chp 1. Flashcards
Gerontology
The study of aging from maturity through old age
Ageism
a form of discrimination against older adults based on their age, which comes about due to myths of aging. (stereotypes)
The Life-Span Perspective divides human development into two phases:
- Early (childhood and adolescence)-rapid age-related increase in people’s size and ability
- Later (young adulthood, middle age, and old age)-changes in size are slow, abilities continue to develop
Paul Baltes (1987) identified FOUR key features
– Multi-directionality-development involves both growth and decline es: vocab increases throughout life, reaction time slows down overtimes
– Plasticity-one capacity is not predetermined or set in concrete, many skills can be improved and trained even in late life
– Historical context-each of us develop within a particular set of circumstances determined by historical time, birth place and culture
– Multiple causation- develop from a wide variety of sources biological, physiological, sociocultural, life-cycle forces
Baltes et al. (2006) argue that life-span development consists of dynamic interactions between the following factors
– As people grow older, they show an age-related reduction in the amount and quality of biologically based resources.
– There is an age-related increase in the amount and quality of culture needed to generate continuously higher growth of growth as people age.
– People show an age-related decline in the
efficiency with which they use cultural resources.
– There is a lack of cultural, “old-age-friendly” support structures.
• Taken together, these four factors create the need to shift more and more resources to maintain function
life-span development
- as people age they begin to focus or select abilities deemed for functioning essentially
- people optimize behavior by focusing on limited abilities, people compensate for declines by strategizing
Demographers
people who study population trends
Population pyramid
a graphic technique used to illustrate changes in the age distribution of a population
General trends indicate an ______ in the population over 65 in developing and developed countries
increase
Diversity of Older Adults
–The number of older adults is ____ in all ethnic groups
– Older women older men in all groups
– Older adults will be better
– Nearly all countries are facing the need to adapt social policies as the number of older adults___
– China and other countries are ____ economically trying to cope with increased need
– The number of older adults is increasing in all ethnic groups
– Older women outnumber older men in all groups
– Older adults will be better educated
– Nearly all countries are facing the need to adapt social policies as the number of older adults increases
– China and other countries are strained economically trying to cope with increased need
forces of development
Forces of development: help understand certain things about aging – Biological forces – Psychological forces – Sociocultural forces – Life-cycle forces
Biological forces
includes all genetic and health related factors that affect development ex: menopause, facial wrinkling, changes in organ systems
psychological forces
includes all internal, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and personality factors that affect development (characteristics of individuals)
sociocultural
-interpersonal, societal, cultural, and ethnic factors that affect development (context)
life-cycle forces
-reflect differences in how the same event or combination of biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces affects people at different points in their life.
life cycle forces include
-biological, psychological, and sociocultural, combination of these forces
-biopsychosocial framework-
bio, psycho, and sociocultural forces on human development
Age related Developmental Influences
– Normative age-graded influences-are experiences caused by biological, psychologicl, and sociocultural foces that occur to most people of a particultural age ex: puberty, menopause, marriage, retirement
– Normative history-graded influences-are events that most people in a specific culture experience at the same time ex: epidemics, sterotypes, 9/11
– Non-normative influences-are random or rare event that my be important for a specific individual but are not experienced by most people es: wining lottery, or election
Culture:
shared basic value orientations, norms, beliefs, and customary habits and ways of living.
– Important to gerontology
– Solid and fluid qualities of ethnic group identities
The Meaning of Age
Primar secondary tertiary
– Primary aging-normal disease free development during adulthood
– Secondary aging-developmental changes that are related to disease, life-style, and other environmentally induced changes that are not inevitable ex: pollution, alzheimers
– Tertiary aging-rapid looses that occur shorty before death ex: intellectual decline last few years of life
definitions of age
– Chronological age-shorthand way to index time -calender time-age in elapsed time
– Perceived age-age you thing of yourself as
– Biological age-measuring the funcitoning of various vital, or life-limiting organ systems such as the cardiovascular system
– Psychological age-functional level of psychological abilities ex: memory, feelings
– Sociocultural age-specific roles individuals adopt in relation to other members of society and cultlure
an example of the complexities of age
emerging adulthood-late teems to mid late 20’s individuals are not adolescent but are not fully adults
Core Issues in Development
– The nature-nurture issue-involves the degree to which genetic or hereditary influences(nature) and experiential or environmental influences (nurture) determine the kind of person you are
– The stability-change issue-to which degree do people remain the same over time (varies and depends on example/ situation)
– The continuity-discontinuity controversy -wether a particular developmental phenomenon represents a smooth progression over time (continuity) or a series of abrupt shifts (discontinuation)
▪ Plasticity-belief that capacity is not fixed but can be learned or improved with practice
– The universal versus context-specific development controversy-is there just one path of development or are here several?
Measurement in Research
– Reliability-measurements provides a consistent index or behavior of topic of interest (get same answer)
– Validity-measure what researchers thing it measures. (measures what its supposed to measure)
Methods of Research
– Systematic observation-watching people and carefully recording what they say or do
▪ Naturalistic-observer spontaneous behavior, real-life situation
▪ Structured-researcher creates setting to elicit behavior of interest
– Sampling behavior with tasks-can’t observe directly, give tasks to memorize
– Self-reports-people answers to questions about the topic of interest
– Representative sampling-populations of groups
es: asian american cultures
• General Designs for Research
– Experimental design-manipulate key factor that the researcher believes is responsible for a behavior
▪ Independent variables-being manipulated
▪ Dependent variables-behavior observed
– Correlational design-examine relations between variables as they exist naturally in the world
▪ Correlation coefficient (r) values
r=0-unrelated r>o-related variables. r<0-inversely related
▪ Cause and effect cannot be determined-correlation does not equal causation
▪ Third variable effect-outside factor
– Case studies-study single individual in great detail
▪ Single individual
▪ Multiple individuals
– Effects that can affect results:
▪ Age effects (within subjects) -reflects differences caused y underlying process, such as biological, psychological or socioculturle changes
▪ Cohort effects-differences caused by unique experiences to the generation they belong
▪ Time of measurement effects-diff. stemming form sociocultural, evironmental, historical, or other events at the time data are obtained
cohort-
group of people born at the same point in time or within specific time span
designs
▪ Cross-sectional designs - testing people of different ages at the same time
▪ Longitudinal designs-same individuals are observed or tested repeatedly at diff. points in their life
▪ Sequential designs-represents different combination of cross-sectional or longitudinal studies.
confounding
-one cannot determine which of two or more effects is responsible for the behaviors being observed.
– Meta-analysis
-synthesize results of many studies to estimate relations between variables
▪ Determines whether a finding generalizes across many studies that used different methods
Conducting Research Ethically
– Minimize risks to research participants.
– Describe the research to potential participants.
– Avoid deception.
– Results should be anonymous or confidential.
