Late Adulthood
Physical Development: Key Highlights
I. PHYSICAL AGING
Primary Aging: aging that involves universal and
irreversible changes that, due to genetic programming,
occur as people get older.
Genetic programming theories of aging: theories that
suggest that our body’s DNA genetic code contains a
built-in time limit for the reproduction of human cells.
The “Death Gene” theory…
The “Cell Duplication Burnout” theory…
Physical Development: Key Highlights
Secondary Aging: changes in physical and cognitive
functioning that are due to illness, health habits,
environmental toxins, and other individual differences,
but which are not due exclusively to increased age.
Wear-and-tear theories of aging: the theory that the
physical and cognitive functions of the body simply wear out.
The “Weathered Machine” theory…
The “By-product Build-up” theory…
Cognitive Development
I. INTELLIGENCE, PROCESSING ABILITIES,
AND MEMORY
Measuring Older Adults’ Intelligence
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS): Intelligence test for adults,
which yields verbal and performance scores as well as a combined score.
Classic aging pattern:
Tendency for scores on
nonverbal performance to
become lower as a person
gets older, while verbal scores
remain relatively stable.
Dual-process model of cognitive functioning in
late adulthood...
Mechanics of intelligence: the ability to process information and solve
problems, irrespective of content; the area of cognition in which there is
often an age-related decline.
Pragmatics of intelligence: the dimension of intelligence that tends to
grow with age and includes practical thinking, application of accumulated
knowledge and skills, specialized expertise, professional productivity,
and wisdom.
Everyday Problem Solving
The ability to solve real problems, as opposed to hypothetical problems,
does not seem to decline after middle age.
Older adults are more effective problem solvers when confronted with
everyday problems that have emotional relevance.
Changes in Processing Abilities
Bilingualism is the cure!
Cognitive Abilities and Mortality
Lower IQ scores = earlier death!
Memory: How Does It Change?
Sensory Memory (sensory store): Initial, brief, temporary
storage of sensory information. Tends to remain stable.
Working (short-term) memory: Short-term storage of
information being actively processed. Tends to decline.
Rehearsal: Repetition of information. Tends to remain stable.
Reorganization: Organizing information in a way that allows better
retrieval of that information. Tends to decline.
Elaboration: Mentally expanding and elaborating upon information to be
remembered. Tends to decline.
Digit span forward: Test of short-term memory in which a person is to
repeat a sequence of numbers in the order in which the numbers were
presented. Tends to remain stable.
Digit span backward: Test of short-term memory in which a person is to
repeat a sequence of numbers in the reverse order in which the numbers
were presented. Tends to decline.
Long-Term Memory
Episodic memory: Long-term memory of specific experiences or events,
linked to time and place. Tends to decline.
Semantic memory: Long-term memory of general factual knowledge,
social customs, and language. Tends to improve.
Procedural memory: Long-term memory of motor skills, habits, and ways
of doing things, which often can be recalled without conscious effort.
Tends to remain stable.
Priming: Increase in ease of doing a task or remembering information as a
result of a previous encounter with the task or information.
Tends to remain stable.
Metamemory: The View from Within
Metamemory in Adulthood (MIA): Questionnaire designed to measure
various aspects of adults’ metamemory, including beliefs about how memory
works, their own memory, and selection and use of strategies for
remembering.
China versus the U.S.
Priming
II. WISDOM AND LEARNING
Can Older People Improve Their Cognitive Performance?
Deterioration is related to disuse.
Keeping the mind ‘plastic’ with training helps improve cognitive
performance.
Wisdom
Wisdom: the culmination of a lifetime of personal growth, an exceptional
breadth and depth of knowledge about the conditions of life and human
affairs, and reflective judgment about the application of this knowledge.
Wisdom is present during all stages of adulthood.
Lifelong Learning
Older people learn best when materials and methods take into account
their (1) Psychological changes (2) Cognitive changes
Does Religion or Spirituality Affect Health and Well-Being?
Religion and spirituality positively related to:
General well-being
Marital satisfaction
Psychological functioning
Physical Health
III. MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS THAT
IMPACT COGNITIVE ABILITIES
Depression
Dementia: Deterioration in cognitive and behavioral
functioning due to physiological causes.
Alzheimer’s Disease: Progressive, degenerative brain
disorder characterized by irreversible deterioration in
memory, intelligence, awareness, and control of bodily
functions, eventually leading to death.
Deterioration of language
Deficits in visual and spatial processing
Repeating of questions
Everyday tasks unfinished or forgotten
Personality change (rigidity, egocentricity)
Irritability or anxiety
Lack of concentration
Psychosocial Development
I. THEORY AND RESEARCH
Personality, Emotionality, and Well-Being
Negative emotions tend to decrease with age.
Neurotics have higher negative emotion
Positive emotions tend to remain stable.
Extraverts have higher positive emotion
Erik Erikson: Normative Issues and Tasks
Ego integrity versus despair: According to Erikson, the eighth and final
critical alternative of psychosocial development, in which people in late
adulthood either achieve a sense of integrity of the self by accepting the
lives they have lived without regrets, and thus accept death, or yield to
despair that their lives cannot be relived.
Wisdom: The virtue in Erikson’s eighth stage, an informed and detached
concern with life itself in the face of death itself.
Models of Coping
Coping: Adaptive thinking or behavior aimed at reducing or relieving stress
that arises from harmful, threatening, or challenging conditions.
Adaptive defenses: Mature defenses, in Vaillant’s theory, such as altruism,
humor, suppression, anticipation, and sublimation.
Cognitive-appraisal model: Model of coping, proposed by Lazarus and
Folkman, which holds that, on the basis of continuous appraisal of their
relationship with the environment, people choose appropriate coping
strategies to deal with stressful situations that tax their normal resources.
Resources Relative to Magnitude of Threat Model of Stress and
Activity:
an unhealthy level of stress occurs when the stressful situation is one
that a person regards as threatening and possibly exceeding his or
her resources.
SEE ILLUSTRATION ON NEXT SLIDE
Coping Strategies: Problem-focused versus Emotion-focused
Problem-Focused Coping: people attend carefully to the stressful event
and try to take effective action.
Emotion-Focused Coping: people try to weaken their emotional reaction
to a stressful event by avoiding it or avoid thinking about it.
Age Differences in Choice of Coping Styles
Older people tend to use more Emotion-Focused Coping, while younger
people tend to use more Problem-Focused Coping.
Proactive: A type of emotion-focused coping that involves confronting or
expressing one's emotions or seeking social approval.
Passive: A type of emotion-focused coping that involves avoidance,
denial, or suppression of emotions or acceptance of the situation as it is.
These strategies are particularly useful for people experiencing…
Ambiguous loss: A loss that is not clearly defined or does not
bring closure.
Models of “Successful” or “Optimal” Aging
1. Avoidance of disease or disability
2. Maintenance of physical & cognitive function
3. Active engagement in social activities
Disengagement theory: Theory of aging, proposed by Cumming and Henry,
which holds that successful aging is characterized by mutual withdrawal
between the older person and society.
Activity theory: Theory of aging, proposed by Neugarten and others, which
holds that in order to age successfully a person must remain as active as
possible.
Continuity theory: Theory of aging, described by Atchley, which holds that
in order to age successfully people must maintain a balance of continuity
and change in both the internal and external structures of their lives.
The Role of Productivity
Productive activity plays a significant role in successful aging:
Higher self-rated happiness
Better physical functioning
Less chance of dying six years after self-report
Selective Optimization with Compensation
Selective optimization with compensation: strategy for maintaining or
enhancing overall cognitive functioning by using stronger abilities to
compensate for those that have weakened.
In addition to compensation, older people can…
Select a few meaningful activities
Optimize abilities in those activities
II. LIFESTYLE AND SOCIAL ISSUES
RELATED TO AGING
How Does Age Affect Attitudes Toward Work and Job
Performance?
Older workers are more productive than younger workers
Older workers also tend to be more:
Dependable, Careful, Responsible, Frugal with time and
materials.
Work and Retirement
Retirement is a recent social phenomenon
Since the 1950s, compulsory retirement has been virtually outlawed
Biggest factors in deciding to retire:
Health
Financial considerations
Satisfaction in Retirement
Men and women who had low work morale tend to get a
‘second honeymoon’ soon after retirement.
But continuous retirement is associated with an increase in
depression
Women’s well-being less affected by retirement than men’s
Satisfaction is associated with social support
Life after Retirement
Family-focused lifestyle: Pattern of retirement activity that revolves
around family, home, and companions.
Balanced investment: Pattern of retirement activity allocated among
family, work, and leisure.
Serious leisure: Leisure activity requiring skill, attention, and commitment.
Mistreatment of the Elderly
Elder abuse: Maltreatment or neglect of dependent older
persons, or violation of their personal rights.
Categories of Elder Abuse…
Physical abuse, Sexual abuse, Emotional or Psychological abuse
Financial or material exploitation: illegal or improper use of an elder's
funds, property, or assets.
Neglect: refusal or failure to fulfill any part of one's obligations or duties to
an elder.
Self-neglect: behaviors of a depressed, frail, or mentally incompetent
elderly person that threaten his or her own health or safety.
Violating personal rights: violating an older person’s rights to privacy or to
make his or her own personal and health decisions.
III. PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS IN LATE LIFE
Theories of Social Contact and Social Support
Social Convoy Theory
Identify helpful social-network members
Avoid unhelpful network members
Socio-Emotional Selectivity Theory
Older adults spend time with people who meet their emotional
needs
Benefits of Social Relationships
Social support helps older people:
Maintain life satisfaction in the face of stress
Maintain health and well-being
IV. CONSENSUAL RELATIONSHIPS
Long-Term Marriage
Tend to be the happiest marriages
Divorce and Remarriage
Men are more likely to remarry than women
Friendships
Intimacy is an important benefit of older friendships
Especially among widowed women
Friends are a source of immediate enjoyment
Family provides emotional security and support
V. NONMARITAL KINSHIP TIES
Relationships with Siblings
More than 3 out of 4 older adults have at least one living sibling
Siblings provide…
More companionship than other family members
More emotional support than friends
Becoming Great-Grandparents
Great-grandparents tend to be less involved than grandparents in
child’s life due to:
Declining health
Scattering of families
Most great-grandparents feel sense of
Family renewal
Longevity