Set In Our Ways Why Change Is So Hard By Nikols Westerhoff Summary

The article from Scientific American Mind magazine “Set in our ways: Why change is so hard” by Nikolas Westerhoff shows that it is very complicated to change lives. Young people are open to new experiences, but when they become older they are losing their interest. Throughout the article, Westerhoff reveals such main ideas as: people lose their appetite for novelty as they age; people all over the world have similar societal expectation and life demands; people who wish to make great changes often fail. Most of all I want to pay attention on such special question as “Can people change who they are?” I agree with the author`s thoughts that change is so difficult. Moreover, I think that it is impossible for people to change their personality, …show more content…
Nowadays people around the world in all cultures have similar expectation, but in some it is easier to make changes, when for others it is unacceptable. I found some examples that prove this idea. For instance, some people have never been abroad, because they don’t trust the plane, and believe that this is evil and God does not approve. Another example is that for some people it is a normal thing to do plastic surgery, they even don’t think a lot before, but it is a very difficult question for others and they even can think about it for years and as a result will not do. The last example would be the situation when the girl comes to the new country that has more free rules, and finds a boyfriend, but inconsistencies arise because in her country before marriage man and woman do not live together, but for this country rules it is normal. Under those circumstances, it is very hard for a girl to change her world view and her family because it is unusual for other cultures and religions. Also, your ability to change depends on a genetic basis. It means that people who are extrovert are more willing to change than introverts. Sometimes people can change their behavior, but it happens very rarely and depends on many …show more content…
People put high goals and very often fail because their desire for change is unrealistic. Their hopes are too high. The psychologists Janet Polivy and C. Peter Herman named it as a false hope syndrome. This syndrome occurs more often in people`s lives. In article also speaks that with age people`s openness to changes is slowly refused. I agree with this statement and, moreover, I think that people need a lot of time to have the desired result, but nobody wants to wait for a long time therefore, they give up on the