This year our quarterly Human Life Sciences series examines the end of life from perspectives offered by medical science (Fall), social science (Winter) and the humanities (Spring). This Winter quarter we invite you to presentations by anthropologist Ron Barrett on “Family Caregiving in an Aging World” and research psychologist Laura Carstensen on "Aging and the Perception of Time."
The aging of American society poses challenges for families who are simultaneously caring for their parents and their children. These challenges have been framed in terms of dependency ratios, caregiver burden, and questions of what society owes to its older generations. With the dispersion of extended families, the challenge of caregiving is often compounded by a lack of social as well as financial resources. Yet in many cases, older generations play a significant role as caregivers themselves. For these reasons, it is better to frames the challenge of caregiving in terms of intergenerational exchange rather than dependency and burden.
Ronald Barrett
Assistant Professor of Anthropological Sciences
Ronald Barrett is a medical anthropologist and assistant professor in the Department of Anthropological Sciences. He is also a registered nurse with clinical experience in hospice, brain injury rehabilitation, and neuro-intensive care. He has conducted ethnographic research on the social stigma of leprosy in northern India, and home hospice caregiving in the United States. His most recent project concerns the role of the elderly in the provision of care among three-generation Indian families.
Time horizons change as people age. Early in life, people view chronological age as a marker of time passed since they were born. Gradually age comes serve as a marker for time left in life. This shift in time horizons changes motivation in fundamental ways. Most people see more clearly what is important and what is not. They select goals carefully and invest in them more heavily. Consequently, rather than anxiety and fear, satisfaction and contentment better characterize the later years of life. Recognition of the fragility of life increases the value placed on life.
Laura Carstensen
Professor of Psychology
Laura Carstensen is the current chair of the Department of Psychology and Professor of Psychology at Stanford where she directs the Life-span Development Laboratory. Her specialties include socioemotional selectivity theory, emotional development throughout the life-span, the role social relationships play in psychological well-being, and the influence of motivation on cognitive processing in old age. Her research is supported primarily by the National Institute on Aging. She has received Stanford's Dean's Distinguished Teaching Award and was recently selected as a Guggenheim Fellow.