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When Does Intelligence Peak? A New Stanford Study Offers a Surprising (and Encouraging) Answer
In the tech industry, 35 is apparently considered ancient. A recent University of Gothenburg study conducted in-depth interviews with tech industry insiders and found that workers over age 35 are widely expected “to have more difficulty processing information and picking up new things.”
Add to this a flood of age discrimination lawsuits and the personal testimony of many older tech employees, and you can’t help but conclude that, in some circles, there’s a widespread belief intelligence peaks in your 20s or early 30s. After that, you might be good for maintenance or management, but your days of innovation and intense cognitive effort are behind you.
This is obviously hugely discouraging for founders or tech workers hoping to stay intellectually vibrant and gainfully employed after they sprout a few gray hairs. But that’s not even the biggest problem with this bias against the no longer young. According to a new Stanford University study published in Science Advances, it is also factually totally bogus.
When cognitive skills actually peak
Researchers out of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University wanted to know if cognitive skills really do start to decline as early as our 30s. They…
