[AI] "Maturity"

[gwahir]

Can anyone provide a good definition for maturity? If so, post it.

What is your opinion on the word "maturity"? Do you think it is a positive or negative thing? Does it have any meaning whatsoever?

[[racist] butt king]

maturity is mainly a term self-important jackasses use to make themselves feel better about wasting their lives performing menial tasks for slave wages.

[TheOriginalGrumpySpy]

Maturity evolves parallel to responsibility and empathy.

[gwahir]

Maturity evolves parallel to responsibility and empathy.

But what is it?

[thank mr skeltal]

I would define maturity as having the ability to make a decision by taking all factors into account and making a good long-term decision instead of focusing on the short-term gains. Also known as "doing the right thing".

Some say maturity comes with age, I think age is certainly a factor but not the end-all-be-all of it. I think, rather, that maturity comes with experience and a bit of just being "born" with that quality. There are some very mature 14 year olds out there, and there are some 40 year olds who still don't have their shit together.

I think "being mature" is a positive thing and something one should strive for, because it shows that you exhibit consistent, good decision-making skills and are able to think about others instead of just yourself.

[Dr. Baltar]

Maturity is the ability for someone to make decisions based upon what they perceive as "right" in contrast to immaturity which is making the easy decision.

[gwahir]

The problem with such a definition is that it's so subjective. "Good long term decision" is pretty debatable.

Also, this definition says nothing about how we act on a mundane, daily basis. Does maturity have anything to do with whether one dances down the street to the music on his mp3 player? Does it have anything to do with what jokes one laughs at?

[gwahir]

Maturity is the ability for someone to make decisions based upon what they perceive as "right" in contrast to immaturity which is making the easy decision.

Lots of people exhibit this quality, and I'd definitely not call them "mature".

[benzss]

Lots of people exhibit this quality, and I'd definitely not call them "mature".

So you have a definition then?

[gwahir]

So you have a definition then?

I have a semi-definition that I'm working on.

I haven't been able to come up with one that is positive and covers all the bases that our intuitions say that maturity should cover. All I've come up with paints "maturity" in a boring, negative light that's frankly anachronistic.

[mutton]

The problem with such a definition is that it's so subjective.

Does maturity have anything to do with whether one dances down the street to the music on his mp3 player? Does it have anything to do with what jokes one laughs at?

subjective

[thank mr skeltal]

Did you check a dictionary?

[gwahir]

quote

Huh?

[jack burden]

Maturity doesn't equal "doing the right thing," especially when doing the right thing is itself completely subjective.

[coqauvin]

I'm going to take maturity from it's context in other things and apply it to us. When something is mature, like an animal, it means that it has hit it's plateau of physical growth, and there's not going to be any more rapid change or development in that respect. When something matures like a drink, it means it has time to age and season itself properly. It has taken the time to settle and absorb all the flavours in it, had the time to to change from it's mixed, messy origins into something of value (else why would you let it sit for so long?).

And if we apply this abstract notions to people, I get the point where we have stopped rapidly developing, and the point where our life experiences have given us a perspective that is balanced, because the many aspects that build life and perspective have settled into something valuable. Wisdom and maturity are very similar in this respect, I think.

[thefecesthrowinggod]

Maturity, I believe, is the presence of an understanding of one's self, and the ability to act for one's self. Someone who is mature can evolve with their situation, factor in all variables in said situation, and make decisions that benefit themselves or those closest to them. Not necessarily the possession of wisdom, but the ability to observe and take things in stride, and the ability to recover from negative happenings.

[MrShrike]

I can describe for you a prominent psychologist's definition of maturity, if you're really interested.

[paulyt]

Boobies

[gwahir]

I can describe for you a prominent psychologist's definition of maturity, if you're really interested.

Please and thank you!

[MrShrike]

Ok then, so here we go.

So, this guy usually explains it as far as possible in laymans terms, rather than resorting to jargon, but there are a few technical terms that are necessary to comprehend. The most important one is called the "personal boundary".

The personal boundary is an idea, that can be thought of as a border line around your psyche. It's defined as the conceptual boundary between 'you' and the outside world (including between you and other people) - the interface at which you interact with the world and the world interacts with you.

The internal contents of your personal boundary is your psychological makeup, e.g your decision making processes, your subconscious, your emotional responses, intellectual knowledge, memories etc. It also includes a lot of other stuff, besides what goes on inside your head, such as resources and other things that belong to you. This includes tangible things like maybe your car or your bus ticket, or your bank balance, as well as intangible things like time (of which we all have a finite amount available to us) or your attention span.

The primary thing to understand about the personal boundary, is that it is actually composed entirely of little pieces and that each little piece is one of the choices you have made. If you imagine it as a circle, or rather, a many-sided shape, each 'side' would be an individual choices that you've made. Some simple examples are, "I like cats", "I don't like dogs", "I like rock music", "I don't like country music". "I give money to charities", "I don't give money to street beggars" etc etc.

Now I'm compressing this all a great deal, but essentially, your maturity is defined by how mature are the choices that comprise your personal boundary. And the maturity of any given choice depends on a couple of criteria.

One of the most important things about personal boundary, is that it defines our limits of control. Everything within our personal boundary is 100% under our control - while everything outside of our personal boundary is 100% outside of our control. A good example is, if you have a smoking habit, the decision to have a cigarette (or not) is in your personal boundary, whereas your good friend's unfortunate drug habit, for instance, would not be within your personal boundary.

Almost immediately, you might begin to see that one of the criteria for a mature choices is that it should be a choice about something that is within your control. Choosing to end your cigarette habit, for instance, might be a mature decision, while choosing to expend a lot of your time and attention worrying about your friend's drug habit, might not be.

Are you with me so far?

[Mach 5]

I always thought maturity could be defined as a point of view.

[MrShrike]

I always thought maturity could be defined as a point of view.

Of course, but that's tautological. Any definition of any concept that multiple human beings share is fundamentally contingent on point of view of each person who shares a definition.

It's like saying the horizon is dependent on your point of view - of course it is, but even though the appearance and location of the horizon is unique to every single person, most of us can still agree on what "the horizon" is.

[gismo]

Maturity often means many things. For me when I use the word maturity I relate it to mental and emotional maturity. People often associate it with physical maturity, however they don't always go hand in hand. Whilst you can expect a child to be immature, once they reach their teens most start to develop mental and emotional maturity, some not till their 20's.

What do I mean by this defition of maturity? Well others have eluded to it already, it means a sense of self responsibility, an awareness of ones self and the fact that your actions can have an effect on others and a reasonable ability to determine right by wrong.

Immaturity is not fart jokes. Immaturity is not laughing at someone falling over. Alot of people associate things like these, so called "childish" acts as immature, I disagree as it speaks little of their capacity to be responsible for their actions. Someone mentioned wisdom earlier, I think wisdom is an important part of maturity, but wisdom alone does not determine maturity. Telling a fart joke only really speaks of your sense of humour and not maturity.

Hehe, I am having a hard time pinning down what I feel is maturity...to use an umbrella term, I feel a massive part of it is moral autonomy, the ability to act and make decisions with some moral basis. This encompasses a whole lot of things that I think are relevant. It is mixed in with taking responsibility for your own behaviour.

[bluntman]

Maturity:

the period of time in your life after your physical growth has stopped and you are fully developed

[Mad Pino Rage]

Maturity is the recognition of people no longer scolding you for being immature.

[Sion]

If I had to give a definition, then I would say maturity is just a measure of how old you act and how well you handle things that happen in your life.

IE. Some who is "immature" will cry kick and scream when they get angry.
A "mature" person will suck it up and deal with it.

[coqauvin]

maturity is the application of wisdom through experience to future decisions

[gwahir]

If I had to give a definition, then I would say maturity is just a measure of how old you act and how well you handle things that happen in your life.

IE. Some who is "immature" will cry kick and scream when they get angry.
A "mature" person will suck it up and deal with it.

That's most people's definition. And it's stupid.

I like coqauvin's definition-by-analogy best out of all these. It was pretty different to what I had in my head, but I think works really well.

[TheOriginalGrumpySpy]

This conversation feels very.. "The Republic"-esqe.

[coqauvin]

a big part of the problem with these definitions has more to do with language

words in english have a really big job - each one has several meanings that could apply, depending on context, but when you speak about abstract concepts, like maturity, the workload suddenly increases. It's not that it's one, convulted definition, but it is a combination of different aspects of the word that make it work.

it's the same concept for how other languages have phrases that just don't translate properly

[gwahir]

a big part of the problem with these definitions has more to do with language

that's why a definition-by-analogy is so useful. you're not just explaining a word with by using other words, you're explaining a word by using concepts.

[coqauvin]

when you're dealing with this, it's the only way to really describe it.

strictly speaking, though, it's more specific aspects of other concepts get applied and built up to explain this concept.

at least, this is how i conceptualize and analyze it.