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Feeling listless? Unfulfilled? Like your life’s half over and what have you got to show for it? Well, you’re not alone. In fact, you might not even be human. Because a new study shows that even apes can experience a mid-life crisis. The work appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [Alexander Weiss et al., Evidence for a midlife crisis in great apes consistent with the U-shape in human well-being]
Social scientists, economists, and philosophers have long been aware that some people are subject to a sort of half-time slump: a period when their well-being dips to an all-time low. What’s less clear is what causes this midlife ennui, which by many measures falls between a joyous childhood and contented retirement? Is it socioeconomic? Psychological? Metaphysical?
In this study, researchers first checked to see if the slump is uniquely human. They asked zookeepers to rate the relative happiness of some 500 chimps and orangutans, based on how often the apes seem to be in a good mood or how much pleasure they derive from socializing. Turns out our closest relatives also show a U-shaped curve of life satisfaction—cheery in youth and old age, and mopey in the middle.
So when you start lusting after that red convertible, you’re not totally bananas. You’re just going ape.
—Karen Hopkin
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
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2 Comments
Add CommentOr else the zookeepers simply perceives the apes in their middle age as having worse moods for external reasons. Off the to of my head:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMiddle age is the height of dominance. Perhaps, more dominant members express less positive affect, and they might get less pleasure from socializing. And when you often get what you want, achieving a goal gets less exciting.
Zookeepers are biased. Young apes are cute; old ones have pathods; middle aged ones are just regular apes.
Young apes might be over-expressive, boosting their rankings, and old apes have a selection bias in that only the healthy survive into it.
The criteria for measuring good mood were zookeepers' perceptions of 1). overall mood; 2). Pleasure in socializing; 3). Pleasure in getting rewards; 4). How much the zookeepers would like to be that ape for a day. Surely, the last one measures much more than mood.
I approve your last paragraph
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