Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center

Upcoming Events

  • Aging Seminar: Silver Lining: The Prosocial Potential of Aging

    Wednesday, February 26, 2025
    12:00 PM to 1:00 PM
    Online Event
    • School of Social Work
    • Social Sciences
    • Research
    • Mailman School of Public Health
    • International and Public Affairs
    • Economics
    • College of Physicians and Surgeons
    • Columbia Nursing
    • College of Dental Medicine
    SPRING 2025 SEMINARS OF THE ROBERT N. BUTLER COLUMBIA AGING CENTER | Assets of Aging: A Series on the Capabilities that Accrue with Longer Lives Join us for the Columbia Aging Center's ONLINE seminar--the next in a series that focuses on the assets of aging and the capabilities that accrue with longer lives. Please register to attend via zoom on February 26, 2025. Details and registration link below.   WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY  26, 2025, 12:00PM-1:00PM ET The Silver Lining: The Prosocial Potential of an Aging Population Enna Chen, MA PhD Candidate Department of Psychology Stanford University  Virtual Seminar Location: Zoom Register to attend this virtual seminar via Zoom at: https://columbiacuimc.zoom.us/meeting/register/wuI8IB5RQUOl6RqMfqKJTA https://tinyurl.com/EnnaChen Abstract:  As global life expectancy rises and fertility rates fall, the population aged 65 and older is projected to double by 2050. While these demographic shifts pose potential challenges, they may also present opportunities for families, workplaces, and communities, particularly if older adults remain healthy and socially engaged. Research on age-related changes in prosocial tendencies—behaviors that benefit others, such as helping and charitable giving—points to encouraging possibilities of an aging population. In this talk, I review recent findings on the association between age and prosociality, including helping behaviors, volunteering, and charitable giving. I also discuss my ongoing work on older and younger adults’ daily helping behavior and its links to emotions and meaning in life, as well as strategies to promote prosocial engagement across the adult life span. Together, these findings highlight the potential of older adulthood as a period of enriched social contribution.  

  • Aging Seminar: Contributions of Wisdom to Healthy Aging

    Thursday, February 27, 2025
    12:00 PM to 1:00 PM
    Online Event
    • School of Social Work
    • Social Sciences
    • Research
    • Mailman School of Public Health
    • International and Public Affairs
    • Economics
    • College of Physicians and Surgeons
    • Columbia Nursing
    • College of Dental Medicine
    SPRING 2025 SEMINARS OF THE ROBERT N. BUTLER COLUMBIA AGING CENTER | Assets of Aging: A Series on the Capabilities that Accrue with Longer Lives Join us for the Columbia Aging Center's ONLINE seminar--the next in a series that focuses on the assets of aging and the capabilities that accrue with longer lives. Please register to attend via Zoom on February 27, 2025. Details and registration link below.   THURSDAY, FEBRUARY  27, 2025, 12:00PM-1:00PM ET Contributions of Wisdom to Healthy Aging: Exciting Frontiers of Future Research Dilip V. Jeste, MD Director, Global Research Network on Social Determinants of Mental Health and Exposomics President-Elect, World Federation for Psychotherapy Editor-in-Chief, International Psychogeriatrics Virtual Seminar Location: Zoom Register to attend via Zoom at: https://columbiacuimc.zoom.us/meeting/register/ihe98VbeTLqKAxMTw3TY6A Abstract: Discussed in religions and philosophies for millennia, wisdom has been a topic of growing empirical research in recent decades. Wisdom is a complex personality trait comprised of empathy/compassion, emotional regulation, self-reflection, acceptance of diverse perspectives, and spirituality. Putative neurobiological underpinnings of wisdom involve prefrontal cortex and limbic striatum, and they provide a biological basis for enhancement of wisdom components with healthy aging. A number of randomized controlled trials have shown an increase in emotional regulation, empathy/compassion, and spirituality with behavioral interventions with moderate to large effect sizes. Our studies show a strong inverse association between wisdom and loneliness, and suggest that wisdom, especially its compassion component, can potentially be an antidote for the modern behavioral pandemic of loneliness, suicides, and opioid-related deaths of despair. I will discuss some exciting frontiers for future research on wisdom including global psycho-bio-social approaches as well as technological advances to help move artificial intelligence (AI) to artificial wisdom (AW).