Feb 17 2009
How Bogus Beliefs Persist (IV): With Age Comes a Membership to AARP and Wisdom
[This is the 4th part in a 4-part series. Intro here.]
While age certainly brings the opportunity to join the Association for the Advancement of Retired People, does it also bring wisdom? Equipped with the belief, “with age comes wisdom,” a person could find data in the form of personal observations supporting this belief, even if hits were as infrequent as finding a penny on the pavement.
When you don’t count opposing and alternative cases — the misses — the hits shine. Any time an older person — and if that comprises any individual over the age of 50, we’re swinging one gigantic net — acts in a manner that could be viewed as wise, a mental flash goes off. But how are we to notice and weigh possibly disconfirming evidence? Why would we throw the geriatric driver who backs into a shopping cart, pulls forward three feet, then backs directly into it again, into the same net that holds the instances our grandparents gave us comforting advice? Why would we throw the twenty-five year old who buys a less expensive car and puts the money saved into her IRA — certainly an exercise of sound judgment — in there as well?
Like the idea of a mid-life crisis, the age-brings-wisdom proposition is given a flying start through the use of loosely defined terms. Just what is wisdom? If wisdom is a mere synonym for knowledge, then sure, with age comes increased knowledge. The longer you live, the more you can learn. But if wisdom is something possibly related but distinctly different, and
I think most people would agree it is, then what is it?
In an article about the cultural and historical roots of the term, Takahashi writes, “In the West wisdom historically involved various aspects of daily conscious experience and a relationship to a god or gods. . . . Wise people possessed an extensive knowledge base and ability to reflect upon information processes utilizing that knowledge base.” (6)
From the latter half of the above quote we can infer how the belief in age-acquired wisdom may have originated and, at that time, probably held some truth. Before the invention of printing and books, certainly before libraries and the Internet, and before humanity settled into
cities in which labor was highly specialized, if you wanted to know the best way to hunt gazelle, for example, you’d look to speak to someone with many memories and a wealth of personal experience.
It today’s highly specialized world overflowing with new information making obsolete the old, a world in which consulting gods is rarely part of everyday decision-making, have the aged lost their esteemed position? Seems they have. Sixty-year olds applying for jobs are often greeted as if they had arrived in a Ford Edsel.
But what about the “reflect” part, an essential component to many definitions of wisdom? Given that the aged have the same access to information as the young, are they better able to reflect upon it?
From the scant research on the matter, it doesn’t appear so. For example, a study conducted by Staudinger, Smith, and Baltes found that while old adults performed as well as young adults, they did no better. The authors did find a link between profession and wisdom, with those in the human services performing better than the control group.(7)
With more and more people resorting to extreme measures, such as surgery, to defy signs of advancing years, attesting to an acute ageism in our culture, it would be nice if age did bring wisdom. In consolation-prize fashion, the elderly could find an upside to the decline of capabilities and the onset of arthritis and other physical insults. However, as much as I’d like to grant the older generation an unwritten diploma honoring their advanced judgment, I see no good evidence of it. And thus I’ve discarded that particular belief.
What, if anything besides the tendency to insist on weighty evidence, makes the skeptic less prone to affliction by self-confirming belief-baubles? Do we have a small orange sticker affixed to the handle of all our beliefs carrying the warning, “use with caution”? Do we habitually generate three-headed nets, one labeled “yes,” the other two “no” and “but”?
In her book, Lucy’s Legacy, after having explored the benefits of sexual reproduction, Allison Jolly asks, “In what way is intelligence like sex?” Her answer: “If sex evolved so that your children are not condemned to be just like you, intelligence evolved so that you are not condemned to be just like yourself.” As you may have deduced from the header text to this blog, I really love that quote. Extending her analogy, I like to encourage people to engage in frequent and vigorous intercourse. Why listen to the redundant prattle of others? Become infomaniacs. It’s the more rational thing to do.
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(6) Takahaski, M. 2000. “Toward a culturally inclusive understanding of wisdom: Historical roots in the East and West.” International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 51(3), 217-230.
(7) Staudinger, U. M., Smith, J. & Baltes, P. B. 1992. “Wisdom-related knowledge in a Life Review task: Age differences and the role of professional specialization.” Psychology and Aging, 7(2), 271-281.
