Unit 1 PSY 447 Study

2. What is the "happy medium" of older adult activities? What are the two extremes?

"happy medium," whereby many older adults are engaged in some beneficial exercise programs (such as Silver Sneakers classes, walking, or swimming); performing some mentally challenging activities (such as cooking, managing personal finances and investments, quilting, playing bridge, and taking Lifelong Learning classes); and using some technology

6. Why is it important to recognize that our aging population is increasing rapidly? (What will this affect?)

All you need to know about the demographics of aging is that there are more and more people over age 65, 75, and 85 (and 100), and that is going to continue for quite some time. Therefore, there will be more and more demands on costly health and social service programs, which will strain the overall budget.

Multidirectionality

Development involves both growth and decline; as people grow in one area, they may lose in another and at different rates. For example, people's vocabulary ability tends to increase throughout life, but reaction time tends to slow down.

Historical Context

Each of us develops within a particular set of circumstances determined by the historical time in which we are born and the culture in which we grow up. Maria's experiences were shaped by living in the 20 th century in a Chicano neighborhood in southwest Texas.

Multiple Causation

How people develop results from a wide variety of forces, which we consider later in this chapter. You will see that development is shaped by biological, psychological, sociocultural, and life-cycle forces.

Plasticity

One's capacity is not predetermined or set in concrete. Many skills can be trained or improved with practice, even in late life. There are limits to the degree of potential improvement,

5. What becomes "more salient"? (What does "salient" mean?)

Salient = noticeable Over enough time, people do not have the energy or time for maintenance, let alone growth, and so loss (of abilities, of social time, etc.) becomes more salient. And since the US generally lacks "old-age-friendly support structures," this becomes a more and more pressing problem.

1. What are some common aging myths?

That everyone ages the same, loss memory, loss of sexual appetite

chronological aging

When most of us think about age, we usually think of how long we have been around since our birth; this way of defining age is known as chronological age. Chronological age is a shorthand way to index time and organize events and data by using a commonly understood standard: calendar time..

perceived age

age refers to the age you think of yourself as. The saying "You're only as old as you feel" captures perceived age.

psychological age

age refers to the functional level of the psychological abilities people use to adapt to changing environmental demands. These abilities include memory, intelligence, feelings, motivation, and other skills that foster and maintain self-esteem and personal control.

cohort effects

are differences caused by experiences and circumstances unique to the generation to which one belongs.

non-normative influences culture

are random or rare events that may be important for a specific individual but are not experienced by most people. These may be favorable events, such as winning the lottery or an election, or unfavorable ones, such as an accident or layoff.

stability-change issue

concerns the degree to which people remain the same over time, as discussed in the Current Controversies feature. Stability at some basic level is essential for us (and others) to recognize that one is the same individual as time goes on. But we also like to believe that our characteristics are not set in concrete, that we can change ourselves if we so desire.

continuity-discontinuity issue

concerns whether a particular developmental phenomenon represents a smooth progression over time (continuity) or a series of abrupt shifts (discontinuity). Continuity approaches usually focus on the amount of a characteristic a person has, whereas discontinuity approaches usually focus on the kinds of characteristics a person has.

universal vs context-specific

concerns whether there is just one path of development or several. Consider the !Kung tribe, who live in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana in southwest Africa (Lee, Hitchcock, & Biesele, 2002). If you were to ask an older !Kung "How old are you?" you would quickly learn that the question has no meaning.

Gerontology

gerontology, which is the study of aging from maturity through old age, has flourished.

Biological Forces

include all genetic and healthrelated factors that affect development. Examples of biological forces include menopause, facial wrinkling, and changes in the major organ systems.

Psychological Forces

include all internal perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and personality factors that affect development. Collectively, psychological forces provide the characteristics we notice about people that make them individuals.

Sociocultural forces

include interpersonal, societal, cultural, and ethnic factors that affect development. Sociocultural forces provide the overall contexts in which we develop.

7. Understand "individualism" and "collectivism."

individualists = people who pride themselves on taking care of themselves, who value independence, who enjoy others (such as family members and friends) but try not to rely too much on others for assistance, and who expect family members to pursue their dreams, even if it means they move far away. This is true of people in their teens and 20s as well as in their 70s and 80s. Collectivists = people who value their connections with others (particularly family) more than their own needs or goals, who expect their family members to pull together when one person needs help, and expect family members to live close by and interact regularly, even it means not taking advantage of opportunities in other places. This is also true of people in their teens and 20s as well as in their 70s and 80s.

Non-normative history-graded forces

influences are events that most people in a specific culture experience at the same time. These events may be biological (such as epidemics), psychological (such as particular stereotypes), or sociocultural (such as changing attitudes toward sexuality).

Normative age-graded forces

influences are experiences caused by biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces that occur to most people of a particular age. Some of these, such as puberty, menarche, and menopause, are biological. These normative biological events usually indicate a major change in a person's life; Ex: menopause is an indicator that a woman can no longer bear children without medical intervention.

Cohort

is a group of people born at the same point or specific time span in historical time. So everyone born in 1995 would be the 1995 cohort; similarly, those born between 1946 and 1964 represent the babyboom cohort..

confounding

is any situation in which one cannot determine which of two or more effects is responsible for the behaviors being observed. Confounding of the three effects we are considering here is the most serious problem in adult development and aging research.

secondary aging

is developmental changes that are related to disease, lifestyle, and other environmentally induced changes that are not inevitable (e.g., pollution).

primary aging

is normal, disease-free development during adulthood. Changes in biological, psychological, sociocultural, or life-cycle processes in primary aging are an inevitable part of the developmental process; examples include menopause,

tertiary aging

is the rapid losses that occur shortly before death. An example of tertiary aging is a phenomenon known as terminal drop, in which intellectual abilities show a marked decline in the last few years before death.

life-span perspective

perspective emphasizes that human development takes a lifetime to complete. It sets the stage for understanding the many influences we experience and points out that no one part of life is any more or less important than another.

Ageism

prejudice or discrimination on the basis of a person's age

Biopsychosocial framework

provides a complete overview of the shapers of human development. One useful way to organize the biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces on human development

plasticity (again!)

refers to the belief that capacity is not fixed, but can be learned or improved with practice. For example, people can learn ways to help themselves remember information, which in turn may help them deal with declining short-term memory ability with age.

sociocultural age

refers to the specific set of roles individuals adopt in relation to other members of the society and culture to which they belong. Sociocultural age is judged on the basis of many behaviors and habits, such as style of dress, customs, language, and interpersonal style.

age effects

reflect differences caused by underlying processes, such as biological, psychological, or sociocultural changes. Although usually represented in research by chronological age, age effects are inherent changes within the person and are not caused by the passage of time per se.

Life-cycle forces

reflect differences in how the same event or combination of biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces affects people at different points in their lives. Life-cycle forces provide the context for the developmental differences of interest in adult development and aging.

nature-nuture issue

which involves the degree to which genetic or hereditary influences (nature) and experiential or environmental influences (nurture) determine the kind of person you are.