David Sloan Wilson’s book summarizing the altruistic paradigm shift in evolutionary science opens many doors regarding the cultural implications of altruism and its role in cultural evolution. My own interest involves altruistic adaptation in older adults, often called “generativity”, and its relation to our understanding authentic human “wisdom”. If the views advanced by Wilson, and the many other proponents he summarizes, become dominant science, perhaps “wisdom’s” importance in cultural evolution can be understood in important new ways.
“Aging” and intergenerational studies provide a rich resource of altruism-driven adaptation in older adults. It is assumed by a growing number of researchers that demands for child care in nomadic hunting and gathering societies prompted an adaptive change in older adults to meet that need. This appears to include older male adaptation as well as female, as suggested by Marsel Heisel’s studies1which indicate that older males are inclined to take on more domestic roles when they become grandparents, even in patriarchal societies where gender roles are generally highly differentiated. Louis Harris and Associates2 in a study for the Commonwealth Fund confirm that in the USA older men are only slightly less likely to volunteer with grandchildren than older women. There is evidence in the form of intelligence often associated with age [wisdom] and the ego development model offered by Erik Erikson, as well as neuronal changes that occur in elders.
Wisdom is an interesting study in itself. It appears to be a distinctive form of intelligence that is common in elders and which is described in the following ways. It is a synthesis of affect and logic, in which affect refers to the experience of emotion or feeling. The feeling is implicitly benevolent, centering on the empathetically understood needs of the intended recipient(s). Logic refers to knowledge-based rationality in which the knowledge is based largely on experience or application of information acquired through education into a variety of contexts. The development of the knowledge base is accomplished through reflection and – to a greater or lesser degree based upon the individual – integration with a larger world-view. Much of the integration is a result of the life review3. Baltes4,5 and collaborators refer to five criteria for wisdom related knowledge as lifespan contextualization; expert knowledge about fundamental life matters; rich factual and procedural knowledge; recognition and management of uncertainty; and relativism.
The developmental psychologist, Erik Erikson, defines eight stages of ego development. In the seventh [adult] stage he describes the dominant theme as “generativity”. The term “generativity” was coined by Erikson in 1950 to denote “a concern for establishing and guiding the next generation.” In describing the older adult eighth and last stage, he refers to the dominant theme as “ego integrity” but also indicates it is characterized by a return to generativity. That is, even though there is no longer the physical imperative of child bearing and raising, there is a motivational and affective inclination towards generativity, which seems to extend beyond immediate family and even social group, to include “out group” members. Examples of this show up in one of the oldest types of intergenerational activity, i.e. mentoring.
Mentoring of younger people by older people is a time-honored practice which involves the “passing on” of various types of knowledge including skills, values, traditions, social intelligence, and social capital. It commonly occurs within the same social group, such as family, community and business, but it also cuts across ethnic, socio-economic and national boundaries. Jack Welch – the legendary CEO of General Electric – is a strong advocate of mentoring and 6 or 7 of his mentees are now CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. At the other end of the spectrum, Boys and Girls Clubs in the USA set up mentoring relationships between successful men and women and at-risk youth. Older Americans are represented in a higher proportion than their numbers in the general population would suggest. And this is true for volunteer activities in general – elders are often participating in larger numbers than would be expected.
Is there evidence to indicate this is a true evolution or adaptation in a biological sense rather than an evolving of culture with an accompanying socialization of elders? The answer is “yes”, though there is more to come on this question. Modern neuroscience opens up this narrative with some important discoveries that begin by dispelling some of the pernicious myths and stereotypes that have dogged older adults for years.
First, older brains can and do create new brain cells, and particularly the axons that connect them together. In principal, new ideas and learning are possible and in particular, new ways of connecting ideas and thoughts are available. The importance of the growth of new axons cannot be overstated since the integration of past memories through the reminiscence process [Robert Butler] is key for ego integration [Erikson] and the development of crystallized intelligence. Crystallized intelligence – based on life experience and its integration into a life view – is a key component of older adult intelligence, and is contrasted with fluid intelligence – a synaptic-driven, quick-acting intelligence dominant in younger people which peaks around 25 and declines gradually after that. Crystallized intelligence gives older adults a competitive advantage over younger people in certain types of tasks they can accomplish more quickly, though it is used in practice more often for symbiotic, generative types of activity [or unfortunately forgotten and neglected in societies that have forgotten the value of elders].
The function of axons that are key in re-connecting older or forgotten memories is enhanced by the addition of myelin in increasing quantities through the mid-fifties. Myelin is a fatty substance that improves conductivity between brain cells. Its addition through mature years suggests that there is adapted value in elders being able to speed up the connection between thoughts and memories, an important ingredient in crystallized intelligence, which in turn is an important ingredient in wisdom.
One of the most important discoveries in the argument of an adapted brain that supports a unique intelligence in elders, which contains the generative, altruistic component, occurred at Duke University in 1999. Researchers discovered an adapted brain function that was totally unexpected, and initially thought to be the function of an abnormal brain: older adults tend to use both hemispheres of the brain for the same task, whereas younger people tend to use only one. The left hemisphere is used for the logical, mathematical tasks and the right hemisphere for the creative, intuitive tasks. The fact that both hemispheres are used by elders is evidence of a key characteristic of wisdom: it is rational but includes affect. Wise advice or behavior includes not only rational analysis filtered through the powerful tool of crystallized intelligence but also the concern and caring [generativity] for how it applies and may be best used by the individual. This clearly has an altruistic context.
There is more neuroscience and neuroplasticity in this narrative but in the interest of brevity will be left for a future, expanded discussion. I suspect that the doorways opened regarding the study of “wisdom”– and its relationship to cultural evolution– are only one of many frontiers triggered by the shift in evolutionary science summarized in David Sloan Wilson’s book. If so, the book may help trigger the very cultural shift it predicts.7
References
[7] 1. Heisel, Marsel A. (1993) Socio-Economic Development and Gender Relations in Late Life: Views from Turkey and Egypt, Budapest, Hungary: paper presented to the International Congress of Gerontology
- Louis Harris and Associates (1992) The Nation’s Great Overlooked Resource: the Contributions of Americans 55+, New York: The Commonwealth Fund
- Butler, Robert (1963) The Life Review: An interpretation of reminiscence in the aged, Psychiatry, Vol 26
- Baltes, P. (1993) Aging Mind: potential and limits, Gerontologist, Vol. 33, No. 5
- Baltes, P., Staudinger, U., and Maerker, A. (1995) People Nominated as Wise: a comparative study of wisdom-related knowledge, Psychology and Aging, Vol. 10, No. 2
