Abstract: the article is concerned with gender differences in the emotional sphere of older people. A theoretical analysis of experimental studies of this issue has been carried out from the 30s of the XX century. The differences in gender characteristics that affect the emotional reactions of men and women are revealed in the hierarchy of needs in the elderly age. The relevance of the research is that the overall health of older men and women directly depends on the emotional sphere and their need sphere. The authors of the article emphasize the importance of the integrity of the personality for elderly people which directly affects the readiness of older men and women to constructively resolve intrapersonal conflicts. The article says that older people need to increase their emotional intelligence; it is never too late to learn to understand their own emotions and feelings as well as the emotions and feelings of other people. The authors urge older men and women to keep on developing and striving to improve their psychological knowledge to better understand what is happening to them, what is happening with their mind at this age. The psychological information available for elderly men and women will allow them to determine the course of mental processes and conditions, which will enable them to build constructive interpersonal relationships, above all with their inner circle. The article emphasizes that physiological changes in old age are inevitable, but they proceed in different ways in each personality and this cannot be ignored. The same thing happens with emotional gender reactions, they also proceed in different ways for older men and women. It depends on temperament, character, and accentuations of character, on the whole, as well as the level of intellectual development, upbringing, emotional intelligence and many other factors.
Keywords: emotional sphere, gender differences, old age, the need sphere