WHAT IS MATURITY?

New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 812, 18 February 1955, Page 18

WHAT IS MATURITY?

DBD BBB PPL LPL LO LLL LLL An abridament of the first of two talks

broadcast from YC stations by Dr

Geoffrey

Blake-Palmer

Medical Superintendent, Sea-

cliff Hospital, and Lecturer in Mental Diseases at the University of Otago

ATURITY in the sense that it will be used in these talks is a quality or measure which can apply to both living organisms and to social organisations which are themselves "living." It can also apply to certain experience, as for example, religious experience, the quality and content of which may vary with the personality. Maturity is a quality which may also apply in such fields of activity as education, for in education both the individual and an organisation are concerned. Let us first consider the living organism, especially personality. Though everyone may feel entitled to or claim by birth certain equal rights, they are by no means cast in the same mould. Nor do they progress at equal rates. Chance, accident, climate, diet, early training, an unhappy setting or the hazards of disease may influence physical, intellectual or emotional development, Yet the quality of the seed must determine the limits within which the individual may develop, however favoured or hindered by the surround. The recognition and acceptance of the part which may be played by "errors" in upbringing, in mistaken indulgence, or unwise attempts to impose

a rigid programme on all alike, regardless of differences, is more readily accepted today. It is not, however, very much better understood than it was in the days of our grandparents. Much unhelpful muddled thinking persists. All too often the latest is mistaken for the best and the past associated with the worst; too few credit our forebears with any wisdom in family upbringing. In many otherwise’ well-informed circles understanding of the part played by emotional stresses and errors of upbringing in moulding the adult personality are regarded as revelations of Freud and his successors, Strange conclusions have been drawn from Freud’s writings, for an immense tangle of verbiage conceals important if rather distorted older truths. Unfortunately, it has also obscured a valuable body of eatlier experience and knowledge which in its original Greek and other sources is both simpler, more objective and less overlaid by speculation and dogma. Freud’s method and terminology may be new, but little new knowledge has been uncovered. He did, however, focus attention on these things in a cloud. of speculation. For too many people the ranker growths which stem from the earlier psychoanalytical writings have obscured their origin. In the hasty application of

easy analogies, suggested by the early investigations in the method of psychoanalysis, many innovations intruded the educational field. Drawing support from the teachings of Rousseau, the cult of self-expression and free-discipline grew apace. A wider toleration of peculiarity with multiplication of optional courses served the purpose of fitting the education to the child and not the child to the education. Much of this was helpful. Yet in pursuit of it there was a dangerous disregard of purpose and meaning in education. "In bringing to birth the confused and_half-formed thoughts of children,’ the teachers were less and less insistent on positive affirmations of wisdom, courage, justice and temperance. An exaggerated importance was attached to the dangers of repression; and little thought given to the possibility that a child might suffer equally or even more from too timid a guidance. The child was encouraged to develop his own personality, yet little guidance was offered to enable him to distinguish his different elements. Thus the child came to think too much in terms of self and too little in terms .of service. Furthermore, are there not

within all of us qualities, strivings and desires which are better left underfed or uncultivated? Are there not forms of experience which may well be left untried without undue harm to the immature? Experimenters are none the less immature for seeking experience for its own sake, or rather because they think that such experience will confer maturity. From simple misdemeanours the immature seek stronger and stronger stimuli. Don Juan was an immature lover, not a great lover; for he accepted no responsibilities and could form no endearing attachments. Intelligence a Factor It has already been said that there is now a greater awareness that difficulties in upbringing and emotional stresses may influence the progress and personality towards maturity. It is less readily conceded that there are very great differences in intellectual endowment. In England, for example, rather more than one-tenth of the population never attain a higher intellect than that shown by a more favoured child of ten or eleven, The great majority of these people are self-supporting, abstain from crime, lead useful lives and reproduce their kind with greater facility than others far better endowed in mere intellect. Might it not well be said that within their limitations they, too, attain maturity? There is yet another factor to consider, namely, the emotions. In this connection perhaps the most commonly

used adjectives are "stable," and its opposite, "unstable," a term which immediately suggests restlessness, dissatisfaction, tantrums and difficulties in the successful management of inter-personal relationships. Age is no criterion of maturity. A youth may have a chronological age of fifteen, a physical development of an adult of twenty, an intellectual age of eleven, and an emotional age of five. On the other hand, persons of full intellectual attainment may still retain an emotional pattern more suited to that of a child. In women attainment of marTiage and proven ability in child-bearing may still allow emotional dependence and the use of adaptive devices to meet domestic ‘stresses which they found "worked" in later childhood and therefore never varied. The careful inquiry into the background setting and earlier history of such persons often revealsI should say always reveals-certain situations which experience shows so commonly accompany arrested development towards maturity. Sometimes they may be physically immature, but such is by no means always the case. They will often have suffered over-protection rather than harshness: the parents may — be of very unequal temperament and character and the "victim" have been excessively. protected — usually by. the parent of the opposite sex, Employment Problems Often unhappy at school, and even more unhappy in a school where there is little purpose or discipline, they may become either needlessly meticylous or restlessly indifferent to the requirements of their employment. Change of job may often be attempted as a mistaken and ineffectual "treatment" for underlying emotional immaturity or disorder, overlooking the fact that dissatisfaction in the first place was a symptom of inner rather than external stress. Without guidance, or with the encouragement \which comes of unhealthy musings, such persons may _ involve themselves in extraordinary situations in search of some experience by which _they vainly seek to overcome their inner sense of inadequacy. By easy steps they may acquire faulty habits. They are so often quite incapable of holding their own with tougher companions whom they seek to emulate, hoping thereby to acquire the qualities they envy in other more robust personalities. Thence to addiction is but a step, thence even to self-destruction or other violence. In considering maturity not only the individual but the particular setting, the

group to which he belongs, and the professed standards of the community must be taken into account. Preferences also play their part. Many are happy in a dependent situation, others ‘strive for self-sufficiency. Some never achieve it for their upbringing has been such as to favour the arrest of emotional growth at near childhood level. There is no need to carry back our inquiry beyond the second generation. Once again the reluctance of our community to face unpalatable reality may hinder remedial action. Parents, by virtue merely of being parents, are assumed to be adult. They are supposed to be mature and regard themselves as fully competent to bring up the young. They may be very resentful of guidance even when they are very unsure of their ability. They may be hesitant to seek advice even when the regrettable outcome of their efforts is clearly apparent to the onlooker. Children may be subjected to .the most extraordinary book-fed nonsensical systems of upbringing. Only if they become gravely ill or actively maltreated can much be done to protect the child from the baneful influence of misguided, immature or neglectful parents, When disaster has befallen they seek absolution for their child, blaming everything or everyone for the consequences of personal misdirection, misunderstanding of the needs, or plain neglect. It is not only from broken or dissolute homes that immature or crippled personalities arise. The home of the "unco guid" is equally difficult for many a sensitive child. : Care What are the shortcomings commonly found in those concerned with the development of children-especially those children who fail to attain maturity? Care and attention to purely physical needs, often to the point of pampering, is fairly well met in our welfare state. There may be some indifference to the needs of sleep, considerable indifference to the supervision of recreation and almost total neglect of selection in the "literary field in which the children browse, Yet physical needs, food, clothing and protection from weather are ‘in the main adequately met. * There is inadequate attention to early teaching of the pre-school child. "Leave it to the school" is the ready excuse. Early training, particularly of a rather formal and uncritical kind, is given in many homes with a religious background and in some other homes under the more doubtful influence of some health cult or the like. But all too little attention is given to the necessity of teaching children, and grown children for that matter, to accept each others’ differences and live together peacefully. Immediate loyalties may be laudable and should be encouraged. All too often these are too well instilled. Emotional development does not allow them to extend beyond sectarian levels. Group prejudice emerges. Judgments are made in terms of the group, not the person. Inquiry is stifled by group action; such exclusiveness is normal in the nursery, especially with only or indulged chil-dren-its persistence in adult life betrays immaturity. Many parents are over-concerned that their children are competitively successful in school; others that they are a social credit to them. Success tends to be regarded as an end in itself. Turning to the other extreme, some

school organisations, in seeking to coun-’ ter this, have fostered a quite unjustified fear of the healthy spirit of competition. The tyranny of marks has been replaced by an even more subtle tyranny, which seeks to overlook differences merely because 'such facts are not readily acceptable to immature parents or spoilt children, The teacher is primarily concerned with instilling knowledge. If the child is not troublesome and is reasonably successful in competitive tests, its mental’ and emotional health are presumed. Indeed, the schoo]l- cannot to any extent .accept the responsibility for additional functions that it is not at the present time organised or fitted to deal with. It certainly cannot undertake to absolve the parents for their neglect or shortcomings, or compensate for failure in parental interest.

(Extracts from Dr.

Blake-Palmer's

second talk will be printed in an earlv

issue of "The Listener.")