WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.000 People are living longer 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:04.000 and societies are getting grayer. 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:06.000 You hear about it all the time. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:08.000 You read about it in your newspapers. 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:10.000 You hear about it on your television sets. 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:12.000 Sometimes I'm concerned 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:14.000 that we hear about it so much 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:17.000 that we've come to accept longer lives 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:19.000 with a kind of a complacency, 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:21.000 even ease. 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:24.000 But make no mistake, 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:26.000 longer lives can 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:28.000 and, I believe, will 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:30.000 improve quality of life 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:32.000 at all ages. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:34.000 Now to put this in perspective, 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:37.000 let me just zoom out for a minute. 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:40.000 More years were added 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:42.000 to average life expectancy 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:44.000 in the 20th century 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:47.000 than all years added 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:51.000 across all prior millennia 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:54.000 of human evolution combined. 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:56.000 In the blink of an eye, 00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:59.000 we nearly doubled the length of time 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:01.000 that we're living. 00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:04.000 So if you ever feel like you don't have this aging thing quite pegged, 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:06.000 don't kick yourself. 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:08.000 It's brand new. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:10.000 And because fertility rates fell 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:12.000 across that very same period 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:16.000 that life expectancy was going up, 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:18.000 that pyramid 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:21.000 that has always represented the distribution of age in the population, 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:24.000 with many young ones at the bottom 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:27.000 winnowed to a tiny peak of older people 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:29.000 who make it and survive to old age 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:31.000 is being reshaped 00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:34.000 into a rectangle. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:36.000 And now, if you're the kind of person 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:40.000 who can get chills from population statistics, 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:42.000 these are the ones that should do it. 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:44.000 Because what that means 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:47.000 is that for the first time in the history of the species, 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:49.000 the majority of babies born 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:51.000 in the Developed World 00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:54.000 are having the opportunity 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:56.000 to grow old. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:59.000 How did this happen? 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:01.000 Well we're no genetically hardier than our ancestors were 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:03.000 10,000 years ago. 00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:05.000 This increase in life expectancy 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:08.000 is the remarkable product of culture -- 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:10.000 the crucible 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:12.000 that holds science and technology 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:15.000 and wide-scale changes in behavior 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:18.000 that improve health and well-being. 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:20.000 Through cultural changes, 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:22.000 our ancestors 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:25.000 largely eliminated early death 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:28.000 so that people can now live out their full lives. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:32.000 Now there are problems associated with aging -- 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:35.000 diseases, poverty, loss of social status. 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:37.000 It's hardly time to rest on our laurels. 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:39.000 But the more we learn about aging, 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:41.000 the clearer it becomes 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:43.000 that a sweeping downward course 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:46.000 is grossly inaccurate. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:50.000 Aging brings some rather remarkable improvements -- 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:53.000 increased knowledge, expertise -- 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:59.000 and emotional aspects of life improve. 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:01.000 That's right, 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:04.000 older people are happy. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:06.000 They're happier than middle-aged people, 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:08.000 and younger people certainly. 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:10.000 Study after study 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:12.000 is coming to the same conclusion. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:15.000 The CDC recently conducted a survey 00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:18.000 where they asked respondents simply to tell them 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:20.000 whether they experienced significant psychological distress 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:22.000 in the previous week. 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:25.000 And fewer older people answered affirmatively to that question 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:27.000 than middle-aged people, 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:29.000 and younger people as well. 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:31.000 And a recent Gallup poll 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:33.000 asked participants 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:35.000 how much stress and worry and anger 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:37.000 they had experienced the previous day. 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:41.000 And stress, worry, anger 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:44.000 all decrease with age. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:48.000 Now social scientists call this the paradox of aging. 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:51.000 After all, aging is not a piece of cake. 00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:53.000 So we've asked all sorts of questions 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:57.000 to see if we could undo this finding. 00:03:57.000 --> 00:03:59.000 We've asked whether it may be 00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:02.000 that the current generations of older people 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:04.000 are and always have been 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:06.000 the greatest generations. 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:08.000 That is that younger people today 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:11.000 may not typically experience these improvements 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:13.000 as they grow older. 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:15.000 We've asked, 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:18.000 well maybe older people are just trying to put a positive spin 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:20.000 on an otherwise depressing existence. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:22.000 (Laughter) 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:25.000 But the more we've tried to disavow this finding, 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:27.000 the more evidence we find 00:04:27.000 --> 00:04:29.000 to support it. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:31.000 Years ago, my colleagues and I embarked on a study 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:34.000 where we followed the same group of people over a 10-year period. 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:38.000 Originally the sample was aged 18 to 94. 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:41.000 And we studied whether and how their emotional experiences changed 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:43.000 as they grew older. 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:46.000 Our participants would carry electronic pagers 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:48.000 for a week at a time, 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:51.000 and we'd page them throughout the day and evenings at random times. 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:53.000 And every time we paged them 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:55.000 we'd ask them to answer several questions -- 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:58.000 On a one to seven scale, how happy are you right now? 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:00.000 How sad are you right now? 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:02.000 How frustrated are you right now? -- 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:04.000 so that we could get a sense 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:06.000 of the kinds of emotions and feelings they were having 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:08.000 in their day-to-day lives. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:10.000 And using this intense study 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:12.000 of individuals, 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:16.000 we find that it's not one particular generation 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:18.000 that's doing better than the others, 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:21.000 but the same individuals over time 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:23.000 come to report relatively greater 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:25.000 positive experience. 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:28.000 Now you see this slight downturn 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:30.000 at very advanced ages. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:32.000 And there is a slight downturn. 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:34.000 But at no point does it return 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:36.000 to the levels we see 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:38.000 in early adulthood. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:42.000 Now it's really too simplistic 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:46.000 to say that older people are "happy." 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:49.000 In our study, they are more positive, 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:51.000 but they're also more likely than younger people 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:54.000 to experience mixed emotions -- 00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:56.000 sadness at the same time you experience happiness; 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:58.000 you know, that tear in the eye 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:01.000 when you're smiling at a friend. 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:03.000 And other research has shown 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:05.000 that older people seem to engage with sadness 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:07.000 more comfortably. 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:10.000 They're more accepting of sadness than younger people are. 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:13.000 And we suspect that this may help to explain 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:16.000 why older people are better than younger people 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:21.000 at solving hotly-charged emotional conflicts and debates. 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:24.000 Older people can view injustice 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:26.000 with compassion, 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:29.000 but not despair. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:31.000 And all things being equal, 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:33.000 older people direct their cognitive resources, 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:35.000 like attention and memory, 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:38.000 to positive information more than negative. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:41.000 If we show older, middle-aged, younger people images, 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:44.000 like the ones you see on the screen, 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:46.000 and we later ask them 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:49.000 to recall all the images that they can, 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:52.000 older people, but not younger people, 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:54.000 remember more positive images 00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:56.000 than negative images. 00:06:56.000 --> 00:06:58.000 We've asked older and younger people 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:00.000 to view faces in laboratory studies, 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:02.000 some frowning, some smiling. 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:05.000 Older people look toward the smiling faces 00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:08.000 and away from the frowning, angry faces. 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:10.000 In day-to-day life, 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:12.000 this translates into greater enjoyment 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:14.000 and satisfaction. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:18.000 But as social scientists, we continue to ask 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:20.000 about possible alternatives. 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:22.000 We've said, well maybe older people 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:24.000 report more positive emotions 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:27.000 because they're cognitively impaired. 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:30.000 (Laughter) 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:32.000 We've said, could it be 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:35.000 that positive emotions are simply easier to process than negative emotions, 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:38.000 and so you switch to the positive emotions? 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:40.000 Maybe our neural centers in our brain 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:42.000 are degraded such 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:45.000 that we're unable to process negative emotions anymore. 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:47.000 But that's not the case. 00:07:47.000 --> 00:07:50.000 The most mentally sharp older adults 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:54.000 are the ones who show this positivity effect the most. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:57.000 And under conditions where it really matters, 00:07:57.000 --> 00:07:59.000 older people do process the negative information 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:02.000 just as well as the positive information. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:05.000 So how can this be? 00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:07.000 Well in our research, 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:09.000 we've found that these changes 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:11.000 are grounded fundamentally 00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:14.000 in the uniquely human ability to monitor time -- 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:16.000 not just clock time and calendar time, 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:19.000 but lifetime. 00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:21.000 And if there's a paradox of aging, 00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:24.000 it's that recognizing that we won't live forever 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:26.000 changes our perspective on life 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:29.000 in positive ways. 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:32.000 When time horizons are long and nebulous, 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:34.000 as they typically are in youth, 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:37.000 people are constantly preparing, 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:40.000 trying to soak up all the information they possibly can, 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:42.000 taking risks, exploring. 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:45.000 We might spend time with people we don't even like 00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:48.000 because it's somehow interesting. 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:50.000 We might learn something unexpected. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:52.000 (Laughter) 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:54.000 We go on blind dates. 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:56.000 (Laughter) 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:58.000 You know, after all, 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:01.000 if it doesn't work out, there's always tomorrow. 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:03.000 People over 50 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:06.000 don't go on blind dates. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:11.000 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:13.000 As we age, 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:15.000 our time horizons grow shorter 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:18.000 and our goals change. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:21.000 When we recognize that we don't have all the time in the world, 00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:23.000 we see our priorities most clearly. 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:26.000 We take less notice of trivial matters. 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:28.000 We savor life. 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:30.000 We're more appreciative, 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:33.000 more open to reconciliation. 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:36.000 We invest in more emotionally important parts of life, 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:39.000 and life gets better, 00:09:39.000 --> 00:09:42.000 so we're happier day-to-day. 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:44.000 But that same shift in perspective 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:47.000 leads us to have less tolerance than ever 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:49.000 for injustice. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:51.000 By 2015, 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:54.000 there will be more people in the United States 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:56.000 over the age of 60 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:59.000 than under 15. 00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:01.000 What will happen to societies 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:04.000 that are top-heavy with older people? 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:07.000 The numbers won't determine 00:10:07.000 --> 00:10:09.000 the outcome. 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:12.000 Culture will. 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:15.000 If we invest in science and technology 00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:17.000 and find solutions for the real problems 00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:20.000 that older people face 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:22.000 and we capitalize 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:24.000 on the very real strengths 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:26.000 of older people, 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:28.000 then added years of life 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:31.000 can dramatically improve quality of life 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:33.000 at all ages. 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:36.000 Societies with millions 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:38.000 of talented, emotionally stable citizens 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:41.000 who are healthier and better educated 00:10:41.000 --> 00:10:43.000 than any generations before them, 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:45.000 armed with knowledge 00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:47.000 about the practical matters of life 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:49.000 and motivated 00:10:49.000 --> 00:10:51.000 to solve the big issues 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:54.000 can be better societies 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:58.000 than we have ever known. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:01.000 My father, who is 92, 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:03.000 likes to say, 00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:05.000 "Let's stop talking only about 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:07.000 how to save the old folks 00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:09.000 and start talking about 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:13.000 how to get them to save us all." NOTE Paragraph 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:15.000 Thank you. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:17.000 (Applause)