May is Older Americans Month

There’s some good news for the superannuated amongst us: We’re getting older, wiser, and happier—according to a group of researchers at the University of Michigan, led by Dr. Richard E. Nisbett. Back in 1963, President John F. Kennedy designated May as Senior Citizens Month, encouraging the nation to pay tribute in some way to older people across the country. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter’s proclamation changed the name to Older Americans Month, a time to celebrate those 65 and older through ceremonies, events and public recognition.

Dr. Nisbett and his team of scientists found that older people were more likely than younger or middle-aged ones to recognize that values differ, to acknowledge uncertainties, to accept that things change over time and to acknowledge others' points of view. "Age effects on wisdom hold at every level of social class, education, and IQ," they report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (We here at the iLocal News subscribe to all the important scientific journals, so you don’t have to.) The study concludes that older adults tend to be more optimistic and to have a positive outlook on life than their younger, stressed, counterparts.

The results take on more meaning in light of the ongoing increase in life expectancy. Of course, most seniors can’t tell an iPod from an iPad; and few of us can figure out why our BetaMax keeps flashing “12:00” constantly. But Dr. Nisbett discounts the need for such technical knowledge, and suggests that the elderly have some advantages for analysis of social problems. "I hope our results will encourage people to assume that older people may have something to contribute for thinking about social problems," Nisbett said.

Lynn A. Hasher, a psychology professor at the University of Toronto, called the study "the single best demonstration of a long-held view that wisdom increases with age." "What I think is most important about the paper is that it shows a major benefit that accrues with aging - rather than the mostly loss-based findings reported in psychology. As such, it provides a richer base of understanding of aging processes. It also suggests the critical importance of workplaces' maintaining the opportunity for older employees to continue to contribute," said Hasher.

A study by another team of researchers, published in the journal Cortex, suggests that the reason older adults are more optimistic than younger people is that they tend to remember the past through a rosy lens. Using MRI brain scans, while subjects viewed a series of photos with positive and negative themes, such as a victorious skier and a wounded soldier, researchers found that, in the older adult brain, there were strong connections between emotion-processing regions of the brain and those known to be important for successful formation of memories, particularly when processing positive information. The same strong connections weren't found for the younger participants.

Older adults enjoy life in general it turns out.  In a Pew Research Center survey of 2,969 adults, seven-in-ten respondents ages 65 and older said they were enjoying more time with their family. About two-thirds reported more time for hobbies, more financial security and not having to work as benefits of old age. About six-in-ten said they get more respect and feel less stress than when they were younger; and just over half cited more time to travel and to do volunteer work.

EDITORIAL NOTE: If you can remember what a BetaMax is, you ought to be careful when you travel to Kentucky. We make sausage out of Old Folks here.