the conscious mind to apprehend.
The groups exposed to negative
terms – such as ‘decline’, ‘decrepit’
and ‘confused’ – saw a spike in blood
pressure and an increased heart rate.
Participants primed with positive
stereotypes like ‘astute’, ‘wise’ and
‘accomplished’ calmed down.
“We wondered how that might op-
erate in the community over time,”
Lev y says – a question that led to an-
other eye-opening study in 2009. In
it, Lev y analysed survey data from
440 subjects of the Baltimore Longi-
tudinal Study of Ageing – one of the
world’s longest running ageing stud-
ies – who were between 18 and 49.
She found that those who agreed
with gloomy opinions of ageing
suffered twice as many heart events –
from mini-strokes to congestive heart
failure – as those who had absorbed
rosier ones.
Even after controlling for every
factor she could think of – from diet
and smoking habits to depression
and family history – Lev y found that
the subjects’ thoughts on ageing were
still of huge significance.
WHAT MIGHT EXPLAINthe dra-
matic physiological effects of some-
thing as ineffable as thoughts about
getting old?
Our attitudes, conscious or not,
drive our routines and lifestyle – a
fact Lev y believes is a factor in her
studies’ outcomes. “If people hold
more negative views of ageing, they
may be less likely to walk the extra
block or engage in healthy behav-
iours as they get older, because they
tend to think of poor health later in
life as inevitable,” she says.
According to Harvard psychologist
Ellen Langer – who has collaborated
with Levy in the past – the discon-
nect between young people and their
future selves also comes into play.“People under 40 don’t think of them-
selves as getting older,” she says,
explaining that this could prevent
them from developing behaviours
that benefit them later.
And indeed, in 2011, psychologist
Hal Hershfield, now at UCLA, showed
that when people were urged to think
about their later-in-life selves, they
allocated more resources for the
future – such as squirrelling away
more money for their retirement. In
another of his studies, subjects who
were nudged into considering their
future by writing a letter to them-
selves 20 years down the road beefed
up their exercise routines.AGEISMEVEN
AFFECTS THINGS
YOU WOULDN’T
EXPECT, SUCH AS
HANDWRITINGAND
MEMORY91
“Old People Should...”