Lifespan Changes in Human Nature Perceptions and Political Views

Key Insight

Philosophical and cultural beliefs across history consistently suggest that an individual's perception of human nature and political orientation shifts throughout their lifespan, generally moving from youthful idealism to older cynicism. Aristotle, in the fourth century BCE, noted in his 'Rhetoric' that young people are naturally sanguine, trusting, courageous, and pitying due to limited exposure to wickedness and few disappointments, while older individuals become cynical, distrustful, suspicious of evil, and cowardly, humbled by life's experiences and focusing on memory over hope. Similarly, Chinese culture observes that youth, prone to egalitarianism and rebellion, benefits from the hierarchical, conservative framework of Confucianism, while the elderly, potentially overly cynical, are balanced by the liberalizing focus of Buddhism on eliminating self-interest and recognizing an innate Buddha-nature. This sentiment is echoed in attributed quotes, like François Guizot's 'Not to be a republican at twenty is proof of want of heart; to be one at thirty is proof of want of head,' implying a natural progression from left-leaning emotions to right-leaning mature rationality, a view also seen in the 1960s counterculture warning against trusting those over thirty.

Scientific evidence supports these age-related shifts. Studies on the Big Five personality dimensions, conducted in countries like the US, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Croatia, and South Korea, show that Openness, associated with left-leaning views, significantly drops, and Conscientiousness, linked to right-wing views, significantly rises between the ages of eighteen and thirty. Most substantial personality changes occur before thirty, after which personality tends to stabilize. A larger study across 36 cultures in 7 ethno-linguistic families confirmed that average Big Five personality traits systematically differ between young adults (18 to 22) and older adults. More direct measures, like Robert Altemeyer's longitudinal study using Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) scores, found that while college psychology students initially became more liberal between ages 18 and 22 (dropping 11% in RWA), their average RWA scores subsequently grew 5.4% more conservative between ages twenty-two and thirty, indicating a shift towards conservatism in early adulthood.

A significant factor accelerating this shift towards conservatism is parenthood. Altemeyer's study revealed that out of 70 former students tracked to age thirty, the 48 who had children became 9.4% more conservative in their RWA scores compared to the 23 childless peers, whose scores remained largely unchanged, suggesting that having children contributes to increased conservatism. Political psychologist Richard Eibach explains that parenthood introduces a new 'vigilance' for protecting a vulnerable child, focusing attention on 'dangerous elements of the world' and leading to an 'illusory increase in external dangers' and a more self-interested view of human nature; this 'dangerous world' thinking is associated with greater conservatism. Additionally, age-related changes in gene expression, influencing highly heritable personality traits like Openness and Conscientiousness, may also contribute to these lifespan shifts, suggesting a biological component to the observed move towards greater cynicism and conservatism in later adulthood, adapting individuals to different life stages.