Older people cannot grasp new ideas or form new opinions

[GracchusBabeuf]

.

[Dean]

I have heard this from a variety of sources, religious, political and elsewhere. Does "you cannot an old dog new tricks" apply to human beings in terms of their brains grasping new ideas or forming new opinions in a non-coercive environment? I'm looking for scientific research, if any, on this subject.

I don't know exactly what the causes are, but from what I have seen, as people get older they tend to solidify their beliefs... it is widely accepted that males tend to reach their established psychological paradigm around age 26, and after that changes tend to be more minor.

I'm 24, so I am a bit scared about this. I don't ever wnt to be stuck in one mindset. I am very intent on consistently being able to learn and to always be able to challenge my own ideas from their foundations.

[¿Que?]

Here's a longitudinal study of a comparison of two generations change and continuity in political views. I haven't read it, but it seems interesting. It does not have an abstract, which is kind of annoying, but oh well. My advice, if you're really interested in this topic, do a google scholar search for some terms such as "aging", and "politics" or whatever.

http://www.jstor.org/pss/1955291

[Lynx]

After age 30 stuff you learn doesn't stay with you unless you make use of it. You can still learn, it just doesn't get committed to memory like it used to when you were younger.

[Rosa Lichtenstein]

Plenty of younger comrades here can't process new ideas; witness my attacks on Mao's 'theory', for instance.:lol:

[RedStarOverChina]

Plenty of younger comrades here can't process new ideas; witness my attacks on Mao's 'theory', for instance.:lol:
I wonder why that is. :glare:

[Coggeh]

I would say an answer would be simple marxism about how your enviornment shapes your ideas. Older people tend to have certain ideas shaped more solidly because they have been subject to that enviornment for longer.

[Weezer]

People say that the youth brain isn't fully developed. This is true, however they also forget right after psychological maturity, it goes straight downhill from there.

[Jimmie Higgins]

I would say an answer would be simple marxism about how your enviornment shapes your ideas. Older people tend to have certain ideas shaped more solidly because they have been subject to that enviornment for longer.Yes, I don't know how much learning changes biologically with age, but I think enviornment is probably more important in most cases. If people learn a negative lesson enough then they've been "burned" and it's harder to shake that lesson even if conditions change and age has less to do with experience in this case.

So if someone has had a series of bad or abusive relationships, it's going to be harder for them to trust someone in a new realtionship regardless of how nice and caring the new partner is.

How this works out politically is that older people who maybe felt that protests against the war in 2003 didn't do anything will probably be more cynical towards new protests regardless of any political changes or radicalization in the meahntime. Or people who were part of the new-left and then got burned are not going to be as quick to join in political organizations in the futute.

I think this is part of the reason why youth in the 60s radicalized faster than society in general - they didn't have direct experiences with either McCarthyism or CP betrayals. It's also the reason I think that youth in California are the first to respond to the "budget crisis" even though public unions are also under the knife of cuts. In the LGBT actions against prop 8, older activists tened to be much more cynical and had lower expectations and were more quick to argue for compromise than young people who tended to want immediate action and no compromise.

Again in all these examples I think expereinces, not biological age was the major factor.

[black magick hustla]

I think older people can change but it is out of a life changing event rather than just a bunch of young people hecking them with "reason". I remember Dev said to some republican socialist that "he has been a communist since he was 15" and that his mindset cannot change unless something big happens.

[Devrim]

I think older people can change but it is out of a life changing event rather than just a bunch of young people hecking them with "reason". I remember Dev said to some republican socialist that "he has been a communist since he was 15" and that his mindset cannot change unless something big happens.

I think this is essentially true (though I am not sure I actually said 15. If I did I was exaggerating a little). By the time you get to my age, your political ideas are pretty solid and well-formed. That doesn't mean that they are not going to change, but I doubt so much that they will be changed in discussion, at least on essential issues. What I think it needs is something in the material world that makes you challenge those ideas.

If somebody tells you you are wrong, you may not rethink, but if reality proves you wrong, you have too.

Devrim

[black magick hustla]

To continue with the discussion. I rarely argue politics with my parents. I love them but I think it is kindof useless, and they do have very good reasons to think the way they did. My dad was born in a small poor village and was raised by an iliterate algerian mother. He would do math problems in the beach sand. He also knows five languages and has travelled by foot through all northern africa. It takes more than some dumb kid who likes books to change the views of someone like that.*


The interesting part is that we probably agree in many basic issues. He says, for example, that when he lived in Algeria there where no homeless people, and no mad muslim militants. I would probably say that is because of the decomposition of Capitalism.

[piet11111]

Probably people tend to surround themselves with like minded people as they age so socialists will hang out with other socialists and lose contact with right wing "friends"

As such they will lose exposure to new ideas.

At least thats what i would expect giving it a few moments of thought.

[Rosa Lichtenstein]

RedStarOverChina:


I wonder why that is.

This is why:

http://www.revleft.com/vb/showpost.php?p=1562162&postcount=51

[chegitz guevara]

It's a function of how the brain works. In younger people, neurons more readily make (and break) new pathways. It is especially powerful before the age of five (which is why young children can learn languages so easily).

Once you hit the age of thirty, new neuron growth slows considerably, which means there's not a lot of room for new pathways to form.

Also, memories are reinforced over time, so the longer you've had the memory, the more your brain will have reinforced it.