Remembering the Good Ol' Days

PERCEPTIONS

Reminiscing about the "good old days" is a fun pastime, but are lamented societal changes real or imagined?

To find out, Richard Eibach, a Cornell University graduate psychology student, surveyed 51 elementary school teachers on their perceptions of world danger in the recent past. His findings, presented to the American Psychological Society, showed that teachers who had become parents during the given period perceived a significantly more dangerous world than did other teachers. Eibach suggests perspectives change because a healthy dose of parental suspicion helps protect newborns.

"Over time, we acquire a cynical perspective," says Eibach. "To the extent that people don't realize this is happening, they might think the world is declining."