A fascinating paper analyzing numerous studies on the effects of self-stereotypes in the aging process. Interesting to me because Ive listened/watched people creep into what I call decreptitude as early as their 40s and 50s - Slowing down, Body isnt what it used to be, and Shit happens when you get older... and I always suspected that such people have been deeply programmed with a set of beliefs regarding aging that doesnt serve them. They blame their lack of energy, their flab, their fuzzy thinking, their medical conditions, and all sorts of other things on getting older. (Sorry to say, menopausal and post-menopausal women are typically the worse for wear where this crappy self-dialogue is concerned.) Such folks rarely consider the role of the mind in that process; instead believing that some unwelcome but inevitable - and strictly biological - events are in play. And so they make it so, and then try to manage what theyve made so in their bodies as best they can - either by taking it on the chin (aging gracefully) or by questioning the cultures bias toward youthfulness, vitality, fitness, and good health... without ever questioning their own psychological programming and how it is affecting them. A few tidbits from this paper (full PDF here: iub.edu/~ltcmgt/module1/unit2/pdf/levy.pdf) > psychsocgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/content/58/4/P203.abstract
Posted on: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 19:18:24 +0000