Aging Forecast

The December 2009 issue of Allure magazine featured an article concerning our perceptions of aging and how they may be self-fulfilling. Researchers studied 386 people who had taken a questionnaire about aging in 1968 when they were 18 to 49 years old. They rated their perception of the elderly based on stereotypical views, such as "helpless" or "absentminded." After contacting these people later in life, the researchers found that those with more negative views were more likely to experience a cardiovascular event (heart attack, stroke, chest pain) at an earlier age.

In Chapter 1, The Science of Psychology, different theories of psychology are presented. One of which is that of Sigmund Freud. He proposed that there was an unconscious (unaware) mind. Oftentimes people have thoughts or perceptions that are subconscious and can develop into self-fulfilling actions. While Freud believed that repressing certain urges and trying to keep them from surfacing created central nervous disorders, his view of our unconscious mind and its impact in our lives plays an important role in many aspects of behavior.