PSYC 3920 - 2

Using Shirleen's case as an example, note down your critique of Erikson's stage theory, and stage theories of adult development in general. What are the major flaws and what are the main strengths of these approaches?

1. Some possible answers here include that multiple challenges from different stages may occur at a single point in the lifespan, clearly generativity-stagnation is not the only thing adults in midlife may have to cope with. Stage theories can also be culturally specific, in that certain challenges may be more (or less) important depending on cultural context. In general, their rigid ordering can limit their applicability to complex real-life cases.

How does the Eriksonian stage of generativity versus stagnation relate to Shirleen's

1.Despite all her hard work for her family, Shirleen is clearly experiences challenges here, as she feels that she is not able to reach generativity because she has not been able to find paid employment. Her negative feelings about this suggests she may be feeling a sense of stagnation

Other people often remark on how well the members of the Simpson family get along. They regularly show their affection and very rarely bad-mouth each other.

AFFECTUAL SOLIDARITY

The Wong family spend a lot of time together doing a wide range of activities. For example, they often go shopping together and dine out at least once a week as a family.

ASSOCIATIONAL SOLIDARITY

Shelton was raised as a Christian, but he found that his scientific beliefs were incompatible with his upbringing, and now he self-identifies as an atheist. Which of Marcia's four identity statuses is he most likely in here?

Achievement

A 34-year-old woman is struggling to overcome her extreme anxiety that her friends will desert her, so she tends to stay away from making new friendships. According to the attachment style perspective, she would be considered to be _________ in her attachment style.

Avoidant

The Nisbett family are all actively involved in their local church and have a strong shared commitment to their religious convictions. They also share many attitudes about social and political issues.

CONSENSUAL SOLIDARITY

Lonard has not given much thought to his beliefs about loop quantum gravity theory and is quite comfortable with not having adopted a specific position in this domain. Which of Marcia's four identity statuses is he most likely in here?

Diffusion

What questions, psychoeducation, and interventions might you use if Shirleen was your client in counselling?

Employment counselling may be useful for Shirleen, to help her find paid work again. In terms of psychoeducation, it may be useful to tell Shirleen about Erikson's stage here, to help normalize her feelings. It may also be beneficial to help her to reframe the important contributions that she is making in helping her mother, daughter, and grandchildren as examples of generativity.

A single-father and his widowed mother help each other out regularly. The son often does the gardening for his mom at weekends and she helps him with childcare during the week.

FUNCTIONAL SOLIDARITY

The risk of developing many psychological disorders in adulthood, such as high anxiety, social withdrawal, and depression, are related to IQ.

False

Hewie has never thought that much about his Jewish ancestry for himself, rather, he has tended to identify as Jewish primarily because of the influence of his mother, who is somewhat domineering. Which of Marcia's four identity statuses is he most likely in here?

Foreclosure

The notion of the "redemptive self," as proposed by McAdams comes closest to which stage of Erikson's psychosocial theory? a) Generativity b) Autonomy c) Ego integrity d) Identity

Generativity

What potential mental health issues are present in Olga's case? What interventions might help?

It seems like there are factors present, including social and language isolation, here that may put Olga at risk of depression.

The patterning of an individual's personal development, occupation, family roles, religion, friendships, and religion at a particular point in time is referred to by Levinson as the:

Life structure

Jenny is uncertain of the career identity. On the one hand, most of the time she works as a waitress, but on the other she still wants to become a successful actress. Which of Marcia's four identity statuses is she most likely in here?

Moratorium

Rej immigrated from India to the U.S., and is learning a lot about American cultural customs. This is causing him to actively question his cultural identity. Which of Marcia's four identity statuses is he most likely in here?

Moratorium

The Jones family seem to believe strongly in the importance of families sticking together. When they talk about each other, they often say things like "family comes first" and "friends come and go, family are for life".

NORMATIVE SOLIDARITY

What other concepts/theories from this course might help to explain the difficulties that Shirleen is reporting?

One possibility is that the identity process model may be relevant here, as perhaps she is using accommodation too often here, and needs to find a better balance between accommodation and assimilation in response to these changes.

What benefits of having a high working memory capacity are outlined?

People with high working memory (WM) capacity are often good at storytelling, perform well on standardized tests (e.g. IQ, SAT, GRE etc.), are strong problem-solvers, with high levels of reasoning and writing abilities.

What strategies does he outline that allow us to negotiate through the limited capacity of working memory?

Practice thinking elabouratively and illustratively. Relate our new knowledge to our prior knowledge. Use imagery, organization and support (e.g. ask people questions).

Mr. and Mrs. Sidhu's adult sons and daughters all live in the same city. They all get together for a family Sunday dinner once a week

STRUCTURAL SOLIDARITY

A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies on aging and the Five Factor Model revealed that, across many of these studies, individuals increased up until the age of about 40 in which trait? a) neuroticism b) psychopathology c) disagreeableness d) social dominance

Social dominance

What definition of working memory does Doolittle provide?

The part of our consciousness that we are aware of any given time.

What cultural factors should a counsellor consider when working with Olga and her family?

There could be some issues here around a clash between Olga's culture of origin, which sounds more collectivistic, and her host culture, which seems more individualistic. This may be accompanied by differing perspectives on family living models, namely extended vs. nuclear.

Which of the concepts above are likely relevant to this case study? Write them down here. For the ones you have identified, how might the counsellor help Olga and her family to address them?

There is clear evidence of intergenerational stake and developmental schism here, especially in the differing importance that Olga and Antonio versus their son and daughter-in-law seem to be placing on their relationship. Some presence of role reversal and filial maturity may also be at play here as there seems to be disagreement about how much help parents are supposed to give their adult children. Perhaps filial anxiety is part of the reason why Tony and his wife seem unwilling to cohabit with Tony's parents. This may be overriding the sense of filial obligation that Tony may still have, given his culture of origin.

The Five Factor model of personality fits into which overall category of psychological theories?

Trait

A 56-year old man has struggled with psychological disorder throughout his entire life, but he has finally managed to overcome his symptoms enough to establish himself in his community as a member of the town council. He has also found happiness in a committed relationship with a woman and they are talking about getting married. This man would fit which life pathway as described from research on the RALS?

Triumphant Trail

Educational attainment is a stronger predictor of occupational status than is IQ

True

IQ is moderately correlated with emotional and social adjustment

True

IQ tends to become more stable as we get older

True

The closer in time two IQ testings are, the stronger the relationship between the scores.

True

What general challenges face our working memories does Doolittle outline?

We only have a WM with a pea-sized capacity for dealing with what life throws at us.

What is Doolittle's final take home message about working memory? What learning point/s can you take from this about minimizing working memory losses during aging?

What we process (with our WM), we learn. If we're not processing life, we're not living it. Live life.

The communication predicament model is associated with which type of language directed toward older adults? a) elderspeak b) gerontophication. c) dialecticism. d) formal operationism.

a) elderspeak

By interpreting the paralinguistic elements of speech, such as _________________, older adults can compensate for not hearing every word spoken to them in a conversation. a) gestures b) grammar c) semantics d) punctuation

a) gestures

The intergenerational stake hypothesis about families with adult children proposes that: a) parents care more about children than children about parents. b) adult children will get along better with each other if are close in age. c) grandparents and grandchildren will relate better than parents and children. d) children will be more likely to love parents who give them extra attention.

a) parents care more about children than children about parents.

As people get older, they should, according to Bauer, care less about themselves and more about others, an increase in what he calls: a) quiet ego. b) foreclosed identity. c) secure attachment. d) possible selves.

a) quiet ego.

An impetus is:

an incentive

The personality trait within the Five Factor Model found to predict smoking and drug use in adulthood is: a) Agreeableness b) Conscientiousness c) Extraversion d) Introversion

b) Conscientiousness

Research conducted in Vancouver on the so-called "empty nest syndrome" showed that feelings of unhappiness following the children's leaving the home were most prominent among parents of which ethnicity? a) Western European b) Indo/East Indian c) Latino/Latina d) Eastern European

b) Indo/East Indian

Skip generation families involve grandparents in the role of: a) Fun seeker b) Surrogate parent c) Formal grandparent d) Distant figure

b) Surrogate parent

A study of Canadian parents showed that the greatest difficulty in adapting to the empty nest was experienced by parents who: a) feel that it's time to release control over their children. b) believe that the world is a dangerous and threatening place. c) strongly identify with their vocational roles. d) wish they could relive their own earlier days of youth.

b) believe that the world is a dangerous and threatening place.

The situation in families when parents and their adult children differ in how much they value their relationship and whether they wish to be independent is known as a(n): a) intergenerational stake. b) developmental schism. c) disillusionment pathway. d) skip generation.

b) developmental schism.

The Trail Making Test is used in a neuropsychological assessment to evaluate the older adult's: a) naturalistic intelligence. b) executive functioning. c) frustration tolerance. d) visual memory.

b) executive functioning.

The "anniversary reaction," as applied to widowhood, refers to the: a) increase in mortality in the months following loss of a spouse. b) renewed feelings of loss near the date of the spouse's death. c) feelings of relief after a long period of caregiving has ended. d) unwillingness of widows to date for a year after the spouse's death.

b) renewed feelings of loss near the date of the spouse's death.

According to __________________ theory, members of a couple in a long-term relationship should prefer to spend time with each other rather than people they don't know very well. a) behavioral interaction b) socioemotional selectivity c) need complementarity d) social exchange

b) socioemotional selectivity

A young woman feels that her parents treated her too much like an adult when she was growing up, giving her more responsibility than even she felt she could handle. This situation reflects a relationship characterized by: a) associational strength. b) structural ambivalence. c) consensual pressure. d) filial obligation.

b) structural ambivalence.

Onerous means

burdensome

By using ___________ to guide them, older adults can compensate for age-related changes in memory and speed when comprehending language. a) spelling b) retrieval c) context d) reminiscence

c) context

Older adults subjected to the process called _____________ are likely to view themselves as unable to carry out activities for themselves. a) dialectics b) testing the limits c) infantilization d) pragmatization

c) infantilization

Due to the tendency to engage in _______________, many older adults repeat the same words on tests of verbal fluency when they are asked to produce words that all begin with the same letter. a) task-switching b) assimilation c) perseveration d) inhibition

c) perseveration

The idea of reserve capacity in research on aging and intelligence is very similar to the concept of ____________ in the nervous system. a) fallout b) preservation c) plasticity d) complexity

c) plasticity

The idea of what you could become at some point in the future is known as your: a) attachment style. b) life structure. c) possible self. d) ego integrity.

c) possible self.

The widowhood effect refers to the finding that individuals whose spouses die, compared to those still married, have higher: a) involvement in their communities. b) percentages of "good" cholesterol. c) rates of dying from all causes. d) ratings of relationships with children.

c) rates of dying from all causes.

The amount of time a person has left to live is an important factor in personality according to which theory of development? a) normative influence b) secure attachment c) socioemotional selectivity d) ego integrity

c) socioemotional selectivity

To acquiesce is to:

comply

While playing "Words with Friends" with her 72-year-old grandmother, Frieda Lay is shocked to find that she is losing badly because her grandmother just seems to know so many more words. Frieda's grandmother is illustrating the fact that: a) older adults are superior to younger adults in inductive reasoning. b) later life is associated with much faster response speed. c) secondary abilities improve but primary abilities decline in later life. d) crystallized intelligence rises throughout adulthood into the 70s.

d) crystallized intelligence rises throughout adulthood into the 70s.

According to Statistics Canada (2012), which of the following groups is MOST likely to be living alone in residences for seniors housing? a) women 75 - 84 years of age b) men 75-84 years of age c) men 85 and older d) women 85 and older

d) women 85 and older

In which type of intelligence do older adults show larger declines? a) fluid b) crystallized c) normative d) informational

fluid

The Berlin Wisdom Paradigm include each of the following factors in its definition of wisdom except ____: a) lifespan contextualism b) value relativism c) fluid intelligence d) procedural knowledge

fluid intelligence

To parody is to

imitate

An erudite person is

knowledgeable

Rancor refers to

malice

To promulgate is to

proclaim

A panacea is a

remedy

A guileless person is

straightforward

A vista is a:

view