Older people are happier
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0:00 - 0:02People are living longer
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0:02 - 0:04and societies are getting grayer.
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0:04 - 0:06You hear about it all the time.
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0:06 - 0:08You read about it in your newspapers.
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0:08 - 0:10You hear about it on your television sets.
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0:10 - 0:12Sometimes I'm concerned
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0:12 - 0:14that we hear about it so much
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0:14 - 0:17that we've come to accept longer lives
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0:17 - 0:19with a kind of a complacency,
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0:19 - 0:21even ease.
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0:21 - 0:24But make no mistake,
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0:24 - 0:26longer lives can
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0:26 - 0:28and, I believe, will
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0:28 - 0:30improve quality of life
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0:30 - 0:32at all ages.
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0:32 - 0:34Now to put this in perspective,
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0:34 - 0:37let me just zoom out for a minute.
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0:37 - 0:40More years were added
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0:40 - 0:42to average life expectancy
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0:42 - 0:44in the 20th century
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0:44 - 0:47than all years added
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0:47 - 0:51across all prior millennia
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0:51 - 0:54of human evolution combined.
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0:54 - 0:56In the blink of an eye,
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0:56 - 0:59we nearly doubled the length of time
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0:59 - 1:01that we're living.
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1:01 - 1:04So if you ever feel like you don't have this aging thing quite pegged,
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1:04 - 1:06don't kick yourself.
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1:06 - 1:08It's brand new.
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1:08 - 1:10And because fertility rates fell
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1:10 - 1:12across that very same period
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1:12 - 1:16that life expectancy was going up,
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1:16 - 1:18that pyramid
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1:18 - 1:21that has always represented the distribution of age in the population,
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1:21 - 1:24with many young ones at the bottom
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1:24 - 1:27winnowed to a tiny peak of older people
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1:27 - 1:29who make it and survive to old age
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1:29 - 1:31is being reshaped
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1:31 - 1:34into a rectangle.
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1:34 - 1:36And now, if you're the kind of person
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1:36 - 1:40who can get chills from population statistics,
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1:40 - 1:42these are the ones that should do it.
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1:42 - 1:44Because what that means
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1:44 - 1:47is that for the first time in the history of the species,
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1:47 - 1:49the majority of babies born
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1:49 - 1:51in the Developed World
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1:51 - 1:54are having the opportunity
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1:54 - 1:56to grow old.
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1:56 - 1:59How did this happen?
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1:59 - 2:01Well we're no genetically hardier than our ancestors were
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2:01 - 2:0310,000 years ago.
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2:03 - 2:05This increase in life expectancy
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2:05 - 2:08is the remarkable product of culture --
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2:08 - 2:10the crucible
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2:10 - 2:12that holds science and technology
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2:12 - 2:15and wide-scale changes in behavior
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2:15 - 2:18that improve health and well-being.
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2:18 - 2:20Through cultural changes,
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2:20 - 2:22our ancestors
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2:22 - 2:25largely eliminated early death
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2:25 - 2:28so that people can now live out their full lives.
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2:29 - 2:32Now there are problems associated with aging --
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2:32 - 2:35diseases, poverty, loss of social status.
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2:35 - 2:37It's hardly time to rest on our laurels.
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2:37 - 2:39But the more we learn about aging,
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2:39 - 2:41the clearer it becomes
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2:41 - 2:43that a sweeping downward course
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2:43 - 2:46is grossly inaccurate.
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2:46 - 2:50Aging brings some rather remarkable improvements --
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2:50 - 2:53increased knowledge, expertise --
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2:53 - 2:59and emotional aspects of life improve.
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2:59 - 3:01That's right,
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3:01 - 3:04older people are happy.
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3:04 - 3:06They're happier than middle-aged people,
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3:06 - 3:08and younger people certainly.
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3:08 - 3:10Study after study
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3:10 - 3:12is coming to the same conclusion.
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3:12 - 3:15The CDC recently conducted a survey
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3:15 - 3:18where they asked respondents simply to tell them
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3:18 - 3:20whether they experienced significant psychological distress
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3:20 - 3:22in the previous week.
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3:22 - 3:25And fewer older people answered affirmatively to that question
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3:25 - 3:27than middle-aged people,
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3:27 - 3:29and younger people as well.
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3:29 - 3:31And a recent Gallup poll
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3:31 - 3:33asked participants
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3:33 - 3:35how much stress and worry and anger
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3:35 - 3:37they had experienced the previous day.
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3:37 - 3:41And stress, worry, anger
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3:41 - 3:44all decrease with age.
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3:45 - 3:48Now social scientists call this the paradox of aging.
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3:48 - 3:51After all, aging is not a piece of cake.
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3:51 - 3:53So we've asked all sorts of questions
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3:53 - 3:57to see if we could undo this finding.
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3:57 - 3:59We've asked whether it may be
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3:59 - 4:02that the current generations of older people
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4:02 - 4:04are and always have been
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4:04 - 4:06the greatest generations.
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4:06 - 4:08That is that younger people today
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4:08 - 4:11may not typically experience these improvements
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4:11 - 4:13as they grow older.
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4:13 - 4:15We've asked,
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4:15 - 4:18well maybe older people are just trying to put a positive spin
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4:18 - 4:20on an otherwise depressing existence.
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4:20 - 4:22(Laughter)
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4:22 - 4:25But the more we've tried to disavow this finding,
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4:25 - 4:27the more evidence we find
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4:27 - 4:29to support it.
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4:29 - 4:31Years ago, my colleagues and I embarked on a study
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4:31 - 4:34where we followed the same group of people over a 10-year period.
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4:34 - 4:38Originally the sample was aged 18 to 94.
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4:38 - 4:41And we studied whether and how their emotional experiences changed
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4:41 - 4:43as they grew older.
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4:43 - 4:46Our participants would carry electronic pagers
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4:46 - 4:48for a week at a time,
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4:48 - 4:51and we'd page them throughout the day and evenings at random times.
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4:51 - 4:53And every time we paged them
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4:53 - 4:55we'd ask them to answer several questions --
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4:55 - 4:58On a one to seven scale, how happy are you right now?
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4:58 - 5:00How sad are you right now?
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5:00 - 5:02How frustrated are you right now? --
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5:02 - 5:04so that we could get a sense
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5:04 - 5:06of the kinds of emotions and feelings they were having
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5:06 - 5:08in their day-to-day lives.
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5:08 - 5:10And using this intense study
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5:10 - 5:12of individuals,
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5:12 - 5:16we find that it's not one particular generation
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5:16 - 5:18that's doing better than the others,
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5:18 - 5:21but the same individuals over time
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5:21 - 5:23come to report relatively greater
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5:23 - 5:25positive experience.
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5:25 - 5:28Now you see this slight downturn
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5:28 - 5:30at very advanced ages.
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5:30 - 5:32And there is a slight downturn.
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5:32 - 5:34But at no point does it return
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5:34 - 5:36to the levels we see
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5:36 - 5:38in early adulthood.
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5:38 - 5:42Now it's really too simplistic
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5:42 - 5:46to say that older people are "happy."
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5:46 - 5:49In our study, they are more positive,
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5:49 - 5:51but they're also more likely than younger people
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5:51 - 5:54to experience mixed emotions --
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5:54 - 5:56sadness at the same time you experience happiness;
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5:56 - 5:58you know, that tear in the eye
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5:58 - 6:01when you're smiling at a friend.
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6:01 - 6:03And other research has shown
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6:03 - 6:05that older people seem to engage with sadness
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6:05 - 6:07more comfortably.
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6:07 - 6:10They're more accepting of sadness than younger people are.
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6:10 - 6:13And we suspect that this may help to explain
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6:13 - 6:16why older people are better than younger people
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6:16 - 6:21at solving hotly-charged emotional conflicts and debates.
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6:21 - 6:24Older people can view injustice
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6:24 - 6:26with compassion,
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6:26 - 6:29but not despair.
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6:29 - 6:31And all things being equal,
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6:31 - 6:33older people direct their cognitive resources,
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6:33 - 6:35like attention and memory,
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6:35 - 6:38to positive information more than negative.
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6:38 - 6:41If we show older, middle-aged, younger people images,
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6:41 - 6:44like the ones you see on the screen,
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6:44 - 6:46and we later ask them
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6:46 - 6:49to recall all the images that they can,
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6:49 - 6:52older people, but not younger people,
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6:52 - 6:54remember more positive images
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6:54 - 6:56than negative images.
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6:56 - 6:58We've asked older and younger people
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6:58 - 7:00to view faces in laboratory studies,
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7:00 - 7:02some frowning, some smiling.
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7:02 - 7:05Older people look toward the smiling faces
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7:05 - 7:08and away from the frowning, angry faces.
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7:08 - 7:10In day-to-day life,
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7:10 - 7:12this translates into greater enjoyment
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7:12 - 7:14and satisfaction.
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7:16 - 7:18But as social scientists, we continue to ask
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7:18 - 7:20about possible alternatives.
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7:20 - 7:22We've said, well maybe older people
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7:22 - 7:24report more positive emotions
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7:24 - 7:27because they're cognitively impaired.
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7:27 - 7:30(Laughter)
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7:30 - 7:32We've said, could it be
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7:32 - 7:35that positive emotions are simply easier to process than negative emotions,
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7:35 - 7:38and so you switch to the positive emotions?
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7:38 - 7:40Maybe our neural centers in our brain
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7:40 - 7:42are degraded such
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7:42 - 7:45that we're unable to process negative emotions anymore.
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7:45 - 7:47But that's not the case.
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7:47 - 7:50The most mentally sharp older adults
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7:50 - 7:54are the ones who show this positivity effect the most.
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7:54 - 7:57And under conditions where it really matters,
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7:57 - 7:59older people do process the negative information
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7:59 - 8:02just as well as the positive information.
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8:02 - 8:05So how can this be?
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8:05 - 8:07Well in our research,
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8:07 - 8:09we've found that these changes
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8:09 - 8:11are grounded fundamentally
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8:11 - 8:14in the uniquely human ability to monitor time --
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8:14 - 8:16not just clock time and calendar time,
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8:16 - 8:19but lifetime.
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8:19 - 8:21And if there's a paradox of aging,
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8:21 - 8:24it's that recognizing that we won't live forever
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8:24 - 8:26changes our perspective on life
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8:26 - 8:29in positive ways.
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8:29 - 8:32When time horizons are long and nebulous,
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8:32 - 8:34as they typically are in youth,
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8:34 - 8:37people are constantly preparing,
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8:37 - 8:40trying to soak up all the information they possibly can,
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8:40 - 8:42taking risks, exploring.
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8:42 - 8:45We might spend time with people we don't even like
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8:45 - 8:48because it's somehow interesting.
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8:48 - 8:50We might learn something unexpected.
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8:50 - 8:52(Laughter)
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8:52 - 8:54We go on blind dates.
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8:54 - 8:56(Laughter)
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8:56 - 8:58You know, after all,
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8:58 - 9:01if it doesn't work out, there's always tomorrow.
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9:01 - 9:03People over 50
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9:03 - 9:06don't go on blind dates.
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9:06 - 9:11(Laughter)
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9:11 - 9:13As we age,
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9:13 - 9:15our time horizons grow shorter
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9:15 - 9:18and our goals change.
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9:18 - 9:21When we recognize that we don't have all the time in the world,
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9:21 - 9:23we see our priorities most clearly.
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9:23 - 9:26We take less notice of trivial matters.
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9:26 - 9:28We savor life.
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9:28 - 9:30We're more appreciative,
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9:30 - 9:33more open to reconciliation.
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9:33 - 9:36We invest in more emotionally important parts of life,
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9:36 - 9:39and life gets better,
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9:39 - 9:42so we're happier day-to-day.
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9:42 - 9:44But that same shift in perspective
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9:44 - 9:47leads us to have less tolerance than ever
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9:47 - 9:49for injustice.
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9:49 - 9:51By 2015,
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9:51 - 9:54there will be more people in the United States
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9:54 - 9:56over the age of 60
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9:56 - 9:59than under 15.
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9:59 - 10:01What will happen to societies
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10:01 - 10:04that are top-heavy with older people?
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10:04 - 10:07The numbers won't determine
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10:07 - 10:09the outcome.
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10:09 - 10:12Culture will.
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10:12 - 10:15If we invest in science and technology
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10:15 - 10:17and find solutions for the real problems
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10:17 - 10:20that older people face
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10:20 - 10:22and we capitalize
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10:22 - 10:24on the very real strengths
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10:24 - 10:26of older people,
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10:26 - 10:28then added years of life
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10:28 - 10:31can dramatically improve quality of life
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10:31 - 10:33at all ages.
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10:33 - 10:36Societies with millions
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10:36 - 10:38of talented, emotionally stable citizens
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10:38 - 10:41who are healthier and better educated
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10:41 - 10:43than any generations before them,
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10:43 - 10:45armed with knowledge
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10:45 - 10:47about the practical matters of life
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10:47 - 10:49and motivated
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10:49 - 10:51to solve the big issues
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10:51 - 10:54can be better societies
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10:54 - 10:58than we have ever known.
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10:58 - 11:01My father, who is 92,
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11:01 - 11:03likes to say,
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11:03 - 11:05"Let's stop talking only about
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11:05 - 11:07how to save the old folks
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11:07 - 11:09and start talking about
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11:09 - 11:13how to get them to save us all."
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11:13 - 11:15Thank you.
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11:15 - 11:17(Applause)
- Title:
- Older people are happier
- Speaker:
- Laura Carstensen
- Description:
-
In the 20th century we added an unprecedented number of years to our lifespans, but is the quality of life as good? Surprisingly, yes! At TEDxWomen psychologist Laura Carstensen shows research that demonstrates that as people get older they become happier, more content, and have a more positive outlook on the world.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 11:18
Krystian Aparta commented on English subtitles for Older people are happier | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for Older people are happier | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for Older people are happier | ||
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Krystian Aparta
The English transcript was updated on 11/29/2016.