Certain 'Personality Genes' Correlate With Longevity, Says Study 72
An anonymous reader writes "People who are outgoing, optimistic, easygoing, and have a good sense of humor and a large social network are likely to live longer than others who don't possess these personality traits, according to new research (abstract). The study reveals how saying, 'It's in their genes' could refer to more than just genetic variations that give a physiological advantage, like having high levels of HDL ('good') cholesterol, because people with positive personality traits appear to live longer than those who do not."
Uh Oh. (Score:5, Funny)
optimistic, easygoing, and have a good sense of humor and a large social network
Well, we here at Slashdot might as well go out and jump off a bridge. Really.
We're doomed.
Re:Uh Oh. (Score:5, Funny)
I just need to be careful to not to stumble across The funniest joke in the world [youtube.com]
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I just need to be careful to not to stumble across The funniest joke in the world [youtube.com]
Wasn't there a song about it? Something along the lines of "Too much laugh will kill you"...
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I'm trying to invent a sense of humor so good that I will live forever
When my grandmother was 95 she told me "I don't know why people want to live to be a hundred. It ain't no fun bein' old."
The cause is likely that people who die young usually have maladies like heart disease, diabetes, etc. If your quality of life is bad, you're not likely to be happy and laid back.
Re:Uh Oh. (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:Uh Oh. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Actually, all the study determined was that people approaching 100, from extremely homogeneous groups, were likely to be laid back, socially outgoing, etc.
Which seems a stupid way to go about it. At 100 years old, you mostly don't give a shit about what anyone thinks, about much of anything.
Assuming they got to be 100 because they always behaved that way is just dumb.
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optimistic, easygoing, and have a good sense of humor and a large social network
They sound like the only ones that show up in the studies, easy to find. Mean while the live alone and are fine with it, remember to feed themselves and no central heating crowd fall off the radar. Them and the vampires (if they're not a subset).
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I think that's a good point. My mother, whose father lived to 101 and mother to 95, will be 86 this year. She's a sharp as she ever was, drives like a 30 year old, and worked full time until last year when they laid off half the office. She'd still be working if that hadn't happened. She'll make it to 100 easy.
And I guarantee that she would not be bothered to answer any kind of questionnaire or participate in a study like that.
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Uh oh! Someone has a short life expectancy!
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You could just rephrase the article:
""People who are outgoing, optimistic, easygoing, and have a good sense of humor and a large social network are less likely to commit suicide, therefore more likely to live longer", study says.
DOH.
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Is it a bad thing that I read the description and realized I'm basically the opposite of all of those things?
Fuck it, there's probably nothing to this study anyway. Scientists don't know what the fuck they're talking abbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
"A large social network"? (Score:2)
I expect they're not exactly talking about Facebook... so will Mark Zuckerberg be filing a cease and desist against the authors?
People with positive personality are perfect (Score:1, Funny)
Well fuck you too.
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Including the study that determined that 85% figure.
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Don't believe everything you read on the internet - that's how WW1 started.
Mens sana in corpore sano (Score:2)
I guess it works the other way as well.
How surprising (Score:1)
So, happy people live longer?
I'm shocked.
Re:How surprising (Score:5, Insightful)
I'll bite. (Score:1)
let's explore the space:
Living longer + larger than average social network = vastly disproportionate experience of friend loss.
Living longer + optimism = Yeah! joy for me of living in this nursing home for another 20 years!
Living longer + outgoing = Talking to visitors that aren't there to see you. Year after year and leaving a disproportionate impression
Living longer + easygoing = I don't care what you think whippersnapper your going to be my single serving friend while you visit your dialysis Alzheimers g
Irritating to the socially disadvantaged. (Score:1)
4 out of 5 (Score:2)
outgoing, optimistic, easygoing, and have a good sense of humor and a large social network
All I need now is to buy a controlling stake of FB and I'll live forever!
Re:4 out of 5 (Score:5, Funny)
Why buy now when you can wait six months and buy a controlling stake for less than a burger and some fries?
Obvious? (Score:2)
If you are a good guy with friends who looks after himself and stays both mentally and physically active, getting on in life instead of sitting on is fat arse all day you live longer. Who knew?
Re:Obvious? (Score:4, Insightful)
Or even just having a more positive life (laughing, not stressing out) lowers your blood pressure and keeps you from stroking out.
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Only if it's in your genes. If you have developed that personality by yourself that doesn't count.
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Every time the article mentions "personality genes", they put it in quotes too, because, I'm assuming, "many qualities that were associated with having a positive attitude towards life" loosely associated with longevity doesn't (or shouldn't) make the news cycle, unless this is the Obvious News Network.
That's a relief (Score:5, Funny)
Life as an introverted, brooding pessimist with no friends or sense of humour is hell, but at least it won't last as long.
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I'd congratulate you on coming to terms, but any accolades would only extend your miserable existence.
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but at least it won't last as long.
Hey, stop right there! You're being optimistic!
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That's the spirit! You're probably already increasing your life expectancy.
Oh, wait.
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"Life: hate it or loathe it, you can't ignore it." -- Marvin
but... (Score:2)
"People who are outgoing, optimistic, easygoing, and have a good sense of humor and a large social network are likely to live longer than others who don't possess these personality traits
But I'm a computer nerd you insensitive clod
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"People who are outgoing, optimistic, easygoing, and have a good sense of humor and a large social network are likely to live longer than others who don't possess these personality traits
But I'm a computer nerd you insensitive clod
Let's see ...
Outgoing: You don't wait for the internet to connect with you, you connect to the internet. How more outgoing could you be?
Optimistic: Well, you are surfing on the internet, despite all the dangers of malware out there. You must be optimistic, right?
Easygoing: You are sitting comfortably in front of your computer, instead of hasting through the world.
Have a good sense of humor: You are laughing at Soviet Russia jokes on Slashdot, right?
Have a large social network: You are on Facebook, aren't yo
hardly a surprise (Score:2)
You listed none of the attributes (Score:2)
These correlations are hardly a surprise If you are healthy, wealthy you are more likely to live longer.
All of the attributes listed (optimistic, outgoing, large social network) are totally orthogonal to being healthy and/or wealthy.
I have known a number of very ill people (some terminally so) that were still very optimistic, and a lot of outgoing optimistic people that were quite poor...
Obviously being wealthy means you have treatment options the average person does not have access to, but this study is s
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The problem there is that it's typical for those of us with disabilities or major/terminal illnesses to minimize our difficulties and try to seem 'normal' in order to not drive others away or create awkward silences -- and it eventually becomes easy to compartmentalize so that when we're with friends/family, we really are happy. It's very hard to describe without giving the wrong impression, but I'm essentially trying to say that while we're not automatically unhappy or miserable (and most of us aren't, on
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These correlations are hardly a surprise
If you are healthy, wealthy you are more likely to live
longer.
And its easier to have a good sense of humor and
optimisitic you are settled well. It is also more likely
that you have a larger social network then.
The correlation between healthy and living longer is trivial.
The correlation between wealthy and living longer is no
secret since health systems are already selective.
If you are padded well you more likely will get an experienced
surgeon for example or get a vital organ faster.
The wealthy and connected tend to live the longest? Is this supposed to be a surprise to anyone except the wealthy and well connected? I'm sure even they know they live longer. That is why they do everything to protect their wealth and connections.
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AFAIK there's never been a study showing any correlation between wealth and happiness. Lacking a study, it's been my observation that those I knew whose main goal in life was more and more wealth were seldom happy. If you lust for wealth, no amount is sufficient. OTOH I've known a few people who were both wealthy and happy, but their main goal in life wasn't the pursuit of wealth.
You mean Type A douchebags die sooner? (Score:4, Funny)
Who'd have thought that aggressive, competitive people end up dying earlier than more laid back types? Go Science!
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Lies, damn lies, and statistics (Score:2)
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This doesn't necessarily mean that being easy going increases your health... it might just mean that easy going people are less likely to piss off homicidal maniacs!
Easy going people might just value their lives more and learn to be easy going as a way to protect their lives.
It doesn't change the fact that being easy going doesn't work in every environment and these sorts of studies don't consider that in some environments aggressive types live longer.
More fun (Score:2)
Sounds like the life of these people might be fun too. A long and fun life, this is not fair !
We make our own fun, we make our own hell (Score:1)
One thing I did notice was that the cheerful outnumbered the curmudgeons
Personality Genes (Score:2)
Well, if this is the case....
How come I ain't dead yet? ;-)
-Hack
Being born into the strong big family (Score:5, Insightful)
The best opportunities go to those born into strong big families. This is the large social network the study is talking about.
This isn't necessarily a gene because there isn't a specific gene we can identify which determines the size of someones social network, it's more some people are in the lucky sperm club and some are not.
If you're born into a big wealthy family you'll likely have a large social network, be more outgoing, etc simply because you were born into the environment which rewards that. If you're born into a small poor family none of those traits will be as beneficial. Being funny for instance wont help you if you don't have the large social network to begin with. Being outgoing wont help you if you've got fewer people to be outgoing with. There are too many variables here to conclude genes rather than environment and "luck" determine longevity in this instance.
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You had be moing there for a little while, but then you tossed in that "wealth/poor" thing.
I doubt wealth has much to do with
1. How big the family is
2. How big the social network is around the family
Just about all the antecdotal experience I have suggests that wealth is negatively correlated with both family size and longevity...
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You had be moing there for a little while, but then you tossed in that "wealth/poor" thing.
I doubt wealth has much to do with
1. How big the family is
2. How big the social network is around the family
Just about all the antecdotal experience I have suggests that wealth is negatively correlated with both family size and longevity...
Wealthy families are often socially connected via marriages etc.
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Just about all the antecdotal experience I have suggests that wealth is negatively correlated with both family size and longevity...
Here's a little antecdotal "evidence" (hah!) for you. My mother was the baby of a large family. Her brother, a businessman who wasn't rich but was very well off, died of a stroke at age 28. Her other brother was quite rich, and died at age 70. Her third brother is a university professor and in his nineties, as are all her sisters. At age 84 she's the youngest. Neither she or he
No thanks. (Score:2)
People who are outgoing, optimistic, easygoing, and have a good sense of humor and a large social network are likely to live longer than others who don't possess these personality traits,
Ugh. I'd rather die a few years earlier than live a vapid existence centered around exchanging banalities with other ape-descendants in meatspace. Fuck that noise.
Less stress (Score:1)
Generally people who have a more positive outlook on life are significantly less prone to stress. This could be a very good reason for why they live longer, as life is somewhat less strenuous for their heart.
I think it would have been useful if to measure the average stress levels of people involved in this study. I think you may very well find a connection that is less gene-related.
Old joke (Score:3)
A journalist interviews the oldest man in town:
"How did you manage to reach such an old age? What's your secret?"
"Oh, it's just that I don't argue anymore"
"Come on, you can't tell us it's so simple. Please tell us the truth"
"Well, then it must be for some other reason as you say".
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A journalist interviews a man on his 100th birthday. "How did you manage to reach such an old age? What's your secret?"
"Well," says the old man, "in the first place, I don't drink. I don't smoke, and I never drink. I get plenty of exersize and eat right and I don't drink. I attend church every sunday and I don't let a drop of alcohol pass my lips..."
Right then there's a huge crashing noise from the other room. Startled, the reporter exclaims "What was that?!?"
"Oh, that's just my dad. He gets like that when
I quit FaceBook a few months ago (Score:1)
Does this mean I'm going to die soon?
doh (Score:1)
I am surprised. (Score:2)