Human behavioral complexity peaks at age 25: study

Post by copperx » Thu, May 11, 2017, 1:54 AM UTC

WilliamDhalgren wrote: post #28

derefr wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It almost sounds like people try harder and harder to keep up with societal expectations of continued "sharpness"... until they hit some age where cultural norms say they aren't expected to be sharp any more. And then they stop trying, which causes an outsized decline as their lowered expectations of their own capability, feeds into lowered capability, which feeds back into further-lowered expectations.

could be, I really don't know. I can imagine perfectly benign scenarios too; if our long-term memory grows with time, maybe there's just more possible connections/associations to filter out with time too, so that decision just becomes harder, with only the deeper old age being simply tissue decline, the exhaustion of cognitive reserves etc. Somewhat relatedly, I think I heard on some old Skeptic's guide to the univer…

Post by copperx » Thu, May 11, 2017, 1:59 AM UTC

awkwardtortoise wrote: post #31

jacquesm wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In fact, if money is what you're after you are probably better of getting the degree and then leaving academics, I don't know many people who stayed in the academic circuit and ended up being well off.

In academia, only those who get tenured professorships are sitting pretty. And they get to sit pretty for decades. Everyone else has to hustle to get their crumbs. I know people who are teaching adjuncts and they get paid crumbs ( $2 or $3K PER SEMESTER ). This is at a highly competitive university where tuition + board is $80K. I could not believe it.

Post by [deleted] » Thu, May 11, 2017, 2:20 AM UTC

derefr wrote: post #26

WilliamDhalgren wrote: post #19

yeah, but apparently barely declines untill say 60+. Speed suffers however. "The adult years were remarkable in that complexity remained at a high level for a protracted period, in spite of a slow decrease of speed during the same period. This suggest that during the adult period, people tend to invest more and more computational time to achieve a stable level of output complexity. Later in life (>70), however, speed…

It almost sounds like people try harder and harder to keep up with societal expectations of continued "sharpness"... until they hit some age where cultural norms say they aren't expected to be sharp any more. And then they stop trying, which causes an outsized decline as their lowered expectations of their own capability, feeds into lowered capability, which feeds back into further-lowered expectations.

Post by Annielang » Thu, May 11, 2017, 2:28 AM UTC

Post by EGreg » Thu, May 11, 2017, 3:08 AM UTC

awkwardtortoise wrote: post #30

EGreg wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because you don't make it in university doesn't mean you can't do some amazing things. I failed my oral exams in the Math Ph. D. Instead of retaking them, I left with a Master's, made a lot of money and started my own company which now has over 4 million users. Also, forget about the peak, if you build value for yourself, you'll have more every year. If you're building value for others and earning money, then in…

What? What does you comment have to do with the topic? It seems like you got offended by the title, which has nothing to do with what you wrote. You seem to have a chip on your shoulder about being a failure at math ( or failing to get a PhD ).