How old do you feel? I don’t mean your actual age, but how old you subjectively feel.
If your subjective age is younger than your actual age, congratulations—that’s good news. Multiple studies have shown that subjective age is negatively associated with a range of adverse health indicators, including depression, diabetes, high blood pressure, and even the risk of death. In other words, the younger you feel, the healthier you are likely to be.
Subjective age and health may influence each other in both directions. When you feel old, you’re more likely to live a somewhat older person’s lifestyle—for example, exercising less. That worsens your health, and deteriorating health in turn makes you feel even older.
Besides health, what other factors affect subjective age?
A recent study turned its attention to the relationship between IQ and subjective age.
Let’s cut straight to the conclusion:
The smarter you are when you’re young, the younger your subjective age will be in later life. In other words, smart people age more slowly.
This conclusion came from an analysis of data from a project called the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. The Wisconsin Longitudinal Study followed thousands of men and women born between 1937 and 1940. In 1957, every member of the project was given an IQ test. They were 17 to 20 years old at the time, and most were still in high school. Fifty-four years later, in 2011, these members assessed their subjective age.
The results showed that the higher a member’s IQ had been in youth, the younger their estimated subjective age was in their seventies. And even after controlling for various demographic variables, the connection remained.
Further analysis found that the personality trait mediating the relationship between IQ and subjective age was openness to experience—the tendency to explore and embrace experiences that are unfamiliar. Many earlier studies have found a significant positive correlation between IQ and high openness to experience: the higher people’s IQ, the more willing they are to explore the unknown and accept new things. High openness to experience is also associated with a younger subjective age.
Perhaps a higher IQ helps us process complex information more easily, while also making us more curious about the world. It’s that curiosity and sense of excitement that make us feel younger.
In other words, getting more exposure to new knowledge can slow aging. Looks like we really did choose the right title for our Psychology New Insights Course.
p.s.：
From now on, please call me Little Teacher Wei.
References:
Stephan, Y., Sutin, A. R., Kornadt, A., Caudroit, J., & Terracciano, A. (2018). Higher IQ in adolescence is related to a younger subjective age in later life: Findings from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. Intelligence, 69, 195-199.
David Robson. Do people with a high IQ age more slowly?
Notes
- The articles in this Psychology New Insights Course series were short popular-psychology essays and miscellanies written at the time to accompany the content related to Zhichao Wei: A Course on New Insights in Psychology (Wei Zhichao: Xinlixue Xinzhi Ke). They were published on the now-closed platform Fantuán, and the original article link no longer exists.
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