More Positive Affect

Yesterday I ran across a column aimed at mobilizing 'olders' in support of some cause or other that I lost interest in. What intrigued me was a side comment regarding one of the benevolent effects of getting on in years. It seems that researchers have learned that the older you are, the less likely you are to remember unpleasant emotions. You mellow out in some way because your emotional memories tend more to be positive. You experience less negative emotion, pay less attention to negative emotional stimuli and remember less negative emotional materials (Mara Mather, et al. "Amygdala Responses to Emotionally Valenced Stimuli In Older and Younger Adults," 2004) .

It turns out, the theory goes, that consciousness of the shortness of time you have left causes this. At 25, you expect to live forever, but at 55, you have started to wonder. This is a fundamental pillar of socioemotional selectivity theory (you knew that). Even young adults with abbreviated life expectancies display this affect. But the really neat thing is that the human brain decides it no longer has time for all that negativity. It begins selecting out and paying less attention to what is wrong with life, and focuses on what is right.

I think this can also be observed in the focus on generativity that begins to appear in "olders" (you know who you are, olders). Simply put generativity is "a concern for establishing and guiding the next generation." Erik Erikson, eminent psychologist of the latter half of the 20th century, coined the term in studying the aging process. It finds expression in things like "making a difference," "leaving a legacy" and "giving back." Suddenly, it become important to leave a positive mark, to guide the next generation in the right direction.

What better way is there to follow this natural course than not wasting time, being positive, and providing a positive example to everyone everywhere you go.