It is notable that past experiences in an individual’s life are an important determinant of who one is and how one perceives the world thus the term generational personality. Matures are persons who were born and lived between 1922 and 1945 and the events and conditions that were present in this time-period shaped their personality a lot. Despite the fact that one may not incline to the collective mind set of a given generation, one is bound to be influenced by the mind set and hence the personality is shaped by the mindset. For matures, previous experiences like the Great Depression, WWII and the influence of the older generation made them adaptive, hardworking, patriotic, conformist and conservative.
Matures appear to be less adventurous as evidenced by their comfort with the idea of retiring. Such a personality is likely shaped by being born of parents who were conformists. In as much as they try to adapt to changes such as technology, they only do so slowly still holding to their conformist ideas and they are often referred to as the Silent Generation. However, perhaps their weakness in adventure has made them to prepare enough for their old age, e.g. by looking forward to retiring, and thus they have social security to secure a comfortable life at old age.
The defining moments of the 1920s through 1940s had a great role in shaping the personality of the Matures. Major occurrences during this time period include 1930s Great Depression, the uprising WWII, evolution of the radio and Polaroid cameras, and industrial revolution among others. The WWII was fought when this generation was too young to take part in (Generation Model, n.d) but the experience cultured a great sense of patriotism. They admired the older generation that took part in the war, hence cultivating a sense of self-sacrifice in them. The experience of the Great Depression taught the Matures the virtues of discipline and safety, more so in their economic statuses. This generation values having security for old age and they are disciplined in their economic endeavors, all in pursuit for stability. Their yearning for stability, political and economic, is also cultivated by the experience of the Great Depression and WWII (Web Generation, n.d). This generation also went through the Great Depression successfully thus molding a character of optimism about the future on this generation.
The 1920s through 1940s was a period when radio and Polaroid camera came up in addition to the influence of the Industrial Revolution (Generation Model, n.d). The past orientations and conformity of the Matures is therefore likely shaped by the fact that this era did not witness many sophisticated technologies. As such, these individuals tend to be reluctant to fast changing technology. Being the era when democracy was greatly encouraged, this generation was influenced to be loyal, respect authority and be honest and straightforward. It is a loyal generation since it was brought up in a time when the country needed protection from the more powerful nations and thus it called for self-sacrifice to safeguard the nation.
Indeed, an individual’s life course is a product of experiences when one is born and experiences during developmental years. Matures were born and brought up in the 1920s and 1940s when the world economy was wavering, in an industrial revolution era and the world politics were volatile. As such, this generation witnessed the older people go through such experiences and in the end cultivated values such as loyalty, self-sacrifice, patriotism, patience and need for discipline and safety. Having been influenced by the past generation, the Matures have ended up being conformists as well as conservatives.
References
Generation Model. (n.d). Generation culture. Web.
Web Generation. (n.d). 1940’s. Web.