Conscientious Objections
A swift spanking won’t cut it for you undisciplined souls out there. I’m sorry, but you have senility to look forward to.
Or so the headlines would have us believe. Bohemians, free spirits and the generally messy get their comeuppance at last. Some 218 articles (and counting) are proclaiming that Being Less Conscientious May Be a Risk Factor for Alzheimer’s, that the Organised ‘Get Alzheimer’s Less’, and concluding Personality Trait Linked to Risk of Developing Alzheimer’s. And in an enthusiastic hop from association to prevention, the BBC announces that ‘Discipline’ May Beat Alzheimer’s! Could personality be any more of a cult? Not even dementia is safe. You know what’s demented? Said publications’ choice of headlines. If you’re going to spin a study, why hold back? Make us dizzy enough to puke.
- Mom was right: you should have cleaned your room, idiot
- Remember that thing you were supposed to do all those years ago? Of course you don’t!
- INTJs vindicated at last (tell them something they don’t know)
- Guess what happens when you don’t send thank you notes?
- Move to a monastery and you’ll be sharply aware of it until the day you die!
- Be perfect or you will go crazy.
997 Catholic priests, nuns and brothers were followed for as many as 12 years (none had dementia at the onset of the study). While there was a notable inverse correlation between measured conscientiousness and incidence of Alzheimer’s, the study did not control for other factors like general health and activity level. It’s not that the study is wrong; it isn’t unreasonable to think that certain personality traits might have an impact upon health. But so many factors are involved in the etiology of diseases like Alzheimer’s, it’s a touch ridiculous to sensationalize one relatively inconclusive study in this way.
Want to learn more? More education may reduce your Alzheimer’s risk.
- via PsyBlog
6 opinions for Conscientious Objections
steve
Oct 2, 2007 at 4:18 pm
This is a cool topic, Sara! Reminds me of a book I read not too long ago: “Keeping Your Brain Alive.” It has activities the author (Dr. Lawrence Katz) dubs “neurobic exercises.” The idea behind it is that you deliberately activate more of your senses in activities and experiences; the net effect is that over time, as Alzheimer’s or general brain health begins to degenerate, there will be more synapses formed due to the increased sense-stimulation you did when you were younger, which may assist in retaining memories.
It’s a decent-sounding hypothesis, and it makes for some fun stuff to do. Deliberately walking around your house while blindfolded, trying to fish out your front door key, then choosing dinner from the cupboard is fun. So is carrying little canisters of distinctively-scented herbs; when you visit a new place on vacation, simultaneously inhale from the herb and look about the new location; from that point on, chances are you’ll remember the place you visited every time you smell that particular herb.
Pretty cool stuff.
Sara
Oct 2, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Hey Steve! It is a cool topic. And great comment…interesting. I’ll have to check it out :)
Mike Sowden
Oct 2, 2007 at 4:28 pm
That nun’s kinda hot.
Maybe it’s the ruler.
Sorry.
Yes, findings of very dubious merit. Personally I don’t know where to start.
Ah - maybe here. “To measure conscientiousness, participants rated how they agreed with 12 items on a scale of one to five”. Yes. It’s well known that human beings are completely and utterly objective about their own abilities, particularly when said abilities are loosely defined.
Where’s an independent assessment in all of this? Where?
Secondly, ‘productive’ is such an endlessly subjective word that it makes me want to scream. In fact, I’m going to.
*AAARRRRRRRRRRRGH*.
‘Productive’ can refer to 10,000 repetitive tasks that dull an individual’s mind, or one creative task that takes 6 months of contemplation and thought without much in the way of physical evidence.
(Maybe the trick is to do both, like Einstein in his Patent Office).
And so on, ad nauseum.
Maddening.
Jim
Oct 2, 2007 at 4:41 pm
I would think Christians who go to church regularly would be more likely than average to remain active socially, which is supposed to be one of the ways to keep your brain active and stave off Alzheimer’s, right?
/un-self assured INTJ
Sara
Oct 2, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Hmm…interesting thought, Jim.
/INTJ who (naturally) takes issue with Myers-Brigg
kathryn
Oct 2, 2007 at 11:19 pm
I really don’t understand this study at all. Firstly it’s about the lives of nuns and priests. I would imagine their life would have a very different structure, set of priorities, stresses and daily routines to most people.
As Mike comments, it’s not a very independent assessment process is it?
I’d have to say, my life is a bit slap-dash. But to be honest, I’d much prefer to read a book, learn something new, write a blog post, do the crossword - in fact almost anything than tidy my house and keep my bedroom clean. Life is surely so much more than that?
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