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CHAPTER 8
Human Development: scientific study of the changes
that occur in people as they age, from conception until
death
Research Methods
1. Longitudinal Study
 x 1 group of people is followed and assessed at
different times as the group ages
 x Advantage: Observe real age-related changes
in the same individuals
 x Disadvantage: Lengthy amount of time, effort
and money; greater risk of loss of participants
 x By Armando Garcia
2. Cross-Sectional Design
 x Several different age groups are bring studied
at the same time
 x Advantage: Quick, relatively inexpensive &
easier
 x Disadvantage: Study no longer compares the
growth of the same individual
3. Cross Sequential Design
 x Combination of the two – different participants
of various ages compared at several points in
time to
 determine age related differences and age related
changes
**Nature vs. Nurture
Nature – heredity, influence of inherited
characteristics on personality, physical growth, etc
Nurture – influence of the environment (ex: parenting
styles, physical surroundings, economic factors)
Prenatal Development
1. Fertilization
o x Conception: egg + sperm = zygote (46
chromosomes)
o x Monozygotic Twins: identical twins; came
from one zygote
o x Dizygotic Twins: fraternal twins; two different
zygotes
o x Conjoined Twins: two cell masses remain
stuck
2. Germinal Period
o x 1-2 weeks; zygote moves down to the uterus
o x Placenta: provides nourishment and filters
away the developing baby’s waste products
o x Umbilical Cord: attaches placenta to the
uterine wall
o x Rapid cell division occurs – turns into a
‘hollow ball’
3. Embryonic Period
o x 2-8 weeks; moment it attaches to the uterus;
major organs and structures begin to develop
o
x Critical Periods: times where some
environmental influences may have an impact
on the infant
x Teratogen: prenatal hazards
4. Fetal Period
o x 8 weeks to birth; tremendous growth – organs
continue to develop and become functional
o x Teratogens will more likely affect the physical
structure rather than their structure
o x Miscarriage / Spontaneous Abortion: more
likely in the first 3 months; most likely caused
by a genetic defect
o in the way an embryo is developing
5. Child Birth – WELCOME TO THE WOOORLD Infancy and Childhood Development
Æ Reflexes: involuntary behavioral patterns; checks
nervous system is functioning properly; infant survival
kits
o x Rooting: stroking of baby’s cheek will cause
him to turn to the source; face the breast
o x Grasping
o x Sucking
o x Moro: sudden dropping of baby = throw out
arms and hug self; protect vital organs
o x Swimming: will hold breath and move arms;
similar to being in mother’s womb
o x Tonic Neck: ‘fencing position’; to prevent
baby from rolling around
o x Crawling: super slow ---a) grasping reflex; (b)
startle reflex (also known as the Moro
reflex); (c) rooting reflex (when you touch a
baby‘s cheek it will turn toward your hand,
open its mouth, and search for the nipple);
o (d) stepping reflex; and (e) sucking reflex.
Æ Sensory Development
o x Touch, taste & smell: well-developed
o x Birth: sweet (like breast milk); 4 months:
salty; sour & bitter are not preferred
o x Hearing: functional but not fully developed;
fluids from the womb must first clear out the
auditory canals;
o respond to high and low pitches
o x Sight: least developed; rods are functional
while comes take about 6 months; look at
symmetry
o **Visual Cliff (Eleanor Gibson & Michael
Walk) – table with shallow and deep parts
Æ Motor Development
xDevelopment of motor milestones is from top to bottom
x 2-4 months: raising head and chest
6-7 months: sitting up without support
7-8 months: crawling
8-18 months: walking
Æ Stages of Language Development
x Child-Directed Speech: way adults and older children
talk to infants – with higher, repetitive and sing-song
voices
x Receptive-Productive Lag: infants understand far more
than what they produce
x Stages:
e-word Speech/Holophrases: one word that
represents a whole phrase; ex: Milk! (1 year)
‘Mama go!’ (1.5 years)
around them (4 years)
Æ Piaget’s Theory: Four Stages of Cognitive
Development
x Ways to examine the development of cognition:
-existing frameworks that organize and
interpret info (ex: 4 legged, furry)
-existing
schema (ex: dog > dog)
(dog > cat – 4 legged, furry + meow)
**State of Disequilibrium: previous schema does match
x Stages: [SPCF]
1. Sensorimotor Stage
– 2 years old
sory experiences
and physical actions; of something disappears
it doesn't exist
sight; neurons in the brain are now capable of
symbolic thinking
2. Preoperational Stage
– 7 years old
of exploring the world
-believe play & magical thinking; believe that
what they literally see is true
– 11 years old
concepts (tangible objects, written rules)
preoccupation with rules
4. Formal Operations
– adulthood
and abstract thinking –
almost everyone enters this stage
o Personal Fable: belief that one is special and protected
from harm
o Thinking that one’s opinions are correct – best among
the others
o Imaginary Audience: the thought that someone is
watching you all the time
Æ Vygotsky’s Theory: Importance of Being There
x Importance of interactions with other people – child
will develop cognitively if someone is there to guide
them
x Scaffolding: process where a more skilled learner
gives help to a less skilled learner and slowly reducing
the amount of help as the less skilled learner becomes
more capable
x Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): difference
between what a child can do alone and what a child can
do
with the help of a teacher
Æ Psychosocial Development
x Personality: the way we think, talk & act
x Temperament: inherent emotional and behavioral
characteristics (Thomas & Chess)
, warms up to
environment fast
BABY LOL
x Attachment: emotional bond that forms between
infants and primary caregivers
**Ainsworth (1985) and the ‘Strange Situation’ –
reaction of infants to diff stimuli + new environments
1. Secure
–
ee the world through
anyone’s eyes but one’s own; ex: ‘I don't want to
see you in the living room tonight’ ‘child covers eyes’;
Child wants to give mom a stuffed toy for
her birthday because that’s what he would want
re rather than taking
everything into consideration; ex: line of
pennies
‘touching base’ – then gets upset when
mom leaves room but happily welcomes her back
esponsive, sensitive to
infant’s needs
2. Avoidant
with mother, NR to her
3. Ambivalent
change the amount
an action
3. Concrete Operations
manded
to be picked up when mom returned but
at the same time pushed her away
inconsistent and insensitive to the infant
4. Disorganized-disoriented
approach her but afraid to make eye contact;
fearful and showed dazed and depressed looks
x Gender Role: most children begin to realize this at age
2; knowing expectations for gender development of
gender identity takes much longer and is influenced by
both biology and cultural expectations
x Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages of Development
1. Trust vs. Mistrust (Birth > 1 yr)
baby’s needs are met
2. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (1-3 yrs)
behavior; present a child with options to
strengthen his autonomy; ‘NO!’
3. Initiative vs. Guilt (3-5 yrs)
-schoolers learn to control their own behavior;
feels more capable; encourage them by giving
them simple responsibilities
4. Industry vs. Inferiority (5-12 yrs)
-aged children have more opportunities to
learn new skills; self-esteem arising from
successfully performing a task
5. Identity vs. Role Confusion (13- early 20s)
they want to be in terms of occupation, beliefs,
attitudes and behavior patterns
– seeing people
dressed up like goths
6. Intimacy vs. Isolation (20s-30s)
– to be able to share who they are
with another person in a close, committed
relationship
first before getting to know another person
7. Generativity vs. Stagnation (40s-50s)
generation – training children so that they
may be good citizens of society
-care professionals,
doctors, community volunteers
8. Ego Integrity vs. Despair (60s ++)
tranquility, a sense of wholeness and acceptance
of his life – fulfillment & CONTENT
Adolescence
Æ 13 – early 20s; no longer a child but not yet an
independent adult
Æ Puberty: Primary sex characteristics (organs) +
Secondary sex characteristics (changes in the body);
stimulated by the pituitary gland
Æ Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development
x Lawrence Kohlberg: presented various people of
situations and asks for their opinions > gauge answers
x How we decide between right and wrong
x Levels:
1. Pre-Conventional: reward = good, punishment + bad;
consequences on self, determined morality
2. Conventional: conforming to society’s norms;
rules/laws (ex: stealing is illegal)
3. Post-Conventional: morality decided upon by an
individual; may conflict with accepted norms of society
(ex: human life > money)
Adulthood
Æ Beginning of adulthood is not definite
Æ Menopause: cessation of ovulation and the menstrual
cycle; end of a woman’s reproductive ability
x Climacteric: changes that occur during this time
x Perimenopause; period of 5-10 years during which the
changes occur
Æ Andropause: gradual change in sexual hormones and
reproductive ability of males
Æ Parenting Styles (Baumrind)
x Authoritarian
perfection, controlling, uncompromising; physical
punishment; rebellious children
in PMS
x Permissive (few demands)
whatever they want as long as it doesn't interfere
with what the parent wants; abusive relationship
lives; everything they do is perfect; Child = selfish,
immature, dependent
x Authoritative
affection and respect; democratic – allows the child to
have some input in the formation of rules but still being
the final decision maker
– withdrawal of
privileges, restrictions + explanation
Æ Theories on Physical and Psychological Aging
x Cellular-Clock Theory
shorten each time they repair damage; when
telomeres are too short, cells cannot reproduce, damage
accumulates = aging
x Wear-and-Tear Theory
(due to stress, physical exertion, bodily damage,
etc.)
x Free-Radical Theory
electrons; bounce around the cell stealing electrons
from other molecules increasing the damage in the cell
x Activity Theory
active in some way
Æ Stages of Identity
x Identity Diffusion: not caring about your future at all
x Identity Foreclosure
x Identity Moratorium: exploration of identities
x Identity Achieved: finally finding your identity
Æ Stages of Death and Dying – Elizabeth Kubler-Ross:
denial > anger > bargaining > depression > acceptance
-DEVELOPMENT
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
-scientific study of the changes that occur in people as
they age, from conception until death
-is a field in the investigation of the origins of behavior
in which researchers try to determine how much of
behavior is the result of genetic inheritance and how
much is due to a person’s experiences
BASIC BUILDING BLOCKS OF DEVELOPMENT
GENETICS
-is the science of heredity.
DNA
-deoxyribonucleic acid
-is a very special kind of molecule
-consists of two very long sugar–phosphate strands, each
linked together by certain chemical elements called
amines or bases arranged in a particular pattern
AMINES
-organic structures that contain the genetic codes for
building the proteins that make up organic life
RESEARCH DESIGNS
LONGITUDINAL DESIGN
-one group of people is followed and assessed at
different times as the group ages
CROSS-SECTIONAL DESIGN
-several different age-groups are studied at one time
CROSS-SEQUENTIONAL DESIGN
-which is a combination of the longitudinal and crosssectional designs
COHORT EFFECT
-the particular impact on development that occurs when
a group of people share a common time period or
common life experience (for example, having been born
in the same time period or having gone through a
specific historical event together
GENE
-Each section of DNA containing a certain sequence
(ordering) of these amines
CHROMOSOMES
-rod-shaped structures
-humans have a total of 46 chromosomes in each cell of
their bodies except the sperm and the egg
-23 from mother’s egg and 23 from father’s egg
-Autosomes – first 22 pairs
-Sex chromosomes - last pair, determines the sex
-XX (female) XY (male)
DOMINANT
-genes that are more active in influencing the trait
NATURE VS. NURTURE
RECESSIVE
-genes are less active in influencing the trait and will
only be expressed in the observable trait if they are
paired with another less active gene
NATURE
-refers to heredity, the influence of inherited
characteristics on personality, physical growth,
intellectual growth, and social interactions.
POLYGENIC INHERITANCE
-many genes
-Sometimes certain kinds of genes tend to group
themselves
NURTURE
-influence of the environment on all those same things
and includes parenting styles, physical surroundings,
economic factors, and anything that can have an
influence on development that does not come from
within the person
CYSTIC FIBROSIS
-a disease of the respiratory and digestive tracts
BEHAVIOR GENETICS
SICKLE-CELL ANEMIA
-blood disorder
TAY-SACHS DISORDER
-fatal neurological disorder
-Once fertilization has taken place, the zygote begins
PHENYLKETONURIA
-infant is born without the ability to break down
phenylketonuria, an amino acid controlling coloring of
the skin and air
DOWN SYNDROME
-disorder in which there is an extra chromosome in what
would normally be the 21st pair
KLINEFELTER’S SYNDROME
-when there is an extra sex chromosome in the 23rd pair,
in which the 23rd set of sex chromosomes is XXY, with
the extra X producing a male with reduced masculine
characteristics, enlarged breasts, obesity, and excessive
height
TURNER’S SYNDROME
-in which the 23rd pair is actually missing an X, so that
the result is a lone X chromosome
-These females tend to be very short, infertile, and
sexually underdeveloped
PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT
OVUM
-egg
FERTILIZATION
-egg cell and sperm unite
ZYGOTE
-single cell containing 46 chromosomes
-product of fertilization
MONOZYGOTIC TWINS
-twins, meaning that the two babies come from one
(mono) fertilized egg (zygote). Early in the division
process, the mass of cells splits completely—no one
knows exactly why—into two separate masses, each of
which will develop into a separate infant
DIZYGOTIC TWINS
-if two eggs are fertilized
CONJOINED TWINS
-when mass of cells do not completely split apart
*
GERMINAL PERIOD
-2-week period
dividing and moving down to the uterus, the muscular
organ that will contain and protect the developing
organism. This process takes about a week, followed by
about a week during which the mass of cells, now
forming a hollow ball, firmly attaches itself to the wall
of the uterus.
the cells begin to differentiate, or develop into
specialized
cells, in preparation for becoming all the various kinds
of cells
PLACENTA
-begins to form during this period
- is a specialized organ that provides nourishment and
filters away the developing baby’s waste products.
UMBILICAL CORD
- umbilical cord also begins to develop at this time,
connecting the organism to the placenta
*
EMBRYONIC PERIOD
- will last from 2 weeks after conception to 8 weeks, and
during this time the cells will continue to specialize and
become the various organs and structures of a human
infant
EMBRYO
- Once firmly attached to the uterus, the developing
organism called
CRITICAL PERIODS
- times during which some environmental influences can
have an impact—often devastating—on the development
of the infant.
-arms and legs (3-8 weeks)
-Heart (2-6 weeks)
-Central nervous system (2-5 weeks)
-Eyes (3-8 weeks)
PRENATAL HAZARDS
-Teratogens
- Any substance such as a drug, chemical, virus, or other
factor that can cause a birth defect
FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME
- a series of physical and mental defects including
stunted growth, facial deformities, and brain damage
MENTAL RETARDATION
- Exposure to alcohol in early pregnancy is the leading
known cause of
*
FETAL PERIOD
- is a period of tremendous growth lasting from about 8
weeks after conceptionuntil birth. The length of the
developing organism (now referred to as a fetus)
increases by about 20 times and its weight increases
from about 1 ounce at 2 months to an average of a little
over 7 pounds at birth
-at 38 weeks, the fetus is considered full term
SYNAPTIC PRUNING
- unused synaptic connections and nerve cells are cleared
away to make way for functioning connections and cells
ELEANOR GIBSON
-the Visual Cliff experiment
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
-brain triples its weight in the first 2 years reaching
about 75 percent of its adult weight
-by age of 5, the brain is at 90 percent of its adult weight
PIAGET’S THEORY: FOUR STAGES OF
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
-Jean Piaget
SCHEME – mental concepts
ASSIMILATION
PRETERM
-babies born before 38 weeks, may need life support to
survive
AGE OF VIABILITY
- between 22 and 26 weeks, with the odds of survival
increasing from 10 percent at 22 weeks up to about 85
percent at 26 weeks
MISCARRIAGE/SPONTANEOUS ABORTION
- is in the first 3 months, as the organs are forming and
first becoming functional
INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT
PREFERENTIAL LOOKING
- assumes that the longer an infant spends looking at a
stimulus, the more the infant prefers that stimulus over
others
HABITUATION
- is the tendency
for infants (and adults) to stop paying attention to a
stimulus that does not change. By exposing the infant to
an unchanging sound or picture, for example, researchers
can wait for the infant to habituate (look away) and then
change the stimulus. If the infant reacts
(dishabituates), the infant is capable of detecting that
change
REFLEXES
- Infants have a set of innate (existing from birth),
involuntary behavior
a) grasping reflex; (b)
startle reflex (also known as the Moro
reflex); (c) rooting reflex (when you touch a
baby‘s cheek it will turn toward your hand,
open its mouth, and search for the nipple);
(d) stepping reflex; and (e) sucking reflex.
-children try to understand new things in terms of
schemes they already process
ACCOMMODATION
-altering or adjusting old schemes to fit new information
and experiences
SENSORIMOTOR AGE
- is the first of Piaget’s stages.
-It concerns infants from birth to age 2.
-In this stage, infants use their senses and motor
abilities to learn about the world around them.
OBJECT PERMANENCE
- the knowledge that an object exists even when it is not
in sight
PREOPERATIONAL STAGE
-2-7 years old
- is a time of developing language and concepts. Children, who can now move freely about in their world,
no longer have to rely only on senses and motor skills
but now can ask questions and explore their
surroundings more fully.
ANIMISM
-anything that moves is alive
EGOCENTRISM
- the inability to see the world through anyone
else’s eyes but one’s own.
CENTRATION
-focusing on one feature of some object rather than
taking all features into consideration
CONSERVATION
- The ability to understand that altering the appearance
of something does not change its amount (as in the coin
example), its volume, or its mass
IRREVERSABILITY
- unable to “mentally reverse” actions.
CONCRETE OPERATIONS
-7-12 years old
- children finally become capable of conservation and
reversible thinking.
- The major limitation of this stage is the inability to deal
effectively with abstract concepts.
FORMAL OPERATIONS
-age 12 to adulthood
LEV VYGOTSKY
- wrote about children’s cognitive development but
differed from Piaget in his emphasis on the role of others
in cognitive development
SCAFFOLDING
- children develop cognitively when someone else helps
them by asking leading questions and providing
examples of concepts in a process called
ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT
- which is the difference between what a child can do
alone versus what a child can do with the help of a
teacher.
RECEPTIVE-PRODUCTIVE LAG
-being able to only produce one or two words but they
understand much longer sentences from what their
parents and others said
STAGES OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
COOING
- At around 2 months of age, babies begin to make
vowel-like sounds
BABBLING
- At about 6 months, infants add consonant sounds to the
vowels to make a babbling sound, which at times can
almost sound like real speech
ONE-WOR SPEECH
-1 y.o.
- These words are typically nouns and may seem to
represent an entire phrase of meaning. They are called
holophrases (whole phrases in one word) for that reason.
TELEGRAPHIC SPEECH
- together to form short, simple sentences using nouns,
verbs, and adjectives. “Baby
eat,” “Mommy go,” and “Doggie go bye-bye”
WHOLE SENTENCES
- they learn to use grammatical terms and increase the
number of words in their sentences, until by age 6
AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER
- s a neurodevelopmental disorder that actually
encompasses a whole range of previous disorders
PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
TEMPERAMENT
- One of the first ways in which infants demonstrate that
they have different personalities
- the behavioral and emotional characteristics that are
fairly well established at birth.
Easy - regular in their schedules of waking, sleeping,
and eating and are adaptable to change. Easy babies are
happy babies and when distressed are easily soothed
Difficult
- tend to be irregular in their schedules and are very
unhappy about change of any
kind. They are loud, active, and tend to be crabby rather
than happy.
Slow to warm up
- less grumpy, quieter, and more regular than difficult
children but who are slow to
adapt to change. If change is introduced gradually, these
babies will “warm up” to
new people and new situations.
ATTACHMENT
- The emotional bond that forms between an infant and a
primary caregiver
ATTACHMENT STYLES
-Mary Ainsworth
-Strange Situation
Secure: Infants labeled as secure were willing to get
down from their mother’s lap soon after entering the
room with their mothers.
Avoidant: In contrast, avoidant babies, although
somewhat willing to explore, did not “touch base.”
Ambivalent were clinging and unwilling to explore, very
upset by the stranger regardless of the mother’s
presence, protested mightily
when the mother left, and were hard to soothe.
Disorganized–disoriented: In subsequent studies, other
researchers found that some babies seemed unable to
decide just how they should react to the mother’s return.
Harry Harlow
-felt that attachment had to be influenced by more than
just the provision of food
SELF-CONCEPT
- The self-concept is the image you have of yourself, and
it is based on your interactions with the important people
in your life
ERIK ERIKSON
- emphasized the importance of social relationships in
the development of personality, would certainly disagree
with letting a baby “cry it out,” although allowing an
infant who has been fed, changed, burped, and checked
to cry on occasion will not damage attachment.
ADOLESCENCE
-is the period of life from about age 13 to the early 20s,
during which a young person is no longer physically a
child but is not yet an independent, self-supporting adult.
PUBERTY
- the physical changes in both primary sex characteristics
(growth of the actual sex organs such as the penis or the
uterus) and secondary sex characteristics (changes in the
body such as the development of breasts and body hair)
that occur in the body as sexual development reaches its
peak.
PERSONAL FABLE
- fable, adolescents have spent so much time thinking
about their own thoughts and feelings that they become
convinced that they are special, one of a kind, and that
no one else has ever had these thoughts and feelings
before them.
IMAGINARY AUDIENCE
- shows up as extreme self-consciousness in adolescents.
They become convinced that everyone is looking at them
and that they are always the center of everyone else’s
world, just as they are the center of their own.
Carol Gilligan
-proposed that men and women have different
perspectives on morality: Men tend to judge as moral the
actions that lead to a fair or just end, whereas women
tend to judge as moral the actions that are nonviolent and
hurt the fewest people
IDENTITY VS. ROLE CONFUSION
- in this stage, the teenager must choose from among
many options for values in life and beliefs concerning
things such as political issues, career options, and
marriage
ADULTHOOD
- can be thought of as the period of life from the early
20s until old age and death
20’s
- are a time of peak physical health, sharp senses, fewer
insecurities, and mature cognitive abilities. The bad
news is that even in the early 20s, the signs of aging are
already beginning. Oil glands in the neck and around the
eyes begin to malfunction, contributing to wrinkles in
those areas near the end of the 20s and beginning of the
30s.
30’s
- may not bring noticeable changes, but vision and
hearing are beginning to decline
40’s
40, bifocal lenses may become necessary as the lens of
the eye hardens, becoming unable to change its shape to
shift focus
40’s and 50’s
-hearing loss but becomes noticeable during 60’s and
70’s
- weight may increase as the rate at which the body
functions slows down but eating increases and less time
is spent exercising.
- Height begins to decrease, with about half an inch of
height lost for every 10 years past age 40
MENOPAUSE
- In a woman’s 40s, the levels of the female hormone
estrogen decline as the body’s reproductive system
prepares to cease that function.
- At an average age of 51, most women will cease
ovulation altogether, ending their reproductive years.
The cessation of ovulation and the menstrual cycle
HEAT FLASH
- The changes that happen at this time are called the
climacteric, and the period of 5 to 10 years over which
these changes occur is called perimenopause
ANDROPAUSE
- usually begins in the 40s with a decline in several
hormones, primarily testosterone
- fatigue, irritability, possible problems in sexual
functioning, and reduced sperm count.
INTIMACY VS. ISOLATION
Intimacy
- True intimacy is an emotional and psychological
closeness that is based on the ability to trust, share, and
care (an ability developed during the earlier stages such
as trust versus mistrust), while still maintaining one’s
sense of self.
- Young adults who have difficulty trusting others and
who are unsure of their own identities may find isolation
instead of intimacy—loneliness, shallow relationships
with others, and even a fear of real intimacy
GENERATIVITY VS. STAGNATION
- persons who have found intimacy can now turn their
focus outward, toward others.
PARENTING STYLES ACCORDING TO DIANA
BAUMRIND
1. AUTHORITARIAN
- tends to be overly concerned with rules. This type of
parent is stern, rigid, controlling, and uncompromising,*
demands perfection, and has a tendency to use physical
punishment.
2. PERMISSIVE
- occurs when parents put very few demands on their
children for behavior
3. PERMISSIVE NEGLECTFUL
- parents simply aren’t involved with their children,
ignoring them and allowing them to do whatever they
want, until it interferes with what the parent wants. At
that point, this relationship may become an abusive one.
4. PERMISSIVE INDULGENT
- parents seem to be too involved with their children,
allowing their “little angels” to behave in any way they
wish, refusing to set limits on the child’s behavior or to
require any kind of obedience.
5. AUTHORITATIVE
- involves combining firm limits on behavior with love,
warmth, affection, respect, and a willingness to listen to
the child’s point of view.
EGO INTEGRITY VS. DESPAIR
- at this time, people look back on the life they have
lived in a process called a life review
- If people can look back and feel that their lives were
relatively full and are able to come to terms with regrets
and losses, then a feeling of ego integrity or wholeness
results.
-Integrity is the final completion of the identity, or ego.
If people have many regrets and lots of unfinished
business, they feel despair, a sense of deep regret over
things that will never be accomplished because time has
run out.
X. THEORIES OF PHYSICAL AND
PSYCHOLOGICAL AGING
1. CELLULAR-CLOCK THEORY
- In this theory, cells are limited in the number of times
they can reproduce to repair damage. Evidence for this
theory is the existence of telomeres, structures on the
ends of chromosomes that shorten each time a cell
reproduces
2. WEAR AND TEAR THEORY
- points to outside influences such as stress, physical
exertion, and bodily damage
3. FREE RADICAL THEORY
-The free-radical theory is actually the latest version of
the wear-andtear theory in that it gives a biological
explanation for the damage done to cells over time.
-Free radicals are oxygen molecules that have an
unstable electron (negative particle)
- They bounce around the cell, stealing electrons from
other molecules and increasing the damage
to structures inside the cell.
4. ACTIVITY THEORY
- proposes that an elderly person adjusts more positively
to aging when remaining active in some way.
STAGES OF DYING ACCORDING TO Elisabeth
Kübler-Ross
1. Denial
- which people refuse to believe that the diagnosis of
death is real; anger, which is really anger at death itself
and the feelings of helplessness to change things;
2. Bargaining
- which the dying person tries to make a deal with
doctors or even with God;
3. Depression
- which is sadness from losses already experienced
4. Acceptance
- when the person has accepted the inevitable* and
quietly awaits death.