This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: What we expect from our own aging is not merely a notion. In two recent studies, an international research team led by psychologist Christina Ristl from the University of Vienna has shown that our expectations regarding our own aging can help shape our social lives over many years and even influence how we experience everyday encounters.
The findings point to a psychological mechanism known as a "self-fulfilling prophecy." The results have recently been published in the journals Psychology and Aging and Journal of Gerontology: Series B Psychology and Social Sciences. Most people feel younger than they are, so it is rare for most to consciously reflect on their own ideas about growing older. Nevertheless, everyone harbors images of what older people are like and what their own life will be like in old age.
However, what we expect from our own aging is not merely a notion but shapes our reality, as Ristl and her international team demonstrate in their new studies. To find out whether expectations actually influence one's social life later in life, the researchers followed 459 adults ages 30 to 80 over 10 years. At three different time points, they recorded how the participants envisaged their own social lives in old age—for example, whether they expected close family ties, good friendships or social engagement—and how much time they actually spent with family, friends or on voluntary activities.
The key factor was the direction of the observed correlation: It was not an active social life that led to more positive expectations of old age. Rather, more positive expectations preceded subsequent behavior. People who expected to lead a fulfilling family or social life even in old age did indeed spend more time with family and friends years later.
This correlation was particularly evident in family relationships in later adulthood. A second study showed that expectations play a role not only in the long term, but also in everyday life. To this end, the researchers followed 109 adults ages 50 to 85 through their daily lives over a two-week period.
Each evening, the participants reported how they had experienced their social interactions and how they had perceived their own aging that day. Here, too, a clear pattern emerged: On days when people perceived their own aging more positively, they also experienced their social interactions more positively. Conversely, when age-related losses were at the forefront of their minds, social interactions were more frequently experienced as stressful—and this more negative perception even persisted into the following day.
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