When we refer to age, majority of us refer to how many years we have been living, but rarely ask — what is my mental age? Nevertheless, it is not only your birth year which is your age but also your mental one. However, how should we define mental age and what is the correlation of that age with your real age, smartness, or personality?
This article delves in the interesting phenomenon of mental age, explaining the process you can use to find out your mental age, what determines the mental age, and what it indicates about you. We shall also take a look at several mental age tests and quizzes, such as the entertaining mental age quiz online and mentioning how some people have different mental age than your actual age.
How about we have a closer look at how mental age, intelligence and personality are connected to bring into being a distinct standpoint of what you are like mentally.
What Is Mental Age?
Definition of Mental Age
Mental age is the level of development in the cognitive and emotional maturity that a human being displays in reference to the average level of his age group. In contrast to chronological age which solely depends on your number of years of age lived, mental age is an indication as to how mentally young or aged you are relative to your problem solving capabilities, emotional intelligence level, and flexibility, among others.
To give an example of it, imagine that the age that your mind has developed to is 30, yet you are actually 25, this may mean that your behaviors, responses, and thinking process are similar to that of a person older than you. On the other hand, 20 could give a better understanding to a 40-year-old person of having a younger stance towards life by making decisions with a lighter heart or maybe being less serious.
How to Know Your Mental Age
Taking a Mental Age Test
Perhaps the easiest method of getting the idea of your mental age is through the mental age test. The tests usually evaluate a mixture of emotional, intellectual, and psychological responses of your brain to an array of situations. There are a lot of websites that provide free mental-age tests as amusing quizzes or serious examinations.
Another place that you can find the mental age quiz is online, where it will pose you a number of questions regarding your personal preferences, how you would respond to certain situations, and even your own habits in order to confirm your mental maturity.
The Science Behind Mental Age Tests
Most of these tests are done to test various dimensions of your behavior and thinking and some of them include:
- Cognitive development (e.g., problem-solving ability, memory)
- Emotional maturity (e.g., ability to handle stress, empathy)
- Social maturity (e.g., how you interact with others)
Mental age has nothing to do with the experiences that the age brings along, but the way you perceive and respond to the world.
Mental Age vs. Actual Age: What’s the Difference?
Understanding the Difference
Your real age will only depend on your birthday, but the mental one is a subjective value that represents the maturity of your mind and feelings. These two could be totally different.
For example:
- A 30-year-old with a mental age of 40 might demonstrate greater emotional control, wisdom, or patience.
- A 50-year-old with a mental age of 25 might embrace risk-taking behaviors or display youthful optimism.
The distance between the two may differ on the basis of life experience, intelligence and personality attributes.
Signs Your Mental Age Is Lower (or Higher) Than Your Actual Age
- Signs your mental age is lower:
- You tend to act impulsively or make decisions based on emotions.
- You can have an irresponsible disposition and be too fond of socializing or being out to party more than your age mates are.
- You seek novelty and new experiences rather than sticking with routines.
- Signs your mental age is higher:
- You are more of a contemplative type with highly inner-developed ability to solve problems and are very cool under pressure.
- You take responsibility seriously and can be a sort of a mature person in your social group.
How Age, Intelligence & Personality Intersect
Intelligence and Mental Age
Intelligence and mental age have a strong correlation with each other, but they are not always directly proportional. There are those who fall in a higher IQ bracket but they possess the sort of mental age that they are highly smart, there are those who have low intellectual capacity but at the same time have the form of mental age which they are very young despite having a very high IQ bracket.
Age and Intelligence can mostly be reduced to the way one implements knowledge and logic. An individual might have already collected much knowledge during their lifetime experience, and yet, might be identified as a person with youthful qualities when it comes to living and learning.
Personality and Mental Age
Your character is also very important in identifying your mental age. For example:
- The adventurous nature of extroverts may exhibit the behaviors that are similar to those of individuals with a lower mental age.
- Introverts or person with contemplative personality may have a higher maturity mental age as they are introspective.
Your ability to move through emotions, to negotiate social life, and to react to strain are all pegged to how old or young you act mentally.
Emotional Maturity & Mental Age
What Is Emotional Maturity?
Another factor that determines your mental age is emotional maturity. It also denotes the capability to manage emotions, understand other people and make sound decisions under stressful conditions.
- A mentally mature human being is able to remain calm, make rationale decisions, and be in control of their feelings.
- A person with lower emotional maturity might act rashly, struggle with empathy, or have trouble dealing with adversity.
Take the Emotional Maturity Test
In order to determine emotional maturity, you may also consider doing an emotional maturity test. This test will usually cover the following issues: your responses on emotional feelings, on conflict handling and your capability to cope with hard feelings.
Conclusion: Embrace Your Unique Mental Age
By knowing your mental age, you are able to gain great insight in your personality, behavior and your way of relating to the world. Either way, you learn that you are younger or older than your age, or, at least, you are upset not to get younger or older, it is an entertaining and eye-opening experience, which can make you realize yourself better. Remember that today you can definitely take a fun mental age test and find out more about how age, intelligence, and personality can merge and interact in the most exciting ways
FAQs: Your Mental Age Questions Answered
1. What is my mental age test?
Mental age test is an online intelligence test that aims at valuing your emotional and intellectual maturity. It usually contains items regarding problem solving, emotional reactions and social conducts.
2. How to know your mental age?
To know your mental age, you can take a mental age quiz online or consult with a psychologist who can assess your cognitive and emotional maturity in a clinical setting.
3. Is mental age the same as psychological age?
Mental age and psychological age are two terms that are very related yet not the same. Whereas both are used in the discussion of mental development, psychological age does incorporate things such as emotional intelligence and personality whereas mental age tends to concentrate on cognitive abilities and maturity.
