Take a moment and read the statements. In the empty box to the left of the statement provide your best guess as to the age of the person who is making this statement.
- "I have a guardian angel who watches over me wherever I go. I thank God for everything that happens in my life. I always try to help people. I’m directed to them and offer whatever kindness I can."
- "…your goal in life is to be on top. You know? I consider myself in charge of my own life. So I’m on top of things."
- "I am blessed with many friends. They call me all the time and we are always going out to lunch or dinner. They take me wherever I have to go. It really makes life worthwhile."
- On the subject of grandchildren: "We’re very involved, as involved as we can be. Almost as involved as we were with our own kids. I never missed one of [my son's] Little League games. To me, my family was everything."
- "When I get up in the morning …I’m angry. Angry because I don’t have the time or the money to do everything that I want to do."
- "I live plain. My house needs a lot of fixing up. But, I’m very frugal. People think I save money, but I just shop well."
- "I do believe in God …there are times in life that He has had to have been there watching …I mean something happened and everything worked out. …I talk to him every night …you have to believe in something like God …to just have everything be worthwhile. I don’t know. If I didn’t have Him to believe in then it would be silly."
- "I’m my own man. No one ever gave me anything and I direct my own life. I am a leader and expect to be followed. I never had a problem with this and got along well with people. I always look for a clear, right choice and push for it."
"If I buy a new boat—because I love to go fishing and boating—I want to put it in the water right away. I want to go out and use it… .It is exciting because it’s something brand new …and it will be my first experience with it …It gives me a feeling of success. …I feel very successful that I have set a goal and then I accomplished that goal. …I want to call my friends and say, ‘Hey, I finally saved up the money. I bought this new boat I’ve been talking about for so long. Come on over. Let’s go out and let’s use it.’"
"I really try not to be negative and try to be objective and fair about things. So many people are dirty, dishonest, always breaking the rules. It really makes me angry. We all should receive our fair share, according to our needs." - "I think my friends celebrate me. They truly do. Last Christmas I treated myself to a full carat brilliant-cut diamond pendant for Christmas and it was absolutely gorgeous. And my friends were very, very …they were just thrilled for me. My sisters thought I was a bit wasting my money. They’re far more cautious. They think I’m probably going to outlive my money."
- "Reading makes me more aware than others. My mind is always searching. There’s a lot out there to take advantage of and I’m smarter than the ‘average bear.’ Slow people really frustrate me. They don’t have what they need to know. Being quick mentally is something that defines me."
- "I ask a lot of questions. So whether that’s questions of individuals who I think are more knowledgeable, or going and doing research at the library or on the Internet . . . to make myself more knowledgeable about whatever that issue or situation is. And then, based on gathering all of that data, trying to decide what I feel about it."
- "I still get up at 4:30 every morning and get ready for whatever the day may bring. I’m always ready for whatever may come. My friends think I’m daring and impulsive, but I’m just ready."
- "Normally, I like to be in charge. I guess it helps your self-esteem….I like to be respected by others. I like to be known as an expert or know what I’m talking about so that when I talk to people they take what I say as truth, or whatever; not to be questioned …"
In the statements, except for a few clues in some of the statements, it would be difficult to say whether the person was 45 or 73. Yet each of these statements does represent a certain value, which is important to the person who said it. The particular value may not be obvious at first. These not-so-obvious values retain a much higher level of importance in understanding a person’s potential behavior than does age.
Age is merely the label we each carry throughout life. It allows others to assume we have certain interests or may be inclined to try certain activities. These assumptions certainly shouldn’t be ignored or considered irrelevant. Earlier, David Wolfe established that a child 2 years old has certain needs and a child 12 years old might enjoy certain activities. But, as we move through the Fall and Winter seasons of our lives, the chronological predictor becomes mottled. Yet, when those in the Spring and Summer seasons of their life create communications to market products or services to those in the Fall and Winter, it is very likely they will use age as an assumptive device to create marketing messages which will surely "ring true."
The fact is, the conclusions we reach using this process often don’t make sense. That is, they are spurious. But, like my rookie salesperson, the "assumer" is not inclined to look for the unexpected but more inclined to ignore a contradictory bit of information as irrelevant, and thus status quo wins.