Developmental Psych Final Exam Review

How does executive functioning change in late adulthood?

Decline in working memory.

According to Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, which of the following is the first stage of dying?

Denial

From about the ages of 28 to 33, a man goes through a transition period in which he must face the more serious question of:

Determining his life goals.

_____ grief is grief over a deceased person that is socially ambiguous and cannot be openly mourned or supported.

Disenfranchised grief.

According to Erik Erikson, which of the following stages of development do individuals experience in late adulthood?

Integrity v. Despair.

This Austrian psychiatrist, a concentration camp survivor, wrote the book Man's Search for Meaning, where he proposed that the human qualities of spirituality, freedom, and responsibility were the key to finding one's true meaning in life (and death).

Viktor Frankl.

Describe the empty nest syndrome, and who is likely to refill it and why.

When parents no longer have children in the house. Young adults refill it because they cannot financially support themselves.

Describe gender differences in response to stress.

Women are more susceptible to social stressors such as romance, family, and work and then become depressed about those situations: tend/befriend. Men are likely to become aggressive and enact the fight or flight mechanisms.

The mental "workbench" in the mind where individuals manipulate information and solve problems.

Working memory.

In a recent Canadian study of older adults, what was linked to aging successfully?

Younger, married, regular drinkers, and in better health assumed themselves to be more successful.

What happens to bone and joint functioning during this segment of the lifespan?

bones weaken and joints become more susceptible to arthritis.

Which regions of the adult human brain where neurogenesis has been documented?

hippocampus (memory) and olfactory bulb (smell).

*Describe the methodology used by George Vaillant, and then more specifically the characteristics of individuals in his "happy-well" category that he proposed when conducting the Grant Study.

*75-80 sad-sick, happy-well, dead.

Describe the seven different retirement pathways outlined by leading expert Phyllis Moen.

1. some individuals do not retire. 2. some retire from their career work and then take up a new and different job. 3. retire from career jobs but do volunteer work. 4. retire from post retirement job and get another job. 5. some move in and out of the workforce so they never have a clear "retirement". 6. poor health means disability and then eventually retirement. 7. laid off and define it as "retirement".

Approximately _____ of the total health bill of the US is for the care of adults 65 and over, who comprise only 12% of the population.

1/3.

What was the average life expectancy in 1900 and what percentage of the population lived past 65 years of age?

47 years; 3%

Recent research suggests that being widowed is associated with an approximately _____ increase in risk of mortality.

48%

What is the average life expectancy for individuals born in 2013 in the US?

78.8 years

A 12-year longitudinal study revealed that older adults who had persistently low or declining feelings of usefulness to others had:

A higher mortality rate.

A(n) _____ states such preferences as whether life-sustaining procedures should or should not be used to prolong the life of an individual when death is imminent.

Advanced directive.

Questions such as "to which age group do you belong" and "how old do you feel" reflect the concept of:

Age identity

Adele is visiting her grandfather who is in his last days. She pulled the hospice worker aside and asked, "what do I do if he starts crying?" The hospice worker knows _____ is typically the best suggestion.

Allow him to cry and cry with him.

_____ refers to a progressive, irreversible brain disorder that is characterized by a gradual deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and eventually, physical function.

Alzheimer's disease.

Mrs. Hernandez has considerable pain and swelling in her wrists, fingers, and knees. It is becoming very difficult for her to maintain her usual routines as her stiffness increases. Mrs. Hernandez likely has:

Arthritis.

A flat electroencephalogram (EEG) recording for a specified period of time is one criterion of:

Brain death for a sustained period of time.

This theorist referred to midlife as "the afternoon of life."

Carl Jung.

Describe the three diseases that can impair the vision of older adults. Highlight the differences between each one.

Cataract: thickening of the eye lens that causes vision to be blurry and distorted. Glaucoma: damage to optic nerve because of build up in the eye. Macular degeneration: deterioration of the macular of the retina and may have problems seeing what is directly in front of them.

Traditional Amish groups cope with death by:

Community support.

Describe crystallized and fluid intelligence, give examples of their use in everyday life, and tell how they change across adulthood.

Crystallized = facts like the 15th president- increases in middle adulthood. Fluid= procedural/ reasoning - declines in middle adulthood.

Zane's mother seems to know every historical fact about their hometown. You can pick any building and she can tell you all of the people who have owned it. Zane is impressed by this mother's _____ intelligence.

Crystallized.

Define grief and describe its major dimensions.

Emotional numbness, disbelief, separation anxiety, despair, sadness, and loneliness that accompany the death of a lost person. Pining and wishing they were back, separation anxiety despair sadness.

Gerry, 72 years old, is feeling sluggish and mentally cloudy because he is having trouble sleeping. After talking with her NP, he learned that recent research has found that _____ improves the sleep profile of older adults.

Exercise.

The main reasons the middle-aged and older men cited for their divorce.

Fell out of love, cheating, difference values and lifestyles.

Give five characteristics of participants in either the New England Cenenarian Study or the New England Supercentenarian Study.

Few are obese, habitual smoking is rare, small percentage had significant changes in thinking skills, low rate of age associated diseases, most had good mental health.

The name Erikson gave to the seventh stage in his life-span theory.

Generativity v. Stagnation.

Due to his son's financial and legal problems, Frank is now raising his grandchildren. As a result, Frank is at risk for developing:

Health problems, depression, and stress.

What are the leading causes of death in middle adulthood? Why is that such a complex question?

Heart disease was leading followed by cancer. This is due to the wide age gap in middle adulthood. Earlier dies from cancer, later dies from CVD.

Identify three of the physical changes that take place during middle adulthood; provide an example of these changes.

Height and weight: shorter and fatter. Strength, joints, bones: loss of muscle mass and strength. Vision and hearing: declines. CV System: cholesterol in blood increases. Lungs: little change until 55 where lungs become less elastic. Sleep: more waking up in the middle.

_____ is a program committed to making the end of life as free from pain, anxiety, and depression as possible.

Hospice/ Palliative care.

Victoria is so proud that her daughter wants to be a nurse, just like her mother. Victoria feels like her legacy will continue on in her daughter's work. Erik Erickson would describe this as meeting Victoria's need for generativity to achieve a sense of:

Immortality.

According to Erik Erikson's psychosocial theory, this is the name of the eighth and final stage of development.

Integrity v. Despair.

______ to a legal document that reflects the patient's advance care planning.

Living will.

Discuss the definition of brain death, and the criteria involved in its determination.

Neurological definition of death that states that a person is brain dead when all electrical activity of the brain has ceased for a specified period of time.

Which of the following personality descriptors places individuals on a continuum from secure to insecure?

Neuroticism.

Describe the differences between normal aging, pathological aging, and successful aging.

Normal= on the track with biological clock. Pathological= early onset of diseases. Bad aging. Successful= ahead of biological clock.

What is the socioemotional selectivity theory? How does it address the question of disengagement?

Only hangout with the people you want to. Not total disengagement but you rather spend time with people you enjoy all the time.

Prolonged or complicated grief is associated with grief that lasts:

Over an extended period of time.

Define euthanasia. Describe the two types of euthanasia. Create a hypothetical example of each to illustrate the differences.

Painlessly ending the lives of individuals who are suffering. Passive: no more drugs and just letting life take its course. Active: administering drugs that will kill the person.

List and describe parts of the life review process:

Patient remembers their earliest memory, the acknowledge critical points in their life, the therapist/family member documents this and then recites it back (integrity v despair).

What is an advantage of a dying individual knowing that he or she is dying?

Planning.

The term not used in your textbook to describe middle-aged adults who care for their own adolescent or young adulthood children as well as their aging parents is the ______ generation.

Sandwich.

The term given to age-related loss of muscle mass and strength.

Sarcopenia.

Successful aging is related to what three main factors?

Selection, optimization, compensation.

Now that Benita is in late adulthood, the socioemotional selectivity theory predicts that she will:

Spend time with a few close friends.

According to Viktor Frankl, the three most distinct human qualities are freedom, responsibility, and _____.

Spirituality.

_____ develops when individuals sense that they have done nothing for the next generation.

Stagnation.

Describe the hormonal stress theory of aging.

Stress hormones last a lot longer than they should and prolonged levels lead to disease.

Describe the selective optimization with compensation model.

Successful aging comes with selection, optimization, and compensation.

Why has the life-events approach to understanding adult development has been criticized?

Too much emphasis on change and failure to recognize that our daily experiences may be the primary sources of stress in our lives.

Sleep deprivation in middle-age has been linked to all of the following:

more wakeful periods, sleep-disorders, restless leg syndrome, weakened immunity, stroke symptoms,cognitive decline, long term memory problems, smoker, lack of exercise, irregular meals, stressful events.