Cultures perceive their elderly in various ways. According to Simic and Myerhoff in Life’s Career-Aging: Cultural Variation on Growing Old, “In every society, the rewards possible in old age depend on individual ability, resourcefulness, good judgment and luck at every point during the life cycle.” A study of Samoan people in 1975 by Bradd Shore indicated that the top five perceptions they have towards their elderly members are “stays at home”, “sits”, “respected”, “runs the family”, and “dignity”. The results lead to an interesting conclusion. Even though the Samoan elders are perceived to sit and stay at home, they are still perceived to have dignity and respect and be responsible for running the family.
In the United States, Americans tend to have the perception or misconception that becoming elderly means the end of the ability to grow creatively and intellectually. In fact, many psychologists and anthropologists have attempted to study the validity of this claim. However, in the study, researchers encountered numerous problems. For instance, they could not agree on a definition of creativity or how to measure it effectively. Some researchers are criticized for measuring quantity and not quality, but quality is subjective.
Even with these problems, anthropological and psychological data show that the ability to increase creatively and intellectually is not limited by time and age. In fact, age is often an advantage to creative growth. Most artists agree that there is really no truly new idea. Creativity is inspired by past ideas and innovations. Even avant-garde works that are based on the rejection of traditional or past ideas are still influenced in that way. An excellent example of how experience heightens creativity is found in Other Cultures, Elder Years. Ellen Rhoads Holmes and Lowell D. Holmes wrote, “Playing jazz was seen as putting together musical ideas in a new and inventive way, and the larger the stock of ideas and figures the more experience one has in putting them together, the more creative the jazz player.”
Written by Rachel Frisk, 2000