Old people aren't rude, just uninhibited: new research

EurekAlert ^ | September 9, 2005 | Staff

[DaveLoneRanger]

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, in Sydney, 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 (see example below).

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.

[DaveLoneRanger]

So! Why did you click to read this post anyway, FATSO? Is it because you're a JERK or is it just because you're so UGLY that you have nothing ELSE to DO? Ugh, morons.

[Bouchart]

Maybe it is because older people are more immune to the influence of political correctness.

[Byron_the_Aussie]

For 'lack of tact' read 'PC non-compliant.'

[cripplecreek]

My great grandmother used to hang up on us when she talked on the phone. As she explained.."I'm not rude, just finished"

*click*

[bigsigh]

uh, they are rude, it's the lack of inhibition that leads to more of the behavior.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Old people aren't rude, just uninhibited: new research

Nope they are rude. It is because people cater to them. You allow a behavior at any age and you get more of it.

[Brad's Gramma]

Oh shut up you dweeb.

















(hehe! Sorry!)

[bannie]

I am not. I just have less time than you.

[Brad's Gramma]

HTB's still on the floor I think. Laughing.

She'll be right with you....

[bannie]

:-D

I have time for that.

[Brad's Gramma]

Teddy Bear. Come baaaack!

[Happygal]

MY FAVOURITE poem of ALL time is one by Jenny Joseph, and it's called 'WARNING'. Whatcha think?

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat that doesn't go and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only eat bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers

But maybe I ought to practise a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old and start to wear purple.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

That does it. No more roasted goat for you!

It makes you cranky.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

But who knows how much time we really have?

[Brad's Gramma]

[TADSLOS]

You're all a bunch of lazy sinners bound for hell!

[DLfromthedesert]

OMIGOD I've been putting my foot in my mouth since I could talk. I can only imagine....

[Happygal]

I think you'll laugh at my post No. 12. :-)

[JoeSixPack1]

...older people are more immune to the influence of political correctness.

I'm retired. Paid all my dues. So EVERYBODY can just kiss my butt! :-)

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Ja Ja I am here.

Snuggles wants to sit on your lap.

[bannie]

We work in odds.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Thanks!

He was yummy!

[Brad's Gramma]

THE POEM!!!! I've been looking for that!!!

Thanks!

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

and snub the evens? ;-)

[bannie]

The older we get, the better we get at SHORTHAND

[Brad's Gramma]

(hehe)

The Bear Dies.

[bannie]

titter...sometimes I'm even; but I'm usually just plain odd.

[Brad's Gramma]

He was yummy!

You killed SNUGGLES?????? Oh man.

[cripplecreek]

[Brad's Gramma]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!

[ladyinred]

ROTFL! I can see this is true in my own Mother actually.

[ancient_geezer]

Are you tactful?

Nah, geezers aint got no time left for tactful.

Hav'n hard enough time keep'n up with cantankerous.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Do you have the Society of the Red Hats over in Ireland?

[Happygal]

THAT is FUNNY! Brilliant!

[mountainfolk]

That is funny. I had an aunt that did the same thing. She didn't like to talk on the phone to begin with and if the conversation went beyond several minutes she would just say, 'well, goodbye' and hang up. The family was highly amused and had bets on who could keep her interested the longest.

[Porterville]

But I'm only 31..

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I draw the line at killing relatives.

I have to have some standards you know.

[Graybeard58]

Nope they are rude. It is because people cater to them

My wife learned that over 30 years ago when she worked in a nursing home.

A number of the old coots (men) thought that because they were old that gave them a license to play grab ass, or anything else they could reach.

I am 60 years old and try to be polite always but I have found that the older I get, the less I give a rats patootie what people think about me.

[Happygal]

Um..eh, now. We try to avoid things 'red'..The red hand of Ulster...and all that. Green? Possibly? But not strictly kosher.

[Lady Jag]

Nope. You are wrong. I say what I want because I realize life is shorter that youngsters think.

[Brad's Gramma]

Happygal...I didn't realize you're in Ireland! Wow!

[ChildOfThe60s]

I thought this thread was going to be about cutting the cheese.

[Lady Jag]

See post #40

[Brad's Gramma]

LOL!!!!

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

The Bear Dies.

Oh great now he is hiding under my bed again.

If I have to put him in therapy again I am sending the bill to you.

[Happygal]

Aye, I am. Born, bred, reared and living. And happy. :-)

It's not a bad old frontier...even if it is part of Europe! *L*

[Tim Long]

Old people suck. Prime examples: John Paul Stevens, Andy Rooney.

[frannie]

I beg your pardon, I am 82 years of age and AM NOT old.

I very seldom discuss my health even with my sons. I live by my self, on a golf course, in the mountains in N.C. Play golf when I want to, do my own house work[ since my husband died]. Hadn't done it in over 35 years. Have a dog called Barney.

I am very, very conservative and interested in politics.

I am old fashioned and you might call me straight laced.
I am not rude. Age has made me MORE tactful.

I don't believe you can paint any gender or age group with a broad brush.

You may even like me if you knew me but please don't think of me as rude. Some of us who some call old have just been here longer then some others.

Love to you.

[Graybeard58]

You have inspired me. I am filling out a pre surgery form for the doctors office and on it is a place for "nick name" if you have one. I left it blank but am going to put on it, "Gripey Old Bastard".

[perfect stranger]

Relatives of whom? LOL