Psychological age. How old do you feel

• September 24, 2018
• Psychology of Personality
• Ekaterina Kulagina

You've probably ever heard of such a phenomenon as psychological age. When we hear about this for the first time in our lives, we most likely don’t quite understand what it means... But in fact, everything is quite easy and simple. Each person can feel younger or, conversely, older than the age that is actually indicated in his passport. I immediately remember all the popular expressions like “I’m seventeen in my soul”, “forever young, always the wind in my head” and so on... But that’s not what I’m talking about now.

The feeling of age can dramatically change our entire life and even our attitude towards it. Interested? So, in this article you will learn all the interesting facts that may be related to psychological age. You will find information about tests that are aimed at helping you find out your inner age, as well as about the feeling of what age your peers have and what this may be connected with.

Determination of psychological age

Psychologists call internal age a person’s subjective assessment of his own age or the subjective judgments of the people around him based on his behavior. It is probably not difficult to guess that the difference between a person’s real age (which is indicated in a person’s passport) and his psychological state is often large. And it is psychological age that largely influences our life, worldview and future destiny.

Based on this age (most likely, even unconsciously), we choose a certain lifestyle and set certain goals. It has been proven that your psychological age can be the basis for the manifestation of various psychosomatic diseases.

Present, future or past?

There is an opinion that this age should be assessed based on what events in our lives are of great importance to us. In the case when a person expects some grandiose events from his future and does not dwell on those life events that happened in his past, this may mean that he feels much younger than his current age. Everything changes when events in his life that cannot be returned are of greater value to a person. If the past is more important to you, and every time you return to it with the help of memories, then most likely your psychological age is greater than your real one.

Positions for determining internal age based on the approach of R. Kastenbaum

Based on Kastenbaum’s approach, a person’s psychological age can be determined based on four main aspects:

• The first of these is the degree of vital activity. A forever young person will continue to lead an active lifestyle at any age. Moving towards something new, striving for a rich life - this is the first point of instructions on how to find out your psychological age. The desire to develop always makes you younger.
• The second aspect is the person’s appearance. This is where it becomes a little more difficult to determine. But, most likely, you have noticed with young ladies that even at a young age they try to choose clothes for their wardrobe that make them look older or were intended for more respectable ladies.
• The third aspect is self-awareness. This is where it becomes even more difficult to determine. Only the person himself can guess what age he feels himself to be. Try this.
• The fourth aspect is human interests. We can proceed from their quantity, from their direction. Typically, people who feel older have few interests or favorite hobbies. For the most part, they are fixated only on their responsibilities and therefore may even stop enjoying life.

Estimating internal age using its three components

Sometimes, in order to identify your psychological age, it is necessary to assess your mental, social, and emotional age:

• Mental age refers to a person’s intellectual indicator. It’s worth reminding that your IQ has nothing to do with your grades at school or the color of your education diploma, so don’t rush to rejoice, excellent students.
• Social age refers to an indicator of social maturity, as well as the speed and quality of adaptation to the environment, the ability to contact the social structure of the outside world, and other people.
• By age-related emotionality we mean an indicator of a personality’s maturity, the correctness and adequacy of its reactions to certain external factors, and balance.

Sample questions and answer choices

What genres of literature are you interested in?

1. Detectives
2. Fantastic
3. Modern poetry
4. I don't read

Do you like to travel?

1. Yes, I try to be everywhere
2. We go on vacation somewhere
3. No, I'm more interested at home
4. I don't like to travel

Where do you used to celebrate holidays?

1. At home with family and friends
2. Outdoors with family
3. With friends, and it doesn’t matter where
4. Alone, I love solitude

Do you complain about failures in life?

1. Yes, all the time
2. No, I keep it to myself, no one needs my problems
3. Sharing with friends and family
4. I have no failures

Are you an independent person?

1. Yes, I can totally handle it on my own
2. Yes, but sometimes I need help
3. No, I'm a dependent person
4. I'm not sure of the answer.

As you may have noticed, in this example, the psychological age test, there is nothing difficult that we can handle. A clear question that cannot be understood other than how it sounds. The answers are given with such a difference, an affirmative answer is yes or no, or more yes than no and vice versa.

After passing the test, you will be provided with the results . You look at them, and they will provide you with a little advice on what you should change in yourself. Don’t take everything literally, but it’s worth thinking about changing for the better. Small changes will be beneficial; you yourself will notice how easier it becomes for you to communicate with people and find a way out of situations. This is especially important for you and your peace of mind.

Statistics on the ratio of real and internal ages in people

The age of twenty-five is the equilibrium point in psychology. Thus, the closer you are to this milestone, the closer your psychological age will be to the same figure. Is it different? Of course, deviations are possible, but in most cases, internal and real ages at this stage of life coincide.

Until the age of twenty, people feel as if they are older. Among such individuals it is not difficult to find pessimists. By the age of thirty, people experience a decline in psychological age of about four years or a little more.

In the period from thirty to forty years, this difference will only increase. And in the period from forty to fifty years, the difference between internal and real age is on average about seven or eight years.

When a person reaches retirement age, the social environment plays a major role. In the CIS countries, there is a rapid internal aging of citizens, which cannot be said about people living in Europe. There, pensioners, despite their age, begin to fully enjoy life. This is because their financial security and the situation in the country contribute to this.

Internal age test to understand your age

Age, especially abroad, is a very relative concept. Of course, every person knows what year he was born and how old he really is. But in the civilized world, the years lived are not a verdict.

Look at the old men and women from abroad - how full of life they live: travel, study, fall in love. Nobody tells them that they are too old to become a student or play computer games.

Your passport should not determine your life, because your inner feelings are much more important. It is better to be a seventy-year-old woman with an inner feeling of being 35 than to become an old soul at 25 years old.

The test will help you determine your inner age. It’s great when it matches your passport or you find yourself a little younger than the real age.

But, if the inner age test shows that you are an old man at heart, try to rejuvenate yourself:

• find a hobby you like;
• leave the house more often, and not lock yourself within four walls;
• whine, complain, mumble less;
• be optimistic;
• love others and life;
• Healthy food;
• exercise;
• engage in active mental activity.

If your psychological state is normal, the internal age test will always show results that please you.

Psychological age test: how not to grow old ahead of time?

How to find out your psychological age?

The easiest way is to fill in the blanks in the following sentences:

1. I feel __ years old.
2. My appearance makes it clear that I am __ years old.
3. My interests in life correspond to the age of a person at __ years.
4. My behavior in everyday life shows that I am __ years old.

After the job is done, you have to add up all the numbers, and then divide their sum by four. So much for your psychological age!

GuruTest

You are only 20 years old, and you already feel like a seasoned old man who cannot be surprised by anything? Or are you “long over...”, but you constantly feel in a state of youthful maximalism? It has already been proven that personality development is influenced by the dynamics of psychological age. Therefore, we suggest finding out how old your soul is.

Psychological age: what is it?

Scientists have found that there is always a difference between chronological and mental age, and usually significant. One person can behave like an infantile teenager at 55, while another, on the contrary, has a lot of baggage in life by the age of 23. Psychological age determines personality development and the degree of awareness. Scientifically identified 4 stages of growing up:

1. The child learns to control himself and manage his emotions. Screams, is afraid, avoids responsibility, gets offended.
2. Teenager - wants to impress others. We depend on public opinion. Just learning to be socially adapted. Needs encouragement. Unsure of himself, lives on a wave of contradictions.
3. Young - knows how to build complex concepts, listens to the opinions of more experienced and authoritarian people, but is not yet ready to move on to real action. He has problems with self-esteem, so he cannot move from words to actions.
4. An adult relies on experience and ignores other people’s opinions. Lives his own life and is not ashamed of it. Socially adapted, ethical, successful. I have already learned to hear and understand myself. Combines relaxation and speed of action. Emotions for him are not a stimulus to action, but a guide.

Each person can be either an adult or a child in different areas of life. We can move from stage to stage, regress to childhood and become resentful, turn to authoritarian opinions and doubt.

A quick test to determine psychological age

Scientists have developed a technique that allows you to determine the degree of internal maturation using 4 aspects:

• vital activity;
• appearance;
• self-awareness;
• hobbies.

There are a lot of tests on the Internet that allow you to determine the real age of the soul, but they are all based on this concept, which was developed by Robert Kastenboom. To pass this test, you will need to insert the corresponding number in place of the spaces, referring to the clues of the subconscious. Don't think, just write the number that first came to your mind.

“I feel __ years old. Judging by my appearance, one can come to the conclusion that I am __ years old. My hobbies correspond to the age of people at __ years. Judging by my emotional reactions and attitude towards life, you can say that I am already __ years old.”

Add up all the numerical values, and divide the resulting result by 4. The resulting figure is the number of your inner age.

The most important point that psychologists note is awareness. We have already mentioned that in different situations a person can move from one age to another. The fact is that you are capable of changes in your psychological maturity. Inner age is something that a person himself can influence. Only you decide what concepts to introduce into it: childishness, activity, doubt, nostalgia. Change for the better with us

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28.07.2019 00:02

How to stay internally young?

In order for your inner age to continue to remain less than your actual age, you need to cultivate optimism in yourself, surround yourself with pleasant things and communication, and make plans for the next stages of life. It would be good to start planning your daily routine, monitor your diet, maintain your health by playing sports, give up bad habits and not allow yourself to think that as you get older you will have to give up anything.

That's probably all. Now you know more about psychological age and can determine it yourself.

Online test

This technique is a short questionnaire with 25 questions. Try to answer all tasks honestly, without thinking for a long time, without consulting anyone or looking on the Internet. Any interventions can significantly affect the outcome. Formally, the time limit is unlimited, however, try to keep it within 15-20 minutes.

After calculating the points scored, the test will determine how old you are from a psychological point of view. According to the experts who developed it, the testing accuracy is about 75%. If you don't believe me, try it yourself!