GERO 320: Psychology of Adult Development and Aging



GERO 320: Psychology of Adult Development and Aging

Fall, 2007

F 2:00– 4:50

Faculty: Bob Knight

Office: GERO 217

Hours: F 10:00 to 11:50

and by appointment

Phone: (213) 740-1373

e-mail: bknight@usc.edu

TEXT: John C. Cavanaugh & Fredda Blanchard-Fields. Adult Development and Aging (5th ed.), 2006.

Other readings: On docushare. Access described in class.

This course will introduce students to the issues, concepts, and research methodology of developmental psychology, with a focus on the adult years and aging. Emphasis is placed on the development of knowledge about aging, through consideration of the methods of developmental research and through critiques of empirical studies of key topics in the psychology of aging. Students are expected to gain the ability to read and evaluate research papers in the psychology of aging and to understand the theoretical and practical implications of that research. Factual knowledge about the psychology of aging and of older adults is essential to providing good services and good policy development. Services for older adults that are not rooted in scientific gerontology are likely to do things to the elderly rather than for the elderly.

Aug 31 Introduction to the study of adult development and aging. . Overview of course and grading policies. History, theories, and models of development. Population aging and diversity among the elderly.

Section I: Health and disease in later life. Biological influences on aging and pathological conditions common in late life. Psychology is influenced by, and influences, biological aging both normative and pathological. In this section, we discuss normal and pathological changes in vision, hearing, and reaction time. The relationship of stress and disease is explored.

Sep 7 Physiological Changes I: Biological theories of aging. The aging of the brain. The aging of body systems.

Read: Chapters 1 & 2.

Reserve article: Stevens, J.C., Cruz, A.L., Marks, L.E., & Lakatos, S. (1998). A multimodal assessment of sensory thresholds in aging. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 53B, P263-272.

Sep 14 Stress, health, and longevity. How do stress and aging affect health?

Read: Chapter 3.

Wrosch, C., Schulz, R, & Heckhausen, J. (2004). Health stresses and depressive symptoms in the elderly: A control-process approach. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 17-20.

Hawkley, L.C. & Cacioppo, J.T. (2007) Aging and Loneliness: Downhill Quickly? Current Directions in Psychological Science 16, 187–191.

Section II: Continuity and change. Part One. The study of changes in attention, memory and in speed of processing with normal aging have been major areas of activity in research on adult development and aging. In this section, models of memory and information processing are introduced and the nature of changes in each with aging are explored using experimental designs to discover factors that influence or explain changes.

Sep 21 Information Processing I: Attention and speed of processing.

Information Processing II: Applications–driving and language processing.

Read: Chapter 6

Salthouse, T. (2004). What and when of cognitive aging. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13, 140-144.

Madden, D.J. (2007) Aging and Visual Attention. Current Directions in Psychological Science 16, 70–74.

Sep 28 Memory I: Memory models and types of memory.

Memory II: Age differences, clinical issues, and memory skills training.

Read: Chapter 7

Jacoby, L.L. & Rhodes, M.G. (2006). False remembering in the aged. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15, 49-53.

Verhagen, P., Marcoen, A., & Goossens, L. (1992). Improving memory performance in the aged through mnemonic training: A meta-analytic study. Psychology and Aging, 7, 242- 251.

Topics for review paper due.

Section II: Continuity and change. Part Two. The understanding of adult development and aging has depended on advances in research designs. Early studies used cross sectional designs which compared young and old at one point in time. The next phase saw a greater use of longitudinal studies in which a sample of adults is followed over several years. Finally, sequential design studies enabled us to separate developmental aging effects from cohort differences and from time/period effects. In this section, these designs are introduced and applied to the study of intelligence and of personality.

Oct 5 Intelligence I: Developmental trends in psychometric intelligence.

Intelligence II: Qualitative differences and problem solving ability.

Read: Chapter 8.

Salthouse, T.A. (2006). Mental exercise and mental aging: Evaluating the use it or lose it hypothesis. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1, 68-87.

Schaie, K.W. (in press). A life span developmental perspective on psychological aging. In K. Laidlaw & B.G. Knight (Eds), The handbook of emotional disorders in late life: Assessment and treatment. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Oct 12 Personality. The Five Factor Model and qualitative stages in adulthood.

Read: Chapter 10.

Section IV: Self concepts, emotions, psychological disorders and psychological interventions. Along with the understanding of normal aging derived from the sections covered so far, the study of social cognition and of emotion in research geropsychology is related, sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly, to our understanding of psychological disorders in later life and of psychological interventions to ameliorate those disorders in clinical geropsychology.

Oct 19 Social cognition. Self concept models, and attribution theory.

Age differences and emotion

Read: Chapter 9.

Carstensen, L.L. & Mikels, J.A. (2005). At the intersection of emotion and cognition: Aging and the positivity effect. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 117-121.

Ong, A.D. & Bergeman, C.S. (2004). The complexity of emotions in late life. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 59B, P117-122.

Second summary paper due.

Oct 26 Psychological disorders of later life, I: Depression and anxiety

Psychological disorders of later life, II: Dementias and delirium

Read: Chapter 4

Gatz, M. (2007) Genetics, Dementia, and the Elderly. Current Directions in Psychological Science 16, 123–127.

Oct 31 Psychotherapy with older adults. Do psychological interventions work with older adults? Does psychotherapy need to be different when working with older adults?

Family interventions and working with caregivers.

Read Chapter 9, pp. 345-347

Satre, D.D., Knight, B.G., & David, S. (2006). Cognitive behavioural interventions with older adults: Integrating clinical and gerontological research. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 37, 489-498.

Mid term papers due

Nov 9 Interventions with elderly in nursing homes.

Read: Chapter 5.

Section V: Life Themes. There are themes that weave throughout our lives and especially our adult lives. Family relationships, gender and sexuality, and work form much of adult life. Changes in socially defined roles in each of these domains constitute a large part of the changes during adult life that are often perceived as developmental. Finally, the psychology of death, dying and bereavement are discussed.

Nov 16 Relationships I: Friendship, love, parenthood.

Relationships II: Family in middle age. Grandparenthood.

Read: Chapter 11.

Nov 23 Thanksgiving Break. No Class.

Nov 30 Work and the structure of adult life.

Leisure and retirement

Read: Chapter 12

Dec 7 Dying and bereavement.

The future of geropsychology

Read Chapter 13

Final papers due

Paper descriptions, grading policies, and course policies.

Note: Late papers are not accepted and will not be graded. Exceptional circumstances may be grounds for a delayed due date but these must be worked out with the professor in advance. Unforeseeable medical emergencies should be communicated ASAP to e-mail or voice mail, both of which are accessible continuously and are date and time stamped.

Mid Term Review Paper: Papers must be 7 to 10 double-spaced typed pages in length and summarize and draw applied implications from at least 5 research articles (Books, chapters, popular magazine articles do NOT count) on a topic related to psychology of adult development and aging. You should pick a topic of interest to you and one that can continue as a basis for the final project paper. Articles must be selected from Psychology and Aging or Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences. Three of the five must be published 2005 or later. Topics must be cleared with the professor no later than Sep 28 and papers will be turned in Oct 26. Papers are graded on relevance to psychology of adult development and aging, use of articles, integration of articles around a coherent theme, adherence to page length, clarity of writing, and application of research results to problem facing older adults.

Final Project: For the final project, you can choose among 3 options: (1) A research project using the dataset supplied for the class or data that you collect yourself on a topic related to psychology and aging. The research report will have an Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion section. The Introduction section would be taken from your mid term paper. There are three alternatives: (1) use the data set supplied by the professor to test hypotheses about stress and coping among caregivers and the effects on physical or mental health. This would involve generating means and/or correlations in SPSS to test hypotheses of your own. There will be tutorial sessions to introduce you to the dataset and enough SPSS to do the project. (2) Interview an older adult and write a paper relating your understanding of issues raised in your midterm review paper to the older person’s experience of growing older. OR (3) Describe a service agency for older adults with which you are familiar (as employee, intern, volunteer) and write about how their services could be improved by using psychology and aging findings described in your midterm paper. Papers should be about 7 to 10 pages in length. Paper due last day of class, Dec 7.

Extra Credit Papers: For each paper, pick an article from Psychology and Aging or Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences related to a topic covered in this course that is NOT included as an assigned reading for the course. Unless you have a specific topic that has not been studied recently and have the professor’s advance permission, the article should be from the last two years. Briefly review the article: What is the authors’ argument? What is the evidence presented? Do you see other ways to interpret what the authors found? Applications of the findings to practical problems should also be discussed. (3 to 5 pages ).

Final Grade: 10% for each short summary paper, for total of 30%

30% for review paper

30% for empirical paper

10% for attendance and participation in class discussion

Academic integrity. Academic integrity violations will result in a grade of F for that paper. Two instances of violations during this course would result in a course grade of F. Academic integrity violations will be reported to the Office of Student Conduct. With regard to course papers, academic integrity violations include plagiarism, turning in purchased papers, turning in papers written for someone else, turning in papers written for another class. See SCampus for more information on academic integrity. The Office of Student Conduct also has a Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism (X 06666 or on-line at

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