3 ms·
> “Those holding more negative age stereotypes earlier in life had significantly steeper hippocampal volume loss and significantly greater accumulation of neuro
by Bartweiss 9y ago
> “Those holding more negative age stereotypes earlier in life had significantly steeper hippocampal volume loss and significantly greater accumulation of neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaques."
I'm a bit disgusted that the article asserts this is somehow causative - that ageists age worse for some sort of karmic reason.
The screamingly-obvious interpretation of that data is that people who see bad examples of aging hold more negative stereotypes. If your whole family has a history of early-onset dementia, you'll probably view aging as a horrible process. And, surprise, you'll probably have rapid cognitive decline just like all the people who shaped your opinion. Just about every age-related form of decline has a major genetic component, and yet Friend insists that fear of aging is 'karma'.
- matt4077 9y agoI'm a bit disgusted that you're asserting that the article asserts a causative relationship when it does no such thing. Here's the paragraph in question & full: Karma’s a bitch: the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging reports, “Those holding more negative age stereotypes earlier in life had significantly steeper hippocampal volume loss and significantly greater accumulation of neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaques.” Ageists become the senescent figures they once abhorred. Nowhere does it imply any causation. The reference to "Karma" isn't the author professing his believe in the cosmic power's intervention to establish justice among the people. It's just a rhetorical devise to highlight the finding.