People become more trusting as they get older, a new study finds.
This is just the reverse of the stereotype of cynical, suspicious, grumpy seniors played on by many a sitcom.
And trust is not the only inner virtue that comes with age.
Dr Claudia Haase, one of the study's authors, said that greater trust may lead to more happiness with age:
"When we think of old age, we often think of decline and loss.On top of greater trust and happiness, people often experience more optimism with age.
But a growing body of research shows that some things actually get better as we age.
Our new findings show that trust increases as people get older and, moreover, that people who trust more are also more likely to experience increases in happiness over time."
Dr Haase said:
"We know that older people are more likely to look at the bright side of things.The conclusions come from two groups of people, one huge sample of almost 200,000 people from 83 countries.
As we age, we may be more likely to see the best in other people and forgive the little let-downs that got us so wary when we were younger."
This found a connection between aging and trust.
A second group of 1,230 people from the US were followed over time.
Dr Haase explained the results:
"For Millennials, Generation X, and Baby Boomers alike, levels of trust increase as people get older.There was no evidence of disadvantages to older people's more trusting nature.
People really seem to be 'growing to trust' as they travel through their adult years."
Dr Michael Poulin, who co-authored the study, said:
"Both studies found a positive association between trust and well-being that was consistent across the life span, suggesting that trust is not a liability in old age.The study is published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science (Poulin and Haase, 2015)
Our findings suggest that trust may be an important resource for successful development across the life span."
Despite what this article says I still think this all depends on what kind of people 'shaped' your life, truly negative experienced gained in life, and what 'kind' of person you happen to be co-habiting with.
Many people are over-nurturing, and trust blindly, especially carers etc.
It is vital that people are alert, vigilant and have good discernment as trusting the wrong people can seriously put your life in danger.
There are different 'types' of people on our planet, especially psychopaths - quite easily living in very close proximity to you. These 'types' do not possess conscience, empathy nor have any idea what love is - except how to emulate/mirror your own processes in this domain. Psychopaths are very entropic, destructive people and anyone trusting or sharing their lives with one, can be lucky to come out of that situation alive, much less exceedingly damaged emotionally.
So the caveat here is to learn as much as you can about psychopaths for your own safety/knowledge/protection. You just have to observe the world around you to see the genocide, torture, mutilations, wars, greed these destructive types wreak all around us - without a second thought. Why? Because for psychopaths this is their normal modus operandi.
It is in-built in 'normal' humans to be loving, giving, sharing etc. Today we need this more than ever. But be seriously careful who you choose to share your 'love' with or it will seriously come back to bite you.
Sott has a plethora of serious articles on the subject of psychopaths as this knowledge is vitally important nowadays. Do take advantage of their intensive research on the matter.
HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY SOTT. Thank you for all the knowledge I have benefited from over the years! The most truthful and professional news site around!