Does anybody ever change their worldview at a very late age?

I just went to the kitchen and overheard my dad on the phone saying things like “Glenn Beck found out he was a communist” and “probably the devil doing that” and tried to quickly turn my brain off before I exploded.

Later, after he hung up he sought me out to let me know he was talking to his 91-year-old aunt and he was just trying to agree with her.

It made me think how taken-for-granted it is that old people will be firmly planted in their ways and it’s better to just pretend to agree with them than bother answering. I think the rationale is that by the time you’re that age you’ve already made your mind up about everything.

Does anybody have any experiences or anecdotes of old timers having drastic shifts in philosophy, politics, or worldview?

Further, do you think that this is a product of just being old, or if it’s a product of the current generation of old people? That is, whoever the baby boomers’ 91 aunts are (generation jones? or was that after? generation dinosaur?), one of their qualities is being set-in-ways, whereas the 91-year-olds of 40 years ago, or 40 years from now may be completely different?

There’s a physiological component of this. Your brain is less able to form new pathways as you age, it becomes less plastic, less amenable to change.

But there are psychological components to this too. Most people decide at some point in their life early on what’s the most comfortable to believe, and then they start playing games with cognitive biases like confirmation bias. If you think “X group does Y” early on, you’ll have 50 years of noticing when this is true and reinforcing your belief. People are rarely very introspective and prone to challenge their beliefs at even early ages - it’s uncomfortable to think about your positions on issues and even possibly admit you were wrong - throw on top of that 50 years of rationalizations, throwing away the times that things that didn’t fit your worldview and patting yourself on the back for the times they did, combined with a loss of neuroplasticity, and older people really do become set in their ways.

I do wonder if the younger generations, born into a world that’s changing so quickly, will succumb to this to a lesser degree. I grew up learning to use computers, gadgets, etc. - if I make it to 70 years old, am I going to be confused by the latest gadgets like the current old people are confused by the internet, or will my lifetime of a world of rapid change acclimate me to learning new things?

The idea that the physical structure of my brain affects my personality makes me uncomfortable, so I will ignore it.

Yeah, sucks, doesn’t it? There’s no mystical essence of you in there, just some chemicals and electrical signals. But that was a nice confirmation of my points about comfort of belief and lack of introspection. :slight_smile:

How late in life? You would think someone born during the Great Depression and raised by strict churchgoing parents would be set in their ways and spending their later years in ‘heaven’s waiting room’ reading the bible and tsk-tsking these kids today. But - My mom is 80 and she just loves some of the more sensationalist aspects of popular culture. She loves Jerry Springer, watches MTV shows, adores ‘Jackass’ and raunchy comedians, and laughed herself sick at ‘Borat’. She wanted badly to see ‘Bruno’ but illness prevented that outing. As for politics, she LOATHES Republicans, bible-thumpers, and politicians in general. She hated Bush during those 8 long years with a burning passion and cried with happiness when Obama won the election. She is pro-choice, thinks living together before marriage is OK, and isn’t really shocked anymore at out-of-wedlock births in the family. Different attitude from when I was growing up in her house! Back then, it was strict 50’s morality, and the 60’s when I was a teenager were…interesting years. But as the world changed, so did Mom’s views. (Maybe SHE felt repressed all those years, and now she is sort of vicariously enjoying the type of thing she could never have said or done herself.) She and I see eye-to-eye on a lot of things now, that we never did in years past.

Is that the kind of thing you were looking for?

There have been some famous racists that have recanted late in life.

I change my mind quite often, but I am expecting this to drop more and more as I get older. Not just because reduced amounts of plastic in my brain but because (I hope!) that the thing I change to is better than the thing I changed from (why else would I make the change). It stands to reason that less and less will be changed, the more it is changed. Sooner or later, you will have tried and tested most of the available options.

I’m in my 50s. I change my mind on little stuff all the time. If I felt like it I could change my mind about anything. Just give me a reason to do it.

You’re saying there’s no way you could be convinced that you couldn’t change your mind?

This thread has inspired me to start another, The Philosophy of Clint Eastwood. It seems somehow relevant to the OP.

My mother lived to be 92. In the last 10 years of her life, she went from being a Jewish, slightly homophobic dog person to an agnostic, very pro-gay cat person.

I’ve wondered about this, too. It seems to me that there are, very generally speaking, people whose worldviews grow larger (whom I term “learners”), and people whose worldview becomes smaller and more entrenched (“fighters”, in my way of thinking). Part of this seems to do with personality, and part seems to be related to events in the person’s life. Profound events, especially negative ones, can motivate even a very entrenched personality to reconsider his or her beliefs.

I’ve seen this in recovering alcoholics participating in 12 step programs. Hearing a person talk about getting sober at a late age will often talk about how profoundly his worldview had to change as part of the 12 step. Hitting “rock bottom” can be humbling enough to make even the most self-righteous person realize they don’t have all the answers.

Personally, at 44, I still live to learn. I think this is partly due to my hard-wired personality (optimistic, curious, with an inherent “grow or die” mindset) and partly my experience, which has shown me that finding out I’m wrong about something often leads to greater feelings of happiness or peace.

I don’t know if every human has the ability to change and grow throughout life, but I think most can if they want to.

Great thread, btw.

This article

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/older-decision-stress-2244025-adults-making

Claims that as you get older, your brain becomes more sensitive to the effects of stress hormones like cortisol, which causes you to become more cautious.

Political conservatism (as opposed to liberalism) is strongly tied to a fear of change, uncertainty and threats. Liberalism is more the embracing of change, uncertainty and less of a response to threats. The stereotypical conservative is one who thinks every 3rd world dictator is the next Hitler and who is terrified of minor social changes, the stereotypical liberal is one who thinks the entire world can live in peace and harmony and who embraces social change.

Anyway, I do wonder, if this research pans out, if just having a brain more sensitive to stress and stress chemicals makes you become more conservative: more set in your ways, more afraid of change, more dependent on established authority figures like the military/police/church to protect and guide you, more frightened by uncertainty, etc.

If so, then perhaps stress reduction techniques (exercise, meditation, nutrition) might help slow this progression.

I stated out as an optimist. I thought we could become a great country. As I go through political campaign after political campaign, I see the reality of governing a different thing. Whoever gets into office, they kow tow to big power while proclaiming their independence. The rich get richer and more powerful. The poorer become less educated and obtain less help. When Kennedy and Johnson were fighting the fight for equality of life and opportunity, I had hope we could become a kinder and more gentle nation. We have swung back the other way. We have been at war for the last century. Will we ever become a nation of peace?
I am 66 and have not turned more conservative. I have become more radical.

In his 60s, my dad reversed himself on gay rights, after his friend’s daughter came out & married her girlfriend.

Look, I dont think anyone has a problem with gay cats, but can anyone be “very” in favor of them?

That is good to hear. I am 30, and one of my fears in life is that I will become complacent. When I have a decent career, a steady circle of friends and a pretty consistent life I fear I will start shutting out all the injustice around me and become more conservative just because it is a reflection of my own life (which will be comfortable and fairly consistent), but not the world around me which will still be filled with injustice, poverty and problems.

I want to be like Vincent Bugliosi, who once said something like “you know they say when you get older you become more mellow, its not working out that way for me”

I think there is reason to have faith though. The internet is empowering small donors and independent ideas. Obama, despite being a wimpy centrist, did manage to raise $500 million from 3 million donors giving 6.5 million donations of roughly $80 each. Small donors put hundreds of millions into the 2008 election cycle. If we ever get public financing (in the form of matching grants for small donors of 2-1 or 4-1) then small donors will be as big an influence in political funding as corporations.

Gay rights have advanced massively in the last 15 years. It used to be civil unions were controversial, now gay marriage is becoming mainstream.

Personally, I think humanity is on the right path. There are setbacks, but by and large it seems like 3 steps forward, 1 step back.

It may be true that the internet will change things. Newspapers are practically gone. Very few young people read them at all. That is a mixed blessing. For instance in sports, the Balco story took 2 years and a staff to concentrate on little else for 2 years, to ferret it out. Woodward and Bernstein do not exist any more. It looks like crooked politicians will have their way. The last admin spent a lot of effort making whistleblower protection weaker. I guess they saw the future and wanted to prevent it. Without reporters, it will require insiders spilling their guts . They will be treated harshly.

What do you mean by “world-view” and what constitutes a change in one?

I have gone from being a socially liberal, fiscally conservative young person to being a tight-fisted old coot who views too much internet porn.

When my mom re-married the guy she married (in his late 50’s at the time) was pretty far right politically and decidedly not cool with gay people. As it happens my brother is gay and while my step-dad kept his peace about it (my brother when they married was 19) and didn’t rock the boat his disapproval was always apparent.

As it happens my brother is a pretty fantastic guy who, in all other respects besides sexual preference, matched precisely what my step-dad felt was critical to everyone’s character. Honest, intelligent, hard working, successful on their own, a good heart and so on. My brother had all those in spades. His partner was similar.

Over time my step-dad simply could not maintain his low opinion of homosexuals and realized, like anyone else, they had to be judged as an individual. Being gay was not a character flaw. While I think homosexuality always bothered him on some level he definitely gained a far more liberal viewpoint, including on gay rights, over time.

Other that leap to mind are Arianna Huffington who was very conservative and then did a 180 and is now very liberal. I do not think she was especially young when that happened.

Frank Schaeffer did an about face. His father, Francis Schaeffer, was a leading religious right guy in his day. I forget the details of Franks story but somewhere along the line he moved away from die hard conservatism to an independent today (you will see Frank on TV talking about this on occasion).