1 - gimmenotes
1. Adult development and aging in a changing world∴
1.1 Approaching the study of adult development and aging: An overview
What is adult development?
○ Development = A systematic process of adaptive change in behaviour in one or more directions
~ Systematic → It is coherent & organized
~ Adaptive → It is aimed at dealing with ever-changing circumstances
~ Tends to progress from simple to complex forms
~ May involve learning or maturation of the brain/body, usually a complex combo of both
~ Learning → long-lasting changes in behaviour as a result of experience
~ Maturation → Unfolding of a biologically determined sequence of behaviour patterns
→ Includes a readiness to master new abilities
○ Children pass milestones at approx. the same ages, but individual differences widen as people grow older
→ Experience becomes more of a factor.
A lifespan developmental approach
○ Lifespan development = The concept of development as a lifelong process of adaptation.
○ Key principles of a lifespan developmental approach:
• Development is multidirectional
~ Development can result in both increases & decreases, at varying rates,
within the same person, age period or category of behaviour.
~ Thus development involves a balance of growth & decline
• Development depends on history & context
~ Everyone develops in a set of conditions defined by time & space.
~ People do not only respond to their environments, they also interact with and change them.
• Development is multidimensional
~ Development can affect multiple capacities/aspects of a person.
• Development is pliable/plastic
~ Plasticity refers to modifiability of performance
~ It is possible to improve functioning throughout the lifespan,
but there are limits to how much a person can improve at any age.
• Multiple Causality
~ Development has multiple causes
~ No single perspective can describe/explain the complexities of development
• Development is lifelong
~ Each period of life is influenced by the preceding, & influences what follows.
~ Each period has its own unique characteristics & value
~ None is more or less important than any other
1.2 Basic concepts
See adult development as a product of multiple concurrent forces acting on a complex system:
Aspects of adult development
○ Physical ~ Sensory capacities, organ & nervous systems, health & fitness, motor skills
~ Genetic, but people have a major influence on their own physical development/decline
○ Cognitive ~ Intellectual/ Changes in mental functioning
~ Memory, Intelligence, Practical problem solving, Moral reasoning, Wisdom
○ Personality ~ The unique way each person deals with the world & expresses thoughts & emotions
○ Social development ~ Changes in the world of relationships, living arrangements, work & leisure.
These domains are interrelated & influence each other
Periods of adulthood
Young Adult •Physical condition peaks •Cognitive abilities & moral •Personality traits & styles be-
(20 - 40) then declines slightly judgments become more come stable, can be influenced
•Lifestyle choices influence complex by life stages & events
health •Educational & career choices •Decisions are made about intimate
are made relationships & personal lifestyle
•Most people marry & become parents.
Middle •Some deterioration of •Most basic mental abilities peak •Sense of identity keeps developing
Adulthood sensory abilities, health, expertise & practical problem •Stressful midlife transition possible
(40 - 65) stamina & prowess. solving skills are high. •Double responsibilities of children &
•Menopause •Creative output declines, but elderly parents may cause stress
improves in quality. •Launching of children leaves empty •Career success for some, burnout nest
or career change for others
Late •Most people are healthy •Most people are mentally alert •Retirement offers new options for time
Adulthood & active, but health & physical •Intelligence & memory may •Must cope with personal losses &
(65+) prowess decline deteriorate, but most people impending death
•Slowing of reaction time find ways to compensate •Relationships can provide NB support
affects some aspects of •Search for meaning in life assumes
functioning central importance
p8/9
Influences on the course of adult development and aging
Normative and nonnormative influences
○ Normative events → Occurs in a similar way for most people in a given group
Normative age-graded → Similar for people in an age group
~ Eg biological events like puberty/menopause
~ or cultural events like retirement
Normative history-graded → Common to a cohort
~ eg the great depression, 9/11, WW1&2
~ also cultural events like the emancipation of women/impact of TV & internet
○ Nonnormative life events → Unusual events that have a major impact on individual lives
a) Typical events at an atypical time ~ Loss of a parent as a child, parenthood at 60 etc
b) Atypical events ~ Being in a plane crash, winning the lotto
• These events are stressful regardless of whether they are positive or negative
• People create their own nonnormative events by, for example, becoming a student/applying for a job
Thus they participate actively in their own development.
Contexts of influences: An bio-ecological approach
○ Another way of classifying influences is by immediacy of impact.
○ Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Bio-ecological Theory ~ 5 levels of environmental influence:
1. Microsystem ~ Everyday environment of home/school/work
~ Includes face-to-face relationships with spouse, children, friends, colleagues etc
~ Eg, how does a new baby affect the parents, how does a teacher’s attitude affect the student
2. Mesosystem ~ The interlocking of various Microsystems
~ Linkages between home & work/school & neighbourhood
~ EG how does the messy divorce affect work/ work stress affect the parent-child relationship
3. Exosystem ~ Linkages between a micro system & outside systems/institutions that affect a person indirectly
~ How does the transit system affect job opportunities/government affect health care
4. Macrosystem ~ Consists of overarching cultural patterns
~ Dominant beliefs, ideologies, economic & political systems
5. Chronosystem ~ Adds the dimension of time: Change & constancy in the person & the environment
~ Includes changes in family structure, place of residence, wars, economic cycles
~ Emphasis is on the patterning of environmental events & transitions in the course of a life
span.
○ This approach ~ Ecological approach
~ Helps us see the variety & complexity of influences on adult development
~ The relative importance of each system varies between cultures &societies
The role of culture
Check p15: Many theories developed from western subjects are not applicable to people from different cultures.
2. Metatheoretical Perspectives and Research Methods
○ Theory = Coherent set of related concepts, which seeks to organize & explain data
○ Data = The information gathered by research.
○ Research can indicate whether a theory is accurate in its predictions, but cannot prove a theory
○ Developmental science can never be completely objective
~ The personal element can yield insight, but also create blind spots.
Metatheories
○ Metatheory ~ A broad hypothesis about how the world works
~ A set of assumptions & values that filter perceptions & focuses the view of reality
~ A “lens” through which the universe is viewed
~ Operates in various branches of science, it embraces a family of theories that take a similar
approach.
~ Can critically influence research design by:
Shaping the questions asked, the topics considered important enough to study,
the methods used, the kinds of evidence searched for & the way results are interpreted
The Mechanistic Perspective
○ All things in nature (incl. humans) are viewed as if they were machines:
Machines ~ Are the sum of its parts
~ To understand it we can break it down into its smallest components & reassemble it.
~ Do not operate on their own volition → Reacts automatically & passively to physical
forces/inputs.
○ Human Behaviour ~ Results from the operation of biological parts in response to external or internal stimuli
~ Theoretically perfectly predictable
~ Special conditions can affect responses
~ Can be modified by interventions designed to delay decline/boost performance
○ Deals with quantitative development (eg speed & detail of recall, rather than how memory operates)
○ Development ~ Continuous & moving in one direction at a time.
○ Information-processing theory:
~ Represents mechanistic view, but are not necessarily purely mechanistic.
Many acknowledge that emotion & motivation play a part in thought & memory
~ Study the processes people go through in manipulating info & solving problems
~ Explains how the mind works by breaking processes like thinking & remembering into their
component parts
~ Humans register incoming information , code & store it, & retrieve it when the right “keys” are pushed
○ People do not really play an active role in their own development.
○ Developed in highly competitive societies: US & Great Brittian. (Quantity more NB that quality?)
The Organismic Perspective
○ Sees people as developing organisms
~ Growing, maturing beings with internally generated patterns of development.
~ They initiate events & do not only react
○ Environment ~ Does not cause or significantly alter development, but may speed it up/slow it down
○ Development ~ Has an organized, underlying structure, even if this is not obvious from moment to moment
~ A progressive sequence of stages, moving in one direction: toward full maturation
○ Stage ~ A pattern of behaviour typical to a certain period of development,
which leads to a different, usually more advanced pattern.
~ At each stage people cope with different kinds of problems, & develop different abilities.
~ Transitions tend to be abrupt, but there is continuity.
(Each stage follows from the preceding one & lays the foundation for the next one)
○ Unfolding structure of development is universal:
~ Everyone goes through the same stages, in the same order, but timing varies.
○ Classic Stage theorists ~ Freud & Piaget
~ Placed the endpoint of maturation around puberty
○ Today ~ Many theorists believe new stages occur in adulthood, esp in cognition & personality.
○ Integration driven by conflict
~ NB feature of organismic development
~ At each stage the resolution of a “crisis” depends on achieving balance between opposing traits.
~ This resolution results in the development of a “virtue”/skill/ability (such as love, wisdom, etc)
~ Without the resolution of the crises, development is impeded.
○People actively shape their own development
Contextual Perspective
○ Central image ~ The ongoing act in its context
~ A dynamic event in a setting that is always in flux.
~ An act is never isolated → Its immediate context flows from the past & influences the future.
○ Also believe people actively shape their own development, but place more emphasis on interaction with
environment.
○ Every act changes the actor & the context, creating new conditions for development.
→ The changing person acts on & changes the environment,
& the changing environment acts on & changes the person.
○ Individuals set goals in the context as perceived, & then select new goals in the new context that they seek out or that presents itself.
∴ although development is continuous, it is also discontinuous as goals & contexts shift.
○ Context → Includes aspirations, beliefs & interpretations.
p41
○ Self Fulfilment ~ The key to healthy development
~ Depends on setting & attaining personal goals
(even if people are not always conscious of the process)
~ Charlotte Buhler
○ Development ~ Both quantitative & qualitative
~ Not directed to a particular endpoint
○ Emphasize individual differences ~ People develop in many directions, & no path is superior.
Success hinges in how appropriate behaviour is to context.
○ Activated lifespace model:
• Each person has a set of experiences & abilities
• Each activity occurs within a unique context
• When problem-solving, a person activates only those personal resources
& contextual features within her lifespace that seem relevant at the moment.
• At different times in life, the person will bring different experiences & abilities to bear on a task in
different contexts.
(A person may struggle to complete a timed math test, but solve the same problem when shopping)
○ Lifespan developmental approach ~ blends aspects of all 3 Metatheories,
but many of its key features fir contextualism
Applying Metatheories
See p42
Table 2.2 p39/40
FREUD: Psychosexual Stages ERIKSON: Psychosocial Stages PIAGET: Cognitive Stages
Oral Basic Trust vs Mistrust Sensorimotor
• Birth to 12-18 months • Birth to 12 - 18 months • Birth to 2 years
• Baby’s chief source of pleasure • Baby develops sense of whether the world • Infant changes from a being who responds
is mouth oriented activities. can be trusted. through reflexes to one who can organize
• Virtue: Hope activities in relation to the environment.
Uses sensory & motor
abilities to comprehend the world.
Anal (12-18 months to 3 years) Autonomy versus shame & Doubt Preoperational
• 12-18 months to 3 years • 12-18 months to 3 Years • 2-7 Years
• Child derives sensual • Child develops a balance of independence • Child develops a representational system &
gratification from withholding over doubt & shame uses symbols such as words to represent
& expelling feces • Virtue : Will people, places and events
Phallic Initiative Versus Guilt
• 3 to 6 years • 3 to 6 Years
• Child becomes attached to the • Child develops initiative when trying out new
parent of the other sex. Later and is not overwhelmed by failure
identifies with same-sex parent • Virtue Purpose
Latency Industry vs Inferiority Concrete operations
• 6 Years to Puberty • 6 Years to Puberty • 7 to 12 years
• Time of relative calm • Child must learn skills of the culture or face • Child can solve problems logically if they
feelings of inferiority. they are focused on the here & now.
• Virtue: Skill
Genital Identity vs Identity Confusion Formal Operations
• Puberty through adulthood • Puberty to young adulthood • 12 Years through adulthood
• Time of mature adult sexuality • Adolescent must determine own sense of self • Can think in abstract terms, deal with hypo-
• Virtue: Fidelity thetical situations & consider possibilities.
Intimacy vs Isolation (Young adulthood)
• Person seeks to make commitments to others; or
suffers from isolation &self-absorption
• Virtue: Love
Generativity vs Stagnation (Middle Adulthood)
• Mature adult is concerned with establishing&guiding
next generation or else feels personal impoverishment
• Virtue: Care
Integrity vs Despair (Old Age)
• Elderly person achieves a sense of acceptance of own
life, allowing acceptance of death, or else falls into despair.
3. Longevity and Physiological Aging
3.1 Theories of biological aging
○ Senescence → The period of the lifespan marked by obvious declines in bodily functioning
~ Onset varies greatly
Genetic-Programming Theories
○ Bodies age according to a developmental timetable built into the genes
○ Since each species has its own pattern, it must be predetermined & inborn, subject to only minor
modification.
○ Consistent with idea of a genetically determined maximum lifespan - human body is programmed to fail at a
certain point, regardless of its condition.
○ Programmed senescence ~ Specific genes “switch off” when age-related losses become apparent.
○ Variant of gene-programming theory:
~ Genes are programmed to enable humans to live long enough to reproduce
~ Adults may outlive the age in which they can reproduce, but the genes no longer help.
Variable-Rate Theory
○ Also called Error theories
○ View aging as a process that varies between individuals
& that is influenced by both internal & external environments
○ Aging ~ Involves damage due to chance errors in, or environmental assaults on, the biological system.
○ Wear & Tear theory ~ The body ages as a result of accumulated damage to the system
~ Wearing-out process occurs more swiftly under stress
~ Normal wear & tear not an adequate explanation for aging as the human body can
self-repair.
○ Free-Radical Theory ~ Focus on harmful effects of free radicals
(unstable atoms/molecules formed during metabolism )
~ Free radical damage accumulates with age & is associated with a variety of diseases.
~ Research on the effects of anti-oxidants is inconclusive
~ It is not clear whether the accumulation of free radicals is a cause or an effect of aging.
○ Rate of Living Theory ~ The body can only do so much & that’s all
∴ the faster it works the faster it wears out
~ Speed of metabolism determines lifespan
~ Low-calorie diet seems to temper the long-term harmful effects of glucose, and to
lower metabolism
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○ Error-Catastrophe Theory & somatic-mutation theory
~ As body cells divide, errors occur (destruction or changes in cellular structure)
~ External & internal stressors may alter the composition of cells/tissues, & as they
grow older they become less capable of self-repair.
~ Eventually an accumulation of these errors cause deterioration of body parts,
malfunctioning & death.
○ Cross-linking theory ~ Errors are attributed to bonds/links that form between cellular proteins.
~ eg cross-linking of collagen makes the skin less flexible.
Table 3.1
.
Genetic-Programming Theories Variable-Rate Theories
Programmed senescence: Aging is the result of the Wear & Tear: Cells & tissues have vital parts that wear out
sequential switching on & off of certain genes.
Free Radicals: Accumulated damage caused by oxygen radicals causes
Endocrine theory: Biological clocks act through hormones to cells , & eventually organs, to stop functioning.
control the pace of aging.
Rate of Living: The greater an organisms rate of oxygen basal
Immunological Theory: A Programmed decline in immune metabolism, the shorter its lifespan
system functions leads to an increased vulnerability to
infectious disease & thus to aging & death. Error Catastrophe: Damage to mechanisms that synthesize proteins
result in faulty proteins, which accumulate to a level that causes
catastrophic damage to cells, tissues & organs.
Somatic mutation: Genetic mutations occur and accumulate with
increasing age, causing cells to deteriorate and malfunction.
Crosslinking: An accumulation of crosslinked proteins damages cells &
tissues, slowing down bodily processes.
Comparing genetic-programming and variable-rate theories
○ If humans are programmed to age at a certain rate, there is little they can do to affect the aging process.
○ If aging is variable ~ lifestyle & health practices may influence it.
○ Variable-rate theories better explain variation between individuals.
○ Both theories can be partly true: Genes may determine maximum length of life, while lifestyle determines
how close to the maximum a person gets, & in what condition.
○ Primary aging ~ A gene-coded, gradual decline that begins early in life & continues through the years
○ Secondary aging ~ Result of disease, abuse & disuse. (Factors that are more in the individual’s control)
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3.2 Sexual and reproductive functioning
Menopause
○ Menopause ~ When a woman permanently stops ovulating
~ Generally considered to have occurred by 1 year after the last menstruation
~ Occurs when the ovaries no longer produce enough estrogen to sustain a full menstrual cycle
~ Average age 51 (In 4 out of 5 women menopause occurs between ages 45 & 55)
~ Comes on abruptly in women who have full hysterectomies.
○ Climacteric ~ Also caller perimenopause/ “change of life”
~ Period of several years, during which the woman experiences physiological changes that
bring on menopause
○ Psychological effects:
• Women view menopause with mixed emotions
• Psychological problems in this time more likely to be caused by attitude that physiology
• Strong influence of culture → In some cultures a women is considered useless once she cannot
reproduce, in others it is seen as a liberation from the taboos associated with menstruation
(India/South Asia) It can also be seen as a transition into the second half of adult life; a time for
greater independence & personal growth.
The Male Reproductive System
○ Unlike estrogen levels in women, testosterone levels decrease gradually from the late teens onward
○ Male Climacteric ~ A period of physiological, emotional & psychological change,
involving a man’s reproductive system & other body systems.
~ Associated symptoms: depression, anxiety, irritability, insomnia, fatigue, weakness
lower sexual drive, erectile failure, memory loss, reduced muscle & bone mass
BUT it is not clear that these problems are linked to testosterone levels.
○ Changes in sexual functioning ~ Sperm count declines, erections are slower & less firm,
ejaculation is less forceful & it takes longer to recover & ejaculate again.
~ Erectile dysfunction → Persistent inability to achieve or maintain an erect
enough penis for satisfactory sexual performance
→ 20% of men age 50-59 & 67% of men age 70
→ Diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, kidney failure
→ Smoking, alcohol, drugs, poor sexual techniques,
lack of knowledge, unsatisfying relationships,
anxiety & stress can be contributing factors
5 Memory
5.1 Information-processing approach: Software of memory
○ Goal → To discover what people do with information from the time they perceive it until they use it.
○ Focuses ~ On individual differences in intelligent behaviour,
∴ it is particularly suited to study changes that take place over the life span.
○ Early information-processing research consisted of lab-work,
during late 1980’s & 1990’s some researchers attempted direct study in everyday life settings.
○ The information-processing approach assumes that:
• Humans actively seek useful information about their world
• Humans can handle only a limited amount of information at a given time;
information not currently in use must be stored
• Information that comes in through the senses is transformed by a series of mental processes into a
form suitable for storage & later recall.
○ Most information-processing studies are cross-sectional,
∴ they can reflect cohort differences rather than age-related differences.
Processes: Encoding, Storage, and Retrieval
○ Memory can be seen as a 3-sep filing system: Encoding, storage, retrieval
○ Precise mechanisms involved may vary with the situation, type of info & how the information is to be used.
○ Problems can arise when ~ An item is misfiled, fits more than one category or are similar.
○ The ability to retrieve newly encountered information tends to get poorer with age.
○ Encoding Problems ~ Older adults are less efficient at encoding new info to make it easier to remember.
less likely to arrange material in alphabetical order or create mental associations.
~ Can improve encoding skills through training/instruction, but how much they benefit
depends on the task
~ Older people’s encoding seem to be less precise.
○ Storage Problems ~ Stored material may deteriorate to the point where retrieval becomes difficult/impossible
~ Most studies do not support the idea that older people forget more quickly
~ Small increases in “storage failure” may occur with age
~ If memories do decay, traces are likely to remain, making reconstruction of the memory,
or relearning the material, fairly easy.
○ Retrieval Problems ~ Older adults do less well at recall, but do equally well on recognition.
~ It does take older people longer to search their memories
~ Recall of recent events can be enhanced by photographs or written descriptions
~ Age differences are minimized when older adults are familiar with the material, have
the opportunity to practice, and can work at their own pace.
``Storehouses'': sensory, short-term and long-term
○ Information-processing theorists see memory as three different, but linked “storehouses” with separate functions, that enable the brain to sort out the information it receives.
Sensory memory: initial storage
○ Temporarily registers incoming information
○ Sensory memories fade within a few seconds, or even a fraction of a second.
○ Echoic memory → Sensory memory for sounds
Iconic memory → Sensory memory for sights
○ Shows very little change with age
∴ probably plays an insignificant role in the problems older people have with learning & retrieval.
although small losses in sensory memory may lead to larger deficits in short-& long term memory.
Working memory: intermediate, short-term storage
○ An intermediate, short-term storage (“workbench”) for information the brain is currently encoding/retrieving
○ Can hold about 5 - 9 separate chunks of information, but its possible to increase the amount of material by
grouping it into larger chunks.
○ An item will remain in working memory for about 30 seconds if you do not rehearse
○ Rehearsal ~ Conscious repetition
○ Central Executive ~ Controls the processing of information in the working memory
~ Can expand the capacity of the working memory by moving material into subsidiary
systems
. ~ Can order information encoded for transfer to long-term memory
~ Also retrieves information from long-term memory
○ Articulatory loop ~ Phonological loop
~ This is where the central executive sends auditory information that has to be remembered
as is.
○ Visual/spatial scratch pad ~ Fulfils this function for visual information
~ Keeps visual images “on hold” while the central executive is occupied.
○ Episodic Buffer ~ Interface between long-term memory 7 the subsidiary systems
~ Information is stored in episodes, which allows the buffer to simultaneously retrieve it from
multiple sources.
○ The subsidiary systems are part of short-term memory, storing information only temporarily
○ Fluid systems ~ transitory, ever-changing storage
Crystallized systems ~ Placed, stored long-term memory.
Check Figure 5.1, p162
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○ Methods for encoding for long-term storage:
• One basic method is to rehearse the information enough
• Organization ~ Categorizing the information into some sort of coherent pattern
• Elaboration ~ Finding relationships between items you are trying to remember,
or making associations with things you already know.
○ Capacity of working memory is widely believed to decrease with age
○ Digit span ~ The number of digits a person can recall in the order presented
~ Only slightly affected by age
○ Key factor ~ Complexity of a task:
• Rehearsal ~ Requires only passive holding of info
~ shows very little decline
• Tasks that require mental manipulation (reorganization, elaboration, etc) show greatest falloff
○ Attentional resources ~ “mental energy”
~ Some suggest this declines with age, which could explain why older adults do not use
organization & elaboration, in spite of their effectiveness.
○ Motivation ~ May be a factor
~ Why expand the effort to remember material not considered important?
Long-term memory: inactive storage
○ Storehouse of virtually unlimited capacity that holds information for very long periods of time
○ Not all of its contents are equally accessible.
○ Declarative memory ~ Contains “mental” information. Knowing “that”…
~ Names, faces, places, smells, facts & experiences. Contains a sense of familiarity
~ Explicit memory/recall
○ Non-declarative memory ~ Procedural memory
~ Information pertaining to skills, habits or ways of doing things
~ Knowing “how to”…
~ This info goes directly from sensory memory to long-term memory,
bypassing the working memory.
~ Implicit memory/recall
Aging and long-term memory: stability or decline?
Older adults have more problems with the recall of declarative information than non-declarative, implying deficiencies in the working memory.
162
Declarative memory: episodic and semantic
○ Episodic memory ~ Personal experiences & events linked to a time & place, “I remember…”
~ The one system in long-term memory most susceptible to age-effects
~ Source memory deficit - Struggling to recall the context/source of a memory
- Could be due to less encoding of the features of the source
or to less adequate association of contextual features to the target event
- Many similar experiences can run together in the mind
~ If an older adult perceives an event as novel or distinctive they remember it as well as
younger ones.
○ Semantic Memory ~ Second main component of declarative memory
~ Knowledge of historical facts, geographic locations, social customs, meanings of words
~ Takes several forms, all independent of the context in which the information was
learned:
• World knowledge → General knowledge regarding the world
• Social knowledge → awareness of behavior appropriate to the situation.
• Language → Vocabulary and knowledge of linguistic rules
~ All three forms of semantic memory does not decline with age, and can even grow stronger. Older adults do, however, have more “tip-of-the-tongue” experiences, probably due to problems in the working memory.
Nondeclarative memory: motor, perceptual, and conditioned
○ The ability to do something, rather than to recollect
○ Seems to be the result of unconscious processing, and thus is relatively unaffected by age-related problems
in the working memory
○ Motor Memory ~ Involves unconscious processing, as inferred from experiments with Alzheimer’s patients
~ Unconscious processes involved in motor memory may also aid recall of declarative
information
~ Holds up well throughout adulthood, even though older adults need to compensate for a
general slowing
~ Practice & familiarity with material (expertise) makes up for lost speed.
○ Perceptual Memory ~ Perceptual skills - the ability to judge & reconstruct in your mind the physical features,
frequency or order of occurrence, or location of something in relation to something else
~ With unconscious processing, such perceptual information can be filed in memory
while focusing on a conscious encoding task
~ If processing is unconscious, we would expect perceptual skills to remain constant
BUT while estimation of frequency declines only little, and after middle age, estimation of
order & location fall off earlier and more sharply.
THUS a distinction between conscious & unconscious processing does not fully account for whether age deficits appear in some forms of nondeclarative memory.
○ Conditioned Responses ~ Classical conditioning is also believed to be unconscious learning that enters
nondeclarative memory.
~ A response the person has learned to make automatically
~ Age differences in the acquisition of a conditioned response are large, older
adults take much longer to acquire the conditioned response.
~ These differences do not appear abruptly in the 60+ age group, but are already
evident in the 40’s, showing very little decline thereafter.
~ Even among the very old, ability to be conditioned only drops off due to illness.
Priming
○ An increase in ability to do a previously encountered task, or to remember previously encountered material.
○ Both declarative & nondeclarative memory can show effects of priming
○ An unconscious, automatic process
○ Occurs regardless of whether the person can recall the context in which the information was encountered
before.
○ Speed ~ An indication that priming has occurred
○ The closer the earlier & later stimuli are to each other, the more effective priming will be.
○ Seems to be equally efficient for younger & older adults, even older adults with weakened memory.
5.2 Biological approach: Hardware of memory
○ Underlying changes in the brain could be responsible for the difficulties older adults have in encoding & retrieving certain kinds of information.
○ MRI’s & PET scans have confirmed that there are multiple memory systems, which are anatomically distinct & which are involved in acquiring & storing different kinds of information.
Structures controlling conscious memory
Hippocampus
○ A Seahorse-shaped structure in the central portion of the brain, the medial temporal lobe
○ Critical to memory for declarative information ~ Without it conscious learning no longer functions,
but unconscious learning does.
○ Vital to the encoding functions of the working memory:
• Activates cortical connections that enables recall of information even if the attention shifts to
something else.
○ Role of hippocampus ~ Temporary
~ Involved in the creation & immediate retrieval of New memories
~ Once these memories are permanently stored in the long-term memory they can be
retrieved without the hippocampus
○ Loses about 20% of its nerve cells with advancing age
○ Vulnerable to damage from blood pressure changes & high levels of stress hormones.
○ Recall of prior learning, which is independent of the hippocampus, may keep improving as a result of the
growing complexity of neural connections in the cortex.
○ Encodes perceived information rapidly, automatically, and without organization.
○ It can retrieve apparently associated memories, but lacks “discrimination”
∴The information it comes up with may or may not be relevant.
The Frontal Lobes
○ Front portion of the cerebral cortex (outer layer that controls higher-level thinking)
○ Ability to think up strategies for encoding & retrieval
○ Supervises & controls the function of the hippocampus, giving it direction.
○ Coordinates, interprets & elaborates information to provide proper instructions for encoding & retrieval.
○ It is the operations of the frontal lobes that one is aware of when searching the memory
○ Constantly evaluates whether information is applicable, makes sense etc.
∴Plays a similar role to the Central Executive of working memory
○ Episodic memory (ability to remember where/when you learned something) is related to the frontal lobes.
○ Learning that requires organization & elaboration
○ Helps focus attention and inhibit inappropriate responses
○ Can lose up to 50% of its nerve cells with age, & so may account for commonly observed deficits in working
memory of older adults.
However - the brain may compensate for this loss by adding new connections
○ Damage to frontal lobes does not hamper learning of information that can be encoded without creating new
categories or associations.
Structures controlling unconscious memory
○ Neostratium ~ Perceptual & motor skills
~ Subcortical structure above the hippocampus that controls motor activity
○ Cerebellum ~ Muscular conditioning (eg the eyeblink response)
~ Brain’s coordinating centre for muscular activity
~ Simplest conditioning takes place without the hippocampus, more complex conditioning not.
○ Amygdala ~ Emotional conditioning (amnesiacs learn to dislike someone who harmed them)
~ Structure near the hippocampus, adjoining the temporal lobe.
○ Direct repetition priming ~ Simplest form, where the answer called for is identical to the earlier stimulus
~ Results from changes in perceptual processing systems in the rear of the cortex.
~ These changes occur in the early stages of processing, before analysis of meaning, or
any involvement of the hippocampal system
other priming functions involve different cortical regions - as many as 30 for vision alone)
6. Intelligence & Creativity
6.1 Intelligence
Intelligence and its measurement: The psychometric approach
What is Intelligence?
○ General consensus is that both nature & nurture influence intelligence
○ No consensus on what intelligence is
○ Some agreement on what it does - Intelligent behavior is:
• Goal-oriented ~ conscious & deliberate rather than accidental
• Adaptive ~ aimed at identifying & solving problems
(reasoning, capacity to acquire knowledge, problem-solving ability)
→ Even this agreement fails when we take cross-cultural opinions into consideration.
Intelligence Tests and Scores
○ Psychometric approach ~ Dominant since late 19th century
~ Views intelligence as something quantifiable,
that can be possessed in greater or lesser amounts.
○ Psychometric = “measuring the mind”
○ Psychometric tests ~ Tries to measure intelligence through questions that serve as predictors/indicators of
intellectual functioning in areas such as
verbal comprehension, mathematical skills, nonverbal performance skills etc.
~ Often evaluated by how well they predict intelligent behavior.
~ Valuable indicators of intellectual abilities
~ Criticized for focusing too much on cognitive products
& being apparently unrelated to cognitive performance in everyday life.
○ Standardized norms ~ Standards derived from the scores of large representative samples of people
who took the same test.
~ Basis for scoring intelligence tests
○ Mental age ~ Alfred Binet & Theodore Simons’ Binet-Simon scale
~ Indicates a child’s intellectual level
○ Intelligence Quotient (IQ) ~ William Stern
~ Divide mental age with chronological age & times by 100
~ Remains fairly constant throughout childhood.
○ Adults ~ Do not show steady, age-linked improvements on tested tasks
∴testing adult intelligence requires a method divorced from chronological age.
→ Deviation IQ ~ based on the distribution of raw scores and standard deviation from the mean.
196
○ WAISS ~ Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
~ Has subtests that yield separate scores,
~11 Subscores combine to give a Verbal IQ & a Performance IQ, that are combined for a total IQ.
~ Emphasis on nonverbal performance gives this test less bias towards verbal capabilities
~ Can be used to test mental functioning of special populations.
○ IQ scores → Do NOT represent a fixed, inborn quantity of intelligence
→ Shows how well a person does a particular task at a particular time, compared to others.
→ Reflects learned information and skills.
Influences on Older Adults’ Test Performance
○ A number of physical & psychological factors can influence older people’s test scores:
• Physical health ~ Physically fit & well rested adults do better on intelligence tests
~ Higher SAS tends to lead to better medical care, diet & overall better health
~ Neurophysiological & cardiovascular problems negatively influence test scores.
• Vision and Hearing ~ Influences whether someone understands the instructions
• Speed, coordination & mobility ~ Time limits on most test make them difficult for older adults
~ Physical & psychological processes slow with age
~ Some psychologist claim it is misleading to equate intelligence with speed,
others see speed as an indicator of intellectual functioning as it is a function of
the central nervous system.
• Attitude towards the testing situation ~ Test anxiety can have a negative effect
~ Lack of confidence
~ Lack of motivation - they might not care if they do well or not.
Intellectual Development in Adulthood: Basic Issues
Is Intelligence One Ability or Many?
○ Tests that yield one total score reflect a unitary view of intelligence
○ Tests that yield several scores in different categories reflect a multidimensional view
○ Multidimensionality ~ Allows for the possibility of simultaneous advancement & decline.
Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory: Three aspects of Intelligence:
○ Defines intelligence as:
“A group of mental abilities necessary for people to adapt to any environmental context,
as well as to select and shape the contexts in which they live and act. “
○ More interested in the processes that underlie intelligent behaviour than the structure of the mind.
○ Focuses on aspects of knowledge that may become increasingly valuable in adult life
204
○ Three elements of information processing that are useful in different kinds of situations:
• Componential Element ~ How efficiently we process information
~ Analytic aspect of intelligence
~ How to solve problems, monitor solutions & evaluate results.
• Experiential Element ~ How people approach novel or familiar tasks
~ The insightful aspect of intelligence
~ Allows comparison of new info with what is already known
& to find new ways of putting facts & ideas together - to think originally.
~ Autopilot on familiar tasks facilitates insight by freeing the mind
• Contextual element ~ How people deal with their environment
~ Practical aspect of intelligence
~ Ability to size up a situation & decide what to do: adapt to it, change it, or find a
different setting.
○ Tacit Knowledge ~ A component of contextual/practical intelligence
~ Is not formally taught, but learned through experience & modified to fit the current
situation.
~ Sternberg measured this by comparing a persons’ chosen actions in hypothetical
situations to choices by experts & general “rules of thumb”
~ Unrelated to IQ, but predicts job performance fairly well.
Does Intelligence Grow or Decline in Adulthood?
Adult IQ: The Classic Pattern
○ Scores on performance scales drop with age,
○ Scores on the verbal scale drop only slightly, and very gradually
(esp vocabulary, information & comprehension)
○ What might account for this pattern?
• Verbal items that hold up with age do not require the test taker to figure out or do anything new.
• Performance tasks require speed and perceptual & motor skills,
these are influenced by muscular and neurological slowing.
○ This pattern is seen on the components of the WAIS scale
209
Fluid Intelligence Crystallized Intelligence
• Capacity to process novel information • Ability to apply learned info & experience
• Requires no previous knowledge • Depends on education, cultural background & memory
• Based on perception of complex relationships, • Skills based on semantic memory such as language
implications & inferences comprehension, mathematical reasoning & application
of knowledge of facts, social customs & values
• Depends on well-learned, automatic info processing
• Forms of intelligence largely determined by phy- • Forms of intelligence largely influenced by culture.
siological factors (esp brain & nervous system)
• Begins to decline in young adulthood • Improves throughout middle age and byond
○ Up to age 55-65 the gains in crystallized intelligence is roughly equal to the decline in fluid intelligence.
○ A more positive outlook than the WAIS scale.
The Dual-Process model: Mechanics & Pragmatics of intelligence
○ Builds on the work on fluid & crystallized intelligence
○ Includes aspects of intelligence that deteriorates & aspects that continue to advance
○ Identifies & seeks to measure 2 kinds of intellectual processes:
○ Mechanics of intelligence
• Basic, physiologically determined, functions of the brain
• Includes ~ Speed & accuracy of processing sensory input
~ Visual & motor memory
~ abilities such as comparing & categorizing, which operate in working memory
• Decline with age (like fluid intelligence)
• Example: Ability to ignore extraneous information deteriorates.
○ Pragmatics of Intelligence
• Builds on the mechanics
• Involves ~ A range of accumulated, culture-based knowledge & skills:
~ reading, writing, language comprehension, practical thinking, specialized expertise &
occupational abilities.
• Similar to crystallized intelligence
• Depends greatly on long-term memory
○ Pragmatic abilities often outweigh the brain’s mechanical condition.
210
Sequential Research: The Seattle Longitudinal Study
○ Cross-sectional studies may confound cohort effects with age
○ Terminal drop ~ A sudden decrease in intellectual performance shortly before death.
see p 212 for the method of the study
○ Findings ~ Most fairly healthy adults experience no significant impairment in most abilities until after age 60
~ If they live long enough, most people will show some decline n some abilities, but not in all.
~ On average, participants showed intellectual gains until the late 30’s/early 40’s.
Stability until mid 50/s early 60’s
then only small losses until the 70’s
~ Fewer than 1/3 at age 74, & fewer than ½ at age 81, had experienced significant decline during
the preceding 7 years
~ Most people do lose some competence in the 80’s/90’s, but these losses show up mainly in
unfamiliar, highly complex, challenging or stressful circumstances
NB ~ Change is multidimensional: There is no uniform pattern of age related changes for all abilities
~ No single measure, such as IQ, can adequately describe age changes.
~ Fluid abilities decline earlier (mid 60’s) than crystallized abilities (70’s/80’s)
○ Selective optimization with compensation ~ Maintain some abilities by letting others slide
~ Use pragmatic strengths to compensate for weakened
mechanical abilities.
Do changes in intelligence Vary?
○ There is tremendous differences among individuals.
○ 1/3 of people over age 70 score higher than young adults.
in their 80’s ~ More than half retain their competence in at least 4 out of 5 areas.
∴There is a wider range of ability among older adults than younger ones.
○ Focus is shifting from overall age differences to individual variables that can help explain them
○ People who have high scores in old age:
• Flexible & satisfied with their accomplishments in mid-life
• No cardiovascular or other chronic disease
• Affluent & well-educated
• Stable marriages to intellectually keen spouses
• Had complex, non-routine work & led active, stimulating lives.
• Maintained a high perceptual processing speed.
215
Does Intelligence Show Plasticity?
○ Plasticity ~ Modifiability
~ A key issue separating 2 schools of thought in psychology
○ Horn & Cattel ~ Focus on loss of fluid intelligence
~ Considers this biologically inevitable.
○ Baltes ~ Focus on strength of crystallized abilities + emergence of new abilities
~ Maintain even fluid performance can be improved with practice.
○ ADEPT ~ Adult Development and Enrichment Project
~ Participants who received training declined less than a control group
~ Those without formal instruction retained the skills better.
○ Significant gains in spatial orientation & esp inductive reasoning
(4 out of 10 regained levels of proficiency shown 14 years earlier)
○ Trained participants kept their edge even after 7 years
∴ Older adults may lose capacity by not using their abilities so much.
Taking up a task that is mentally challenging & involves new & unfamiliar tasks may help maintain
proficiency in fluid abilities.
Summing Up: Intelligence & Age
○ Most researchers believe intelligence is made up of multiple abilities & tests only measure some of these.
○ Abilities that tend to decline are those dependent on the physical condition of the brain
Abilities that depend on accumulated knowledge and skills remain stable & can increase.
○ Adults can imp[rove their intellectual performance throughout their lifespan, but biology may limit
improvements for older adults more than for younger ones.
○ IQ tests tend to neglect the innovative and practical sides of intelligence.
6.2. Creativity
What is Creativity?
○ Creative Performance ~ What counts for adults
~ What, & how much, is produced
~ The product of a web of biological, social, personal & cultural forces.
~ Results from a dynamic interaction between the creator, the rules & techniques of the
domain, and the colleagues who work in that domain.
○ Exceptional creative achievement ~ Requires systematic training & practice
Results from ~ deep, highly organized knowledge of the subject matter
~ Intrinsic motivation (Not for external rewards)
~ Strong emotional attachment (encourages perseverance)
○ Expert knowledge ~ Essential to envision creative departures from the norm
○ Overtraining ~ May hamper creativity
(Composers performed better in a genre with general training than training in that genre)
∴ Versatility may count as much as expertise
○ Highly creative people ~ Self-starters & risk takers
~ independent, nonconformist, unconventional & flexible
~ Open to new ideas & experiences
~ Unconscious thinking processes often lead to sudden moments of illumination
○ Creativity ~ Develops over a lifetime
~ Emerges from diverse experiences that weaken conventional constraints
& strengthens perseverance
∴ Not necessarily from a nurturing environment
~ Political & cultural environment can encourage or inhibit creativity
Creativity and Intelligence
The three aspects of intelligence may play a role in the relationship between intelligence & creativity:
○ Insightful ~ Helps to define a problem & see it in new ways
~ Creativity shows insight in 3 ways:
1. In picking out information relevant to the problem
2. Seeing relationships between apparently unrelated info (Putting 2 & 2 together)
3. Seeing analogies between the problem and other previously encountered problems
○ Analytic ~ Can evaluate an idea and decide if it is worth pursuing
○ Practical ~ Getting an idea accepted/ “selling” the idea
~ May be strongest in middle age
Studying and Measuring Creativity
5 Levels of Creativity:
1. Spontaneous expression
2. Producing artistic or scientific works
3. Inventing a new and useful object, technique or method
4. Modifying a concept
5. Originating a revolutionary new principle or movement
The Psychometric Approach: Divergent Thinking
○ Intelligence as measured by IQ ~ Little relationship to creativity
○ Highest IQ’s → Not the most creative people
○ Optimum IQ for creativity ~ Only about 19 points above average or the field
220
○ Creative & Scholastic success may depend on different abilities
○ Convergent thinking ~ Seeks a single right answer (usually conventional)
~ Focus of intelligence tests
○ Divergent thinking ~ Comes up with a wide array of fresh possibilities
~ Fluent, flexible, original, elaborative
~ Focus of tests for creativity
○ Torrance Tests of Creative thinking ~ Psychometric test of creativity
~ Reliable/ Yields consistent results
~ Construct validity is disputed/ May not identify people who are creative in real life
~ Does have predicative value when given to children,
but predicative value when given to adults is unknown.
○ Sensitivity to a problem and the ability to redefine a problem is as much part of creativity as divergent thinking
Laboratory research: “Problem Finding”
○ The formulation of a problem is often more essential than its solution
○ Problem finding ~ The ability to identify and formulate novel and important problems
~ A hallmark of creative thought
○ In a laboratory → Art student who created the most novel & complex problems were judged most original,
and were later most successful.
○ Creativity might be linked to mature thought
→ Shift in emphasis from problem-solving to problem finding is seen as characteristic of
postformal thought
Creativity and Age
○ Creativity scores, on average, peak around late thirties.
○ In the last decade of a creative career a person outputs about half as much as during the late 30’s early 40’s,
but more than in the 20’s
○ Creative people who begin early and have a high output usually maintain a large output later in life.
○ Age curve varies depending on the field:
• Poets, mathematicians & theoretical physicists → Peak late 20’s/early 30’s
• Research psychologists → Peak around age 40
• Novelists, historians, philosophers → Increasingly productive through 40’s & 50’s and the it levels off.
○ Quality ration ~ Proportion of major works to total output
~ No relation to age
∴ The likelihood that a particular work will be great has no relation to age
○ Sometimes losses in quantity are balanced by gains in quality
○ Enthusiasm peaks early, experience cumulates over the lifespan
7. Mature Thought, Wisdom & Moral Intelligence
7.1 Postformal Thought
Beyond Piaget: New ways of thinking in Adulthood
○ Piaget ~ Highest level is formal thought → Abstract, systematic, logical thought
→ Often arrived at during adolescence
○ Neo-Piagetian theory ~ Changes in cognition extend beyond that stage
~ 2 schools:
• Reflective reasoning - Concerned with abstract reasoning
• Postformal thought - Combines logic with emotion & practical experience to resolve ambiguous problems
Reflective Thinking
○ A complex form of cognition
○ “An active, persistent & careful consideration of information or beliefs
in the light of the evidence that support them and the conclusions that they lead to.”
○ Questioning supposed facts, drawing inferences ad making connections.
○ Ability to reconcile apparently conflicting ideas into a single overarching theory
○ Age 20-25 ~ Capacity for reflective thinking emerges
~ Cortical regions of the brain that handle higher-level thinking is myelinated
& brain forms new neurons, synapses & dendritic connections
○ Environmental support ~ Can stimulate the development of thicker, denser cortical connections.
Postformal Thought
○ Existence of postformal thought was first suspected when older adults gave “wrong” answers to Piaget-type
questions, similar to those of young kids, but with unexpected reasoning to justify the answers.
∴The wrong answers might represent an advance in reasoning
○ Adult thought ~ Open, flexible, adaptive, individualistic
~ Relies on intuition as well as logic
~ Applies experience to ambiguous situations.
○ Formal Operations ~ Polarized, there is one right answer
~ Excel at structured problems with definite answers
~ Black & white
~ Ambiguity = muddled thinking.
○ Postformal thought ~ Ability to deal with uncertainty, inconsistency, contradiction, imperfection & compromise.
~ Relativistic, enables adults to transcend a single logic system.
~ Shades of grey
~ Can reconcile or whose between conflicting ideas/demands that each have merit
How Postformal Thought develops.
○ Through experiences that open up the possibility of looking at things in unaccustomed ways
○ Study of college students found their thinking:
→ Moved from rigidity to flexibility & ultimately to freely chosen commitments
~ 1st they encounter many points of view, and accept their own uncertainty
BUT they think this stage is temporary & they will get to the “right answer” eventually
~ Next → They come to see all values & knowledge as relative
→ Feel lost & without solid meaning or values in a maze of systems & beliefs
~ Then: Commitment within relativism → Make their own judgments & choose their own values
Despite uncertainty and recognition of other valid possibilities.
○ 3 Levels of adult cognitive development:
1. Intrasystemic level ~ Corresponds to formal operations
~ Can reason within ONE system of thought,
but cannot reflect on it from an objective/external pov
~ Can acknowledge that others hold other opinions, but find it hard to see those as valid
2. Intersystemic Level ~ Become more aware of multiple, contradictory systems of thought
~ Can discuss & elaborate on those systems, & have more tolerance for conflicts
BUT they still see the systems as irreconcilable.
3. Integrated level ~ Openness, flexibility & autonomous reflection
~ See change & diversity as positive, & can draw on differing perspectives & value systems.
~ Choose their own values & act on them by integrating subjectivity with a mature form of
objectivity.
~ Truth is not seen as absolute OR totally relative, but is judged on the basis of rational,
disciplined reflection & collective thought.
○ There is no set age for reaching thee levels
Social Reasoning and Postformal Thought
○ Postformal thought
~ operates in a social & emotional context
~ Called on in social dilemmas, where problems are less structured & very emotional
○ Social Problems ~ Involve necessary subjectivity
~ Each person’s POV inevitably colours the situation as a whole.
○ Some research found a progression towards postformal thought throughout young & middle adulthood
esp when emotions are involved
○ When asked to judge the cause of hypothetical conflicts, adolescents & young adults tend to place blame
older adults focus on interplay between people & the environment
→ More ambiguous situation = nigger differences in interpretation
○ Tolerance for ambiguity in medical students predicted clinical performance as rated by patients
Criteria for Postformal Thought
○ Shifting of Gears ~ Ability to think within at least 2 different logical systems
~ Ability to shift back & forth between abstract reasoning & practical considerations
○ Problem Definition ~ Ability to define a problem as falling within a class/category of logical problems,
& to define its parameters
○ Process-Product Shift ~ Ability to see that a problem can be solved through a process or a product
~ Process → Has general application to similar problems
~ Product → A concrete solution to the particular problem.
○ Pragmatism ~ Ability to choose the best of several possible solutions
& to recognize the criteria for choosing
○ Multiple solutions ~ Awareness that most problems have more than one cause,
that people have different goals
& that a variety of methods can be used to arrive at more than one solution.
○ Awareness of Paradox ~ Recognition that a problem or solution involves inherent conflict
○ Self-referential thought ~ A Persons’ awareness that they must be the judge of which logic to use,
∴ that they are using postformal thought.
A Lifespan Model of Cognitive Development
○ A model of stages of cognitive development from childhood to old age
○ Intellectual development proceeds ~ According to what is important to people
~ How they Interpret & respond to their experiences
○ Three broad developments:
• Acquisition of information & skills (What I need to know)
• Practical integration of knowledge & skills (How to use what I know)
• Search for meaning & purpose (Why I should know)
○ If these stages are applicable, traditional psychometric tests may be inappropriate to test intelligence at various ages
○ Ecological Validity ~ Tests that deal with real-life challenges
○ NB cognitive development in late adulthood ~ Focus on tasks that have meaning
1. Acquisitive Stage Childhood & adolescence Acquire info & skills for their own sake, or as
preparation for participation in Society
2. Achieving Stage Late teens or early 20’s Using knowledge to pursue goals such as
to early 30’s family & career
3. Responsible Stage Late 30’s to early 60’s Use their minds to solve practical problems
associated with responsibilities to others.
4. Executive Stage 30’s/40’s through May overlap with achieving & responsible stages
Middle age Responsible for societal systems or social movements
They deal with complex relationships on multiple levels
5. Reorganizational End of Middle age, People who enter retirement reorganize their lives & intellectual
Stage Start of late adulthood energy around meaningful pursuits that take the place of work
6. Reintegrative Stage Late Adulthood Older adults become more selective about what tasks
they expend effort on. Focus on the purpose of what
they do, and tasks that have meaning
7. Legacy-Creating Advanced old Age Near the end of life, once reintegration is complete or
Stage along with it. Create instructions for possessions, funeral
arrangements, life stories written down etc
Involves the exercise of cognitive competencies in a social &
emotional context
7.2. Wisdom
Comparing Wisdom with Intelligence and Creativity
○ Wisdom, intelligence & creativity ~ Same processes with different applications
Wisdom Intelligence Creativity
Knowledge Metacognition Recall Information, analyze it Go beyond what is known
Probe inside knowledge to discover & use it effectively to create something new.
deeper meaning
Information Tries to understand what is automatic, Uses automatic processes to be Resists automatization
Processing & why. effective Prefers novel tasks
Intellectual Judicial Executive Legislative: Decide what to do &
Style Evaluative Apply rules & solve problems find new ways of doing things.
Personality Understanding of ambiguity Eliminating ambiguity within Tolerance of ambiguity
a conventional framework redefinition of obstacles
Motivation To understand what is known To know & use what is known To go beyond what is known
& what it means
Environmental Appreciation in an environment of Appreciation in an environment Appreciation in an environment of
depth & understanding of extent & breadth of going beyond
understanding what is currently understood
○ Wisdom, intelligence & creativity become more integrated with age
246
Psychological concepts and Assessments
○ Classical approach ~ Wisdom is a late-life development
○ Modern, more contextual approach ~ Wisdom is a cognitive ability
○ Or ~ Wisdom is integration of intellect & emotion
Wisdom is rooted in the spiritual domain.
Erikson: Wisdom and Late-life personality development
○ Wisdom = The virtue resulting from resolution of integrity vs despair
~ The insight into life’s meaning that come to those contemplating approaching death
~ Accepting life as lived, without major regrets
~ Accepting ones parents as people who did as well as they could
~ Accepting death as the inevitable end of life
Clayton and Meacham: Cognitive definitions
○ Clayton
• Defines wisdom ~ An ability to grasp paradoxes, reconcile contradictions
and make & accept compromises
• Wisdom ~ Weighs the effects of acts on selves & others
∴Particularly well suited to solve social problems involving values
Practical problems in a social context
• Intelligence figures out how to do something, wisdom asks if it should be done
○ Meacham
• Children are more likely to be wise than older adults, because older people know too much
& are too sure of their knowledge.
• Humility is an important part of wisdom
• Wise people balance their acquisition of knowledge with a recognition of its fallibility
• Wise people ~ just use the same info differently
~ Excel at asking questions & applying facts to real situations
• Experience produces a threat to wisdom
Baltes: Toward an Empirical definition
○ Working on a definition that is ~ Empirically testable
~ Consistent with the meanings ordinary people attach to the term
○ Wisdom = A special kind of expert knowledge
~ Knowledge of the fundamental pragmatics of life
~ Permitting excellent judgment & advice about important & uncertain matters
○ Fundamental Pragmatics of Life ~ Knowledge & skills that go to the heart of the human condition
~ The conduct, interpretation & meaning of life
○ 5 Criteria for Wisdom:
1. Factual knowledge of the fundamentals of living
2. Procedural knowledge of the fundamentals of living
3. Awareness of life’s uncertainties
4. Knowledge of the relativism of goals, values & priorities
5. Understanding of the importance o context & societal change
○ Pragmatics of intelligence ~ A cognitive domain that remains stable, & may improve, into late adulthood
~ Wisdom forms a part of this
∴ Wisdom is a component of intelligence (Baltes)
○ Wisdom ~ The functional equivalent of expertise in a field
~ Knowledge of how to live well
~ Can develop at any age, but aging provides time for the development of favorable conditions
eventually - losses in the physiologically based mechanisms of cognition may prevent further refinement
○ Studies ~ Presented various people with hypothetical dilemms
~ The wise answers were spread evenly among the age groups (only 5% of all answers)
~ People provided the wisest answers to dilemmas applying to their own stage of life
~ When applied to older, accomplished individuals considered by others to be wise
→ The participants outdid all other groups
○ Most NB contribution by Baltes ~ Attempt to study wisdom systematically & scientifically
○ Key finding ~ While age is not a prerequisite for wisdom, wisdom is an area where older people have the advantage
7.3. Moral Development
Kohlberg’s theory: Moral Reasoning
○ Kohlberg posed moral dilemmas to people of varying ages, and from the reasoning behind their answers deduced three levels of moral reasoning:
Level 1 Preconventional • People, under external controls, obey rules to avoid
(4-10 yr) Morality punishment or damage to people/property
• Or they act in self-interest, recognizing others will do the same
Level 2 Morality of conventional • People have internalized the standards of authority figures
(after 10) role conformity • Concerned about being “good”, pleasing & caring for others
and maintaining social order
Level 3 Morality of autonomous • Morality is fully internal
(age 13/ principles • Conflicts between moral standards are recognized,
young adult/ & people make their own moral judgments
never) on the basis of principles of right, fairness & justice.
255
○ The stages roughly follow Piaget’s cognitive stages
(preoperational, concrete operational & formal operational thought )
○ Each level is divided in 2 stages, with a transitional level & seventh stage added later
○ Many people arrive at moral judgments independently.
“Live and Learn” : Experience and morality
○ Experience ~ Leads to a re-evaluation of what is right and fair
○ Experiences that advance moral development in young adulthood:
~ Encountering conflicting values away from home
~ Being responsible for the welfare of others
○ Cognitive awareness of higher moral principles develop in adolescence
BUT most people only commit to these principles in adulthood
○ Even someone who thinks in the stage of formal operations, may not break with convention to form their own moral judgments unless experience prepares them for the shift.
○ Kohlberg equates postconventional morality with Formal thinking BUT
Connections between Postconventional morality & Postformal thought:
~ Roles of experience, emotion & individually chosen principles in resolving ambiguity & conflict.
~ Would explain why many people don’t reach postconventional morality before adulthood, if at all.
A seventh stage: The cosmic perspective
○ Moves beyond considerations of justice
○ Has much in common with concepts of self-transcendence in eastern religion
○ Reflect on the question “Why be moral? Why be just in a universe that appears to be unjust.
○ Cosmic perspective → A sense of unity with nature/the cosmos/ god
→ See moral issues from the standpoint of the universe
→ Parallels the most mature stage of faith
○ Ethics are grounded in natural law ~ Principles based on human nature and embedded in the natural order
The art of aging: Moral leadership in middle & late adulthood
○ 5 Criteria to identify “moral exemplars” :
1. Sustained commitment to principles that show respect for humanity
2. Behaviour consistent with one’s ideals
3. Willingness to risk self-interest
4. Inspiring others to moral action
5. Humility/Lack of concern for one’s ego
○ Even the moral exemplars did not all score at the postconventional level
~ Education seems to be the difference between those who did & those who didn’t
∴ It is not necessary to score at the highest stages to lead an exemplary moral life
○ Characteristics of the moral exemplars:
• Social influences helped them evaluate their capacities, form moral goals &strategies to achieve them.
• Lifelong commitment to changing society for the better
• Remained stable in their moral commitments
• Collaborative
• Enjoyment of life/ ability to make the best of a bad situation/ solidarity with others/ absorption in work
Sense of humour/ Humility
Table 7.2 p 256: Kohlberg’s Levels & Stages of Moral Reasoning Typically seen in Adults:
Stage Name Viewpoint It is right to An act is evaluated by:
3 Maintaining Mutual Empathetic • Fulfil ones expected role • Its motive
Relations & Expectations • Show care & concern so as to appear • Putting oneself in another’s place
“good” in the eyes of oneself & others • (Golden Rule)
4 Maintaining Social “Social Contract” • Obey laws, fulfil societal obligations & • An act is wrong if it violates a rule,
System & Conscience contribute to society in order to keep except in extreme cases of conflict
society going & to have a clear conscience with other established obligations • (“what if everyone did it?”)
4½ Subjective emotional Arbitrary, • Pick and choose among moral ideas or ---------------------------------------------
choice relativist obligations on the basis of personal feelings
5 Utilitarianism & “Prior to society” • Judge a social system by standards that exist prior to the establishment of a
Fundamental Rights particular society
• Laws should be based on rational calculation of the greatest good for the
greatest number
. • Generally, Laws should be obeyed to treat everyone equally
& fulfil the social contract
BUT protection of certain fundamental rights outweighs majority rule.
6 Universal Ethical Absolutist • Be committed to universal, rationally valid principles, such as equality of human
Principles rights & respect for human dignity, whether or not these principles conflict with
the laws of a particular society.
7 Cosmic Perspective Transcendental • See oneself & one’s conduct, not only as part of humanity, but as part of the
universe
• All parts of the universe are integrally connected, and an individual’s actions
impact the whole.
• Human rights and ethical principles are based on natural law
p256
8. Education, Work, Leisure and Retirement
8.1 Education, Work and Leisure
Introduction
○ Age differentiated structure ~ Roles are based on age
~ Typical in industrialized societies
~ Youth is for education, Adulthood for work, late adulthood for leisure
~ Holdover from an era when life was shorter & social institutions less diverse
~ By devoting oneself to one aspect at a time, each phase of life becomes less
enjoyable than it otherwise might be.
○ Structural Lag ~ More older adults are able to contribute to society, but opportunities are inadequate
○ Age Integrated ~Spreads all three roles throughout adult life
~ Helps break down barriers between generations
~ All kinds of roles are available to everyone
NB Much of the research regarding education, work & retirement reflects the older, age-differentiated model
Work and Leisure
○ Job ~ Any activity performed for pay
~ Typically refers to employment by someone/ an organisation other than oneself
~ May be temporary
○ Occupation ~ Regular, relatively permanent field of work/means of livelihood
○ Vocation ~ A Chosen field
○ Profession ~ An occupation/vocation that requires college/postgraduate training
~ Tends to involve a good deal of judgment & control
○ Career ~ Dynamic
~ Developmental path of achievement, represents the life’s work
○ Leisure ~ Discretionary use of time
~ Usually unpaid activities
~Is only a significant aspect of adult life in modern, developed societies (?)
Age and Job Performance
○ Researchers have been unable to find a consistent link between age and job performance
○ Younger workers have more avoidable absenteeism (Lack of commitment?)
Older workers have more unavoidable absenteeism (Poorer health)
○ Experience is a better predictor of job performance than age
∴ Age differences depend largely on how performance is measured & the demands of the specific work
○ Test: Teach people to perform a search & retrieval task:
• Differences between younger & older people were due to speed
• After day 1 of testing (After completion of training)
Middle aged respondents improved most on days 3 & 4
Older respondents improved most on days 4 & 5
∴ Older people may learn more slowly, but differences in performance decrease over time.
○ Attitudes towards work can affect performance ~ Older people tend to be more committed
○ Older workers are often more productive than younger workers ~ They tend to be slower, but more accurate
○ Even in highly demanding jobs (policing/firefighting) age itself is not an accurate predictor of performance.
○ Older adult stereotype ~ Encompass older ages & a variety of context
Older worker stereotypes ~ Encompasses relatively younger adults in a work context
Occupational Stress
○ Stress that is job-related
○ Results from the interaction between the individual worker & the work environment
∴ Characteristics of both need to be considered
BUT some situations are stressful to many people,& should receive greater attention
• Work overload • Conflicting demands • Environmental conditions (noise & overcrowding)
• High workload • Low control • Interpersonal conflict • Wasted time & Effort
• Role conflict ~ Demands of work & home oppose each other
• Role ambiguity ~ Uncertainty about what is required
○ Low morale & productivity is seen in employees who:
• Feel overworked & underappreciated
• Do not have clear goals
○ Violence in the workplace is an increasing problem
○ Stress leads to health problems:
• cardiovascular disease & arthritis
• Back & upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders
• Psychological disorders & workplace injuries
○ Stress leads to negative work outcomes:
• Absenteeism, turnover & intentions to quit
○ What can help:
• Recognition of employee contributions
• Addressing problems in job design
• Stress prevention programmes
○ Changes in organizations can have positive or negative effects:
• higher demands & pressure/ More flexibility & opportunities for growth
• More responsibility may be good for some, but stressful to others
○ Women ~ Under extra pressure in the workplace.
~ Glass ceiling
~ Must meet demands of home and work
○ Burnout ~ Emotional exhaustion,
feeling unable to accomplish anything on the job
Sense of helplessness & loss of control
~ Esp common in the helping professions (Feeling frustrated by the inability to help)
~ Response to long-term stress rather than a reaction to an immediate crises
~ Symptoms:
• Fatigue, insomnia, headaches, persistent colds, stomach disorders
• Substance abuse, difficulty getting along with others
• Quits job suddenly, pull away from family & friends, depression
Unemployment
○ Greatest work-related stressor
○ Linked to physical & mental illness, suicide & homicide
○ Affects self-concept and self-esteem
○ People who define themselves by their job, or their self-worth by their salaries, suffer more.
○ Men and women are equally upset by the loss of their jobs
○ Things that help people cope:
• A sense of control over the situation
• Some financial resources to draw on
• Assessing the situation objectively, rather than seeing the self as a failure
• Supportive, adaptable, understanding families.
• Looking at the loss of a job as a challenge for growth
Work, Leisure and Intellectual Growth
○ Substantive complexity of work ~ The degree of thought 7 independent judgment it requires
~ Related to a person’s flexibility in coping with intellectual demands
~ Tied to intellectual growth
○ What kind of work someone does affects, and is affected by what they do in other areas of life
1. Compensation Hypothesis ~ Leisure activities make up for what s missing in wok
~ People with boring work want complex & stimulating leisure activities/
& those with demanding, complex work just want to relax when they are off.
2. Resource-provision-depletion hypothesis ~ Work promotes or constrains certain kinds of leisure activities
by providing or depleting resources of time, energy & money
3. Segmentation Hypothesis ~ Work & leisure are totally independent.
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Evidence points to option 4:
4. Spillover Hypothesis ~ Work & leisure is linked because learning from one affects the other
~ Work & leisure are two sides of the same coin & choices in one affects the other
○ Substantive complexity of work, more than any other aspect of the job situation,
influences the intellectual level of leisure time activities
For both men & women, regardless of income or education level.
∴ The work people do influence their retirement
& as work becomes increasingly complex & leisure more sophisticated,
we can expect to see continuing intellectual gains in late life.
8.2 Retirement
Retirement and other Late-Life Options
To Retire or not to Retire
○ Opinions on retirement vary tremendously
○ How older workers evaluate their employment situation is based on:
• How they believe they are perceived by their superiors
• Perceived growth opportunities
• Salary increases
• Involvement in organizational planning & policy
• Observations of treatment by other employees
• Understanding of own strengths & weaknesses (eg ability to meet deadlines)
○ Maintaining professional competence ~ A major dimension in continued employment
○ Middle-aged & older workers tend to value relationships on the job
& negative relationships can cause the decision to retire.
○ Marriage & other significant relationships can influence the decision to retire:
• Move to be near children
• Retire to take care of a needy relative
○ Even without mandatory retirement, most adults who can retire, do.
• Only 16% of older men, & 8% of older women, stay in the workforce
→ This trend is holding steady over the past 10 years
○ Men now spend 12 years in retirement (up from 1 in 1960)
Women spend 21 years in retirement (up from 9)
○ In the developing world ~ Most adults work until they are incapable of it.
but more than 90% cannot, or can only barely, meet their needs.
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Preparing for retirement
○ Retirement is a major transition ~ Preparation can be key in making it successful & rewarding
○ Ideally, retirement preparation should begin by idle age
○ Never-married women, divorced women & blacks are esp vulnerable to lack of funds in retirement
○ Preparing for retirement should include :
~ Providing for financial needs
~ Structuring life to make it enjoyable & productive after retirement
~ Anticipating physical or emotional problems & discussing how retirement will affect a spouse
○ Assistance ~ Pre-retirement workshops
~ Self-help books
~ Company-sponsored programmes
How do retired People Use Their Time?
○ Lifelong attitudes & habits continue to influence behaviour
○ Work ethic turns into a business ethic
→ Must stay busy & active to not feel lazy or useless
○ More satisfied retirees ~ Are physically fir & use their skills in volunteer or part-time work
Paid Work after retirement
○ Some people are not happy unless they are gainfully employed
○ Some people ~ Find part-time or new full-time jobs
~ keep their old jobs but cut down on hours & responsibilities
○ Self-employed men ~ Less likely to make a complete switch from full-time to retirement
○ Longitudinal study of men considered gifted as kids:
~ Found those who had been self-employed at any time before retirement
were more likely to do some type of part-time work after retirement.
Volunteerism
○ 1/3 to ½ of US adults age 45 & older report participating in traditional forms of volunteer work
○ When non-traditional forms are included, this rises to 87%
○ African Americans are most active in efforts targeting:
• the homeless • minority rights • neighbourhood issues • tutoring
○ 24% of those age 65 & over volunteer, 33% of those age 45 - 54
35% of those age 35 - 44 24% of those age 16 - 24
○ High rates of volunteerism due to ~ Changing public image of older adults & their capabilities
~ Volunteer work now has a higher status
~ Today’s older population has more to contribute & more interest in contributing
○ In less developed nations older adults make regular, unpaid contributions
Leisure during retirement
○ For many people, life after retirement is not that different from before.
○ Few retirees take part in activities for senior citizens ~ The “ageless self” makes one reluctant to join groups
that define you as “old”
○ There is continuity in the activity level of adults, as well as in choice of activities
○ Family focused lifestyle ~ Common pattern of activity. The other is:
Balanced investment ~ Typical of more educated people
~ Allocates their time more equally between family, work & leisure
○ These patterns may change with age:
• Younger retirees who travel & go to cultural events most satisfied
• After 75 family- & home-based activities become more satisfying
○ Serious leisure ~ Activity that demand skill, attention & commitment
~ Provides intense satisfaction
~ Can become central to a retiree’s life
○ African Americans ~ Fewer than 1 in 4 engage in outdoor sports (compared to 85% of whites, Hispanics)
~ Do things that produce something useful
○ The various paths to enjoying retirement have two things in common:
Doing satisfying things and having satisfying relationships.
How does retirement affect wellbeing?
Physical and Mental Health
○ Retirement itself has little effect on physical health.
○ Effects on mental health depends on when & why people retire:
• Early retirement ~ Often the result of poor health
~ Leads to greater declines in health & satisfaction
• Late retirement ~ Also Unsatisfactory if retirement was involuntary
• Retirement stress greatest when:
- The choice to retire was not voluntary
- Health or financial declines follows on retirement
○ If retirement is voluntary ~ More satisfaction with their lives & less cognitive impairment (In those over 65)
○ Women ~ More likely to be forced into retirement for reasons to do with other people.
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Social Support
○ Work ~A convenient source of social contact
○ Adults who have been retired for longer have less social contacts than more recent retirees
BUT although extent of the social network declines, the quality of support does not.
○ 2 Lifespan developmental theories explain this:
• Convoy theory ~ Distinguishes relationships in terms of their relative intimacy
~ Only outer circles of contact are significantly affected by retirement
~ The stable inner circle of friends & family remain
• Selectivity Theory ~ Focuses on how changes in social contracts function in adult life
~ Social interactions have three functions:
1. Source of information
2. Helps people develop and maintain a sense of self
3. A source of pleasure/emotional well-being
~ The first 2 functions are needed less as time goes on, and declines,
but the 3rd remains & becomes central.
~ Aging people become more selective about their social interactions
∴ Limitations on the older person’s social support network can be positive & adaptive
○ Family & friendship support networks ~ Promote adjustment to retirement
○ Marriage ~ May provide support that buffers the uncertainty of retirement
~ Marital quality is positively related to retirement adjustment
○ Decreased marital satisfaction after retirement is related to declining morale among late midlife women
(not men)
Self-Concept in Retirement
○ Factors influencing self-concept in retirement:
1. The understanding of change and an awareness of the passage of time
• How we view change in others & ourselves
& how we see & understand implications of future time
are major aspects of personal cognitive integration leading to increased self-understanding
• New understandings of one’s past & a new perspective on one’s future self
2. The perception of control over one’s life:
3. Personal insight ~ How well one understand oneself
9. Intimate Relationships and Lifestyles
9.1 Intimate Relationships
Foundations of Intimate Relationships
○ In young adulthood ~ Relationships are established that may last through the rest of one’s life
○ In many societies, chronological age is not as important as social age
○ In mobile societies ~ Friendships come & go
○ In freer societies ~ Marital & sexual partners come & go
○ Technology (eg Internet) also influences relationships
Relationships: A developmental Perspective
○ Erikson ~ The development of intimate relationships is the crucial task of young adulthood
○ Intimacy ~ May or may not include sexual contact
~ Self disclosure = an important element
→ People become & remain intimate through shared disclosures, responsiveness to
each other’s needs &mutual acceptance & respect
~ Includes a sense of belonging
○ People with satisfying relationships ~ Live longer & are healthier.
○ Young adults ~ Must develop skills needed in close relationships:
• Self-awareness, empathy, conflict resolution, the ability to communicate emotions,
sexual decision-making, the ability to sustain commitments
○ As people age ~ The tend to spend less time with others
~ Work becomes a source of social contact
~ People become satisfied with smaller social circles - of a high quality
~ May have fewer close relationships, but are more satisfied with those they do have.
Friendship
○ Based on ~ mutual interests & values
○ Usually develop between people of the same age/ same stage of family life, who validate each other’s beliefs
& behaviour.
○ People with friends tend to have a sense of well-being
○ Social networks become smaller & more intimate at mid-life
○ Friendship often revolve around ~ work/parenting
~ neighbourhood contacts / organizations
○ Midlife friendships ~ Quality makes up for quantity of time spent together.
~ Friends provide support in times of crises
∴ The meaning of friendship changes little over the life span, but the content & context may change
○ Older adults ~ Friendships no longer linked to work & parenting, rather focused on companionship & support
~ Element of choice may be empowering to older people
~ Spend more active leisure time with friends
~ Enjoy time spent with friends more than time spent with family
○ Older than 85 ~ Maintain friendships
~ Lack of mobility means less face-to-face contact & might mean less intimacy
Women Men
• Have more intimate friendships • Have fewer friends
• Find friendships with other women more satisfying • Rather share information & activities than
than friendships with men confidences
Older women Older Men
• Continue to see their friends at least as often as • See friends less
in the past • See them more in groups than 1 on 1
• Consider friendship less important
Love
○ Triangular theory of love ~ Love has three components:
Intimacy ~ The emotional element
~ Involves self-disclosure, which leads to connection, warmth & trust
Passion ~ The motivational element
Based on inner drives that translate physiological arousal into sexual desie
Commitment ~ The cognitive element
~ The decision to love and to stay with the beloved.
The degree to which the elements are present determine what kind of love people feel,
○ Trust ~ Essential to intimacy
~ May depend on the security of earlier attachments.
○ Assortative mating ~ People tend to fall in love with and marry someone much like themselves.
~ Dating partners who are equally attractive are most likely to develop a close relationship
~ Lovers often resemble each other in:
- Physical appearance & attractiveness
- Mental & physical health
- Intelligence, popularity & warmth
- The degree to which their parents are happy as individuals & as couples
- Socioeconomic status, race, religion, education & income
- Temperament
○Students who could explain why earlier relationships ended were more satisfied in their current relationships
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Sexuality
○ Sexual development has a physical and an emotional side
○ Some recent changes:
• Greater acceptance of premarital & nonmarital sex
• Decline in double standard - the traditional code giving men more sexual freedom than women
• More openness about & acceptance of homosexuality
Sexual Orientation
○ Refers to feelings & self concept, ∴ may or may not be expressed in sexual behavior.
○ Is unrelated to any personality trait
○ Emerges for most people in early adolescence, without previous sexual experience
○ Not a conscious choice that can be voluntarily changed
○ Biology may play an NB role
- Identical twin of a homosexual sibling is 50% likely to also be homosexual
- 20% for fraternal twins
- 10% or less for an adopted sibling
○ The process of developing sexual orientation is probably a complex one in which genes interact with certain critical hormonal & environmental factors
○ In the US ~ almost 3 out of 4 men, and more than 2 out of 3 women still disapprove of homosexuality (!?)
~ Nearly half those surveyed consider it a sin
~ One third think it is an illness.
○ Social stigma may influence mental health ~ Higher risk for depression, anxiety & other psychiatric disorders.
Sexual Attitudes & Behaviour
○ Reproductive Attitudes ~ Sex is permissible only for reproductive purposes, within marriage
~ 30% of Americans hold this view
○ Recreational view ~ Whatever feels good & doesn’t hurt anyone is fine
~ 25% (More men than women) Hold this view
○ Relational view ~ Sex should be accompanied by love or affection, but not necessarily in marriage
~ 45%
○ Disapproval of extramarital sex is stronger than disapproval of homosexuality - 94%
~ Became more liberal 1965-1975, the more conservative again
○ More liberal attitudes → Younger, more educated, less religious people
→ Men are more liberal than women
○ Quality of interpersonal relationships are more NB to older adults than a sexual relationship
○ There is a generation gap in attitudes towards sexuality of older adults - In future older adults may be more sexually active.
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Nonmarital and Marital Lifestyles
○ Today’s rules for acceptable behaviour is more elastic:
→ There are options other than, get married, have kids & stay married
Marriage
○ Meets a variety of fundamental needs → Intimacy, friendship, support , sexual fulfilment & companionship
○ Usually considered the best way for the orderly raising of children
Marriage and Happiness
○ Marriage is the most important factor in happiness
BUT some benefits of marriage is no longer confined to wedlock
○ Most married women now continue to work, & their husbands don’t share the homemaking burdens equally,
marriage nowadays might increase rather than decrease stress for women
○ Women ~ Marital intimacy entails sharing of feelings
~ Are more likely to do things that matter to men
~ Association between marriage & psychological well-being is more pronounced for men.
Men ~ Express intimacy through sex, practical help, companionship & doing things together
~ Often get more of what is important to them
How Dual-Earner couples cope
○ 1940 ~ women = ¼ of the workforce
1997 ~ ½
○ 2/3 of 2-parent US families with kids under 18 are dual-earner families
○ Factors that play a part in so many women working:
• Rising cost of living
• Changes in divorce, social security & tax laws
• Changing attitudes about gender roles
• Labour-saving household appliances
• Reduced income gap between male & female workers.
○ Positive elements of dual-earner jhouseholds:
• Second income can lift a family to a higher income bracket
• Makes women more affluent & gives them a greater share of economic power
• Reduces pressure to men to be sole providers
• More equal relationship between husband & wife
• Better health for both
• Greater self-esteem for the woman
• Closer relationship between the father & the kids.
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○ Downsides:
• Extra demands on time & energy
• Conflicts between work & family
• Possible rivalry between spouses
• Anxiety & guilt about meeting the children’s needs
○ Family is most demanding when there are young kids
Work is most demanding when a worker is getting established
→ Both of these often occur in young adulthood
○ Men & women ~ Suffer equally from physical & psychological stress:
BUT Women → More likely to feel the stress of conflicting role expectations
Must be competitive & aggressive at work & nurturing at home
Men → More likely to suffer from overload
Not socialized to deal with domestic and occupational responsibilities
○ Combining work & family is generally beneficial ito mental and physical health, & strength of the relationship
• Most psychological gender differences is not immutable enough to require highly differentiated roles
• Increased opportunities for social support
• Opportunities to experience success in more than one area
• Balancing failure/stress in one role with satisfaction/success in the other
• Broader perspective/frame of reference
• Increased complexity of the self-concept (Which may buffer swings in mood & self-esteem)
• Similarity of experiences can enhance communication & marital quality
HOWEVER these benefits depend on:
• How many roles each partner carries
• The time demands of each role
• The success/ satisfaction the partners derive from the roles
• The extent to which the partners hold traditional or non-traditional attitudes about gender roles
○ 3 Patterns of dual-career families:
Conventional ~ Both partners consider childcare & household chores the woman’s work
~ The husband may “help”, but his career takes precedence, he is more ambitious& earns more
~ he views it as his wife’s “choice” to add a career to her primary domestic role
Modern ~ Husband & wife share parenting, but the wife does more housework
~ The man’s active fathering may stem not so much from egalitarianism as the wish to be involved
with his kids
Role Sharing ~ Most egalitarian, occurs in at least 1/3 of heterosexual, dual-career families
~ Both partners are actively involved in household & family responsibilities, as well as careers
○ Tasks still tend to be gender-typed
○ Burdens of a dual-career lifestyle tend to fall more heavily on the woman
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○ Employed married men in 1997 ~ Spend an hour more on household chores, and a half hour more with their
kids on workdays than in 1977
Still ~ This is only 2/3 as much as the women
○ The effects of the dual-earner lifestyle depends largely on how the partners view their roles,
~ Perception of unfairness is more important than actual role division.
Emotional Adjustment to divorce
○ Separated & divorced people ~ More illness, mental illness & death
○ Difficulty in performing ordinary social activities ~ Affects divorced women more than widows
○ Divorce reduces long-term well-being, esp for the partner who did not initiate the divorce:
• Disruption of parent-child relationships
• Discord with the former spouse
• Economic hardship
• Loss of emotional support
• Having to move out of the family home
○ Women ~ More negatively affected, at any age, than men
~ About 80% feels it took them three years or more to be comfortable being unattached
~ More likely to live in poverty after the divorce than men
○ Women who adjust better ~ Older women & those without kids
~ Not abused in the relationship
~ Higher income women
~ Good legal representation
○ NB factor in adjustment → Emotional detachment from the ex-spouse
~ Those who still argue with the ex, or haven’t found someone new, suffer more
○ An active social life helps.
○ Older people ~ Struggle more (Expected their lives to be settled)
○ After age 50 ~ More trouble adjusting & less hope for the future (esp women)
○ Older divorced men ~ Less satisfied with friendships 7 leisure activities
What makes marriages succeed?
○ A sense of commitment - to the idea of marriage and to the spouse
○ A feeling of obligation to the spouse
○ Enjoyable relationships
○ Intimacy balanced with autonomy ~ Relates to good communication, similar perceptions of the relationship
○ Success also related to ~ How partners make decisions, communicate & deal with conflict
○ Arguing & showing anger is good
○ Age at marriage NB ~ Teenagers have high divorce rates
○ Higher education & income = less divorce
○ Predictive of divorce ~ Cohabitation before marriage
~ Divorced parents
~ Becoming pregnant or having a child before marriage, no children or stepchildren
○ Economic hardship puts severe stress on a marriage:
~ can be dealt with if the partners show mutual supportiveness
○ Strong religious views make divorce less likely.
9.2 Family Life and Parenthood
Changing family structures
○ Traditional family structure ~ 2 married, heterosexual biological or adoptive parents
~ Fell from 40% in 1970 to only 24%
○ Newer more common structures ~ Single-parent, gay & lesbian, grandparent-headed
○ Children do better in a traditional set-up ~ it is not the structure that is important, but the atmosphere
Parenthood as a developmental experience
○ Having a child ~ Marks a major transition in the parent’s lives
○ Both parents ~ Often feel ambivalent about the responsibility
○ one third of mothers find parenting both meaningful & enjoyable
one third find it neither meaningful, nor enjoyable,
one third is ambivalent
○ Husbands ~ Think having kids is more NB than wives do
~ Enjoy looking after the kid less than the mother does.
○ Fathers ~ Are more involved in childcare than ever before
BUT still not as involved as the mother, and not as involved as they think
~ Spend more time than the mother in tv viewing, outdoor play & coaching sports
○ Parenthood = A process of letting go
○ 2 Life stages usually considered stressful ~ Adolescence & middle age
~ Usually have to share a house
When children leave: The “empty nest”
○ Children leaving the home is not as stressful as previously thought, can be liberating, esp for the woman
○ More difficult for couples who ~ based their identity on parenthood
~ have been avoiding marital problems by focusing on parenting
○ For women ~ Empty nest had no effect on psychological health
~ Cutting back on employment increased stress
~ going to work full time decreased stress.
○ In a comparison of stress in different life-stages ~ Men in the empty nest stage report the most health-related stress
Parenthood, role changes and marital satisfaction
○ Marital satisfaction seems to follow a U-shaped curve:
• Satisfaction declines in the first 20-24 years of marriage, then begins to turn positive
• At 35 - 44 years they tend to be even more satisfied than in the 1st 4 years
The early years
○ When kids arrive → The honeymoon is over
○ White couples married in their late 20’s → 4 years of sharp decline, then a plateau, then another decline
○ Steeper decline ~ Those who had children, esp early in the marriage
~ Those who had many children
○ Marriages that deteriorate after parenthood:
• Partners are younger & less educated, have less income & have ben married for a shorter time
• One or both partners have less self-esteem
• Husbands are less sensitive
• Mothers with difficult babies struggle the most
• Couples who were most romantic pre-baby have more problems post-baby
• Women who planned their pregnancies are unhappier
• If chores were divided equally, then shifts to the woman when the kids arrive, happiness declines,
esp for non-traditional wives
The middle years
○ 1st part of the middle years ~ The U-shaped curve hits bottom
~ Many couples have teenage children
~ Identity issues of midlife start affecting women’s feelings about their marriage
(demands of childrearing lessens & feelings of personal power increase)
○ Stress caused by ~ Ageing, loss of sex drive
~ Change in work status/satisfaction
~ Death of parents, siblings or close friends
~ Can be mitigated by communication
○ Empty nest ~ In a good marriage this may usher in a “second honeymoon”
~ In a shaky marriage this may pose a personal & marital crises.
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The Later years
○ Couples in their 60’s ~ More likely o call their marriages satisfying than those in their middle years
~ Might say so to justify why they are still in the marriage
○ 3 benefits of marriage ~ Intimacy (sexual & emotional)
~ Interdependence (sharing tasks & resources)
~ Partner’s sense of belonging to each other
○ With age ~ The husband may become more interested in intimacy,
as the wife becomes more interested in personal growth and self-expression
○ Retirement -age husbands spend less than 8 hrs per week on household chores
Wives spend 28 hrs or more, doing ¾ of the housework
○ People over 70 ~ Report less happiness than those age 63-69, esp women
○ Extra strains ~ Advancing age & physical ills
~ Caring for a spouse
11. Personality Development
11.1 Defining and studying Personality
What is Personality?
○ The essence of the person ~ A unique, recognizable individual
○ Behaviourists ~ Simply define the personality as observable behaviour
○ Most psychologists believe it includes some inner structure of mind & emotions that lie behind behaviour
○ This structure ~ Constantly developing
BUT is responsible for behaviour patterns & attitudes that are fairly consistent
○ Adaptation ~ Adjustment to events, circumstances & conditions of life
~ an NB function of personality
~ The ways in which a person adapts show continuity
Personality = “a set of distinctive patterns of behaviour, thoughts & emotions
that characterizes an individual’s adaptation to the situations of his/her life”
∴ A person’s unique & relatively consistent way of feeling, thinking & behaving
Measuring Personality
○ Personality Inventory ~ A psychometric test designed to measure personality
~ Asks people to rate themselves or others on traits
to report on activities they do or don’t enjoy
to give opinions on a variety of topics
○ Q-sort ~ A person is given a deck of cards, & on each cart is a statement
~ The person then sorts the cards into categories, depending on how closely they describe him/her
~ Can also do a Q-sort for the real self & the ideal self, & compare the two.
○ Women have been asked to graph their involvement in the roles of mother, partner & worker at various times in their lives.
○ These methods are open to observer bias & dependent on subjective judgments
○ Considered valid because:
~ There are strong correlations between different’ people’s judgments of someone’s personality
~ Personality judgments stand up well to observations, predictions & experimental findings about behaviour
Origins of Personality: Inheritance & Experience
○ Personality is not fixed at birth
~ Changes in environment & maturity affects how one’s character is expressed
○ Temperament/ Disposition ~ A person’s characteristic, biologically based emotional style
of approaching and reacting to people & situations.
~ Important shaper of personality
~ Largely hereditary (flexible/resistant to new experiences/slow to adapt)
○ There is a genetic influence on a wide range of personality characteristics
BUT environmental influences account for half the variations in personality between siblings/twins
○ Uniqueness of early experiences may reflect temperament ~ Temperament of the baby influences the
feedback it gets from adults.
○ Children’s temperament & parents parenting style influence each other.
○ As children grow up they seek experiences that strengthen genetic tendencies
○ Some genetically influenced differences between fraternal twins increase in adulthood
→ Probably due to new, reinforcing experiences
∴ An interaction of inheritance & environment/experience affects personality at all ages
11.2 Models of Adult Personality: Stability of Change
○ Trait models ~ Focus on mental, emotional, temperamental & behavioural traits/attributes
~ Mechanistic → Attempts to reduce the personality & behaviour to basic elements
→ Assume that traits fairly predictable influence behaviour.
~ Studies based on these models find that adult personality changes very little
○ Self-Concept Models ~ Concerned with how people view themselves.
~ People actively regulate their own personality development
by means of processes like those in organismic theories (eg Piaget)
~ Incorporates both stability & change.
○ Stage Models ~ More clearly organismic
~ A typical sequence of age-related development that continues throughout the life span
~ Studies based on these models find significant, predictable changes in adult personality
○ Timing-of-events model ~ Contextual
~ Studies using this model find that change is related to the varied circumstances &
events of life, rather than particular age.
○ Findings from studies based on different models are difficult to reconcile, or even to compare
○ Six interrelated elements that “make up the raw material of most personality theories”
1. Basic Tendencies → Personality traits, physical health, appearance, gender, sexual orientation, intelligence
2. External Influences → Interacts with basic tendencies to produce certain …
3. Characteristic adaptations → Social roles, attitudes, interests, skills, activities, habits & beliefs.
4. Self-concept → Shaped by basic tendencies & characteristic adaptations. Has only partial resemblance to…
5. Objective biography → The actual events of a person’s life
6. Dynamic Processes → Links the other 5 elements. eg Learning
○ Different theories focus on different elements:
• Trait models ~ Focus on basic tendencies (least likely to change)
• Self-concept models ~ Sense of self
• Stage & timing-of-event models ~ Highlight universal or particular aspects of the objective biography
Trait Models
○ Personality dimensions ~ A cluster of related traits
○ Seem to remain pretty stable after age 30
Costa & McCrae: The five-factor model
○ Neuroticism ~ Anxiety Hostility Depression Self-consciousness Impulsiveness Vulnerability
~ Nervous, fearful people who are irritable, easily angered & sensitive to criticism
○ Extraversion ~ Warmth, Gregariousness, Assertiveness, Activity, Excitement-seeking, Positive Emotions
~ Sociable, take-charge types who have close, compassionate relationships & like attention
Busy & active, looking for excitement & they enjoy life
○ Openness to Experience ~ Fantasy, Aesthetics, Feelings, Actions, Ideas, Values
~ Willing to try new things & embrace new ideas.
~ Vivid imagination & strong feelings
~ Appreciate beauty & art and question traditional values
○ Agreeableness ~ Trust, Straight-forwardness, Altruism, Compliance, Modesty, Tender-mindedness
~ Trusting, compliant & easily swayed
○ Conscientiousness ~ Deliberation, Self-discipline, Achievement striving, Dutiful, Order, Competence
~ Achievers
○ Large degree of stability in all 5 dimensions
○ Neuroticism, extraversion & openness to experience declines from age 18 to 30
Agreeableness & conscientiousness increase slowly with age
○ Find this consistently over various cultures ~ Suggesting these traits are biological in origin,
developing through intrinsic maturation
○ Criticism ~ The work is too limited, as it does not account for aspects of the personality
that have been found by other researchers to change.
○ Response ~ What may appear to be drastic changes, actually reflect stable tendencies
Big Five personality traits may represent the major dimensions of the personality,
but they do not necessarily account for all variations of personality
Personality dimensions in late life
○ Research on personality development in late life has had mixed results
○ One study over a 14 year period showed:
• Agreeableness increased (esp in the oldest)
• Extraversion, activity, energy & health decreased
• Satisfaction ~ Most stable dimension,
~ Including self-esteem, cheerfulness, tendency not to worry, satisfaction with one’s self
• Intellect ~ Also very stable
~ Comprising of cognitive functioning & open mindedness
HOWEVER:
○ An extensive cross-sequential study found little longitudinal difference, instead it found cohort differences
○ As a group, older people today are more flexible & adaptable, & less socially responsible
∴ Age differences found in cross-sectional studies may reflect culturally influenced cohort differences rather than change within individuals
Laypeople’s views about personality change
○ People ~ Perceive themselves as changing over time
~ See this change as positive and negative
~ May be biased & more likely to report increases in desirable traits than undesirable ones
~ Report more perceived change over time than what longitudinal studies show
○ Middle aged people believe ~ They are most confident, able to handle stress & self-reliant they will ever be
~ Expect to improve in relationships & self-acceptance
~ Expect decline in purpose in life, personal growth & environmental mastery
Self-Concept Models
○ Consider our view of ourselves as the core of the personality
○ Sense of self ~ A social phenomenon: People peer into a mirror created by their social world, & blend the
image they see with what they already believe of themselves
○ Concerned with the cognitive side of personality ~ What people think about who they are.
○ Schemas ~ Working models/ Constructs of reality around which behaviour is organized
~ Self-concept consists of schemas
~ Tentative: Continually revised to conform with experience
~ Subjective; May filter out experiences which conflict with beliefs about the self
○ Self-concept ~ Includes knowledge of what a person has been & done,
Guides the person in deciding what to be & do
∴ Includes both self-understanding & self- regulation
~ Is caught in dynamic tension between stability & change
○ One model of self-concept development suggests:
• People make a subjective evaluation of their personal development
in relation o their social surroundings
• The evaluations are based on ~ What they could become, what they would like to become,
& what they are afraid of becoming
• Feelings of hope/fear about who they may become are internalized into the structure of self
• This concept of possible selves helps people adapt to new roles & transitions across the life span.
○ The self-concept model of Susan Krauss Whitborne:
• Focuses on Identity styles ~ Characteristic ways of confronting, interpreting&responding to experience
• Identity ~ Made up of accumulated images of the self (conscious & unconscious)
~ Includes perceived personality traits
• Self-image ~ Remains stable unless contradicted by changes in life circumstances/roles
• Changes ~ Do not shatter the personality’s fundamental continuity
~ Are incorporated into a modified, restabilized image of the self.
~ Take place through 2 processes of interaction with the social environment:
(Similar to the processes Piaget described for children’s cognitive development)
Identity assimilation ~ An attempt to fit new experiences into the existing self-concept
~ Someone who only assimilates is blind to reality
Identity accommodation ~ Adjusting the self-image according to the new experience
~ Someone who only accommodate are weak & easily swayed
∴ Where one finds the balance between the 2 is determined by your identity style.
•This model has an essentially stable concept of personality,
but incorporates a mechanism for dealing flexibly with new experience in an individual manner
• Does not yet have a strong research base.
Stage Models
○ Normative personality change ~ The focus of stage models
~ Age-related patterns of personality development
~ Common to most members of a population
~ Emerge in successive periods, often marked by a crises
→ Failure to resolve the crises leads to diminished development in the next stage
○ Portray a common core of life tasks ~ Occurring in a certain sequence at approximately the same ages
Erikson: Balancing positive & Negative Tendencies
○ Personality develops through the balancing of positive & negative tendencies in 8 critical stages
○ Young adulthood ~ Intimacy vs isolation
~ If resolved the resulting virtue = Love
~ People who cannot commit to another may become isolated & self-absorbed
○ About age 40 ~ Generativity vs stagnation
~ Generativity = a concern for establishing & guiding the next generation
~ Erikson believed people without kids cannot easily fulfill generativity
~ Virtue = Care
○ Old age ~ Integrity vs despair
~ Need to accept one’s life as lived to accept approaching death
~ Virtue = Wisdom,
with wisdom - a sense of order & meaning in life
without it - despair
409
Vaillant: Relationships and life adjustment
○ People’s lives are shaped by important, sustained relationships
○ Midlife transitions ~ Can be stressful due to new demands
~ Many men reassess their past, come to terms with long-suppressed feelings about their
parents & reorder their attitudes toward sexuality.
~ Rarely amounts to a crises.
~ No more likely to divorce, change jobs or become depressed than at any other age
○ Series of tasks ~ Similar to Erikson’s stages of development
~ Usually sequential, but completion of one task is not a prerequisite for moving to the next
1. Establish an identity separate from the parents ~ Usually completed by the end of adolescence
~ Develop a sense of self, with own values, politics & passions
2. Intimacy ~ Expanding the self to include another person
~ Twenties
~ Building a reciprocal relationship that involves commitment, contentment & interdependence
3. Career Consolidation ~ Thirties
~ Development of a work identity in addition to a personal identity
~ 4 Developmental criteria transform a job into a career:
commitment, competence, compensation & contentment
The above three tasks focus on self-development
This now gives way to “sensitive responsibility for other adults”
4. Generativity ~ Unselfishly giving oneself to the next generation
~ Mentoring/ guiding/leading/teaching
5a Keeper of meaning ~ Responsible for preserving culture, traditions & institutions
~ Taking care of the past rather than developing the future
5b Integrity ~ Last of life’s tasks
~ Must make sense of one’s life & accept what has happened
~ Wisdom about life is a key aspect of integrity
Levinson: Building and changing life structures
○ An evolving life structure ~ At the heart of the theory
~ The underlying pattern/design of a person’s life at a given time
~ Built around whatever a person finds most important
~ Most people build their life structure around work & family
○ Phases ~ Linked by transitional periods when people reappraise their life structure
~ Each phase has its own tasks, whose accomplishment becomes the foundation for the next life
structure.
413
Novice Phase ~ Early adulthood - ages 17-33
~ Leave the parent’s home & become emotionally & financially independent
~ Form relationships, usually leading to marriage & parenthood
~ Choose an occupation
~ 2 NB tasks:
- Form a dream → Usually has to do with career
- Find a mentor → Slightly older person who offers advice, moral support & practical help
Culminating Phase ~ Age 33 - 45
~ Settle down after 30
~ Sets goals & deadlines for achieving them
~ Anchors life in family, occupation & community
BUT~ Chafes under authority & wants to speak with own voice
may discard the mentor & be at odds with his wife, children, boss, friends, colleagues
Midlife Transition ~ Life structure changes appreciably
~ Realisation that some dreams won’t come true & emotional turmoil
~ 4/5 men felt upset & acted irrationally between ages 40 & 45
→ Levinson considered this unavoidable as people re-evaluate previously held values
Re-evaluation ~ Helps people come to terms with youthful dreams
to emerge with a more realistic self-image
to substitute more attainable goals
45-50 ~ Men carve out new life structures, possibly by taking a new job or a new wife
~ Those who make no changes lead a constricted middle life
~ Can make a recommitment to what they had been doing; unexcited
~ Often those who change their life structure find middle age the most fulfilling & creative
time of life.
Evaluating Stage models
○ Participants in the classic studies ~ small samples of privileged white men born in 1920’s - 1930’2
∴ Findings are not very generalisable
○ The models take male development as the norm ~ Does not study or discuss female development
~ Studies show differences in the development & meaning of intimacy for men & women
~ Studies that focus on women’s development are needed
○ Cohort effects may influence development:
~ The studies were done before, & don’t reflect, developments such as dual-earner couples,
cohabitation, etc
○ Other cultures have vastly different views on development
(see p414 for descriptions)
○ Contribution ~ Stage models emphasizes the idea of development as an adult.
The Timing-of-events Model
○ Age ~ Indicates a child’s development
○ Adults ~ Circumstances & life events are more important
○ Timing-of-events model ~ People develop in response to the times in their lives
when key events do or do not occur.
○ Normative events ~ Expected at a certain time/ happens to most adults
~ Are usually taken in stride
○ Nonnormative events ~ Unusual/Unexpected
~ Normative events at an unusual time (eg Retirement at 50)
○ Crises ~ Not caused by reaching a specific age,
but by the expected & unexpected occurrence & timing of life events
~ An unexpected event, an expected event at an unexpected time,
or the failure of an expected event to occur.
○ Typical timing of events ~ Varies widely from culture to culture & from one generation to the next
~ Has become far more flexible in western societies.
~ Less predictable
According to the timing-of-events model → This uncertainty can also produce stress.
BUT ~ Rapid social change undermines the predictability that this model assumes
People seem to not experience the predicted stress if their timing of life events is not set in stone.
○ Contribution of the timing-of-events model:
~ Emphasizes the importance of the individual life course
~ Challenges the idea of universal, age-related change
BUT It usefulness is also limited to societies in which norms of behaviour are stable & widespread.
11.3 Gender and Personality
Gender Stereotypes, Gender Roles and Gender Identity
○ Gender stereotypes = Exaggerated generalisations about the differences between men & women.
○ Gender roles = Cultural norms/expectations for appropriate male/female behaviour,
interests, attitudes, abilities & personality traits.
○ Gender identity ~ Awareness of what it means to be male/female
~ Incorporates gender roles through socialization in early childhood
~ An integral part of the sense of self, may represent a filtered view of reality
~ People who absorb gender stereotypes into their self-concept may deny their natural
inclinations, forcing themselves into ill-fitting academic-, career- or social molds
○ Characteristics associated with male/female, in everyday speech & psychological measurement:
• Masculine → Active, aggressive, autonomous, achievement-oriented
• Feminine → Nurturing, deferential, dependent, empathic, concerned with relationships
○ Women ~ More influenced by others
~ More likely to conform to behaviours of someone perceived to have more status/power
~ More concerned with the consequences of aggression, unless intoxicated
~ Engage in more self-disclosure in relationships, show better social skills & enjoy more closeness
BUT this is affected by gender & perceived status of the other party
○ Men ~ More aggressive
~ Show more helping behaviour in “rescue” situations
This difference disappears when the situation does not hold danger/discomfort for women
○ Reasons for gender differences ~ Hard to determine
→ Combination between biology, socialization & the social context of the interactions being studied
○ Generally actual differences between men & women are less than perceived differences
○ Another way of looking at gender ~ Separate a person’s attitudes, attributes, interests, roles & behaviours
~ The same person may show different patterns of masculinity/femininity
in different aspects of their personality.
○ Bem’s sex role Inventory ~ Places people in one of 4 categories:
Masculine/ Feminine
Androgynous → High in both “masculine” and “feminine” traits
→ Considered the most healthy & well-balanced personality
Undifferentiated → Low in both
How do gender roles and gender identity develop?
○ There are various theories - often conflicting:
○ Freud
• Gender identity is achieved by identifying with the parent of the same sex,
& repressing/giving up the idea of possessing the parent of the opposite sex.
○ Self-In-Relation theory (Jean Baker-Miller)
• Men & women develop gender identity differently,
& this difference explains much about adult personality development.
• Masculine identity → Requires a distancing from the mother
• Feminine identity → The tie with the mother widens to include other nurturant relationships
• Men ~ Also have a primary desire for connection with others
~ When this is frustrated by a culturally induced pursuit of autonomy& avoidance of close
attachments:
Emptiness, loneliness & depression in midlife.
∴ Women’s “weaknesses” → vulnerability, dependence & emotionality
are actually strengths
“Valuable attributes that foster connection, intimacy & growth”
419
○ Social Learning Theory (Banduras)
• Gender roles are learnt the way any other socially approved behaviour is learnt
→ Through observation, imitation & reinforcement
• Since they are learnt, they can later be modified through → Selection & imitation of new models
→ Reinforcement of different behaviour
○ Cognitive-developmental theories (Kohlberg)
• Children learn about gender through actively thinking about their experience
(rather than imitation/reinforcement)
• They organise their behaviour around their perceptions,
adopting behaviour they see as consistent with their identity as male/female.
• One model proposes that people learn about gender roles in 4 stages:
1. Vague notions in childhood
2. Rigid ideas of what males/females are & do
3. In adulthood their self-concept becomes more androgynous & flexible.
4. Gender role transcendence → People do whatever is most adaptive in a situation
○ Gender Schema Theory (Bem)
• Combines elements of social learning & cognitive-developmental approaches
• Gender schemas → Patterns of behaviour organised around gender
→ Helps people sort out their observations of what it means to be male/female
→ Picked up in childhood through seeing how society classifies people & behaviour
→ Can be modified, BUT modification requires altering culturally ingrained attitudes,
which are highly resistant to change
Women’s Personality Development: The Mills studies
○ Classic stage models used only male samples. The mills studies attempted to correct this
○ Found 3 types of systematic personality change that corresponds roughly to stage, life events & trait theories
Normative Changes
○ The studies suggest a progression of changes different to those of men
○ But the women also went through periods of reorganising their perceptions
○ Early forties → Time of greatest turmoil
→ Supports the notion of a female midlife crises
→ Outcome: A revision of the life story, giving the plot of their lves a self-chosen new direction
○ Themes of crises → Often age-related
Tended to be delayed by motherhood
423
• 20’s ~ Bad self → feeling lonely, isolated, unattractive, inferior & often passive
~ Bad Partner → A partner who was a substance abuser, suicidal or exploitative
• 30-40 ~ Struggle for independent identity, status, power & control over own life
~ Can involve graduate training, a career or an affair
• 36-46 ~ Unpleasant consequences of independence & assertiveness
~ Rebuffs at work/abandonment by husband
• 47-53 ~ Troubling relationships with partners, parents or children
~ or Overload caused either by demands of others or economic strain/heavy work responsibilities
○ Early fifties ~ Tend to be rated high
~ Old enough to have less family responsibilities, but still healthy
~ greater confidence, involvement security & breadth of personality
Most positive ~ The optimistic women, with good relationships, a favourable self-concept, a feeling of control,
active interests & managing their lives sensibly.
~ Likely to be caring for others → Eriksons generativity
○ Young adulthood increases femininity, but midlife brings more confidence & assertiveness
○ Highest quality of life is associated with an androgynous balance of (masculine) autonomy
& (feminine) involvement in an intimate relationship
○ These normative changes ~ Bound to the socioeconomic status, cohort & culture of the women
(White, upper-middle class, educated American)
~ Not necessarily the same as maturational changes that would be the same
regardless of class, cohort or culture
Changes associated with role patterns and paths
○ Women who followed the traditional path:
~ Start families in early twenties, maintain traditional roles in their 40’s
~ Did not exhibit the gains of independence & dominance that others did
~ Tended to become “overcontrolled” a pattern often found in women who place the needs of others
before their own.
○ Women who committed themselves in their 20’s to career, family or both:
~ Developed more fully than those with no kids
~ Between 27&40’s, they became more disciplined, independent hardworking & with better people skills
more dominant, motivated to achieve, emotionally stable goal-oriented & interested in what was going
on in the world than women who made neither commitment.
427
Synthesizing approaches to adult personality development
○ Stability and change both feature in the development of the adult personality
○ Various efforts exist to combine diverse approaches into a more universal theory:
• Broad conceptual framework of Costa & mcCrae
~ Embraces interaction among basic tendencies, external influences, self-concept & life events
• Helson’s use of techniques for exploring personality from several different perspectives
~ Acknowledges the role of gender, cohort, class & culture
~ Emphasises the need for more longitudinal research on how adults do & do not change
○ The entire lifespan contributes to the development of the personality
○ Multidirectionality of development ~ Can be seen in men’s greater need for intimacy in middle age, &
women’s greater need for autonomy.
○History & context/Cohort & culture ~ Essential in considering normative & nonnormative change
○ The field has an interdisciplinary nature
○ It may be impossible to develop a theory of personality development that is entirely culture-free
12. Mental Health, Coping and Adjustment to Aging
12.1 Models of Coping
○ Coping = Adaptive thinking/ behaviour, aimed at reducing or relieving stress
that arises from harmful, threatening or challenging conditions.
~ Important aspect of mental health.
○ Traditional models of coping ~ Environmental Models
~ Behavioural Models
~ Coping-style models
○ More modern model ~ Cognitive-Appraisal model
Effect of Job & Family Roles on Men’s psychological well-being
○ Traditionally ~ Men’s mental health was assessed in terms of work
~ Women’s mental health was assessed in terms of family
○ Recent studies take a more holistic view
○ Findings ~ Men’s family roles are just as important in determining their anxiety & depression levels,
~ Their different roles are related → Good relationships can make up for bad work experience.
○ For women ~ Just being a parent offsets job concerns
○ For men ~ Fatherhood in itself in less central to their sense of self,
but the rewards of parenthood is just as important
Environmental Models
○ A quantative approach
○ Mechanistic ~ Humans are reactors rather than actors
~ Size & frequency of environmental demands determine how well a person can cope
~ If the stressors are too many/huge, the person’s ability to cope is overwhelmed
(Like a machine that breaks under pressure)
○ Shortcomings of the environmental model:
1. It does not consider how an individual interprets an event
2. The timing of an event can make a difference
3. Stress can also result from lack of change
4. Studies suggest both physical & mental health are more likely to be affected by everyday irritations
than by major, isolated events.
5. The model ignores individual differences
436
○ Congruence model:
• People’s needs differ, & environments differ in how they meet those needs.
• Levels of satisfaction or stress depend on the congruence between the person and the environments
○ Environmental-press model
• Emphasizes differences in demands that environments make, and an individual’s competence
• Competence = Ability to meet environmental demands
• Adaptation level → When environmental press & competence match (both high or both low)
• Maximum potential is reached when moderately pressed by the environment\
• If press is to high/low → The person becomes uncomfortably aware of environment
→ Perceive it s boring or overwhelming
○ These models explain why different situations are more/less stressful for different people,
but not how people cope.
Behavioural Models
○ Give the individual a more active role
○ Explain behaviour in terms of classical or operant conditioning
○ Coping ~ Learned adaptations to environmental stressors
~ leads to a reduction of perceived stress.
○ Learned helplessness ~ When escape is impossible & attempts at mastery fail/are punished
Coping-Style Models
○ Based on the psychoanalytic tradition
○ Focus ~ Thoughts & attitudes rather than outward behaviour
○ Coping = A form of problem solving
○ Individual coping styles/strategies ~ Fairly sable.
○ 4 Kinds of Adaptive mechanisms (Vaillant):
1. Mature ~ eg humour/helping others
2. Neurotic ~ eg repression/saying the opposite of what you mean
3. Immature ~ eg fantasizing/experiencing imaginary aches & pains
4. Psychotic ~ Distorting/Denying reality
○ Criticisms of the model:
1. Coping styles may fail to capture the multidimensionality of human behaviour
2. The models do not distinguish between coping & other forms of adaptive behaviour that require no
effort.
3. Models that evaluate coping styles in terms of outcomes tend to confuse the process with the
product.
(Coping is struggle, not success. Management, not mastery)
438
Cognitive-Appraisal Models
○ Coping is an evolving process ~ Occurs only in situations that are taxing & demands unusual effort.
○ Contextual model ~ People choose coping strategies on the basis of their cognitive appraisal of a situation
○ Coping = Anything an individual thinks or does in trying to adapt to stress, regardless of how well it works
~ Is dynamic (Because the situation constantly changes)
∴ Choosing the most appropriate coping strategy involves constant reappraisal
of the relationship between the person & the environment.
○ Choice & effectiveness of a coping strategy are influenced by:
~ Personal resources → Health, energy, beliefs, commitments & motivations,
social- and problem-solving skills, material resources
~ Personal Constraints → Psychological problems (Fear of failure)
Attitudes reflecting societal norms
~ Environmental Constraints → Competing for resources/institutions that thwart coping
○ No strategy is seen as inherently good/bad ~ Effectiveness depends on context
○ 2 Modes of coping:
• Problem-Focussed coping ~ Directed toward eliminating, managing or improving conditions
~ Predominates when a person perceives a realistic chance of effecting change
• Emotion-focused coping ~ Palliative coping
~ Directed toward “feeling better”, managing the emotional response to a stressor
~ Used when a person feels that nothing can be done about the problem itself
○ Older adults ~ Tend to use more emotion-focused strategies
~ Might imply they have more mastery over their emotional responses.
12.2 “Successful Aging”
○ 3 Components:
1. Avoidance of disease or disease-related disability
2. Maintenance of high physical & cognitive functioning
3. Sustained, active engagement in social & productive activities.
○ Successful agers ~ Have social support (Emotional & material)
Do not think of themselves as old
○ All definitions of successful/optimal aging are value-laden
○ Criticism of the concept of “Successful Aging”
• The terms burden older people by pressuring them to meet standards they cannot/don’t want to meet
• The concept ignores constraints that limit lifestyle choices
• Not everyone can live the life they choose, and the already marginalised are most likely to “fail”
• The concept can lead to blaming those who fail
• It demeans old age & denies the importance of accepting/adapting to things that cannot be changed
Normative Models
○ Aging is successful ~ When the normal psychological tasks of each period of life is completed
in an emotionally healthy way.
○ Erikson ~ These tasks are generativity & Integration
○ Jung & Levinson ~ Balance the masculine & feminine aspects of the personality
& turn from striving for worldly success to explore the inner life.
○ 3 Classic models focus specifically on adaptation to aging:
Peck: Personality adjustment of middle and late adulthood
○ Expands on Erikson: Peck identified 7 psychological developments necessary to healthy adaptation to aging
○ 4 Critical adjustments of middle age ~ Shift from physical prowess to mental & emotional flexibility
Doesn’t have to wait for middle age, but if they don’t take place by then, healthy adjustment is doubtful.
• Valuing wisdom vs valuing physical powers
~ Wisdom = Ability to make the best choices in life
- depends on a broad range of experience
- makes up for loss of youthful appearance, strength & stamina
• Socializing vs Sexualising in relationships
~ Value men & women as friends & companions, unique individuals rather than sex objects
• Emotional flexibility vs Emotional impoverishment
~ The ability to shift emotional investment from one person/ability to another
• Mental Flexibility vs Mental Rigidity
~ Must continue to seek answers & remain open-minded to avoid becoming set in one’s ways
& closed to new ideas
○ 3 Critical Adjustments of late life ~ A broader understanding of the self & of life’s purpose
replaces concerns with work, physical well-being and mere existence
• Broader self-definition vs Preoccupation with work roles
~ People who have defined themselves by their work need to redefine their worth
~ Must explore other interests & take pride in personal attributes
• Transcendence of the body vs preoccupation with the body
~ As physical abilities decline people fare better if they can focus on relationships & activities
that do not rely on good health.
~ Throughout life, adults need to cultivate mental & social powers that grow with age.
• Transcendence of the ego vs Preoccupation with the ego
~ Probably the hardest and most crucial adjustment for older people
~ Move beyond concern for themselves & their present lives to accept the certainty of death
~ Must recognise the lasting significance they have achieved
~ Contribute to the wellbeing of others rather than become preoccupied with own needs
446
Disengagement theory versus Activity theory
○ Disengagement theory:
• Aging normally brings a gradual reduction in social involvement, + greater preoccupation with the self
• Disengagement is a universal condition of aging
• Declining physical functioning results in an inevitable withdrawal from social roles
• Now viewed as fundamentally flawed
• True disengagement only occurs in societies in which the elderly are left without established roles
appropriate to their stage of life
○ Activity theory
• The more active people remain, the better they age
• Continued activity is crucial to successful aging
• An adults roles are a source of satisfaction, & the more roles are lost, the greater the dissatisfaction
• Those who age successfully keep up with as many activities as possible& find substitutes for lost roles
○ 4 major styles of aging:
1. Integrated people ~ Function well
~ Complex inner life, intact cognitive abilities, high level of satisfaction
~ Active and disengaged people fell in this category
2. Armour-defended people ~ Achievement-oriented, striving & tightly controlled
3. Passive-dependent people ~ Apathetic, seeking comfort from others
4. Unintegrated people ~ Disorganised, little control over their emotions
~ Poor cognitive & psychological functioning & have trouble coping
∴ A number of social roles can lead to satisfaction
○ Other studies found:
• Activity in iself does not relate to satisfaction
• Activities with friends & family are more satisfying than structured group activities or solitary ones
• Longevity is not related to activity level.
○ Activity theory has not yet been discarded, but many view it as too simplistic
Balance Models
○ Normative models → People adapt to aging through a series of typical personality changes
BUT aging has lost some of its normative character & shows more variety
Balance models focus on ~ The interaction between individual & environment
∴ “Successful aging” = A balance between stability & change, that may not be the same for everyone
447
Atchley: Continuity Theory
○ People who age successfully ~ Can maintain continuity (connection with the past)
in both internal & external structures
○ Internal structures ~ Knowledge, self-esteem, a sense of personal history (Erikson’s ego integrity)
○ External Structures ~ Roles, relationships, activities & Sources of social support
~ The physical environment
○ Aging adults seek a satisfactory balance between continuity & change
∴ “Successful aging” may mean different things to different people
~ This is supported by findings that older people are happiest pursuing the same kinds of activities they have always preferred.
○ As agng brings physical/cognitive decline ~ It can become difficult to maintain external continuity
~ Successful adaptation can depend on support
○ Continuity theory may explain why homosexuals adapt to aging with more ease than others.
Whitbourne: Identity Styles and adaptations to aging
○ People cope with aging much as they have coped with earlier challenges
○ Changes associated with aging ~ Can be unsettling to the self-concept
~ Must be assimilated, accommodated or both
○ Assimilation ~ Continuity
~ People who predominantly assimilates are likely to maintain a youthful, positive self-image
& deny any negative changes
~ May deplete their psychological energy in keeping up this positive outlook,
~ May fail to take measures that can help compensate for losses
○ Accommodation ~ Change
~ People who predominantly use this style may see themselves as old (perhaps prematurely)
~may become overly preoccupied with symptoms of aging & disease
○ Balance ~ Enables a more realistic adjustment
~ Can take steps to control what they ca, & accept what they cant
○ Balance models ~ Currently getting more attention than older normative ones, but lack a solid research base.
Laypeople’s views about successful aging
○ Unlike theorists who focus on self-knowledge & self-acceptance, respondents focussed on relationships
○ Middle aged respondents ~ Most unhappy about family problems
~ Wished they could change an aspect of self or accomplish more in schooling & career
○ Older respondents ~ Unhappy about nothing, 7 would change nothing except health
○ This focus on acceptance ~ Reminiscent of Erikson & Peck
~ Implies “successful aging” may mean something different later in life
449
12.3 Mental Health in Late Life: A Lifespan Developmental Approach
○ Decline in mental health ~ Not typical in late life
~Mental illness is less common among the elderly than among younger adults
~ 20% of those 55 & older experience mental disorders that are not part of normal aging
○ Features of the lifespan developmental approach that apply to mental health:
• Multidirectionality of change
• Recognition of the context of development & its multiple causes
• Plasticity ~ Therapy in old age can be helpful, contrary to Freud’s opinion
○ Mental disorders often have a physical basis
○ Personality can also play a role (People high in neuroticism may be more vulnerable)
○ Where a person lives and with whom can make a difference
Mental Health and Life Satisfaction
○ Factors that are important to life satisfaction are also important to mental health
○ A sense of personal control is vital
Multiple Dimensions of Wellbeing
○ Carol Ryff ~ Developed a model with 6 dimensions of well-being
○ Psychologically healthy people ~ Positive attitudes towards self & others
~ Make own decisions & regulate their own behaviour
~ Choose or shape environments compatible with their own needs
~ Have goals that make their lives meaningful
~ Strive to develop & explore themselves fully
○ Midlife ~ Generally positive mental health
~ More autonomous than younger people
○ Purposeful & focussed on personal growth ~ Future oriented, declines to middle age, & even further later
○ Environmental mastery ~ Increases
○ Self-acceptance ~ relatively stable across ages
○ Men & women ~ Similar, but women have more positive social relationships
○ Well-being was greater for people with more education & better jobs
○ Women & men both thrived with paid work, even though it has higher potential for stress.
Dimensions of Well-Being used in Ryff’s Scale
High Scorer Low Scorer
Self- Acceptance • Positive attitude to the self • Dissatisfied with self
• Acknowledge & accepts multiple aspects of • Wishes to be different from what he/she is
the self (Incl good&bad Qualities) • Troubled by certain personal qualities
• Feels Positive about past life • Disappointed with past life
Positive Relations • Warm, satisfying, trusting relationships • Few close, trusting relationships
with others • Concerned about the welfare of others • Finds it difficult to be warm, open & concerned
• Capable of strong empathy, affection about others
& intimacy • Isolated & frustrated in personal relationships
• Understands give&take of relationships •Unwilling to compromise to sustain NB ties
Autonomy • Self-determining & independent • Concerned about the expectations & • Can resist social pressure to think & act evaluations of others
in certain ways • Conforms to social pressure
• Regulates behaviour from within • Relies on judgment of others to make
• Evaluates self by personal standards important decisions
Environmental • Sense of mastery & competence in • Has difficulty managing everyday affairs
Mastery managing the environment • Feels unable to improve surrounding context
• Controls complex array of external activities • Lacks sense of control over external world
• Makes effective use of opportunities • Unaware of surrounding opportunities
• Can choose/create contexts suitable to
personal needs & values
Purpose in Life • Has goals & a sense of directedness • Few goals/aims, Lacks sense of direction
• Feels there is meaning to past & present life • Lacks sense of meaning, sees no purpose in
• Holds beliefs that give life purpose past life.
• Has aims & objectives for living • Has no outlooks/beliefs that give life meaning
Personal Growth • Has feeling of continued development • Has a sense of personal stagnation
• Sees self as growing & expanding • Lacks sense of improvement/expansion over
• Has a sense of realising own potential time
• Sees improvement in self & behaviour • Feels bored with & uninterested in life
over time • Feels unable to develop new attitudes or
• Is changing in ways that reflect more behaviours
self-knowledge & effectiveness
463
13. Dealing with Death and Bereavement
13.1 Changing Perspectives on Death and Dying
○ Before modern times ~ 1/3 babies died in infancy
~ ½ of all children died before age 10
~ up to 40% of the population died in plagues
~ Parents expected at least some of their children to die before them
~ Most people died at home, & were cared for by relatives in their last weeks/months
~ Top causes of death in the US were things that affect children
∴ Death was normal & expected & something everyone dealt with.
○ Now ~ Nearly ¾ deaths in the US is of people older than 65
~ People survive longer with chronic, terminal diseases
~ The Baby Boomers had only 5% chance of reaching adulthood with a death in the immediate family
~ Care of the dying has become a task for professionals instead of family
~ 2/3 of deaths in the US occur somewhere other than at home
∴ Death became a phenomenon of late adulthood
& so became “invisible & abstract”
○ Things are slowly changing due to violence, drug abuse & above all the spread of AIDS
Biological, Social and Psychological Aspects of Death
○ Biological ~ Legal definition of death varies
~ Modern medical technology makes deciding when someone is “really” dead tricky
→ A person who is brain dead can be kept “alive” indefinitely.
~ Biological aspects are becoming difficult to disentangle from some social aspects
○ Social ~ Attitudes toward death, care of & behaviour toward the dying
Where death takes place, efforts to postpone or hasten it
Disposing of the dead, mourning customs & rituals & transfer of possessions & roles
~ Governed by religious or legal prescriptions
that reflect a society’s view of what death is & what happens afterward.
○ Psychological ~ How people feel about their own death & the death of those close to them
○ In contemporary western society ~ Avoidance & denial are fostered by social conventions.
~ The dying are isolated & left to cope on their own
481
The Study of Death: Thanatology and Death Education
○ Thanatology ~ The study of death and dying
~ “the study of life with death left in”
○ Death education ~ Programmes to teach people about death,
& how to cope with it personally & professionally
~ Offered to people who work with the dying, survivors & the community
○ Goals ~ Allaying death-related anxieties
~ Helping people develop their own belief systems
~ Help people prepare for their own death or that of someone close to them
~ Teach humane ways to treat the dying
~ Provide a realistic view of health care workers & their obligations to the dying & their families
~ Offering an understanding of the dynamics of grief
~ Helping suicidal people & those around them
~ Helping people decide what kind of funeral services they want
Hospice care
○ Part of the movement to make dying ore humane
○ Warm, personal, patient-oriented care for the terminally ill
○ Focused on palliative care - Relief of pain, control of symptoms, quality of life.
○ Can be given in a hospital, at home or at another institution - or a combination
○ In a hospital - the focus is on curing acute illness
- Terminal patients receive needless tests, have to conform to regulations that are irrelevant to
them & pay very high fees.
○ Preserving dignity of the dying ~ When dying patients are seen, and knows they are seen
as being worthy of honour and esteem by those who care for them,
dignity is more likely to be maintained.
13.2 Facing Death
○ All deaths are different & the experience of loss I s also different for survivors
○ Timing-of-events model ~ Explains why death does not mean the same thing for different individuals
○ Cohort also plays a role
BUT ~ Like there are commonalities in adult’s lives, there are similarities in the ways they face death at
different ages
482
Attitudes Toward Death and Dying
Young Adulthood
○ Young adults ~ Tend to avoid thinking about death
~ After studying etc they want to live the life they have been preparing for
→ If they then find out they have a terminal illness, they have worked for nothing
→ This translates to frustration & rage, often making them very difficult patients
~ More intensely emotional about imminent death than any other age group
○ Personal fable ~ Belief that risks can be taken without danger
~ Influences adolescents
~ Fades when more sobering responsibilities sets in
Middle Adulthood
○ Middle age ~ Most people start to realise they are going to die
~ Signals from the body, others who die at this age etc all drive the message home
~ Start thinking about time in terms of how many years they have left
~ Start seeing themselves as “the older generation” (esp after death of both parents)
○ Realization that death is certain & time is limited may be impetus for life changes
Late Adulthood
○ Older people ~ Less anxious about death than middle-aged
~ More likely to use emotion-focussed coping strategies
~ Thoughts & feelings are gradually reorganised to accept their own mortality
~ Physical losses can diminish pleasure in living, but few respondents would give up more than
a month for excellent health.
○ Erikson ~ Last crises to resolve in Integrity vs despair
~ Resolution brings wisdom that enables one to accept both the life led & impending death
○ Peck ~ Adjustments of old age may help people cope.
○ People who feel their lives have been meaningful are better able to face death.
Approaching Death
Physical and Psychological Changes
○ Psychological changes often begin before overt signs of dying
○ Terminal drop ~ A drop in cognitive abilities a few years before dying
~ Operates regardless of age, health, SES, gender or cause of death
~ Decline in verbal ability - Usually least affected by increasing age
- May be an important indicator.
~ Can be caused by depression & chronic ailments
○ Personality changes associated with terminal drop ~ Less introspective & more docile
○ Those close to death & dealing with crises ~ More afraid & preoccupied with death than those close to death
not dealing with a crises, and those dealing with crises but not close to death.
→ Indicates a psychosomatic relationship where psychological changes are related to physiological changes in
the body & vice versa
→ The changes are not the effect of a single episode of disease, as people who recovered from a disease did
not show the same pattern of decline as those who did not recover.
Kubler-Ross: Stages of Dying
○ Patients ~ Welcome the chance to talk about their condition
~ Know they are dying even if they were not told how sick they are
○ Stages of coming to terms with death: (Also of people coming to terms with immanent bereavement)
1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance
○ Criticism of this model:
• The “stages” are not true stages as in an organismic model
• Not everyone goes through all 5 stages, or in that particular order.
People also go back & forth between some of the stages, or experience more than one of them at once
• Some health professionals feel these stages are inevitable & universal
○ Dying ~ Is an individual experience, for some anger may be healthier than acceptance
○ This model should not be held up as a criterion for a “good death”
13.3 Facing Bereavement
○ Bereavement ~ The loss of someone to whom one feels close, & the process of adjustment to it
~ Can affect all aspects of life, often starting with a change in status/roles
○ Grief ~ The emotional response experienced in the early stages of bereavement
~ Can take many forms
○ Bereavement & grief ~ Universal experiences, but they have a cultural context
○ Mourning ~ Refers to behaviour, not feelings
~ The ways, usually culturally accepted, in which the bereaved and the community act while
adjusting to a death
○ Traditional cultures ~ customs with well-understood meaning provide an anchor amid the turbulence of loss
○ There is no “best” way to cope with loss ~ Counsellors must keep in mind both ethnic considerations &
individual differences
Forms and Patterns of Grief
Anticipatory Grief
○ Symptoms of grief experienced by relatives before the person dies
○ May help survivors handle the death more easily
○ People who can prepare psychologically & practically for a loss before it happens, may adjust better,
but this has not been proven by research
(Widows adjusted equally regardless of whether their husbands died after illness or unexpectedly)
Grief Work: A three-stage pattern
○ Most common & widely studied pattern of grief after loss:
1. Shock & disbelief
• May last several weeks, esp if death was unexpected
• Shock & inability to believe in the death may protect survivors from more intense reactions
• Shortness of breath, tightness in chest/throat, nausea. empty feeling in stomach is common
•As awareness of the loss sinks in, initial numbness gives way to overwhelming sadness,
commonly expressed by frequent crying.
2. Preoccupation with the memory of the dead person
• 6 months or longer.
• Survivor tries to come to terms with the death, but cannot accept it
• Frequent crying, insomnia, fatigue, loss of appetite
•A widow may relive the husbands death, feel his presence, have vivid dreams, hear his voice
3. Resolution
• When the bereaved renews interest in everyday activities
• Memories bring fond feelings mixed with sadness, rather than sharp pain & longing
• Become more active socially, renew old interests & discovers new ones.
Varied Reactions to loss
○ Grieving does not necessarily follow the pattern described, straight from shock to resolution
○ Can be a succession of emotional ups & downs of varying lengths
○ 5 common beliefs that are more myth than fact:
1. Everyone who suffers a severe loss will be distraught & probably depressed
• Depression is not universal
• 3 weeks to 2 years after loss, only 15 - 35% of respondents showed signs of depression
2. People who do not show distress will have psychological problems later on
• This is not really true, in fact people who were most intensely upset immediately after the loss,
were still most troubled up to 2 years later.
493
3. A bereaved person must “work through” a loss by focussing on it & trying to make sense of it.
• Not everyone needs to do this, or will benefit from this
• Some of those who did the most intense grief work had the most problems later on
4. The intense distress of mourning will come to an end in a fairly short time
• Not everyone returns to normal quickly
• Parents of children killed by drunk drivers functioned poorly up to 7 years later
5. People will eventually accept a loss, both intellectually & emotionally
• Not everyone can resolve their grief & accept their loss.
• Acceptance seems to be especially difficult after a car accident, or ambiguous loss.
○ 3 Main patterns of grieving:
1. Common grief
• Expected pattern, Mourner goes from high to low distress
• Rather uncommon - 11 % of the sample
2. Resilience
• Mourner does not experience intense distress immediately or later
• Most prevalent pattern (46%)
• The mourners ~ Expressed acceptance of death as a natural process
~ Spent little time thinking/talking about the loss, or searching for meaning in it.
• Challenges the belief that something is wrong if a person shows only mild distress.
3. Long term distress
• Chronic grievers ~ 16%, Became depressed after their loss
~ Tend to have been excessively dependent
~ Keep thinking about, talking about & searching for meaning in their loss
~ Did “get over it” by 48-month mark
• Chronically Depressed ~ 8%, Were depressed before the loss, & became more so afterward
~ Did not “get over it” by 48 months
~ May be most likely candidates for treatment
○ Some mourners were depressed before the loss, ad improved during bereavement:
• The death represent the end of a chronic stressor.
∴ Grief can take a variety of forms, & this has important implications for helping people deal with loss.
Grief Therapy
○ Treatment to help the bereaved cope with their loss
○ Help survivors express emotions & integrate the fact of the death into their lives
○ Grief therapy is often ineffectual, or even harmful
○ Assumptions that need to be re-evaluated:
• Absent grief represent unacknowledged problems related to the loss
• Bereavement is one of the most stressful events that most people ever encounter
○ Chronic grievers ~ Need treatment that acknowledges the centrality of their loss & helps them process it
~ Need to build self-esteem & restructure their lives
○ Chronically depressed ~ Intervention should focus on ongoing emotional problems
& assistance with everyday strains of widowhood
Surviving a Spouse
○ Loss of a spouse is ranked as the life event that requires the most adjustment
○ Women are much more likely to lose a spouse than men:
• By age 65, 1/3 of women have lost their spouses, this only happens by age 75 for men.
Adjustments
○ Survivor loses the role of spouse - esp devastating for someone who built their identity around this role
○ Quality of the lost relationship affects the degree to which the loss affects mental health
○ Social life ~ Family and friends rally right after the loss, then return to own lives
~ Married friends may avoid the widowed person due to discomfort
~ Widowed person often feels like a “third wheel” when visiting couples who have been longtime friends
~ Widowed people see friends more than married couples do
○ Widowers ~ More likely to seek the companionship of women
○ Widows ~ (Esp middle aged & older ones) seek companionship of other widows
~ Have a hard time meeting 7 forming relationships with other men
○ Economic hardship ~ Family income drops by 44% when a spouse dies
~ Either the main breadwinner dies, or survives & have to now buy services the dead
spouse used to provide.
~ Loss of one income in dual-earner families is a blow
○ Health ~ Men who lost their wives 21% more likely to die in a 5 year period
~ Widowed women 10% more likely to die than non-widows
~ This could be because there is no one to ensure healthy habits, be a reminder to take pills etc.
~ Social relationships are related to good health, loss of the “shield” of a spouse can have an impact
○ Mental health ~ Widowed people have higher rates of mental illness, esp depression
~ Widowed men more vulnerable to depression than women,
perhaps because the have less other intimate relationships.
~ Primary stressor for women = financial strain
Primary stressor for men = stress of managing a household.
○ People who adjust best ~ Keep busy, take on new roles, become more involved in activities
~ They see friends often, & take part in support groups
○ Social support ~ Esp NB in first few months
~ Survivors who cope well in this time do better in the long run
○ Quality of relationships is more important than frequency of contact
○ Seeing friends helps more than frequent visits with children
○ The distress of the loss can be a catalyst for introspection & growth.
○ Older adults seem to cope better than younger ones:
~ They have higher morale
~ Less likely to be burdened with sole parenting, breadwinning & reduced living standard
BUT when factors such as how recent the loss was is taken into account , age is not a significant factor in the grieving process, but coping skills are.
Remarriage
○ Elderly widowers ~ 4 times as likely to remarry as widows
Widows ~ Outnumber men
~ Can handle their household needs, may not want to give up the freedom of living alone or risk
having to take care of an infirm partner (again)
○ People of both sexes who have close personal friends - Less likely to remarry
~ This implies the main benefit of marriage in late life is companionship
○ Couples who married after age 60:
~ Both partners were usually widowed
~ Most knew each other during their 1st marriages/had been introduced by friends or relatives
~ Most were happy, with calmer marriages than the 1st time round
~ Men ~ Focused on companionship & relief from loneliness
Women ~ Focused on their feelings towards the new husband, or his qualities
Losing a Parent
○ Loss of parents often occur in middle age
○ Loss of both parents in young adulthood has become non normative
○ Surveys show emotional & social problems up to 5 years after a parent’s death, esp a mother.
○ Health problems ~ Reported by half the respondents
~ Illness, fatigue, general decline in health
~ Can take a while to surface
○ Death of a parent ~ Can be a maturing experience
~ Can push an adult into resolving important midlife developmental issues:
Stronger sense of self & personal choice
Greater sense of responsibility, commitment & attachment to others
~ Loss of a generation as “buffer” between self & death
~ More pressing, realistic awareness of own mortality
501
Changes in the Self
○ Many middle-aged adults who lose a parent experience some effect on their sense of self:
• Usually positive
• Become more self-assertive, autonomous, self-confident & responsible = more mature
• Can often accept & forgive the parent’s failures
• Often review own lives & revise own goals & activities
• Place more importance on relationships & simple pleasures, less on materialism
• Some experience a surge of creativity.
○ Those whose identity were intertwined with parent ~ May experience despair, worry about the future,
or shy away from accepting responsibility for managing their own lives.
○ Can leave the survivor feeling older & unprotected
○ Can also bring less anxious acceptance of death & greater sense of purpose
○ Often lead to concrete preparations for death, eg making a will
○ Age of parent at death is often significant for surviving children
Changes in Relationships
○ Death of a parent often brings changes in relationships → Positive or negative:
• Siblings can be drawn closer together, or become alienated
• Relationships that were maintained to please the parents can be abandoned
• Awareness of death’s finality can prompt a person to resolve conflicts with the living while they can
• People are sometimes moved to reconcile with estranged family members
Losing a Child
○ A cruel unnatural shock, an untimely event (In modern countries)
○ Can draw a couple closer together, but often results in divorce due to blame or differing coping mechanisms
○ Parents, esp mothers ~ Heightened risk for being hospitalised for mental illness
~ Can even die earlier
○ Discussing impending death with a child
• Helps achieve a sense of closure, enabling coping with the loss
• None of the respondents who did so regretted it
• 27% who did not discuss it with the child did regret it,
esp if they sensed the child was aware of his/her immanent death
Disproportionate numbers of these parents were suffering from depression
○ People have different ways to cope with grief
• Some may plunge into work, other interests
• Some join support groups
• Telling someone not to dwell on it is not helpful
504
Mourning a Miscarriage
○ In English ~ No word for a miscarried or aborted fetus
(Japanese Mizuko = Water child)
~ No ritual of mourning
~ People often avoid talking about the loss, & se it as insignificant compared to the loss of a child
~ Grief can be more wrenching without social support
○ Men ~ Report extreme frustration & helplessness, but find relief in supporting their partners
○ Couples often consider family & spouses as most helpful, and doctors as least helpful
○ People who have had a miscarriage may need extra-compassionate care in a later pregnancy
13.4. Finding Meaning and Purpose in Life and Death
Reviewing a Life
○ Life review ~ A process of reminiscence that enables a person to see the significance of his/her life as death
draws near
~ Can foster ego integrity (Erikson) the final, critical task of the lifespan
~ May see experiences & actions in a new light
~ May enable someone to complete unfinished tasks & so achieve a sense of closure
○ 3 Types of reminiscences:
• Reminiscence for pleasure ~ Most frequent
~ Enhance mood & self-image
~ People who only focus on pleasant memories have high spirits & low ego-integrity
• Reminiscence for self-understanding ~ 1 out of 4 adults
~ Help people resolve past problems & find meaning in life
~ Show greatest ego-integrity & mental health
(Those engaged in life review may temporarily experience lower morale)
• Reminiscence to solve present problems & cope with losses ~ 1 in 10
○ Despair ~ These people keep recalling negative events
~ Are obsessed with regret, hopelessness & fear of death.
~ May be in need of therapy
○ Other researchers found:
• People who age successfully ~ Have more integrative & instrumental reminiscences
& less obsessive or escapist ones
• Integrative → Help people accept their lives, resolve old conflicts
& reconcile an idealised version of the past with reality
• Instrumental → Allows them to draw on coping strategies that worked in the past
• Escapist → Glorify the past over the present
• Obsessive → Coloured by guilt, bitterness or despair
○Life-review therapy ~ Can help focus the natural processes of life review,
making it more conscious, purposeful & efficient
Overcoming fear of Death
○ Those who see the most purpose n life has the least fear of death
○ Denial of death ~ Results in an empty life, postponing things that are needed for growth
○ Accepting the reality of death ~ Leads to living life to the fullest
Development: A lifelong Process
○ Even dying can be a developmental experience
○ The tension between the infinite possibilities for growth & a finite lifespan defines human life, particularly during late adulthood.
“By choosing which possibilities to pursue, and by continuing to follow them as far as possible, each person contributes to the unfinished story of adult development”
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