TED演讲:老年人更快乐(5)
And all things being equal, older people direct their cognitive resources,
在同等条件下，老年人会将自己的认知资源，
like attention and memory, to positive information more than negative.
比如注意力和记忆力，更多地导向积极信息，而不是消极信息。
If we show older, middle-aged, younger people images, like the ones you see on the screen,
我们向老年组、中年组和青年组展示图像，正如你们在屏幕上看到的，
and we later ask them to recall all the images that they can,
过后我们让他们回忆他们看到的图像，
older people, but not younger people, remember more positive images than negative images.
老年组，而非青年组，记得的积极图像多过消极图像。
We’ve asked older and younger people to view faces in laboratory studies, some frowning, some smiling.
我们让老年组和青年组去看实验室研究所用的脸部表情，一些皱眉、一些微笑。
Older people look toward the smiling faces and away from the frowning, angry faces.
老年组看向微笑的脸，而回避皱眉的、愤怒的脸。
In day-to-day life, this translates into greater enjoyment and satisfaction.
在日常生活中，这转换成更大的乐趣以及满足。
But as social scientists, we continue to ask about possible alternatives.
但作为社会学家，我们继续问是否有其他可能。
We’ve said, well, maybe older people report more positive emotions because they’re cognitively impaired.
也许老年人报告更多的积极感受是因为他们认知机能受损。
We’ve said, could it be that positive emotions are simply easier to process than negative emotions,
会不会积极情绪比消极情绪更易处理，
and so you switch to the positive emotions?
所以他们更倾向于积极情绪？
Maybe our neural centers in our brain are degraded such that we’re unable to process negative emotions anymore.
也许我们脑内的神经系统退化了，以致无法处理消极情绪。
But that’s not the case. The most mentally sharp older adults are the ones who show this positivity effect the most.
但事实并非如此。老年组里思维最敏捷的，恰恰是最积极的。
And under conditions where it really matters, older people do process the negative information just as well as the positive information.
在关键时刻老年人处理消极情绪和处理积极情绪的能力是一样的。
20世纪，我们的期望寿命史无前例地大幅增加，但生活质量同步增加了吗?出人意料地——是的！在TED女性大会上，心理学家劳拉.卡斯滕森展示了相关研究，表明人们年龄渐长的同时变得更快乐、更满足，对世界有了更积极的观点。