Okay, so it's so four weeks ago to talk about Tom Cruise and his midlife crisis. But here's the thing... midlife crises are somewhat of a myth. I'm reaching into the depths of my brain archives, so some of the information may not be exact (and all my school notes are packed away). However, the original study on midlife crises came about from a study of about 50 male, Caucasian, Harvard graduates... not quite a representative sample! However, it likely grabbed the media's attention, and thus became a part of our vernacular and beliefs. So, are midlife crises valid or are is it an easy out for someone to explain poor behaviour and choices? Well, when a man walks away from a marriage of 20 years, buys a new sports car, and dyes his hair blonde... I think he's choosing to live a hedonistic life rather than a responsible one. And then he can say in a year or two "oh, I think I was going through a rough time, a midlife crisis of sorts." Poor excuse for poor behaviour!
This brings me to another point... media is so quick to pick up on and distribute catchy studies with interesting findings, which is then disseminated to the public. What is often left out is how the study was conducted, the rigor, and sample size. Thus, very often the general public is duped into believing ideas and findings that are simply flimsy at best. The "beauty" of statistics is that researchers can most often make something out of nothing! And the media seems to love nothing.
So, the next time you hear that someone jumps the couch, be a bit more skeptical of the real reason behind it.
5 comments:
And the other 13% are eaten by Oprah, munch, munch, munch...
I want someone to poll how many people in the whole world want to assassinate me, like with marshmallow machine guns. That'd be way rad.
there are three types of lies.
lies
damn lies
and statistics
mark twain.
i think the midlife crisis is more of a function of taxonomy than it is an actual pyschological trend. it's a fun, catchy, and shallow (with the guise of being learned) way at describing people we think are trying to re-invent themselves.
i don't think that the mere mention of "mid life crisis" was ever a justification of the behavior... yet you seem to think so aislinn?
i, unfortunately... have seen mid-life crises many times... and each one gets more and more pathetic.
i think those that observe the behaviour don't believe it justifies it... but i do think those that involve themselves in it oftentimes do!
i believe that it is a tendency of our society to put the blame on something/someone when we make poor choices, rather than take responsibility. midlife crises are only one example of it.
there are plenty of men and women who age gracefully. they recognize that life gets slower and sometimes duller, but they revel in the joy that comes from hard work... rather than throwing it all away for their secretary, who was their daughter's best friend in high school!
Totally, mid-life "cheat on your wife with your daughter's best friend" crisis... Wow, like a People's Court gone 5 star!
seaneria... thanks for actually pulling out names and dates. you put me to shame!
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