Showing concern for the growth and prosperity of future generations is called generativity, or generative thinking.
Current research, and life experience, informs us that generativity is good for both social well-being, and our own mental health.
People with a generative mindset participate more often in prosocial activity such as political events, positive parenting, and volunteerism. Yet, this kind of thought and action is tough to sustain through life’s inevitable ups and downs.
It could be that generative people tell themselves a particular type of personal story - those with themes of redemption - to keep their generative spark alive.
The Stories That Inform Us
To discover whether generativity is fueled by spinning redemptive stories about our life, two scientists at Northwestern University devised an experiment. They gave lengthy interviews to adult participants aged 55 to 57 to find out whether redemptive themes were a part of their self-narrative.
Any person who has enjoyed movies or novels is familiar with a redemption story plot:
- The protagonist, or main character, enjoys advantages during their early life.
- The protagonist develops an awareness that the world is dangerous and full of suffering.
- The protagonist acquires moral beliefs.
- The beliefs prompt prosocial, or socially positive behavior.
- Along the way, the protagonist experiences misfortune that usually leads to personal or socially beneficial outcomes.
The researchers found that the participants who were most concerned about the growth and health of coming generations were also those most likely to weave their own stories with themes of redemption.
A redemptive perception of one’s life is also, the study revealed, related to increased well-being and better mental health.
Goodwill and Higher Order
Psychologist Erik Erikson (1902-1994) would not be surprised by today’s study findings. Generativity is a marker of healthy maturity in people aged 40 to 65 years of age, according to Erikson. Without generativity, he believed that life stagnates.
Erikson thought generativity was the quality of being concerned about other people, including the next generation. It involves parenting, but more broadly is about acting in ways that support the human family.
“A person does his best at this time to put aside thoughts of death and balance its certainty with the only happiness that is lasting: to increase, by whatever is yours to give, the goodwill and higher order in your sector of the world,” wrote Erikson.
It Can Inspire Us
It could be that generativity facilitates mental and physical health because it supports the underlying oneness of human beings—what we have in common. When we put effort into the welfare of others, we simultaneously care for our self. When we respect and cultivate our natural talents, we are able to put effort into the welfare of others; and around the world goes.
“Generative thinking can inspire us to work within a vision for culture that is expressed in centuries and millennia rather than quarters, seasons, or fashions.” ~ Makoto Fuijmura, On Becoming Generative
Sources: cortland.edu; Science Daily
Photo credit: Daniel Thornton / flickr creative commons
