Laura Carstensen

It's very hard to get those kinds of studies done because we usually don't have that kind of data to do it.

She makes a profound observation.

Older people overall, on balance, are reporting more positive emotions, fewer negative emotions, right, in day-to-day life.

But there is a feeling of loss that comes with the deaths of loved ones over the years, the deaths of friends and relatives.

And the research suggests that people don't fully recover from those really important relationships when they end.

they continue to feel a longing, an absence in their lives.

Apparently, again, if we look at the larger picture there, people then go on and enjoy a dinner with friends, find a way to feel good and calm and serene in addition to having those kinds of negative emotions.

It reminds me of another line of research we've done on mixed emotions, and emotions not only become on balance less negative, more positive, but they're more mixed, they're more complex.

So younger people, when we ask how they're doing in a momentary experience sampling, are more likely to give us kind of unidimensional reports.

They say they're happy, they're excited, they're joyful.

When you ask older people,

they're more likely to give you a mix of positive and negative emotions.

So they might say, I'm happy, I'm appreciative, I'm sad, I'm longing.

So they'll give you this complex state, which I think is really, really important.

And sometimes when I talk about emotion and aging, I feel like I am really oversimplifying it and making it sound like older people are

happy in a happy-go-lucky sense.

And that isn't the state.

It's much richer than that.

It's more interesting.

I think the changing patterns of divorce are telling us something about time horizons.