Adult Development and Aging: Chapter 8

Type A behavior pattern

*A collection of traits though to increase a person's risk of developing cardiovascular disease. -Physiologically being aroused this way can be damaging to our system. -Competitive, impatient, feel a string sense of time urgency, and are highly achievement oriented. *This was thought for many years only to be a correlation, not anymore.

Authentic road

*Achieves solid identity commitments through exploration and change. *The pathways that people follow when they remain open to change in order to reach maximum fullfillment. *Identity balance is very much like this pathway because people who use identity balance are able to cheange flexibly in response to experiences but still maintain consistency of their sense of self over time.

Superego

*Critical moral

Less useful

*Focus on and venting of emotions *Behavioral disengagement *Mental disengagement *Alcohol-drug disengagement

Psychodynamic theory (power point)

*Freud 1) Ego psychology 2) Defense mechanisms 3) Adult attachment

The life story

*Is the tendency to use identity assimilation when thinking back on your life and how you have changed. *is a general bias that pervades the way people recall their previous experiences. *Men in particular were likely to see themselves as having gained in such attributes as "confident power" between their 20s and 60s.

Triumphant trail

*Overcomes challenges *Is resilient *Includes people who have proven to be resilient and able to cope with personal adversity.

Personality

*Psychologists who study personality approach its definition from the vantage point of their particular theoretical preference.

Socioemotional selectivity theory cont.

*The intensity of emotion experienced by an individual does not change over adulthood. *It seems that older adults have an advantage in that they seem to react more slowly in emotionally provoking situations. -This may be because older adults are better able to regulate their emotions after exposure to negative stimuli more quickly than are younger adults. -May be less likely to report negative affect. *Being less perturbed by emotional stimuli may also help older adults maintain their cognitive focus.

Final theme of midlife crisis

*The man must resolve the polarities of his personality involving masculinity and femininity, feelings about life and death, and the needs for both autonomy and dependence on others.

Trait approaches

*The second major theoretical approach to personality and aging proposes that personality is made up of traits, which are stable, enduring dispositions that persist over time.

Erikson's Psychosocial Theory

*Theory proposes that there are eight crisis stages in the maturation of the ego. *Each stage represents as a point of maximum vulnerability to biological, psychological, and social forces operating on the individual at that particular point in the lifespan.

Id

*Used to refer to the deepest part of the unconscious mind. -The part of the personality that seeks fulfillment of desires that would lead people to commit acts such as rape, murder, and incest. *Instinct *The id is kept in check by the ego.

Studies that show aging may bring with it more effective ways of coping and stress:

1) Comparing learning under stress between older adults and younger rats. -The stress (rat being kept in restraints for a period of 21 days) -Younger rats were more impaired while stressed in their ability to learn and remember than were the older animals. 2) Researchers comparing the cardiovascular reactivity of older and younger humans during a stressful lab task found that older adults actually increased their blood pressure more in response to stress than did their younger counterparts. -Older adults managed to keep their negative emotions in check, even when it was apparent that their bodies were registering heightened levels of stress. 3) Researchers in this area regard it as a given that social support is an important resource for people of any age to have when faced with stressful experiences. -Older adults with functional losses were able to maintain positive mood and self-regard if they were in marital relationships characterized by such factors as feeling loved, understood, and able to communicate.

The National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States:

*Added another nail in the coffin to the midlife crisis concept. *The overall percentage of those who stated they had experienced a midlife crisis was 26% more than 10% previously reported in studies from the 1980s -This was because of the broad scope that people used to characterize the midlife crisis. -Respondents attributed to the midlife crisis such general phenomena as awareness of the passing of time. -When categorized by age, there was no particular peak in the 40s.

Individualistic stage

*An appreciation and respect for individuality emerges. *Greater sense of individuality and ability to be emotionally dependent on others. *Ability to tolerate uncertainty and contradiction.

Trait theories

*Are based on the assumption that the organization of these personal dispositions guides the individual's behavior. *Also increasingly viewed in terms of genetic theories of personality, which suggests that the enduring nature of personality traits over time reflect the fact that they are at least partially inherited. *The shape of people's lives is strongly influenced by the nature of their personalities.

Undesirable consequences of the desire to focus on the positive implied in socioemotional selectivity theory:

*As is true for identity assimilation, a process that causes people to minimize negative information, the desire to focus on the positive implied in this theory has some consequences *There are times when it is necessary to focus on the possibility of negative outcomes, particularly in the area of health. -If you just refuse to think about the need to change your health habits when your medical provider tells you to do so, you are likely to run into problems. *It does appear, however, that older adults can switch their focus to make health-related decision as needed to avoid a negative outcome.

Levinson's publication on women

*Claimed that similar alternations between change and stablity characterize adult women.

The five factor model

*Costa and McCrae's five factor model *Also called the "big five" *Each disposition has six facets, which leads to a total of 30 personality components 1) Openness 2) Conscientiousness 3) Extraversion 4) Agreeablness 5) Neuroticism *A complete characterization of an individual of the five factors involves providing scores or ratings on each of the facets using the NEO-PI-R

Life structure

*Defined as "the basic pattern or design of a person's life at a given time" *To analyze an individuals life structure, it is necessary to look at the sociocultural world, conscious and unconscious self, and participation in the world. *Both central and periphral themes can be identified in the life structure. (family, work, friendship, religion, ethnnicty, and leisure) *Accoring to Levinson and colleagues, the life structure evolves through an orderly series of universal stages in adulthood. -These stages altnerate between periods of tranquility and periods of transition, and each stage has a specific focus.

Midlife crisis

*Derived from an age-stage approach to personality in adulthood, is a topic rooted in psychodynamic theory.

Meandering way

*Fails to settle on a course in life. *Constantly searches for identity *Includes people who lack a clear identity and have not arrives at a consistent set of life choices. *Identity accommodation is similar to this pathways because this identity process involves excessively changing in reponse to experiences when it would be preferable to maintain some consistency.

Psychodynamic perspective

*Freud is credited with have "discovered" the unconscious mind *Personality: Characteristic way of feelings or behaving. *Many current theories of adult development and personality are based on the psychodynamic perspective, even if they do not explicitly consider the role of unconscious forces in behavior. *According to Freud, the major work of personality development is completed by the age of 5 when the child works through early sexual attachments to the parents. -he also belived that therapy was of little value to individuals over the age of 50, who he believed had personalities so rigidly set that they coould not be radically altered. *Freud coined: 1) id 2) ego 3) super ego *Freud maintained that defense mechanisms were necessary to allow the individual to function with a minimum of anxiety. *The ultimate goal of development is the ability to love and work. (live from day to day without experiencing conflict.

Autonomous stage

*Have even more clearly articulated inner standards. They recognize and appreciate the complexities of their own behavior and that of others. *People in this stage are also better able to live with uncertainty. *Ability to think about and cope with inner conflict, such as conflict between personal needs and duties to others. *See reality as complex and multidimensional. *Recognizes the need of others for autonomy but cherishes personal ties. *Holds to broad, abstract, social ideas.

Whitbourne (In class notes)

*Identity process theory 1) Identity -favorable view of the self 2) Threshold experience -Normal changes/illness 3)Type of coping -Identity accommodation: "Over the hill" syndrome -identity balance: Gradual integration/ appropriate adaptation -identity assimilation: Unhealthy denial/ healthy denial *Self esteem was higher among older people who used assimilation and balance *Women tended to use identity accommodation more often than men. *Older adults who were able to avoid adopting negatives stereotypes of aging ended up living longer .

Mills studies on women

*In one of the Mills studies on women in midlife, the usual sort of factors that might be expected to trigger a midlife crisis among women did not ahve any effect on personality. -menopause, having to care for parents, being concerned about the children leaving the home. *Having experienced these events did not lead to negative changes in personality as would be predicted from the midlife crisis theory.

Conformist stage

*Individuals at this stage have only a very basic understanding of themselves, other people, and the reasons for following society's rules. *The have simple views of right and wrong and it is hard for them to understand why others think and feel the way they do. *Obeys rules to be accepted by the group and to avoid disapproval. *Simple view of emotions. *Prone to stereotyping others. *Concerned about appearance and reputation.

Second theme of the midlife crisis

*Involves making decisions about how to pursue the life structure during middle adulthood. -During this time, the man questions his marriage, comes to grips with the maturing of adolescent children, handles promotions or demotions at work, and reflects on the state of the nation and the world.

First themes of midlife crisis

*Is overcoming disillusionment due to failure to achieve the dreams of youth that inevitably cannot be fully realized. -a new set of aspirations, more realistic ones, must be established.

Attachment style

*Is the term used to describe the way that people relate to their primary attachment figure. *In adulthood, this figure shifts from mothers (or caregivers) to romantic partners. *Mary Ainsworth: Strange Situation. *Researchers believe that attachment style has its effect on a persons sense of self through what they call the "Internal working model" -the child has a mental representation of relations with the mother and this sets the stage for how to child will later come to view relations with others, including romantic partners.

Loevinger's ego development theory

*Loevinger defined the ego as the structure within personality that attempts to synthesize, master, and interpret experiences. *She regarded the ego as involved in the ability to regulate impulses, relate to others, achieve self-understaning, and think about experiences. *The development of the ego proceeds in a series of stages that move from lower to higher levels in these characteristics. Stages: 1) Conformist stage 2) Conscientiousous-conformist stage 3) Conscientious stage 4) Individualstic stage 5) Autonomous stage 6) Integrated stage *Loevinger's theory combines ego psychology with moral development, and in that sense is not a "typical" psychodynamically based thoery. -strong cognitive component -personality changes as you become smarter and develop more wisdom -personality is tied to intelligence and morality *People at higher levels of ego development according to Loevinger's theory, are also more likely to have high scores on personality variables such as assertiveness, conformity, and fearfulness.

Conscientious-Conformist stage

*Loveinger believed that most adults fall into this stage. *Developmentally this stage when people first have an internalized sense of right and wrong and are able to be aware of their own motives as well as those of other people. *Increase in self awareness of an inner life. *Able to see alternatives and exceptions to rules.

Straight and narrow way

*Maintains consistent life pattern *Is defensive about change *Includes people who have followed the route of stability but feel constrained and trapped in their choices. *People who use identity assimilation also fear change and prefer to think of themselves as stable even when situations might require change.

Emotion-focused

*Managing our emotional experience around the problem -seeking emotional support -positive reinterpretation and growth -acceptance -denial -turing to religion

Identity assimilation as a protective function

*May serve as a protective function in other contexts in which older adults are faced with potentially negative information about their abilities. *Older drivers who overestimated their driving abilities became less depressed after receiving feedback about their actual driving abilities than older adults who took a more pessimistic view of whether their driving abilities had changed.

Problem-focused

*Meant to address the problem, tackle the problem -active -planning -suppression of competing activities -restraint -seeking instrumental social support

Non-consistent findings on socioemotional activity in supporting the idea of a positivity bias among older adults:

*Murphy and Isaacowitz observed that both younger and older adults showed a preference for positive emotional stimuli. -Consistent with the theory, though, older adults were more likely to avoid negative emotional stimuli. -May also be cultural factors involved in the relationship between age and a positivity bias. *Among a Chinese sample, older adults looked away from, now toward, happy faces.

Valliant's theory of defense mechanisms

*People use increasingly mature and adaptive defenses and fewer immature and maladaptive ways of minimizing anxiety. Research: 1) Men from Harvard Grant Study 2) Men from the Core City Sample 3) Women from a study on gifted children. *Initial set of findings provided evidence within each of the three samples for a positive relationship between maturity of defenses and various outcome measures. -Core city men who used immature defenses (such as acting out) were more likely to experience alcohol problems, unstable marriages, and antisocial behavior. *The general pattern that emerges is that older adults cope with anxiety, stress, or frustration by reacting in less self-destructive or emotional ways that they would have when they were younger.

Personality and health

*Personality trait 1) Type A • A behavior pattern characterized by anger, time urgency, and quick reaction. • Associated with higher rates of cardiovascular disease because physiologically being aroused this way can be damaging to our system. • Hostility and anxiety that account for this relationship. • Hostility meaning blaming other people for what is going on, and anxiety. 2) conscientiousness • Lower death, BMI, smoking and drug use, and Alzheimer's. • being high in conscientiousness is health protective because these traits are associated with maintaining health behaviors 3) neuroticism (women in particular) • Higher BMI, more likely to smoke and use drugs 4) openness to experience • Related to mortality because more likely to engage in risky behavior. 6) hostility • On its own is associated with depression • Can be very socially isolating.

Cognitive self theories

*Propose that people regard events in their lives from the standpoint of how relevant these are to their own sense of self. *These theories also place emphasis on coping, the mechanisms that people use to manage stress

Socioemotional selectivity theory

*Proposes that throughout adulthood, people structure the nature and range of their relationships to maximize gains and minimize risks. *People look for different rewards from their interactions with others as they approach the later years of their lives. *2 functions served by interpersonal relationships 1) Informational -relationships that serve this function provide you with important knowledge that you would not otherwise have. 2) Emotional -Relationships that serve this function contribute to your sense of well-being (whether you are feeling good or bad on a given day often depends on whether the people close to you are pleased or displeased with you. *As people grow older, they become more focused on the emotional functions of relationships and less interested in the informational function. -This shift occurs as people become increasingly sensitive to the inevitable ending of their lives and recognize that they are "running out of time" *It is not aging so much as this recognition of less time left to live that triggers the shift in what people want out of their interactions. -Young adults when placed under time constraints through experimental manipulations or real time constraints show similar preferences toward the emotional functions of social interactions.

Ego Psychology

*Refers to the view that the ego plays a central role in actively directing behavior. *The main concern in studing development from the perspective of ego psychology is to learn how aging influences the ego's ability to adapt to the conditions and constraints of the outside world while managing to ahcieve expression of the individuals personal needs, desires, and wishes. 1) Links to morality 2) Links to crystallized and pragmatic intelligence 3) Links to mature defense mechanisms *Wisdom

Coping

*Refers to the way people attempt to manage stress. -When you cope successfully with a stressful situation, your mood improves and you have a higher sense of well-being. *The process seems to be reciprocal, people who feel better also cope more successfully. *Being in good health and having extensive social networks also contribute to successful coping. *Being resilient, or having a personality that allows you to "bounce back" readily from stressful life experiences seems, then, to be a positive attribute that can facilitate the coping process. *Older adults can show initiative in managing their situations and making efforts to alter the course of events in their lives. *The ability to take charge of potentially stressful situations, before they become problems, was found in one study of community dwelling, active, older adults to be related to fewer health-related stressful situations.

Gender differences in studies of defense mechanisms and coping

*Regardless of age women are more likely to avoid unpleasant or stressful situations, to blame themselves when things go wrong, and to seek the support of others. *Men are more likely to externalize their feelings and to use reaction formation, a defense mechanism in which people act in a way that is opposite to their unconscious feelings.

Downward slope

*Shows self-defeating behavior. *Makes poor decisnions. *People who have made poor decisions that have come to haunt them in midlife and now regret they way that their lives have unfolded.

Research on aging and the five factor model

*Studies based on the scales of the ffm and aging show a high degree of consistency over time in the scores on individuals throughout adulthood with correlations ranging from .70 to .75 *Although there are individual differences in the patterns of change over time, Costa and McCrae contend that people maintain their relative positions in comparison to their age peers: the "highs" stay high and the "lows" stay low. *In the past decade, however, the ffm researchers have begun to revise their ideas about personality stability because they have access to larger data sets, more sophisticated research methods, and more refined ways of looking at the ff scores. -Conscientiousness declines later in life -less impulsive in later life *Statements that personality is set in plaster by the age of 30 are now being rewritten to allow for the possibility can continue to grow and mature throughout life.

Summary of personality and aging

*Studying how personality develops over adulthood may lead to the realization that you need not become hardened into a rigid pattern of set dispositions. *Change is possible throughout your life, if not in predictable stages, at least in ways that allow you to feel better about yourself as you grow older.

Coping and control

*The MacArthur study of adult development showed that contrary to popular belief, older adults retain the feeling of being in control of their lives despite being aware of the constraints they may encounter. -The do so by viewing their resources and potential positively rather than focusing on losses.

Theory of the midlife crisis

*The concept is largely discounted in academic psychology. *The term midlife crisis originated in the early 1970s as a description of the radical changes in personality that supposedly accompanied entry into the midpoint of life (age 40-45) -at this age, it was theorized, the individual is involved in extensive and intensive questioning of goals, priorities, and accomplishments. *The prompt for this self-scrutiny, according to theory, was the individuals heightened awareness of the inevitability of death. *Levinson's theory predicts that the stage sequences are universal, it does allow for variations in progress through the late 30s that would affect the specific nature of the midlife crisis. *Levinson regarded the midlife crisis to be a vitually UNIVERSAL process that has characterized human existence for at least 10,000 years.

Identity process theory

*The goal if development is optimal adaptation to the environment through establishing a balance between maintaining constancy of the self (identity assimilation) and changing in response to experiences (identity accommodation) -if an event occurs that is so discrepant a person cannot interpret it in terms of identity at the moment, identity accommodation comes into play. *Most people have fairly positive views of themselves, but as they get older, more and more experiences occur that can potentially erode self-esteem. *This model attempts to highlight the importance both of individual differences in developmental processes and the need to take into account the ways in which individuals interpret their experiences as they get older.

Ego

*The structure in personality most accessible to conscious awareness, which performs the rational, executive functions of the mind. *To protect the individual from knowledge of the id's unacceptable impulses, the ego uses a set of defense mechanisms to keep them out of conscious awareness. *Freud regarded the ego as not having an independent role in personality but merely serving the desires of the id. *rational executive function, integration, analysis, synthesis • Plays the central role in dictating our behavior

Longitudinal study of college women (1950-1960s) Mills College (Ravenna Helson):

*The study's founders originally intended to study leadership and creativity among college women but, liike the RALS study, the study's scope continued to expand and it has now included five follow-ups of the sample who are now about 70 years old. *Mills women increased in the qualities of assurance, independence, and self control, and decreased on a scale measuring their percieved femininity. *There was also evidence of substantial differences i personality change patterns, which the investigators linked to variations is the level of ego development and identity. -Example: Women higher in identity at age 43 were more likely to have achieved higher levels of generativity at age 48.

Adult attachment theory

*The third branch of the psychodynamic theory, known as attachment theory, examines the lifelong impact of the earliest relationships that children have with their parents (or caregivers) *British psychoanalyst John Bowlby (1969) developed this theory after observing the developmental problems suffered by children growing up in orphanages during world war II.

Possible selves theory

*This model proposes that the individual's view of the self, or self schema, guides the choice and pursuit of future endeavors. -These thoughts about the possible self can motivate you to act in certain ways so that you can achieve your "hoped for" possible self, or the person you would like to be. *These self-conceptions about the person you will be in the future continue to shift as you develop throughout adulthood. *People can remain hopeful of change well into their later years. *People are motivated to strive for a hoped-for possible self and will attempt to avoid a dreaded or feared possible self. *People think of themselves on a negative light and view their live negatively when they are unable to realize a hoped for possible self or to avoid the dreaded possible self. *People have ways to protect themselves from these negative self evaluations -One tactic is to revise the possible self to avoid future disappointment and frustration if experiences suggest that the possible self may not be achievable. *In one study, older adults who underestimated their future selves had higher well being a year later than those who overestimated their future selves.

Midlife transition

*This period has a special quality compared to other transitional periods beasue it involves the most significant shift, from early to middle adulthood. *This period of transition (crisis) is targeted as 40 to 45 *Its beginning can occur anywhere between 38 and 43, and its ending can occur anywhere between the years of 44 to 47. -this extends the period of the midlife crisis to potentially 9 years.

Cognitive perspective

*Views people as driven by the desire to predict and control their experiences. 1) Cognitive self theories *An important principle of the cognitive perspective is the idea that people do not always view themselves realistically. -In part, this is because people strive to maintain a sense of themselves as consistent (Stable and predictable) *Another basic tendency is for people to view their abilities and personal qualities in a positive light.

Conscientious stage

*When people develop a true conscience, one that is an internalized understanding of society's rules and the reasons for those rules. *People in this stage are also able to have insight into their own emotions as well as the emotional needs of others. *Major elements of adults conscience , including long-term personal goals and ideals, sense of responsibility, and internalization of rules. *May choose to break the law if it violates personal standards. *Complex inner life and ability to understand emotions of self and others.

Integrated stage

*Which Loevinger proposed would be reached by relatively few people, is one in which the individual has a clear sense of self, is able to recognize inner conflicts, and highly values individuality. *In this stage, the individual is able to achieve the expression of the true "Inner self". *Rarely found in adults. *Similar to autonomous stage but in addition has a strong sense of identity and ability to achieve complete expression of the true, inner self.

Five pathways through adulthood:

*Whitbourne and Erikson 1) Authentic road 2) Trimphunt trail 3) Straight and narrow way 4) Meandering way 5) Downward slope *The largest % of people studies both in the RALS and in subsequent studies using a pilot instrument called the "pathways questionnaire" seem to be on the authentic road.

Mature

1) Altruism -Turning unacceptable feelings into behavior that is helpful to others 2) Sublimation -Expressing unacceptable feelings in productive activity 3) Humor -Being able to laugh at an unpleasant or disturbing feeling or situation.

Cognitive disorders and personality traits

1) An investigation of nearly 1000 Catholic nuns and priests indicated that high conscientiousness while alive correlated with lower rates of Alzheimer's disease. -even among those whose brains showed a higher degree of pathology upon autopsy, high levels of conscientiousness seemed to serve as a protective factor against the experience of cognitive symptoms associated with the disease. 2) High levels of neuroticism in midlife also appear to be predictive of an earlier onset of the disease but only in women.

Relationship between personality and health (Figure 8.6)

1) Cardiovascular risk factors related to type A behavior and anxiety 2) Lower BMI related to higher levels of conscientiousness 3) Drug use and smoking related to lower levels of conscientiousness. 4) Lower mortality related to higher levels of openness. 5) Higher risk of Alzheimer's disease related to low conscientiousness and high neuroticism.

Personality traits and mortality

1) Conscientiousness continues to pay a role in mortality in later adulthood -self discipline (a facet of conscientiousness) predicted lower mortality risk over a 3 year period. 2) Lower levels of conscientiousness (including impulsivity) were associated with lower levels of hdl's (the "good" cholesterol) and interleukin-6, a protein important to bolstering immune function. 3) Longevity was associated with high scores on conscientiousness, low scores on neuroticism, and high scores on the activity facet of extraversion. 4) High levels of openness, particularly emotional awareness and curiosity, also seem related to lower mortality rates, even after for controlling for educational levels.

Psychotic (Vaillant)

1) Delusional projection -Attributing ones own bizarre ideas and feelings to others 2) Denial -Disclaiming the existence of a feeling, action, or events 3) Distortion -Significantly exaggerating and altering the reality of feelings and events.

Neurotic (Vaillant)

1) Displacement -Transferring unacceptable feelings from the true self to a safer object 2) Repression -Forgetting about a troubling feeling or event 3) Reaction formation -Expressing the opposite ore ones true feelings.

Stages of adult development information

1) During periods of stability, the man builds his life structure around the decisions he made in the previous stage -as the period reaches its close, the man becomes driven by both internal and external fctors to question his previous set of commitments. 2) For the next 4 or 5 years, during the transitional period that ensues, he explores different alternatives and seeks a new life structure or a modification of the existing one. *levinson belived that these transitional periods are inevitiable. *Choices are always imperfect, and as the outcome of one set of choices plays itself out, the individual beings to experience regrets and a desire for change.

Stages of adult development according to Levison

1) Early adult transition: Age 17-22 2) Mid life transition: Age 40-45 3) Late adult transition: Age 60-65

Other theories that emerged at about the same time as Levinson's

1) Goulds theory of transformations 2) Vaillant also temporarily espoused the midlife crisis concept but then renounced this view, "I believe transitions are merely by products of development...development creates transitions; transitions do not create development. -Vaillant's adult development view does depict the growth of the ego as occurring in stages, the midlife crisis is not one of them.

Depression and personality traits

1) High levels of hostility in early adult hood may pose a risk factor for the development of depression during the ensuing years. -Alumni of the University of North Carolina tested in college were followed up at the age of 47. -College students with high hostility scores who remained high in hostility were at a significantly greater risk for developing depression in midlife, troubles in family life, risky behaviors such as smoking and drinking, obesity, failure to exercise, high fat diets, social isolation, poor health, and for women (lower income)

Why the theory of the midlife crisis still exists

1) It makes a "good story" 2) The idea that personality is subject to major upheavals in the middle years maybe lead to this persistence of this phenomenon in the public mind far longer than warranted by the data. 3) TV and movie portrayals that capture the imagination of the midlife adult.

The concept of the midlife crisis first aired in the media:

1) Journalist Hail Sheehy published a best selling book, "Passages: Predictable Crisis of Adult Life" -this book was based on a study being conducted at the time by yale psychologist Daviel Levinson, described the supposed changes that occurred at each decade marker of adulthood. *The years of the early 40s, according to this view, were marked by inner turmoil and outer acts of rebbelion against the placid, middle-aged lifestyle into which the individual was destined to enter by the 50s. 2) Levinson then published "The seasons of a man's life" which was a collaborative effort of a team of Yale Psychologists, psychiatrists, and sociologists. -this book focused exclusively on the experience of men in midlife though analysis of the interviews of 40 men ranging in age from the mid030s to mid 40s. -The men were all from different backgrounds. *The core of Levinson's theory of adult development is the life structure.

Control beliefs

1) Mastery: stable • Feeling like you have this sense of mastery or control. • Tends to be pretty stable 2) Perceived constraints: increases with age • Perceived limitations that we may or may it have. • Tends to increase with age 3) Increases with age • Marriage • Work • Finances • Life overall 4) Decreases with age • Children • Health • Sex life

Challenges to the midlife crisis concept

1) McCrae and Costa *Used their extensive database on personality in adulthood to test predictions based on Levinson's theory. -when they plotted scores on the NEO scales by year across the supposed midlife crisis peak years, thogh, the scores were essentially flat; in fact, neuroticism was lower by having a very small amount in the 43 year olds. *Having explored this approach, McCrae and Costa created a midlife Crisis Scale and administered it to 350 men ages 30 to 60. -results did not detect any midlife crisis. 2) Study on the Midlife Crisis Scale from men participatiing in the Depatment of Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study -Findings suggest that those with chronic psychological problems are more likely to experience a phenomenon such as the midlife crisis, not the average person. *So far, all the data contradicting the existence of the midlife crisis are from the laboratories of McCrae and Costa.

Approach to testing socioemotional selectivity (Isaacowitz)

1) Older adults were less likely than younger adults to look at parts of the face conveying anger and sadness, and more likely to look at the parts conveying happiness. -These findings imply that older adults would prefer to "accentuate the positive" when it comes to reading other peoples facial expressions. 2) Subsequent reasearch has shown that older adults with higher levels of cognitive functioning were more likely to focus on positive images in experimental manipulation that put them in a bad mood.

Coping with stress

1) Problem-focused 2) Emotion-focused 3) Less useful

Immature (Vaillant)

1) Projection -Attributing unacceptable ideas and feelings to others 2) Hypochondriasis -Expressing psychological conflict as exaggerated physical complaints 3) Acting out -Engaging in destructive behavior that expresses inner conflict

Psychodynamic perspectives (NOTES)

1) Pros: -Holistic approach -Early influences 2) Cons -Empirical evidence -Resources -Role of the unconscious mind • Not easy to measure • Takes a lot of resources to come up with ways that we can measure it • Ex: Rorschach test

Vaillants types of defense mechanism

1) Psychotic 2) Immature 3) Neurotic 4) Mature

Studies based specifically on Erikson's theory: (ERIKSON & WITBOURNE)

1) Rochester Adult Longitudinal Study (RALS) -1966: COHORT 1 (349 students) -1977: COHORT 1 PLUS NEW COHORT 2 (299 students) -1988: COHORT 1 & 2, PLUS NEW COHORT 3 (300 students) 2) DESIGN: -sequential study, both cross sectional and longitudinal components combined in one study 3) RESULTS: -Consistent change during adulthood across cohorts on: older cohorts showed continual growth on identity and intimacy albeit slower when they were younger. -Some people were identified as late bloomers early on, and they were still able to catch up in older age. -A sample of undergraduates and alumni from the university of Rochester. *Sequential comparisons to be made among 3 cohorts of college students and 2 cohorts of adults in their early 30s. *Longitudinal follow-up analyses were also made of adults from college up to age 43. *The heart of the findings from RALS regarding psychosocial development was the consistency of age changes across two cohorts in the 2 stages theorized to change the most in college and early adulthood; identity vs identity diffusion and intimacy vs. isolation. *Analysis of data from another measure given in 1988 to respondents from all three cohorts specifically intended to asses identity devlopment showed convergent support for the notion of continued growth on this dimension during adulthood. *In general, the oldest group continued to show gains in such areas as identity and intimacy, but these gains occured at a slower rate than was true during their earlier years. *Developmental advances were observed in the scores of some participants who had lagged behind during their early adult years, showing that it was still possible to catch up for earlier deficits even in the midlife years. *These findings show that continued personality development is not only possoble but predictable. *Even the psychosocial stages associated with childhood showed continued gains for many of the RALS members during adulthood. *Five patterns or pathways were developed by analyzing the current well-being and psychosocial development scores of the participants and then tracing back through their lived their earlier scores and the major life choices they had made and expeirences they encountered.

Attachment styles:

1) Secure attachment 2) Avoidant attachment -fearful (abuse) -dismissive (no fear component) 3) Anxious ambivalent attachment *The few studies suggest that insecure attachment is less prevalent in older adult samples. *Older adults also appear less likely to experience anxious types of attachment in comparison with younger adults.

Research on identity process theory

1) Shows that adults increasingly rely on identity assimilation, and this is how older people are able to maintain positive self esteem. -The edge that assimilation has over accommodation is theorized ti be just enough to maintain this positive view without leading individuals to into self-views that are so off base as to be completely out of sync with experiences. *A certain amount of denial, or at least minimization, seems to be important with regard to changes in the body and identity. *Self esteem is higher in individuals who use both identity balance and identity assimilation. *Identity accommodation, by contrast, is related to lower levels of self esteem throughout adulthood.

Social cognitive approaches

1) Socioemotional selectivity theory *2 functions served by interpersonal relations: -Infomational -Emotional 2) The desire to maximize emotional rewards leads adults increasingly to prefer spending time with people who are familiar to them rather than seeking out new friends and acquaintances. -as part of this transition you will go through a weeding out process where you focus on maintaining the positive relationships and removing or "unfriending" the negative ones.

Socioemotional selectivity theory (Notes)

1) Structure relationships to maximize gains and minimize risks. 2) When we are young we typically want to maximize informational gains and when we are older we want to maximize emotional gains *Informational -Young *Emotional -Older 3) This reflects time sensitivity -As the end draws near we focus on emotional rather than informational relationships. -Familiarly vs. new partners. -Close friends and family members vs unknown people.

Critiques and research on the midlife crisis

1) The heavy reliance of Levinson's framework on age as a marker of development. -On one hand they were somewhat vague on age, on the other hand speficity of age 43 as the time of the event is another type of weakeness becasue adults simply do not have such regularly timed events coinciding with a particular birthday. 2) In some ways, the Levinson (and Sheehy) approaches are like horoscopes, predicting that the calendar determines personality. -not very valid, and highly flawed 3) The nature of the original sample -of the 40 men who formed the basis for the sample, one half represented the highly educated and intellectually oriented strata of society, another one quarter of the sample consisted of successful business executives. -Levinson tried to generlize to the entire population (now and for all time) 4) The inspiration for the study and it source in the personal life of the investigator -Levinson was very clear in stating how he was trying to understand what he had gone through in midlife. 5) The process of rating the life stages was never clearly explicated 6) Interview questions were not published -Interviews themselves as well as the ratings were likely biased in the direction of proving the researcher's hypothesis. 7) Big 5: Neuroticism -slightly lower for 43 year olds 8) Boston normative aging study -Higher neuroticism scores (younger) associated with higher midlife crisis scores 10 years later.

Health and personality traits

1) Type A behavior pattern *Duke universities studied male adults for over 10 years measuring their levels of hostility, depression, and anger, as well as levels of proteins (C3 and C4) considered to be strong indicators of heart disease or the risk of heart disease. -Men who had high levels of personality risk also showed greater increases over the course of the study in both C3 and C4. *High levels of anxiety may also serve as risk factors for cardiovascular disease. 2) Researchers have observed relationships between low scores in childhood on the trait conscientiousness and higher death rates in adulthood. -Continues to be related to greater weight gains during adulthood, particularly in women, placing them at risk for weight-related diseases. 3) Low scores on conscientiousness and high scores on neuroticism also relates to the likelihood of cigarette smoking. -high neuroticism scores, particularly on the facet of vulnerability, relate to high rates of heroin and cocaine use among adults. 3) High scores on openness to experience and low on agreeableness and conscientiousness is related to marijuana use. **Although personality traits may be an inherent part of "who" you are, they can modulate and change over adulthood even as they influence some of the most basic components of your ability to remain healthy.

Advantages of using identity assimilation in terms of health and mortality

1) Was suggested by a fascinating analysis of self perceptions of aging and longevity 2) Older adults who managed to avoid adopting negative views of aging (which may be seen as identity assimilation) lived 7.5 years longer than those individuals who did not develop a similar resistance to accommodating society's negative views about aging into their identities. 3) Advantages of denial against negative self-evaluations associated with aging (a form of identity assimilation) also was demonstrated in a long term longitudinal investigation in which people who used denial had better psychological health. 4) Conversely, relying primarily on identity accommodation is associated with the experience of depressive symptoms.

Differences in men and women in their use of identity processes

1) Women use identity accommodation more than do men 2) Some women who use identity assimilation may claim that they use identity balance to appear as though they are flexible and open to negative feedback when in reality, they prefer not to look inward and perhaps confront their flaws.

Erikson (In class notes)

•In early infancy our major task is learning to trust our caregivers and the environment •Matrix of conflicts or challenges •His main difference from Freud is that he was really interested in the ego and Freud was really interested in the id •Erikson believed the ego is what we should care about, as we traverse this lifespan different challenges arise. •Social development is very important and that's why all these stages deal with social partners

Attachment theory

•The theory about the characteristic of the relationship between a caregiver and an infant •Attachment style: the way we relate to out primary attachment figure 1) Secure 2) Avoidant -Fearful (abuse) -Dismissive (No fear component) -Often characterized by a caregiver being unavailable for care, and infant finds itself relying in itself to have its needs met. Limited sense of reliance in this relationship 3) Anxious-ambivalent -Characterized by a push and a pull, caregiver is inconsistently available, sometime caregiver responds to needs or not or responds inappropriately -Child tends to be more clingy 4) Disorganized -Smallest sub group