If you suffered from piles, would you want
your friends asking about your condition in public ?
Most people wouldn't,
yet new research suggests that the older you become the more likely
you are to make someone blush with embarrassment in that way. But old people may not intend to be rude: in fact, age-related changes
in brain function may explain their lack of tact, according to a new
Australian study just published in the journal Psychology and Aging.
Tests carried out by researchers at the University of New South Wales
found that people aged 65 to 93 years were more likely to ask each other
such personal questions in a public setting than younger people aged
18 to 25.
Yet the study also found that older people were just as likely as younger
ones to agree that making public inquiries about private issues was socially
inappropriate and embarrassing: so why do older people blurt out such
discomforting questions?
The ability to inhibit thoughts and actions is critical for socially
appropriate discourse but that ability appears to weaken due to changes
in brain function related to the normal ageing process, according to
one of the authors of the report, Associate Professor Bill von Hippel,
of the UNSW School of Psychology.
" It's not just that older people were more likely than younger
people to ask personal questions," says Professor von Hippel.
" In
fact, young people in our study were more likely to ask each other questions
of a personal nature, but they usually did so in private.
_ It seems
that young adults have a greater ability to hold their tongue than older
adults in contexts where it is inappropriate to discuss
personal issues."
Behaving badly like this also seems to have negative consequences for
peer relationships, particularly for older people.
" Young people weren't too bothered when their friends were
occasionally inappropriate, but older adults felt much less close to
those acquaintances
who asked about their private lives in public," says Professor
von Hippel.
Are you tactful ?
In the research project, small groups of friends were asked
questions like this about each other: Imagine that you have some private
medical
condition (for example, haemorrhoids). Your friend knows about your
condition. You are alone together with your friend, maybe at home having
a coffee together. Would your friend inquire/comment about your condition
?
How about if you were at a gathering with other people when your friend
arrives. Would your friend inquire/comment about your condition in
front of the others ? Similar questions were asked about recent weight
gain,
personal family problems, etc..
News is included
on this website to inform visitors about current health issues, but not
to endorse
any particular view or activity. Material in this news item
was first released by The University of New South Wales (Australia)
on 12th September 2005. For further information, please visit
their
website using the link below.
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