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Key points
- Many of us believe that it's harder to change behaviours as we get older.
- Research suggests that therapy is just as effective for older adults as it is for younger adults.
- Older adults still have the capacity to learn but it may be slower due to age-related cognitive changes.
Popular belief holds that changing our behaviour is harder to do as we get older. While your mother’s inability to use Instagram may confirm this as true, what does science tell us about our capacity to change our behaviour as we age? Is it still possible for the octogenarian to start an exercise regimen? Or for the 60-something to get better at managing their anger?
Let’s consider one source of evidence from psychotherapy outcome studies with older adults. Therapy is where people go to change after all, and if there were age differences in response to treatment that might tell us something about whether a 70-year-old can still reduce that long-standing fear of public speaking.
Therapy Is Just as Effective for Older Adults
In one of the largest meta-analyses to date on psychotherapy effectiveness across the lifespan, the authors analyzed studies representing over 36,000 adults with depression to see if older adults responded any better or worse to therapy. It turns out that older adults were just as likely to benefit from treatment as younger adults. So if therapy is just as effective for older adults as it is for younger age groups, does this mean we’re all capable of change irrespective of our age?
Possibly, but you might argue that older adults who attend therapy may not be representative of all older adults. Maybe they’re more open to changing their behaviour or motivated to do so. This data doesn’t necessarily tell us if older adults in general are just as capable of changing their behaviour as younger age groups.
Older Adults Learn From Feedback
So let’s look at another source of evidence: older and younger adults in a laboratory setting as opposed to a therapeutic one. And instead of learning coping skills, they’re learning a more basic behaviour: what button to press to gain a monetary reward and what not to press to avoid losing that reward. In essence, they’re learning from feedback.
Several studies using this type of paradigm demonstrate that older adults are slower to learn from feedback than younger adults. This isn’t to say that they don’t learn from feedback; they certainly do, but it just takes a little longer. One reason for this could be the normal cognitive changes that occur in later life such as reduced short-term memory or a slower speed of processing information.
You may be wondering: What the heck does learning to press buttons have to do with whether or not you can learn Italian as a second language in your 70s? This research tells us that when older adults are learning something new with feedback, for example, taking a quiz in an Italian language class, they may be slower to learn from this feedback than younger adults.
But just because older adults may take a little longer to learn something new, it doesn’t mean behaviour change doesn’t happen—quite the opposite.
Unique Strengths Help Older Adults Change
There are unique strengths that older adults have that may better situate them to learn and make behavioural changes. For example, older adults retain high levels of crystalized intelligence, which consists of general knowledge and experiences you accumulate throughout your lifespan. It’s the type of intelligence that would help you answer jeopardy questions and change a tire in a snowstorm.
All of the knowledge and experience older adults possess can thus be called upon in learning new skills—and to their benefit. A retired school teacher can use all her prior experience as an organizer, communicator, and administrator to finally set up that small business she’s always wanted.
And there’s more good news: Older adults tend to do a better job at setting goals and staying committed to reaching them. Research suggests that older adults are more likely than younger adults to set goals around their intrinsic values (e.g., well-being) as opposed to extrinsic ones (e.g., money), which is associated with more sustained behaviour change. Older adults also demonstrate a higher level of commitment to reaching their goals relative to young adults.
So even if it takes a little longer to learn something new, older adults may be well situated to change their behaviour because of their life experiences and knowledge, as well as their approach and commitment to reaching a goal.
If you’re still wondering whether it’s too late to take up the electric guitar in your 60s, consider this your nudge to dust off that amplifier, schedule those lessons, and know that it’s never too late to be a rock star.
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References
Cuijpers P, Karyotaki E, Eckshtain D, et al. (2020). Psychotherapy for depression across different age groups: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiatry, 77, 694–702.
Mell, T., Heekeren, H. R., Marschner, A., Wartenburger, I., Villringer, A., & Reischies, F. M. (2005). Effect of aging on stimulus–reward association learning. Neuropsychologia, 43, 554–563.
Riediger, M., Freund, A.M., Baltes, P.B. (2005). Managing life through personal goals: Intergoal facilitation and intensity of goal pursuit in younger and older adulthood. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 60, 84–91.
Schmitt-Eliassen, J., Ferstl, R., Wiesner, C., Deuschl, G., & Witt, K. (2007). Feedback-based versus observational classification learning in healthy aging and Parkinson's disease. Brain Research, 1142, 178–188.
Sheldon, K. M., Kasser, T. (2001). Getting older, getting better? Personal strivings and psychological maturity across the life span. Developmental Psychology, 37, 491-501.
Weiler, J. A., Bellebaum, C., & Daum, I. (2008). Aging affects acquisition and reversal of reward-based associative learning. Learning and Memory, 15, 190–197.
