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Older people generally more emotionally healthy, better able to resist daily temptations:
The stereotype of grumpy old people apparently doesn't hold up under closer inspection. A new study from Duke and Vanderbilt University psychologists finds that older people are generally more emotionally stable and better able to resist temptations in their daily lives.
"There is evidence here that emotional health and regulation improve with age," said Daisy Burr, a Duke PhD student who led the study with Gregory Samanez-Larkin, an assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience. Their work appeared March 23 in the journal Emotion.
[...] The researchers said their findings are a better reflection of real-world conditions because they surveyed participants in their own time and space, rather than having them respond to cues in a laboratory setting. Burr added that older people are better at regulating their emotional state when allowed to do what they want.
In the end, Burr's analysis of the data found people experiencing more negative affect are worse at resisting desires. Younger study participants who had higher levels of life satisfaction were better able to resist desires.
But older adults were better at resisting temptation, regardless of their life satisfaction.
Daisy A. Burr, Jaime J. Castrellon, David H. Zald, Gregory R. Samanez-Larkin. Emotion dynamics across adulthood in everyday life: Older adults are more emotionally stable and better at regulating desires.. Emotion, 2020; DOI: 10.1037/emo0000734
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bradley13 on Monday April 06 2020, @01:39PM (3 children)
I would hope that one learns more as one ages. Not everyone does, but I think most people do.
As for grumpy? Well, there are certainly those. In my case, however, it's just a lower tolerance for BS and deliberate stupidity. I say "deliberate" because I have no problem with anyone who is doing the best they can. It's when they refuse to apply whatever braincells they have, that I get irritable. Like, for example, my cousin - an otherwise intelligent woman - who believes that Corona is a deliberate Chinese plot, and further that Trump not only is (possible), but alwasys has been (um...) on top of the situation.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 06 2020, @02:44PM (1 child)
Wisdom is a nice way to put it. Another way would be to say that most of the big mistakes we're going to make in our lives have probably been made already, so we've had the benefit of a learning curve that youth and 20-somethings don't.
As for grumpiness, I think you have to look at the bigger picture. I'm far more emotional now, not less. I've just learned to avoid the things that drive me into a rage. Twenty years ago I was active on the precursors to modern social media - IRC, telnet chat, message boards. Today, I'm off social media save for the occasional AC post on this site.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 06 2020, @03:48PM
The ones likely to crash and burn have already done so.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday April 06 2020, @02:44PM
A CEO I once worked for introduced me to the term "assholes and elbows," yeah - we were on top of that "living the American dream" thing all assholes and elbows right up until March when it became apparent that allowing 7 million Americans to die needlessly wasn't compatible with most people's "American dream." So, now, here we are, Elon too, all assholes and elbows on top of the current situation, and we're going to drill baby drill so hard and so fast that we'll be back to that American dream faster than those other countries can even make their first batch of facemasks.
Each person's reality is formed by the information they are exposed to and choose to accept. Some learn and grow toward a peaceful, harmonious existence. Others figure "what the hell, bankruptcy is a legal option, I'd be a fool not to use it."
🌻🌻 [google.com]