Questions on the nature of maturity

Re: Questions on the nature of maturity

If you replace the phrase "Political correctness" with "Basic human respect" I think you'll answer a lot of your own questions.

Maturity, generally to me, is an ability to consider consicously and comprehend points of views outside yourself, and have the ability to empathize with those views, and be willing, in the name of exhibiting that empathy and respect, to consider actually changing your behavior if it is shown to be inimical to demonstrating respect for the rights of others, instead of clinging to selfish attitudes.

As one matures physically and hormonal imbalances start to level off, it certainly becomes easier to attain the state of mind needed for that kind of respectful and selfless thought. We're definitely more selfish in our teenage years than our adult years in most cases.

So I think I come down more on "abide present rules etc" and "rationally judge"

I think it is not so much a question of inherent or learned. I guess I'd say learned, but it's less about "maturity is learned" and more "Either maturity or immaturity is learned"

Re: Questions on the nature of maturity

maturity is where you try to be as little of an asshole as you actually are

Re: Questions on the nature of maturity

thank you for your response devonin.

Re: Questions on the nature of maturity

I am the very definition of maturity.

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Re: Questions on the nature of maturity

Maturity is a pretty way of saying you've reached puberty. However we attach a lot of normative qualities to it because aside from physiological changes, our behaviours change as we decide what kind of person we want to be.

Can definitely agree with this; after the age when your hormones balance out you make choices to be respectful of others' obligations or to disrespect them. The choices made have a profound influence on the way you carry yourself as a person and your relationships with others.

Environmental influences on respect? Obviously a person's upbringing can grant a pre-disposition for a person to be respectful or disrespectful but I strongly believe this can be unlearned later in life.

"Maturity levels" can roughly correlate to socio-environmental/economic status for a number of reasons. Living in a poor neighbourhood with higher crime rates, violence/drug abuse in the home, lack of proper discipline, developing a character that disrespects authority to (ironically) garner respect in a community of peers.

I don't have a lot of time...will finish later

Re: Questions on the nature of maturity

Maturity is based on societal expectations in a conventional sense. If you can learn to conform to those and practice good behavior in society then you'll get along with other adults in that society.

But this is learned behavior more than anything, and you will always have individual differences from other people, and anticipate realizations of those differences to be stress, or anxiety, or whatever. These feelings are to be realized for what they are, if you're to learn and live as you should. Maturity is fully realizing that your individual differences need ways of adapting to the society around it-- not something that it fully is nurtured into with school or a couple of jobs. And learning realms of self and identity. Basically once you've explored what you really are as a person, you can learn to let go of things that you need to for optimal survival, and to control emotions you otherwise left to automatically be cycling constantly because of a stressful encounter.

Re: Questions on the nature of maturity

To Devonin, Spenner, and Dynam0, you all valid points.
These questions asked by Mourningfall are important points for the topic of maturity.

This pretty much sums up my point of maturity in a nutshell. I'll elaborate my definition of maturity.

Maturity in my terms is based on a few factors. Culture, experience, and comprehension would be my pillars of maturity in a sense of a foundation for it.

Every culture has their own taboos or creed that determine the way a typical person in society carries one self. A prime example would be publicly flashing your private areas in America. That is a common example of immaturity in America and is typically illegal. It is labeled immature because we have a simple code of conduct regular citizens of ourselves society abide to. But if somebody was in a amazon jungle with a indeginous native tribe, then they would view nudity in a different light, given the fact most women are topless.

Immaturity has certainly varied levels to it depending on the cultures guidelines. A singular shared idea of maturity in all cultures is conducting yourself in a proper manner that shows usage of cultural and societal etiquette among the society.

Immaturity in America can range from sagging your pants from cussing. But that can also be dictated by who and what their around which determines their personal definition of maturity. A person who makes a six figure salary would deem a person sagging and cussing like a sailor immature. Which brings me to the next pillar of maturity, experience.

Environment can be a vital creator for experiences when a individual has accumulated knowledge of a particular setting. Being raised a certain way can define a persons maturity by what they have been accustomed to. If your Mother and Father sagged their pants their entire life and you only knew people who sagged, chances are your experience of sagging will condition your mind to believe sagging is normal and mature if you know nothing else. Which in turn would give you the impression that not sagging is immature.

Your culture is the first pillar because it funnels into the experiences in your life that structures your mentality. Most people can agree that we have witnessed immaturity in adults. An example would be somebody at a McDonalds losing their temper towards an employee because they made a small error in their order. Mature people in our society understand that people make mistakes from time to time and dont take it personal. But somebody who has experience in demonstrating extreme aggression towards a petty error is habitually accustomed to that nature.

Experiences have the ability to define a persons habits and routines. If a person is mentally handicap by having Down syndrome, is it proper to say they are immature if they have a tantrum at the dinner table?

And that leads me to the answering Mourningfall's question of: " Is it a inherent characteristic or a learned trait?"

Clearly it has to be learned since we as adults learn the concept of going to the bathroom when we become older after the fact of defecating on ourselves when we're babies. That is a form of discipline that is nestled in the bosom of maturity. We just don't carry ourselves that way as mentally stable adults. It's disgusting, gross, and terrible hygiene.

Which leads to the final pillar, comprehension.

"I think it is not so much a question of inherent or learned. I guess I'd say learned, but it's less about "maturity is learned" and more "Either maturity or immaturity is learned" - Devonin

I had to quote Devonin once more because this sums up all three pillars but emphasizes the pillar of comprehension.

Let's go back to the example of the kid with down syndrome. He throws his food around the dinner table. Can he deem the action he took as rude or immature? If he has the ablitiy to comprehend proper dinner table etiquette then it is absolutely immature.

But if he doesn't know the difference between the two then it is decided by the perspective of the person viewing the situation. You can make the argument that he is mentally handicap and he doesn't understand how to learn etiquette but that supports the pillar of comprehension: To know maturity, you must know immaturity. Their has to be a line in the sand to divide the two aspects. If you can't comprehend the line that seperates the two, its all the same to you. Not being able understand the differences between the two deem it as impossible to see both sides. That's like asking a truly color blind person the difference between red and yellow. You must have comprhension of both sides in order to acknowledge the side by side comparison.

I tend to elaborate more then I intilially intended to but it was a interesting topic to discuss. I have a lengthy reply but once I saw the title of this thread I knew I had to have a say in it given my position as a Philosopher.

Anways guys, awesome answers! And hope I didn't come too late in the discussion (im sure you all will scoff at me bringing up a month old thread back) but I am hoping I have brought new material for this subjects among us.

I have high hopes in hearing new thoughts and replies on my personal perception!

- The-DDR-Philosopher

Re: Questions on the nature of maturity

Having only read the OP, I want to reply to some of these questions with my opinions before reading the rest of you fine peoples' posts.

Psychologically speaking, maturity takes on a whole new meaning from the standard definition, which we will plunge into a bit later. In my opinion, to be psychologically mature means that your brain has simply developed the capability to interact socially and learn from other humans or intelligent animals to a somewhat great extent. This has nothing to do with morality or right vs. wrong, but simply that you are able to interact with individuals and make your own personal decisions based on an understanding of the conversation(s) that took place.

A few examples of those who are not psychologically mature would be: People who are too young to think critically; perhaps as old as early teens, the severely mentally handicapped, and full-blown psychopaths.


Lightning round:
Assuming we're talking about social maturity now, yes to an extent.
I don't believe so. Humans evolve along with their morals. Certain practices and doctrines imposed by our ancestors may not be necessary for a mature, moral society today. While these morals may be "tried and true", individuals should be able to judge for themselves whether they agree, and if changes need to be made to this particular moral code, just as if it were suggested by another person alive today. We could get into the topic of moral indoctrination, which results in communities like the Westboro Baptist Church, but that's a different topic .
The first half of this question is vastly different than the second :P.
It is not a moral decision as a citizen to uphold laws, regulations, constitutions, and legislations. It is your civic responsibility. However, laws can be changed through the democratic process if enough people deem them to be unjust. Codes and creeds on the other hand are typically just a set of beliefs, which are much more fluid than the above. Disagreeing with codes and/or creeds is not an immature decision. In fact, it's quite the opposite. If you find something that you do not agree with and you are capable of convincing yourself not to abide by it, that shows maturity.

Healthy brain function is a requirement for maturity, so maturity is not "simply" the hormonal balance, but functional physiological aspects of the brain are definitely necessary to make a moral/mature being.
Bingo.

Yes. At the end of the day, maturity is a construct of human perception. Right and wrong can vary vastly depending on culture (the short word for socioenvironmental factors :P). For instance, India has a very large population of vegetarians because of cultural religious beliefs. Killing of animals would definitely be classified as wrong in this culture. In North America, most of us barely bat an eyelash at the thought of animals being killed for our consumption. In most cases, it's not even regarded as a necessary evil, but plain old necessary. This is even more prevalent in tribal communities (old or new) where hunting is an absolute must to stay alive.

Ugh. It shouldn't, but to some people, the answer is yes. I, for one, wouldn't care if you called a congresswoman a congressman, but some people would lose their ever-living shit if you made this mistake. I believe this is also situational and cultural. In some circles it's ok to drop N bombs every other word of a sentence, where in others, once in a lifetime is equivalent to eternal shame (hi, Paula Deen).
People are PC because they want to be accepted (moreso not rejected) by their peers.

As a social construct, maturity (as we know it) is an entirely learned trait. Morality may have inherent aspects (such as don't kill other people because that would be generally bad for our species), but I don't believe there are any inherent traits that would be characterized as "mature". The only thing I can think of is the inherent ability for our brains to create the construct of maturity.

Re: Questions on the nature of maturity

Well thought out. I for one appreciate the time and thought put into this analysis.

Re: Questions on the nature of maturity

I haven't read the full thread.

I don't think that everyone has the same definition of psychological maturity, and this itself is part of why people aren't mature. Therefore, there must be a way to get everyone to inherently be able to agree to what 'maturity' is, assuming that it is something that everyone is supposed to be/have.

Regardless, due to the rest of your post, I'm assuming you are talking about moral integrity. I personally do not think that 'maturity' as it is used in daily life has much to do with moral integrity, however, and is instead strictly about 'fitting in'.

What does it mean to have moral integrity? The answer is Enlightenment. There are lots of definitions of 'enlightenment' however the similarities between them implies that they are coming from the same truth.

No.

No.
No.

Hormones are for sexual reproduction, not psychological maturation, so no.

However, this concept does beg the question about different states of being, and if they are capable of maturity. Does someone with brain damage have the ability to be enlightened?

Yes, as long as you define action as both internal and external choices.

Do socioenvioronmental factors attribute to maturity?
If so, why so?[/quote]
Again, keeping in mind maturity is right now enlightenment as I've defined it for this post, yes and no. The journey to enlightenment can be undertaken, supposedly, by anyone (I'll ignore that brain damaged people question), but each individual's challenges in life are as unique as they are. What sets each person on the path to enlightenment, or not ever getting there, is if they have self-control. Self-control isn't all-or-nothing though, and the state of the world is such that it is a state of struggle for control. The more controlled by the outside world you perceive you are, the farther away from enlightenment you are. Perception is based in life, and the experiences each person goes through are different, obvoiusly some people are more free than others.

Only if the political correctness is in line with enlightenment. Not all political correctness is, by any means, although its heart is usually in the right place.

Because they see it as being the morally right thing to do. Enlightenment is not about being seen a certain way in other's eyes though, it is not about 'proving' yourself to other people. It is about coming in line with the universal truths of what it is to be human/yourself.

It is learning about your/the world's inherent characteristics and coming into congruence with them.

Re: Questions on the nature of maturity

in an interpersonal sense i'm probably mature, but in a societal sense i am definitely not mature at all.