Late Adulthood

I. Physical Aging

A. Primary Aging: aging that involves universal andirreversible changes that, due to genetic programming, occur as people get older.

1) Genetic Programming Theories of Aging: theories thatsuggest that our body’s DNA genetic code contains abuilt-in time limit for the reproduction of human cells.

a) The “Death Gene” Theory…

b) The “Cell Duplication Burnout” Theory…

Physical Development: Highlights

B. Secondary Aging: changes in physical and cognitivefunctioning that are due to illness, health habits, environmental toxins, and other individual differences, but which are not due exclusively to increased age.

1) Wear-and-Tear Theories of Aging: the theory that thephysical and cognitive functions of the body simply wear out.

a) The “Weathered Machine” Theory…

b) The “By-Product Buildup” Theory…

C. Does Religion or Spirituality Affect Health & Well-Being?

Religion and spirituality are positively related to...General well-beingMarital satisfactionPsychological functioningPhysical health

I. Intelligence, Processing Abilities,and Memory

A. Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS): an intelligencetest for adults, which yields verbal and performance scores aswell as a combined score.

1) Classic Aging Pattern: the tendency for scores on nonverbal performance to become lower as a person gets older, while verbal scores remain relatively stable.

Cognitive Development

B. Dual-Process Model of Cognitive Functioning in Late Adulthood

1) Mechanics of Intelligence: the ability to processinformation and solve problems; the area of cognition inwhich there is often an age-related decline.

2) Pragmatics of Intelligence: the dimension of intelligencethat tends to grow with age and includes practical thinking,application of accumulated knowledge and skills, specializedexpertise, professional productivity, and wisdom.

C. Everyday Problem Solving

The ability to solve real problems, as opposed to hypotheticalproblems, does not seem to decline after middle age.

Older adults are more effective problem solvers when dealingwith everyday problems that have emotional relevance.

F. Memory: How Does It Change?

1) Sensory Memory (Sensory Store): the initial, temporarystorage of sensory information. Tends to remain stable.

D. Changes in Processing Abilities

Bilingualism is the cure!

E. Cognitive Abilities and Mortality

Lower IQ score = earlier death!

2) Working (Short-Term) Memory: short-term storage of information being actively processed. Tends to decline.

a) Rehearsal: the repetition of information. Tends to remain stable.

b) Reorganization: organizing information in a way that allows better retrieval of that information. Tends to decline.

c) Elaboration: mentally expanding and elaborating upon informationto be remembered. Tends to decline.

d) Digit Span Forward: a test of short-term memory in which a personis to repeat a sequence of numbers in the order in which the numberswere presented. Tends to remain stable.

e) Digit Span Backward: a test of short-term memory in which aperson is to repeat a sequence of numbers in the reverse order inwhich the numbers were presented. Tends to decline.

3) Long-Term Memory

a) Episodic Memory: long-term memory of specific experiences or events, linked to time and place. Tends to decline.

b) Semantic Memory: long-term memory of general factual knowledge, social customs, and language. Tends to improve.

c) Procedural Memory: long-term memory of motor skills, habits, andways of doing things, which often can be recalled without consciouseffort. Tends to remain stable.

d) Priming: an increase in ease of doing a task or rememberinginformation as a result of a previous encounter with the task orinformation. Tends to remain stable.

G. Metamemory: The View From Within

1) Metamemory in Adulthood (MIA): a questionnairedesigned to measure various aspects of adults’ metamemory,including beliefs about how memory works, their ownmemory, and selection and use of strategies for remembering.

The U.S. versus China... Priming

II. Wisdom and Learning

A. Can Older People Improve Their Cognitive Performance?

Deterioration is related to disuse.Keeping the mind ‘plastic’ with training helps improvecognitive performance.

B. Wisdom: the culmination of a lifetime of personal growth, anexceptional breadth and depth of knowledge about theconditions of life and human affairs, and reflective judgmentabout the application of this knowledge.

Wisdom is present during all stages of adulthood.

C. Lifelong Learning

Older people learn best when materials and methods take into account their cognitive changes.

III. Mental Health Problems That ImpactCognitive AbilitiesA. Depression

B. Dementia: deterioration in cognitive and behavioralfunctioning due to physiological causes.

C. Alzheimer’s Disease: a progressive, degenerative braindisorder characterized by irreversible deterioration inmemory, intelligence, awareness, and control of bodilyfunctions, eventually leading to death.

Deterioration of languageDeficits in visual processingDeficits in spatial processingRepeating of questions

Everyday tasks unfinished or forgottenPersonality change (rigidity, egocentricity)Irritability or anxietyLack of concentration

1) Symptoms include...

A. 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.

B. Ego Integrity versus Despair: Erikson’s eighth stage ofpsychosocial development, in which people in late adulthoodeither achieve a sense of integrity of the self by accepting the lives they have lived without regrets, and thus accept death, oryield to despair that their lives cannot be relived.

1) Wisdom: the virtue in Erikson’s eighth stage; an informed and detached concern with life itself in the face of death itself.

Psychosocial Development

I. Theory and Coping

C. Coping: adaptive thinking or behavior aimed at reducing orrelieving stress that arises from harmful, threatening, orchallenging conditions.

D. Adaptive Defenses: mature defenses, such as altruism, humor, suppression, anticipation, and sublimation.

E. Cognitive-Appraisal Model: a 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.

1) 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.

F. Coping Strategies: Problem-Focused vs Emotion-Focused

1) Problem-Focused Coping: people attend carefully to thestressful event and try to take effective action.

2) Emotion-Focused Coping: people try to weaken their emotional reaction to a stressful event by avoiding it or avoidthinking about it.

3) Proactive: emotion-focused coping that involves expressingone's emotions or seeking social approval.

4) Passive: emotion-focused coping that involves avoidance or suppression of emotions or acceptance of the situation as it is.

These strategies are very useful for people experiencing an… a) Ambiguous Loss: a loss that is not clearly defined or does not bring closure.

Older people tend to use more Emotion-Focused Coping, whileyounger people tend to use more Problem-Focused Coping.

1) Disengagement Theory: successful aging is characterized by a mutual withdrawal between the older person and society.

2) Activity Theory: in order to age successfully a personmust remain as active as possible.

3) Continuity Theory: in order to age successfully peoplemust maintain a balance of continuity and change in both theinternal and external structures of their lives.

G. Models of “Successful” or “Optimal” Aging

Avoidance of disease or disability.Maintenance of physical & cognitive function.Active engagement in social activities.

H. 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.

I. Selective Optimization with Compensation: a strategy for maintaining or enhancing overall cognitive functioning by usingstronger 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

B. Work and Retirement

Retirement is a recent social phenomenon.Since the 1950s, compulsory retirement has been virtuallyoutlawed.Biggest factors in deciding to retire...

HealthFinancial considerations

A. 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, and frugal with time and materials.

C. 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 anincrease in depression.

Women’s well-being less affected by retirement than men’s.Satisfaction is associated with social support.

D. Life after Retirement

1) Family-Focused Lifestyle: a pattern of retirement activitythat revolves around family, home, and companions.

2) Balanced Investment: a pattern of retirement activityallocated among family, work, and leisure.

3) Serious Leisure: leisure activity requiring skill, attention,and commitment.

F. Categories of Elder Abuse

1) Physical, Sexual, Emotional, or Psychological Abuse

2) Financial or Material Exploitation: illegal or improper useof an elder's funds, property, or assets.

3) Neglect: refusal or failure to fulfill any part of one'sobligations or duties to an elder.

4) Self-Neglect: behaviors of a depressed, frail, or mentallyincompetent elderly person that threaten his or her own healthor safety.

5) Violating Personal Rights: violating an older person’srights to privacy or to make his or her own personal andhealth decisions.

E. Elder Abuse: maltreatment or neglect of dependent older persons, or violation of their personal rights.

III. Personal Relationships in Late Adulthood

A. Theories of Social Contact and Social Support

1) Social Convoy TheoryIdentify helpful social-network members.Avoid unhelpful network members.

2) Socioemotional Selectivity TheoryOlder adults spend time with people who meet their emotional needs.

B. 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

A. Long-Term MarriageTend to be the happiest marriages.

B. Divorce and RemarriageMen are more likely to remarry than women.

Men Women

V. Non-Marital Kinship Ties

A. Relationships with Siblings

More than 3 out of 4 older adults have at least 1 living sibling.

Siblings provide more companionship than other familymembers and more emotional support than friends

B. Becoming Great-Grandparents

Great-grandparents are less involved than grandparents in achild’s life due to declining health and a scattering of families.

Great-grandparents feel a sense of family renewal & longevity.

C. FriendshipsIntimacy is an important benefit of older friendships...

Especially among widowed women.

Friends are a source of immediate enjoyment...Family provides emotional security and support.