000,0:09:47.000
leads us to have less tolerance than ever

0:09:47.000,0:09:49.000
for injustice.

0:09:49.000,0:09:51.000
By 2015,

0:09:51.000,0:09:54.000
there will be more people in the United States

0:09:54.000,0:09:56.000
over the age of 60

0:09:56.000,0:09:59.000
than under 15.

0:09:59.000,0:10:01.000
What will happen to societies

0:10:01.000,0:10:04.000
that are top-heavy with older people?

0:10:04.000,0:10:07.000
The numbers won't determine

0:10:07.000,0:10:09.000
the outcome.

0:10:09.000,0:10:12.000
Culture will.

0:10:12.000,0:10:15.000
If we invest in science and technology

0:10:15.000,0:10:17.000
and find solutions for the real problems

0:10:17.000,0:10:20.000
that older people face

0:10:20.000,0:10:22.000
and we capitalize

0:10:22.000,0:10:24.000
on the very real strengths

0:10:24.000,0:10:26.000
of older people,

0:10:26.000,0:10:28.000
then added years of life

0:10:28.000,0:10:31.000
can dramatically improve quality of life

0:10:31.000,0:10:33.000
at all ages.

0:10:33.000,0:10:36.000
Societies with millions

0:10:36.000,0:10:38.000
of talented, emotionally stable citizens

0:10:38.000,0:10:41.000
who are healthier and better educated

0:10:41.000,0:10:43.000
than any generations before them,

0:10:43.000,0:10:45.000
armed with knowledge

0:10:45.000,0:10:47.000
about the practical matters of life

0:10:47.000,0:10:49.000
and motivated

0:10:49.000,0:10:51.000
to solve the big issues

0:10:51.000,0:10:54.000
can be better societies

0:10:54.000,0:10:58.000
than we have ever known.

0:10:58.000,0:11:01.000
My father, who is 92,

0:11:01.000,0:11:03.000
likes to say,

0:11:03.000,0:11:05.000
"Let's stop talking only about

0:11:05.000,0:11:07.000
how to save the old folks

0:11:07.000,0:11:09.000
and start talking about

0:11:09.000,0:11:13.000
how to get them to save us all."

0:11:13.000,0:11:15.000
Thank you.

0:11:15.000,0:11:17.000
(Applause)