3. Psychological Definition
• “Maturity in psychology has little to do with age, but with
the ability to react, cope and reason in an appropriate
way for the situation. Maturity is learned through
experiences and comes from healthy growth, just like a
strong body. A parent gives a child food, rest and exercise
for the growth of a strong body. Guidance in coping with
emotional situations is what is needed to grow in
maturity. The way a person deals with a crisis or makes
decisions are good clues about their level of maturity”
4. Neuroscience
Exerts from Volume 45 of the Journal Of Adolescent Health
• In the last decade, a growing body of longitudinal neuroimaging research has
demonstrated that adolescence is a period of continued brain growth and
change, challenging longstanding assumptions that the brain was largely finished
maturing by puberty [1], [2], [3]. The frontal lobes, home to key components of the
neural circuitry underlying “executive functions” such as planning, working
memory, and impulse control, are among the last areas of the brain to mature;
they may not be fully developed until halfway through the third decade of life
[2]. This finding has prompted interest in linking stage of neuromaturation to
maturity of judgment. Indeed, the promise of a biological explanation for often
puzzling adolescent health risk behavior has captured the attention of the media,
parents, policymakers, and clinicians alike. Although such research is currently
underway, many neuroscientists argue that empirical support for a causal
relationship between neuromaturational processes and real-world behavior is
currently lacking [4].
5. • “Although neuroscience has been called upon
to determine adulthood, there is little
empirical evidence to support age 18, the
current legal age of majority, as an accurate
marker of adult capacities.”
6. What my roommate thinks
• Maturity is an ideal, not anything real.
• It’s not inherently good, just social cohesion.
• It’s not the same as common sense but it falls
under maturity.
– Maturity is supposed to develop from common
sense
7. Smart People
• I live in that solitude • The rate at which a person can
which is painful in youth, mature is directly proportional to the
embarrassment he can tolerate.
but delicious in the years
– Engelbart
of maturity.
– Einstein • I am convinced that most people do
not grow up...We marry and dare to
have children and call that growing
up. I think what we do is mostly grow
• Maturity is the ability to old. We carry accumulation of years
reap without apology in our bodies, and on our faces, but
and not complain when generally our real selves, the children
inside, are innocent and shy as
things don't go well. magnolias.
– Rohn – Angelou
8. Is it even that desirable?
• So the secret to good self-esteem is to lower your expectations to the
point where they’re already met?
• Childhood is short and maturity is forever.
– Watterson
• There was that word again. Mature. Was this what maturity was? Giving
up on the things we wanted because we knew we’d never get them?
– Peterfreund
• Maturity is often more absurd than youth and very frequently is most
unjust to youth.
– Edison
• Maturity is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless
laughter could be said to remedy anything.
– Vonnegut
9. My Idealistic Interpretation
Immaturity Maturity
• Interrupts • Listens
• Knows everything • Knows nothing
• Disrespectful • Respectful
– rude – polite
• Most important
• A part of the whole
– acts out
– understands that they are their
– envious
environment, not separate
– wasteful
• Overly excited or dismissive, uncomfortable • Calm, comfortable
• Dependent on others
• Self sufficient
– Takes responsibility for self and others
• Inaction
• Action
– Immediate gratification
• Ego and Id control – Delayed gratification
• Interprets change as threatening, bad • Superego control
• Fuck the system! • Sees beauty, opportunity in change
• Abides
