Under the Currents of Generational Myths

Key points

Research shows individual differences within a generation far outweigh the average gaps between them.

Generational labels act as cognitive shortcuts that help our brains manage social complexity.

The mind's instinct to categorize people sacrifices individual accuracy for quick judgments.

Let’s first get this out of the way: generational stereotypes don’t stand up well to scrutiny. The psychological evidence is clear. The variation within generations far outweighs any average difference between them. Grouping people by birth year may be a popular shorthand, but it rarely tells us much about a host of important psychological factors like personality , intelligence , motivation and values.

Knowing someone is a “Boomer” or “Zoomer” tells you almost nothing about who they