I have written this article out of personal curiosity about aging because of my advanced age and also about the psychology of aging because I am an Honorary Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA). About that honorarium, I am an organizational, not a clinical psychologist. I treat sick corporations and public agencies so to speak, and believe me, I have not met one that wasn't! [1]
The Personal Perspective. A few days away from being 89 I have been wondering about the notion and experience of the so-called "twilight zone." Does it explain me? Have I entered my own personal twilight zone? My own tactic for handling advanced age is to find ways to laugh ever day, and I must say I am regarded by family and friends as a master of the art of homemade jokes and riddles. Here's an example I truly made up just now: "What's wrong with clinical psychologists? They can't mind their own business." Trust me, some of my riddles are better, some worse. Nevertheless, I want to go beyond psychology's early days of introspection, query my profession today, and thus press onward and write this article.
The Psychological Perspective
What, I wondered, are the insights about aging emanating from my profession of psychology? I did some web browsing. I found a site of the APA that listed 10 "sample articles" dating from 2013 to 2016. [2] Is that the best the APA can do, I facetiously wondered, too unsure, too hesitant to make a choice, leaving it up to the reader? I arbitrarily picked and read one of the articles.
The researchers concluded that "older adults are more likely to underestimate their life satisfaction in the future and that such underestimation was associated with positive health outcomes." [3] Frankly, I do not know what to make of that conclusion. The "positive health outcomes" were not identified, and their conclusion begs for more elucidation and explanation.
In Closing
It is probably not surprising that I am sticking to the personal perspective.
Notes
1. Brumback, G.B. The Iconoclast's Blueprint for Peak Corporate Performance. KDP Publishing, Columbia, S.C., August 15, 2020.
2. American Psychological Association. Sample Articles on Psychology and Aging. 2009.
3. Lang, F.R., Weiss, D, Gerstorf, D. & Wagner, G.G. Forecasting Life Satisfaction Across Adulthood: Benefits of Seeing a Dark Future? (PDF), March, 2013.