Why is Everyone like Their Parents?

by Trevor McKendrick on December 5, 2012

Why do many people end up in the same socioeconomic rung as their parents?

There’s at least two reasons I can think of.

First, it’s easier to do something when you’ve seen someone else do it.

People thought the human body could not run a mile in less than four minutes until Roger Bannister did it in 1954. Once he had shown it was possible, two months later two other runners did it in the same race.

It’s the same with being raised by parents who got rich. You saw what they did, you know it can be done.

On the other hand, if you don’t know anyone who has gone to college you might not know how that process works or even consider trying.

Being the first to do something is hard.

Second. I think everyone has what I call an “internal productivity quota” (IPQ). Your IPQ is the amount of stuff you need to accomplish so you feel happy and productive instead of lazy and depressed.

IPQ levels are different in everyone.  They help explain (part of) the reason why people who don’t need money continue to work so hard: they’d feel unproductive if they didn’t.

Like other human behavior I think IPQ’s are a function of nature and nurture. I believe humans tend to fall and rise to the average behavior of the people around them. If we spend our time with others who don’t do well in school, don’t have jobs, and watch a lot of TV, our IPQ will adjust down. We won’t be as productive, but over time that will feel okay because it’s what everyone else is doing.

On the flip side if we’re around friends who wake up at 6 to hit the gym and work a disciplined 12 hour day, our IPQ will slowly adjust up. We’ll feel the difference.

So to answer the question in the post title, most people end up like their parents because no one else has as large an influence on one’s IPQ. And because our parents probably chose to live in a place with people similar to them, everyone you knew growing up was the same way, too. After 18+ years surrounded by the same type of people, it becomes difficult to break out and do something different.

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  • gp

    there are about a billion studies on socio-economic mobility and the authors of every single one of them thinks you’re a dull dingus

    • http://trevormckendrick.com Trevor McKendrick

      Hey thanks for the comment! Next time tell me what you really think. :-)

      • Nir

        You can definitely say that people around you have some effect on your behavior. BUT, your title is too comprehensive, and your only taking this for the negative side for people that their parents are not rich, and this is why people dont appreciate this post, and you probably can understand what are the % of rich people in the world.
        Anyway, I also dont agree with your statements, and I think theirs allot of ups for non rich kids (like the will to prov people like you are wrong), and downs for rich kids(like knowing to look successful around their parents would be a really long way, and if they are not really hungry for that success they might just tell them selves “why do i need this, my parents give me money anyway”).

        Success have many factors to rich parents.
        I think you should rewrite this post to make up for it and explain what really makes successful person, like his personality for instance.

        Hope that was enough straightforward.
        Best

  • http://twitter.com/AmbitiousU Brian Butler

    @gp I’m glad you’re such an expert on ‘socio-economic mobility’, but this article isn’t the result of a scientific study done over a period of 50 years with 1,000 people by a university, it’s one person’s own answer to a question. Nothing more, nothing less.