Experiencing The LifeSpan 4th edition Chapter 10, Chapter 11, & 12

Deinstitutionalization of marriage

the decline in marriage and the emergence of alternate family forms that occurred during the last third of the twentieth century

Adult attachment styles

the different ways in which adults relate to romantic partners, based on Mary Ainsworth's infant attachment styles.

Secure Attachment

the genuine intimacy that is ideal in love relationships

U-shaped curve of marital satisfaction

the most common pathway of marital happiness in the West, in which satisfaction is highest at the honeymoon, declines during child-rearing years, then rises after the children grow up

occupational segregation

the separation of men and women into different kinds of jobs

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

the standard test to measure adult IQ, involving verbal and performance scales, each of which is made up of various subtests

boundaryless career

today's most common career path for western workers, in which people change jobs or professions periodically during their working lives

breadwinner role

traditional concept that a mans job is to support a wife and children

people are the happiest in the honeymoon phase of a marriage

true

Homogamy

we select a mate who is similar to us

Hedonic Happiness

well-being defined as pure pleasure - nothing to do with living a happy life

extrinsic career reward

work that is performed for external reinforcers such as pay

intrinsic career rewards

work that provides inner fulfillment and allows people to satisfy their needs for creativity, autonomy, and relatedness

Moratorium

An identity status in which the person actively searched out various possibilities to find a truly solid adult life path. A mature style of constructing an identity

Identity Diffusion

An identity status in which the person is aimless or feels totally blocked without any adult life path

On time

Being on target in a culture's timetable for achieving adult life task

parent care

adult children's care for their disabled elderly parents

Preoccupied/ambivalent insecure attachment

an excessively clingy, needy style of relating to loved ones

Identity Achievement

an identity status in which the person decides on a definite adult life path after searching out various options

Identity Foreclosure

an identity status in which the person decides on an adult life path (often one spelled out by an authority figure) without any thought of active search

Allostatic load

an overall score of body deterioration, gained from summing how a person functions on multiple physiological indexes. load predicts cognitive performance during adult life

Middle adulthood age group?

40's-60's

flow

Csikszetmihalyi's term for feeling total absorption in a challenging, goal-oriented activity

Commitment Script

Dan McAdams's research, a type of autobiography produced by highly generative adults that involves childhood memories of feeling special; being unusually sensitive to others' misfortunes; having a strong, enduring generative mission from adolescence; and redemption sequence

Intimacy

Erikson's first adult task, involving connecting with a partner in a mutual loving relationship

Role Confusion

Erikson's term for a failure in identity formation, marked by the lack of any sense of a future about path

Identity

Erikson's theory, the life task of deciding who to be as a person in making the transition to adulthood

Generativity

Erikson's theory, the seventh psychosocial task, in which people in midlife find meaning from nurturing the next generation, caring for others, or enriching the lives of others through their work.

Big Five

Five core psychological predispositions- neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, conscientiousness, and agreeableness- that underlie personality

Ethnic identity

How people come to terms with who they are as people relating to their unique ethnic or racial heritage

Consummate love

In Sternberg's triangular theory of love, the ideal form of love in which a couple's relationship involves all three of the major facets of love: passion, intimacy, and commitment

Identity Statuses

Marcia's four categories of identity formation: identity diffusion, identity foreclosure, moratorium, and identity achievement.

Nest-leaving

Moving out of a childhood home and living independently

Stimulus-value-role theory

Murstein's mate-selection theory that suggests similar people pair up and that our path to commitment progresses through three phases (stimulus, value-comparison, and role phases)

Role phase

Murstein's theory, final mate-selection stage, in which committed partners work out their future life together

Stimulus phase

Murstein's theory, the initial mate-selection stage, in which we make judgement about a potential partner based on external characteristics such as appearance

Value-comparison phase

Murstein's theory, the second mate-selection stage, in which we make judgements about a partner on the basis of similar values and interests

Selective Optimization with Compensation

Paul Baltes three principles for successful aging (and living): 1. selectively focusing on what is most important 2. working harder to perform well in those top-ranking areas 3. relying on external aids to cope effectively

Cohabitation

Sharing a household in an unmarried romantic relationship

Off time

being too late or too early in a cultures timetable for achieving adult life tasks

Social Clock

The concept that we regulate our passage through adulthood by an inner timetable that tells us which life activities are appropriate at certain ages

Seattle Longitudinal Study

The definitive study of the effect of aging on intelligence, carried out by K. Warner Schaie, involving simultaneously conducting and comparing the results of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies carried out with group of Seattle volunteers

Emerging Adulthood

The phase of life that begins after high school, tapers off towards the late twenties, and is devoted to constructing an adult life

Eudaemonic Happiness

Well-being defined as having a sense of meaning and life purpose

Ruminative Moratorium

When a young person is unable to decide between different identities, becoming emotionally paralyzed and highly anxious

Crystallized Intelligence

a basic facet of intelligence, consisting of a person's knowledge base, or storehouse of accumulated information.

Fluid intelligence

a basic facet of intelligence, consisting of the ability to quickly master new intellectual activities

family watchdogs

a basic role of grandparents, which involve monitoring the younger family members well-being and intervening to provide help in a crisis

traditional stable career

a career path in which people settle into their permanent life's work in their twenties and often stay with the same organization until they retire

Redemption sequence

a characteristic theme of highly generative adults autobiographies in which they describe tragic events that turned out for the best

Role overload

a job situation that places so many requirements or demands on workers that it becomes impossible to do a good job

Terminal drop

a research phenomenon in which a dramatic decline in an older person's scores on vocabulary tests and other measures of crystallized intelligence predicts having a terminal disease

role conflict

a situation in which a person is torn between two or more major responsibilities- for instance, parent and worker - and cannot do either job adequately

family-work conflict

a situation in which people- typically parents- are town between the demands of family and work

Avoidant/dismissive insecure attachment

a standoffish, excessively disengaged style of relating to loved ones

Postformal thought

a uniquely adult form of intelligence that involves being sensitive to different perspectives, making decisions based on one's inner feelings, and being interested in exploring new questions.

Age norms

cultural ideas about the appropriate ages for engaging in particular activities or life tasks

Conscientiousness

efficacious, worker personality. hard working, self-disciplined...

marital equity

fairness in the work of couple's life together. if a relationship lacks equity with one partner doing significant more than the other the outcome is typically marital dissatisfaction

Americans today are not as interested in getting married as they were in the past

false

Poor people often don't get married because they are basically less interested in having a permanent commitment

false

having children brings married couples closer

false

most dads today share the childcare 50/50 with their wives

false

mothers used to spend more time with their children in the past than they do today

false

people who don't have children are self-absorbed and narcissistic

false

people work few hours that they used to, at least in the US

false

technology has reduced the hours we spend at work

false

traditional gender roles have mainly disappeared in the world of work

false

How do adults feel if they do not achieve generativity?

feel stagnant, without a sense of purpose in life

Erikson's Middle Adulthood Psychosocial Stage

generativity versus stagnation

caregiving grandparents

grandparents who have taken on full responsibility for raising their grandchildren

biracial or multiracial identity

how people of mixed racial backgrounds come to terms with who they are as people in relation to their heritage

nurturer father

husband who actively participates in hands-on child care

homophobia

intense fear and dislike of gays and lesbians

Agreeableness

kindness, empathy, and the ability to compromise (secure attachment styles)

Serial cohabitation

living sequentially with different partners outside of marriage

Neuroticism

mental health verses psychological disturbance. a person who others might label as psychologically disturbed

Extraversion

outgoing attitude

Openness to experience

passion to seek out new experiences

triangular theory of love

robert sternbergs categorization of love relationships into three facets: passion, intimacy, and commitment. When arranged at the points of a triangle, their combinations describe all the different kinds of adult love relationships

Menopause

the age-related process, occurring at about age 50, in which ovulation and menstruation stop due to the decline in estrogen

Fertility rate

the average number of children a women in a given country has during her lifetime

School-to-work transition

the change from the schooling phase of life to the work world

Role

the characteristic behavior that is expected of a person in a particular social position, such as student, parent, married person, worker, or retiree.