ADULTS DON'T GROW UP ANYMORE

Psychology News

Disclaimer: what I have written below is paraphrased from books, and not my direct findings. I am merely, conveying it through this blog because I think it is noteworthy.

___________________________________________________________

If you believe the adults around you are acting like children, you are probably right. In technical terms, it is called "psychological neoteny" - in which ever-more people retain for ever-longer the characteristic behaviours and attitudes of earlier developmental stages. In a psychological sense, some contemporary individuals never actually become adults. And it's on the rise.

According to Dr. Bruce Charlton (Bruce G Charlton MD, Editor-in-Chief, Medical Hypotheses, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK. e-mail address: bruce.charlton@ncl.ac.uk.), evolutionary psychiatrist at Newcastle upon Tyne, human beings now take longer to reach mental maturity - and many never do so at all.

Charlton believes this is an accidental by-product of formal education that lasts well into the twenties. "Formal education requires a child-like stance of receptivity," which "counteracts the attainment of psychological maturity" that would normally occur in the late teens or early twenties.

He notes that "academics, teachers, scientists and many other professionals are often strikingly immature." He calls them "unpredictable, unbalanced in priorities, and tending to overreact."

Earlier human societies, such as hunter-gatherers, were more stable and thus adulthood was attained in the teen years. Now, however, with rapid social change and less reliance on physical strength, maturity is more often postponed. He notes that markers of maturity such as graduation from college, marriage, and first child formerly occurred at fixed ages, but now may happen over a span of decades.

Thus, he says, "in an important psychological sense, some modern people never actually become adults."

Charlton thinks this may be adaptive. "A child-like flexibility of attitudes, behaviours and knowledge" may be useful in navigating the increased instability of the modern world, he says, where people are more likely to change jobs, learn new skills, move to new places. But this comes at the cost of "short attention span, frenetic novelty-seeking, ever shorter cycles of arbitrary fashion, and ... a pervasive emotional and spiritual shallowness." He added that modern people "lack a profundity (i.e. depth of intellect, feeling, or meaning) of character which seemed commoner in the past."

___________________________________________________________

(Crichton, M., 2006, "Next", HarperCollins Publishers , Inc., New York.)

A different working experience for me, and a game of squash!

Recently being assigned to a new engagement, my eyes are definitely opened up a lot more now! Bet no one can guess what this new engagement is about. It is auditing toll plazas (yup, toll plazas as in tolls that collect money from you and I when we drive our cars on highways). It is tedious, very tedious for really busy tolls; especially the ones around Kuala Lumpur! So, what do me and my team do? For starters, tolls deal with heaps of cash, and I mean HEAPS of CASH. So the company sets a range of procedures to ensure the safety and accuracy of the cash, and of course to maintain the smooth running for the toll plazas. Contrary to popular beliefs that toll plaza supervisors just sit in the air conditioned room and count cash, that is not the case at all. Their responsibility level is far higher than most supervisors in different industries.

So what is my job? Me and my team observe their activities in a day to ensure those procedures are adhered to, and to make sure every single documentation as prescribed by their company is followed. It is definitely tedious (it's audit!! What do you expect?).

For today, I made it back from the toll visit for squash. Believe it or not, I drove about 45 minutes from the toll plaza to get back in time for squash. Was it worth it? Every bit! I made it into the firm's squash team this year. So inter-firm squash games, watch out!

But I still need to work out on my cardiovascular strength. Probably due to irregular squash games and lack of sleep, I run out of gas pretty easily. I have about 3 weeks left before the games, so I better work on my cardio because having good strokes and technique simply will not do me any good if I run out of gas too early in the match!

squash, study, squash, study?

This evening I was at one of those crossroads in life, where I had to make a choice between choosing to have fun or study. Anyway, I finally got in touch with the firm's squash team captain and there was a squash practise session today at 6:30pm. Sadly, I had a class at 6:30pm as well. That was when I found myself stuck between the grey line of having to choose between going for my class or going for squash. Part of me was eager to go for squash because the inter-firm games is around the corner towards the end of August, and I really want to play for the firm and be active.

So there I was sitting down and my mind thinking, "squash? study? squash? study? squash? study? squash? study? squash? study?". I really didn't know what to do because I did not want to give the team captain the impression that I was not interested. On the other hand, my class was important since I am pretty weak with that subject. After due deliberation and some deep thoughts, my conscience gave way and I decided I would go for studies instead.

Here was my thought process:

SQUASH:

1. Definitely enjoy the game, challenge and sweat.

2. Might get selected for the team.

3. Good chance to assess the competition within the firm.

CLASS:

1. Improve my knowledge.

2. HELP in my exam.

3. Less guilt.

4. Because it is a catch up class, which the lecturer is not obliged in any way to hold, I'd be disrespecting her efforts if I skipped it.

5. I have to strengthen my basics!

And that's how I decided to go for my class over playing squash. It was a tough decision but I made it............... decisions, decision, decisions *sigh*

The Simpsons MOVIE

Finally managed to find some time to catch a movie. The last time I saw The Simpsons was at least 10 years ago when I was still in primary school. it was like the best hit cartoon series at that time created by Matt Groening. The cracky family, the funny Springfield characters and some really good jokes.

The movie, talks about how Homer Simpson single handedly gets Springfield into trouble by dumping a huge load of waste into the Springfield town lake and creates a massive pollution. The US government then tries to destroy Springfield to eliminate the pollution. Homer then tries to save Springfield and its people.

My verdict - it won't be as good as Transformers but it'll definitely score for humour. It hasn't lost any of its shine from its TV series era. Definitely a good show to watch for a good laugh!

Tired and confused?

Having classes on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays is anything but fun. To top things up, there are additional classes on weeknights on an ad-hoc basis. At this point in time I am very much tired and I am facing bounded rationality - being pounded with information and facts! The tough part is this - having to attend classes after work is already a challenge for my brain. On top of that, my weak basics on the current subject is making the uphill challenge even more challenging than it already is. So everyday my mind is constantly asking itself, "HOW AM I GOING TO TACKLE THIS???".

Being a person that tends to plan things out and thinking about possible outcomes, this time I am all out of ideas and no matter how many times I try to simulate outcomes I only end up with bad outcomes. Working hard is a forgone conclusion when it comes to succeeding in anything one does, but even hard work cannot bring about impossible outcomes. The problem is, all this time I have been relying purely on brute hard work; and now I have come to realise hard work simply is not sufficient.

Right now, I am sinking into a deep sense of frustration knowing the fact that I am weak and struggling. Of course, having work does not help in any way. Time as it is, is already so precious and I had to sleep in office again! This time I only had 10 minutes sleep, and I worked for close to 36 hours. The next day, I looked and felt horrible. I am beginning to wonder if all this is worthwhile or not? A friend of mine recently tried to apply for a permanent resident (PR) status to live in Australia but he was rejected because he could not meet the minimum requirements, which is some point system. Here's the surprising part - he's an ACCA grad, pretty good academic record, with about 2 years experience in auditing and currently doing the CFA qualification. How on earth could he not be accepted? Then came the bomb shell, apparently auditors aren't really in demand in Australia.

Bottom line -------- I am tired and confused!

Another late night at work.....

I just got back about half an hour ago. I am totally buggered and my mind is drifting off slowly into slumber land. Deadline for this current job is somehow really tight and with the lack of manpower, the job will undoubtedly be delayed. The start of peak may well be around the corner; or it could already be the start of peak.

Once again, engaged with a public listed company; deadlines are always tight with all the regulations set by the Stock Exchange. Clients are rushing us, in turn our superiors rush the juniors like myself. I started work at 9:30 this morning and I have been working right up to 2 in the morning. At this point in time, the hold up is coming from the clients because like any auditor, changes and fluctuations that occur in the financial statements must be explained reasonably; and the clients have yet to get back to me on certain fluctuations which I have queried about.

Today was also the round table meeting, whereby all the seniors, managers and partners meet up to discuss the performance of staff during the year for the September promotion. Yes, I am one of the staff due for promotion this coming September. How did it go? I do not know since everyone seem to be secretive about the proceedings of the round table. My only hope is that I did well and I scored well to get a good promotion. After all, a reasonably good increment might be awaiting me; or I might only get promoted marginally. Whichever way, there are certainly more room improvements and I certainly would want to improve on any weaknesses I may have.

Refreshing thoughts~

Coming to the end of July, the day of my June exam results draw ever more closer. Deep down inside, I am scared half to death and the wait is pretty frustrating for me. All the 'what ifs?' and the unwanted thoughts that can sometimes be a real pain. Strange isn't it, how our mind can generate so much thoughts and more often than not, it is simply not controllable. Anyone knows why? I doubt there is a concrete answer to that question. --------- Strange but true eh?

A thought to share - I was actually having a chat with an assistant manager (AM) in my firm two days back, anyway this AM is currently overseeing the engagement I am working on. I guess she knows I am always uptight with work and always working towards meeting deadlines but she mentioned something that really gave a 'knock-knock' on my head. She knows I have weekdays classes and, she did say if I have to leave early for class she has no qualms about it. So, I replied saying no worries I will try my best to cover as much ground as possible so we could meet the deadline. After all, not being able to meet deadlines forms a pretty bad image of the firm. She understood my point, but she said something really important - "Your studies are important. Honestly, no matter how good you are at your work no one will pity you if you fail your exams". To be honest, it actually took me a while to stomach that statement; part of me was in a state of denial probably because I thought work was like the pinnacle of everything as long as I am working for the firm. My employment essentially means I owe a duty of care and dilligence to the firm. But what lies in her statement is a big piece of truth that really struck a bell.

The thing about my firm is, that there is a promotion barring system whereby if you do not complete a certain amount of papers within a given duration, you basically get hold up and not get promoted. If I give my AM's statement a serious thought, she is totally correct and I have seen many good workers leave the firm simply because they couldn't move up further because of failing one paper. It is sad but very true! Once again, it simply reinforces my opinion - the working world is far from being forgiving and kind.