Subjective Views on Longevity

The present chapter highlights the role of subjective views on longevity for individual and societal aging. It first introduces perceptions and ideals regarding lifetime and the conditions and characteristics of a long life as subjective views on longevity and embeds them into a preliminary research model. The model presents contextual and societal influences, vicarious and personal aging and life experiences, as well as end-of-life influences as biographical influences accumulating over an individual’s lifespan. Subjective views of aging, attitudes towards death, as well as personal belief systems are then introduced as more proximal and psychological antecedents of subjective views on longevity. In regard to the immediate formation of subjective views on longevity, it is highlighted how individuals seem to actively differentiate between perceptions and ideals of longevity and may choose ideals in concordance or discordance with what they perceive as likely. Consequences of subjective views on longevity are highlighted on both the individual level (i.e., affective, cognitive, and behavioral consequences) and the societal level. Lastly, subjective views on longevity are more explicitly related to views of aging and aspects of their multidimensionality and multidirectionality are discussed.