<p>Complaining about the youth has been going on for millennia, where the older generation finds fault with the younger generation's behavior and shortcomings.</p>
<p><em>Even Aristotle said of Greece's youth: "They think they know everything, and are always quite sure about it."</em></p>

The generation gap has always existed

<p>Research observed while people may believe in a general decline, they also believe that children are particularly deficient in the traits where they happen to excel.</p>
<p>Authoritarian people are more likely to believe that today's youth lack respect for authority. Intelligent people are more likely to comment that kids never seem to be reading and are getting brainless.</p>

The "Kids these days" effect

<p>Sometimes older people mistakenly remember kids in the past as more accomplished.</p>
<p>And todays youth will likely consider the generation after them to be deficient.</p>

Our flawed memory

<figure><img alt="boomer illustration head to head" src="https://thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com/mjtZ3KHvZsEN8yKMyH40KXjr6qo=/800x600/filters:no_upscale()/https://public-media.si-cdn.com/filer/ba/16/ba16b411-c54a-4951-bf05-0f44b66952f7/smith_boomer_v_x.jpg" width="753" height="565"><figcaption dir="auto">Older people tend to believe that younger generations lack whatever traits they themselves possess in abundance. (Illustration by JD King)</figcaption></figure><div aria-labelledby="at-1187a776-e2f2-477d-be36-ef2797250271" role="region"><span>AddThis Sharing Buttons</span></div><div><a role="button" tabindex="0"><span>Share to Facebook</span></a></div><div><a role="button" tabindex="0"><span>Share to Twitter</span></a></div><div><a role="button" tabindex="0"><span>Share to Reddit</span></a></div><div><a role="button" tabindex="0"><span>Share to Pinterest</span></a></div><div><a role="button" tabindex="0"><span>Share to LinkedIn</span></a></div><div><a role="button" tabindex="0"><span>Share to Flipboard</span></a></div><div><a role="button" tabindex="0"><span>Share to Email</span></a></div><div><a role="button" tabindex="0"><span>Share to Print</span></a></div><div><a role="button" tabindex="0"><span>Share to More</span></a></div><p>Complaining about the young is a longstanding prerogative of the old; just as baby boomers and Gen X’ers today lament the shortcomings of millennials and Gen Z, parents in the 1920s looked askance at their flapper daughters, the mothers of pre-revolutionary France pooh-poohed their “effeminate” sons, and so on back to the fourth century B.C. and Aristotle, who said of Greece’s young people: “They think they know everything, and are always quite sure about it.”</p><p dir="ltr">Now, some 2,500 years later, researchers are offering a pair of psychological explanations for this recurring complaint, or what they call the “kids these days effect.” In studies involving 3,458 Americans ages 33 to 51 recruited and evaluated online, John Protzko and Jonathan Schooler of the University of California, Santa Barbara, measured respondents’ authoritarian tendencies, intelligence and enthusiasm for reading. “While people may believe in a general decline,” the researchers <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/10/eaav5916.full" dir="ltr">observed in the journal <em dir="ltr">Science Advances</em></a>, “they also believe that children are especially deficient on the traits in which they happen to excel.”</p><p>Authoritarian people, it turns out, are more likely to suspect that today’s youth are lacking in respect for authority, while well-read people are more likely to bemoan that kids these days never seem to be reading. More intelligent people are also more likely to say that young people are getting stupider—a remarkable conviction, given decades of rising intelligence domestically and globally.</p><p>At the heart of this denigrating effect is flawed memory, Protzko and Schooler say. Sometimes older people mistakenly recall that kids in the past were more accomplished than today’s kids, who suffer by comparison. “People in their 20s and 30s are going to grow up looking at kids and thinking they’re deficient,” Protzko says. So, while the baby boomers continue to weather volleys of “OK, boomer” from youngsters who blame them for despoiling the earth, older Americans can take comfort in knowing that members of Generation Z will one day hear the inevitable: “OK, zoomer.”</p><img src="https://thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com/56ltplSIKOxXCBD0ff66w_I8joI=/fit-in/300x0/https://public-media.si-cdn.com/embedly/JanFeb20_Cover.png" title="Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine now for just $12" alt="Preview thumbnail for video 'Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine now for just $12" width="120" height="160">

Older people have groused about younger people for millennia. Now we know why

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<p>Complaining about the young is a longstanding prerogative of the old; just as baby boomers and Gen X’ers today lament the shortcomings of millennials and Gen Z, parents in the 1920s looked askance at their flapper daughters, the mothers of pre-revolutionary France pooh-poohed their “effeminate” sons, and so on back to the fourth century B.C. and Aristotle, who said of Greece’s young people: “They think they know everything, and are always quite sure about it.” </p>

<p dir="ltr">Now, some 2,500 years later, researchers are offering a pair of psychological explanations for this recurring complaint, or what they call the “kids these days effect.” In studies involving 3,458 Americans ages 33 to 51 recruited and evaluated online, John Protzko and Jonathan Schooler of the University of California, Santa Barbara, measured respondents’ authoritarian tendencies, intelligence and enthusiasm for reading. “While people may believe in a general decline,” the researchers <a dir="ltr" href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/10/eaav5916.full">observed in the journal <em dir="ltr">Science Advances </em> </a>, “they also believe that children are especially deficient on the traits in which they happen to excel.” </p>

<p>Authoritarian people, it turns out, are more likely to suspect that today’s youth are lacking in respect for authority, while well-read people are more likely to bemoan that kids these days never seem to be reading. More intelligent people are also more likely to say that young people are getting stupider—a remarkable conviction, given decades of rising intelligence domestically and globally. </p>

<p>At the heart of this denigrating effect is flawed memory, Protzko and Schooler say. Sometimes older people mistakenly recall that kids in the past were more accomplished than today’s kids, who suffer by comparison. “People in their 20s and 30s are going to grow up looking at kids and thinking they’re deficient,” Protzko says. So, while the baby boomers continue to weather volleys of “OK, boomer” from youngsters who blame them for despoiling the earth, older Americans can take comfort in knowing that members of Generation Z will one day hear the inevitable: “OK, zoomer.” </p>

The Psychology Behind Generational Conflict

The generation gap has always existed

The "Kids these days" effect

Our flawed memory

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