Old Person Brain

Have you heard of the folk wisdom that hardly anybody changes their mind after the age of thirty? At this point one's value set and view of the world is thought to be pretty much preserved in formaldehyde for life. Recently while having conversations about controversies I could feel my mental plasticity ossifying into "old person brain."

It does very little good to say things like "I might be wrong." That statement accomplishes very little to actually produce change because of course, I wouldn't be convinced of what I'm convinced of unless I was convinced of it. Saying I could be wrong doesn't change the overwhelming likelihood that I really am right. When I say that you should not jump off a skyscraper because you would die, just because I modestly acknowledge that a freak parade balloon could possibly break your fall does not change anything. Something more than modesty is required to keep mental plasticity. I think it requires a better kind of listening.

Comments

ericthemage on Mar. 3, 2005 4:25 PM

Children are already set in their ways. Ever notice that it takes a lot of discipline and effort to get them to stop doing certain things?

I think that folk wisdom is because at a younger age, our opinions are malleable, mostly because we want to fit in and find acceptance. After we get older, we're less likely to be affected by peer pressure and the desire to fit in, so we keep our beliefs pretty rigid.

matt-arnold on Mar. 3, 2005 5:00 PM

Your comment reminds me of this essay about language learning. He explains (among other interesting things) why it is not true that very young children are better at learning languages.

"- They can devote almost their full time to it. Adults consider half an hour's study a day to be onerous.

- Their motivation is intense. Adults rarely have to spend much of their time in the company of people they need to talk to but can't; children can get very little of what they want without learning language(s).

- Their peers are nastier. Embarrassment is a prime motivating factor for human beings ... Dealing with a French waiter is nothing compared with the vicious reception in store for a child who speaks funny."

The innate mental plasticity of youth may turn out to be unsupported by evidence.

marahsk on Mar. 3, 2005 5:27 PM

When I say that I could be wrong about something I believe, I mean that my mind is open to logical, compelling arguments.

But I wouldn't accept a random freak event (like the balloon) as a reason to stop believing that, in general, jumping off a skyscraper without a parachute is fairly dangerous. If I saw jumpers (without parachutes) floating gently to the ground, I would have to reassess that belief.

phecda on Mar. 3, 2005 6:37 PM

being fairly advanced into my senesence, I'd like to offer an opinion or two.

1. you *can* teach old dogs new tricks. I'm constantly having to learn new things. I put myself through life changes every few years just to keep things mixed up a bit. I also tend to trope towards younger people for friends these days, which helps in maintaining a more youthful viewpoint. Now I will admit that I learn differently now than when I was younger. My brain is no longer an information sponge... it's a tad saturated these days.

2. I think part of the reason that people become ossified is stress. If you're constantly under pressure to survive day in, day out, you regiment your life to where you don't have to think as hard about decisions.

An interesting study would be to see how adaptable children from war torn areas (including inner city), in comparison to children growing up in, say rural america, in comparison to children growing up in a peaceful affluent area, like Ann Arbor. Anyone want a sociology project?

matt-arnold on Mar. 3, 2005 10:27 PM

Perhaps it is just stress. This would account for the conservatism in the tribes of old. If you changed what worked, you would probably get eaten.

Stress could also be the reason that people who debate a lot tend to change their mind less and less. I used to think it was because they were exposed to more and more evidence, but that wouldn't explain why the same happens to those whose views oppose theirs. It could be that after having tackled and answered the same question umpteen thousand times, the stress is tiring. It starts to feel like wading in molasses. One can only take so much of it and eventually become tired and resort to overused heuristics and sloganeering.

netmouse on Mar. 3, 2005 10:26 PM

This reminds me of a conversation I had with my mom on Sunday. We were talking about varicose veins, something we both have, a tendency toward which could be inherited, but which are affected by a number of factors in your environment and your body. Basically, they are enlarged veins, usually in your legs, caused by poor circulation. Purple/blue ones indicate poor circulation back to the heart, red ones indicate poor circulation away from the heart. My mom asserted that she believed the ones on the backs of her thighs were caused by sitting back when she worked, and having the circulation on her legs cut off behind her knee. I asked what color veins and when she said blue I expressed doubt that circulation back to the heart would be that affected by having another part of the system *farther away from the heart* cut off. I could be quite wrong, but she didn't seem prepared to examine any of her assumptions about how circulation works. And, most of all, she seemed to think that having come to a conclusion once meant that she was done concluding things about that situation.

I think I continue to learn at a fast rate, but focus certainly is a problem.

on the other hand, a sales lady at the perfume counter at JC Penny a couple weeks ago was saying that most people choose their brands between the ages of 15 and 25 and then stay loyal to them. The major brands I'm loyal to (that existed back then) I became loyal to when I was 12 or so. I always was precocious...

:P

PS. I'm very pleased to be confirming that varicose veins can be dramatically improved by massaging toward the heart to improve circulation....

treebones on Mar. 3, 2005 11:40 PM — I know I have the tendency...

...and I know I have beaten it, time and again. (:

delosd on Mar. 4, 2005 4:57 AM

Looking at this from the viewpoint of changing personal beliefs (rather than changing ones opinion of whether you like spinach, or some such ), I have a suspicion that at least part of the reason people do not change their basic beliefs as they age is that they have built up a substantial "weight" of evidence. When you are young, you may have generated some belief, but you have likely not seen a great deal of evidence either for or against it. As you age, you have many opportunities to see additional evidence confirming your belief. I am far less likely to change a belief which I have seen confirmed by ten different sources than I am to change a belief that I have only seen one other confirmation for.

i-amanuensis on Mar. 4, 2005 8:43 PM — Heehee

You remind me of Harry Potter in this photo, all you need is a wand....

Have fun at Marscon!!!

Diana