The main premise of the Terman experiment is “why do some people thrive into old age and why others die prematurely” (Friedman & Martin IX). Throughout his study, Terman found that “the people who lived the longest had certain habits and patterns of living and their personalities, career trajectories and social lives proved highly relevant to their long term health” (Friedman & Martin X). This finding is applicable to the present day because it seems as though elderly people who have a daily routine that consists of various activities live longer than those who do not have a routine. I found it very interesting that Terman was able to follow individuals throughout their entire lives and observe which characteristics influence the outcomes of their lives. One thing that I found most interesting in the reading was that many health threats are not due to bad luck, instead they are “systematic individual differences in susceptibility to injury and disease” (Friedman & Martin 1). The determining factor of who gets sick and who stays healthy are products of personality or other social issues. After reading this quotation and comparing it to everything I’ve seen regarding longevity, I found that most of the time people think that getting a specific illness is a product of bad luck, when in actuality getting this illness is based on various factors such as over all happiness, relationships with others and behaviors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The main premise of the Terman experiment is “why do some people thrive into old age and why others die prematurely” (Friedman & Martin IX). Throughout his study, Terman found that “the people who lived the longest had certain habits … Continue reading