What is the psychological age of a person? This is the level of mental and mental development, characteristic of a certain age of a person. In this article you will find information on how to find out the psychological age, what are its features and whether it can be changed.
Heavy load
One person at the age of 20 can be weighed down with a load of problems so much that his mental development goes far ahead. He himself feels too old for his age and acts like he is in his thirties: taking care of his younger brother or earning money for the treatment of his sick mother instead of having fun in nightclubs.
In this case, the psychological age of a person is clearly ahead of the biological. Another person at the age of forty plays computer games, can "break loose" and suddenly go on a trip, does not seek to have a family and children, believes that this will limit his freedom. His psychological age, on the contrary, lags behind (orlate).
What does it depend on?
Your psychological age depends on how you feel about life. It comes with experience, with experienced problems or, conversely, with their absence. But everything can be changed, so you should not despair ahead of time!
Psychological Age Stages
Many domestic and foreign psychologists tried to systematize the stages and highlight the psychological characteristics of age, based on a single criterion, so there are many different periodizations. Understanding scientific terms is the lot of scientists, we will take one of the descriptions compiled by Erickson.
He singled out 8 steps, on the basis of which the psychological characteristics of age can be distinguished:
- Infancy. During this important period, the basis for further relationships with the world is being created - trust or distrust in it. The more successfully this period passes, the more open a person will be to everything new in later life.
- Early childhood spanning the second and third years of life. The first attempts at independence and autonomy. Future prospects are laid: how much a person will be independent in the future, or how much he will depend on others. Confidence or self-doubt is the main lesson of this age.
- Preschool age. The ability to take the initiative or be passive, lead or follow, the concept of morality and guilt - all these qualities come from preschool age.
- Primary school age (up to about 12 years old). Awareness of one's need and value in the eyes of parents, friends, society as a whole, as well as hard work, are laid down at this age. The opposite effect under adverse living conditions is a feeling of uselessness and insignificance, a lack of love for work.
- Youth (13-19 years old). A person defines himself in the world around him, compares, tries to find his place in social groups that he considers appropriate. This is a very important process, at this time the formation of the personality, its individuality takes place. During this period, a person can partially or completely merge with the category of people that he considers an example to follow, and lose his own individuality, or stand out from the "crowd" and find his "I".
- Youth - this period covers the age of 20-30 years and is characterized by a desire for closeness and intimacy in relationships or alienation and even fear of close relationships.
- Maturity (30-40 years). Finding yourself in creativity or a period of stagnation (which some people call "stability"). The expression of one's personality through creativity is the natural aspiration of this period, and stagnation is the path to stagnation. This period is also characterized by a growing sense of responsibility for loved ones.
- Older age and old age (from 40 years old). A person approaches this period either with a sense of the integrity of his own personality, or with a sense of despair as a result of duality. What does it all mean? This means thatEach psychological age has its own characteristics. A person can go through one period successfully, but "get stuck" in another.
On examples
Based on the above, it is possible to determine the psychological age of a forty-year-old man who cannot part with one social group (rock music) and tries in every possible way to associate himself with it (wears appropriate clothes, attends rock concerts) - as " 19 years". But not everything is so clear. If the same man started a family, takes care of his wife, children and parents, his age is already “30 years old” (taking into account youthful passion for rock music).
How to know the psychological age?
In magazines you can often find many tests to determine the psychological age. They contain questions like "Will you run to the bus stop if you see that the bus you need is coming?" or "What do you usually spend your money on?" The results of different tests in the same person may vary. You can take several tests and calculate the arithmetic mean of the results.
If the interest in your own psychological age does not come from idle motives, then a psychologist will help you sort yourself out. After all, this is not just a test that determines your age by the checkmarks in the answers, but a person who evaluates your personality as a whole: your appearance, posture, gestures, voice, phrases, your attitude towards yourself and others, your goals and aspirations. All this hasvalue.
Can you change your mental age?
So, the tests are passed, the age is determined. If the psychological age is not very different from the biological, there is no cause for concern. But what if the difference is significant? A strong lag in mental development is infantilism, lack of independence, inability to take responsibility for what has been done, a blunted sense of guilt, the eternal search for destiny and the fear of close, trusting relationships. Strong lead is also bad. This is premature "aging of the soul". A person feels morally tired, he is of little interest in creative self-expression, he has stepped over the period of creating a family. All that remains is a feeling of annoyance from a life lived in a psychological, but not lived in real age, life.
How to do it?
How to find out the psychological age, you already understood, but how to change it? It can be done. But it means changing yourself. First you need to realize your weaknesses: where exactly, in what period of your life you are stuck, why you can’t leave this period in the past, what prevents you from moving on, or why you “jumped” through significant periods of your life without having time to live them. After analyzing all this, you can begin to correct the problems. But sometimes habits are stronger than the desire to change something. In this case, a psychologist will help. He will direct your thoughts and actions in the right direction.
Conclusion
We hope you have learned new information from this article on how to find outpsychological age, what are its main features and characteristics, can it be changed. We advise you to take only proven tests, and not created by non-professionals. That is why an appeal to a psychologist will be the most successful idea. If this is not possible, look at at least a few of the available tests and choose the one about which you know the most information. Good luck and harmony in your soul and body!
