effects of ageing

Question 1

ageing and cognitive development

Answer 1

• Piaget- Conservation is the concept of properties staying is the same even though other elements change, which is based on ration thinking. As we reach a certain level of maturation, we can conserve
• In the preoperational stage, children are just developing conservation and may struggle. After age of 7 children should be able to fully conserve
• Piaget studied elderly females on area and volume conservation and found only 33% could conserve. He then looked at the ones who failed the conservation looked to see if verbal feedback strategies helped, results showed improve conservation than in no feedback training control group
• However, Piaget did not consider possible effects of primary or secondary ageing, or brain differences were also not considered

Question 2

ageing and strokes

Answer 2

• Secondary ageing= stroke
• Stroke and the onset of dementia can increase the rate of cognitive developmental decline
• However, unlike primary ageing, as people age, they can reduce the risks by changing lifestyles

Question 3

how can development declination be slowed down?

Answer 3

• Within primary ageing, we can introduce communications= regular talking and involvement in social groups.
• Primary ageing- building relationships at an older age, both romantic relationships and friendships
• Primary ageing- puzzles, both physical puzzles and online games
• Secondary ageing- changing our diet
• Secondary ageing- social interactions- both with individuals and in social groups
• Secondary ageing- exercise- age suitable exercises

Question 4

explain emotions in older age

Answer 4

• Common things we see;
• Denial of ageing process is very common- increasingly seeing people get cosmetic surgery
• Helplessness as problems grow
• Paranoid of others’ perceptions which may result In lack of trust
• Anger at uncertainty in life/ anger at the stage they are at in life
• Loneliness when relationships decline, and life takes its course
• Guilt of not preventing loss- thinking they could have done more
• Also stubborn, dwelling on the past, anxiety and depression, grief

Question 5

theories of emotional change in old age

Answer 5

• Disengagement theory (Cumming and Henry, 1961) = shows emotional ‘’blunting’’ with age
• Older people will need to withdraw from social contact and disengaged because of reduce health and loss of social opportunities
• We learn to manage and cope with emotions as we get older (improve knowledge of emotional intelligence)
• Issues with disengagement theory= the reason behind disengagement is unclear. We cannot be sure whether older people withdraw form situations because of reduced health or whether the reduced health is a cause of the withdrawal (little research to establish this so-called cause and effect relationship)
• Current evidence suggests the development of superior emotional regulation with ageing (Gross et al., 1997)- by older age, individuals have learned to regulate emotions more effectively so they can cope with differing situations
• Appraisal approach to ageing and emotion (Young et al., 2021)= a. age related cognitive motivational and physical changes fundamentally change the appraisal system in certain ways. B. older adults often deploy appraisal processes in different ways relative to their younger counterparts