Chapter 1

What are 4 main forces that shape development?

Biological, psychological, sociocultural and life-cycle

How does culture affect people psychologically?

Culture shapes peoples core beliefs

Describe a sociocultural force in Normative age-graded influences.

First marriage or the age at which someone retires.

What is life-span perspective?

It divides human development into 2 phases: an early phase and a later phase.

What does the life-span perspective emphasize?

It emphasizes that human development takes a lifetime to complete.

What are 4 key features of the life-span perspective?

Multi-directionality, plasticity, Historical context, multiple causation.

What is Primary aging?

Aging that is normal, disease-free development during adulthood.

Name 2 examples of normative history-graded influences.

Baby boomers and September 11, 2001

Define Normative history-graded influences.

Events that most people in a specific culture experience at the same time.

What happens during "emerging adulthood"?

Explore careers, self-identity and commitments.

Why is culture important in gerontology?

How people define basic concepts like a person, age and life course varies across cultures.

How is 9/11 an example of normative history-graded influence?

It changed the attitudes about safety and security that may have been held for decades.

Why is culture a powerful influence?

It connects biological forces through family lines

How does ageism relate to stereotypes of aging?

Myths about aging lead to negative steotypes of older people, which result in ageism.

Name the 3 aging processes.

Primary, Secondary and Tertiary

Describe the Life-cycle force.

Reflects differences in how the same event or combination of biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces affects people at different points in their lives.

Define Longitudinal Study.

Same individuals are observed or tested repeatedly at different points in lives.

What is gerontology?

Study of aging from maturity through old age

Name 4 research measurements.

Systematic observation, sampling behavior with tasks, self reports and representative sampling.

Define cross-sectional study.

Testing people of different ages at the same time.

What is sociocultural age?

The specific set of roles individuals adopt in relation to other members of the society and culture to where they belong.

Why is it estimated that more people will have high school diplomas and college degrees in the future?

There will be better educational opportunities, greater need to find a good job, they tend to live longer because have higher incomes which gives them better access to good health care.

What are micro genetic studies useful for?

Tracking developmental changes.

Define systematic observations.

Watching people and carefully recording what they say or do.

What are examples of Nonnormative influences?

Winning the lottery or an election, car accident or being laid off.

Define Normative age-graded influences.

experiences caused by biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces that occur to most people of a particular age.

What are three sets of influences that interact to produce developmental change over life-span?

normative age-graded influences, normative history-graded influences and nonnormative influences.

Why do increased numbers of older adults strain economically powerful countries?

Pension and healthcare costs will increase and fewer workers to bear the burden.

What is perceived age?

The age you think of yourself as.

What is ageism?

a form of discrimimnation against older adults based on their age

Define cohort.

a group of people born at the same point or specific time span in historical time.

What 3 key variables are designs based on?

age, cohort and time of measurement

Define Nonnormative influences.

random or rare events that may be important for a specific individual but are not experienced by most people.