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A visit to many homes for the aged can be depressing. Many of the men and women we see there seem listless, unresponsive, and incapable of performing simple tasks. Two researchers from Yale University, Ellen Langer and Judith Rodin, decided to see whether they could reverse the condition of residents in an old-age home. Their sample was made up of ninety-one residents, ages sixty-five to ninety, all well enough to be walking about. The investigators reasoned that the crucial psychological process a person missed in such institutions was taking responsibility for decisions. To be an actor in life's drama, we must act, decide, and be responsible for the consequences.

About half of the participants in the study received instructions that emphasized responsibility for caring for themselves and improving the quality of life in the home. They were then asked to choose a plant from among a box of them as a present, with the understanding that they had to care for it. In contrast, a second group of patients was given instructions that stressed the responsibility of the staff to provide good services for the residents. They were handed a plant as a present and told that the nurses would water it for them.

The results were dramatic. The experimental "I'll do it myself" groups showed significant improvement over the "We'll do it for you" group on alertness, active participation, and sense of well-being.

Eighteen months later, these positive results had not changed, as indicated by nurses' higher ratings of the happiness, sociability, and vigor of the personally responsible group. But most startling of all, inducing the residents to be responsible for themselves and their plants made them live longer! Following the experiment, only 15 percent of the personally responsible residents died, compared to twice as many in the no-responsibility group.