revered in many cultures for their experience and wisdom (see the Posi-
tive Aging Newsletter , edited by Kenneth and Mary Gergen). Octogenar -
ian musicians and actors and artists are showered with honors, and
their current productions are uncritically acclaimed. In many ways, thisnewfound respect for the aged is just compensation for decades of ne -
glect. But it often seems that there is something condescending and
infantalizing about the status we grant them, as if the elderly neededspecial consideration. Skinner (1983) noted that the mindless venera -
tion with which the ideas of older scholars and scientists are received
reinforces platitudinous thinking and contributes to a decline in creativ -
ity .
We might even suspect that many people bend over backward to
think well of the elderly because at a deeper level they fear that age isnothing but decline. There are real losses in physical strength and vigor,in sexual interest, and in certain intellectual abilities, for which it isnecessary to make allowances. But there are no significant declines inpersonality .
We need not worry that we will become crotchety and hypochon-
driacal with age, or that only firm resignation can save us from despairand the fear of death. We need not anticipate increasing social isolationand emotional withdrawal from the world. There is no reason to thinkthat our interests will atrophy or that our values and opinions will be-come increasingly rigid and conservative.
And just as we need not dread our own future, so we need not pity
others who have already reached an advanced age. The elderly are nomore emotionally vulnerable or ideologically rigid than anyone else,and giving them special treatment in these areas is unnecessary andprobably unwise. Older individuals are entitled to all the respect dueany human being, but genuine respect means seeing them as they reallyare. With regard to personality they are not much different from anyother adults.
***
In the mid-1990s we returned to cross-sectional studies of personality
that were to give us an entirely new perspective on age and personality .By that time, the FFM had become established as a model of personalitytrait structure not only in the United States but in many countries inEurope and several in Asia. Translations of the NEO-PI-R began to82 PERSONALITY IN ADULTHOOD