Researchers, including the authors, have found that older people shown pictures of faces or situations tend to focus on and remember the happier ones more and the negative ones less. Other studies have discovered that as people age, they seek out situations that will lift their moods\u2014for instance, pruning social circles of friends or acquaintances who might bring them down. Still other work finds that older adults learn to let go of loss and disappointment over unachieved goals, and hew their goals toward greater wellbeing.<\/p>\n What\u2019s missing, say the authors, are consistently demonstrated direct links between these strategies and phenomena and changes of mood for the better.<\/strong> One reason, Isaacowitz suggests, is that lab tests yield results that are not straightforward. \u201cWhen we try to use those cognitive processes to predict change of mood, they don\u2019t always do so,\u201d he explains. \u201cSometimes looking at positive pictures doesn\u2019t make people feel better.\u201d A closer review of the literature also reveals contradictions. Some people\u2014younger ones, for instance\u2014may make themselves feel better by accentuating the negative in others\u2019 situations or characteristics. And whereas some psychologists find that high scores on certain cognitive tests correlate in older people with the ability to keep their spirits up, other researchers hypothesize that happiness in later life is an effect of cognitive losses\u2014which force older people to concentrate on simpler, happier thoughts.<\/p>\n More rigorous methods probably won\u2019t overthrow the current theories, says Isaacowitz, but they will complicate the picture. \u201cIt won\u2019t be as easy to say old people are happier. But even if they are happier on average, we still want to know in what situations does this particular strategy make this particular person with these particular qualities or strengths feel good.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the Association for Psychological Science press release: Older people tend to be happier. But why? Some psychologists believe that cognitive processes are responsible\u2014in particular, focusing on and remembering positive… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[16,108,12],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":630,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629\/revisions\/630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/images\/blogpics\/DinnerParty.jpg\" "\\"happiness\\"")
Older people tend to be happier. But why? Some psychologists believe that cognitive processes are responsible\u2014in particular, focusing on and remembering positive events and leaving behind negative ones; those processes, they think, help older people regulate their emotions, letting them view life in a sunnier light. \u201cThere is a lot of good theory about this age difference in happiness,\u201d says psychologist Derek M. Isaacowitz of Northeastern University, \u201cbut much of the research does not provide direct evidence\u201d of the links between such phenomena and actual happiness.<\/strong> In a new article in Perspectives on Psychological Science<\/em>, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science, Isaacowitz and the late Fredda Blanchard-Fields of Georgia Institute of Technology argue for more rigorous research.<\/p>\n