Human Life Span

Question 1

Normative Age-graded influences

Answer 1

Similar for individuals in a particular age group.

• Biological processes (Puberty & Menopause)
• Sociocultural, environmental processes (Beginning formal education [At age 6 in most cultures] & retirement [in 50s & 60s in most cultures]).

Question 2

Normative History-graded influences

Answer 2

Common to people of a particular generation because of historical circumstances.

Question 3

Non-normative or highly individualized life events

Answer 3

• Unusual occurrences that have a major impact on an individual’s life.
• Do not happen to all people.
• When they occur, they can influence people in different ways.
  (Eg. Death of parent when child is young, Pregnancy in early adolescence, fire that destroys home, winning lottery, getting unexpected career opportunity)

Question 4

BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES

Answer 4

Changes in an individual’s physical nature.

Question 5

SOCIO-EMOTIONAL PROCESS

Answer 5

Changes in an individual’s relationships with other people, emotions & personality.

Question 6

Sensorimotor Stage

Answer 6

(0-2 years of age) - the infant is learning about the world through its senses & its motor behavior. Involves learning how to coordinate movements with perception.

• Primary, secondary, & tertiary circular reactions

Development of object permanence, or the realization that an object still exists even when you can’t see/hear/otherwise sense it. (Piaget says develops around the age of 6 months.)
Hiding an object and seeing in the infant searched for it.

Child can experiment mentally, can refine behaviors until they work, and can imitate other people from memory - indicates that the child has developed the means to form mental representations, but can’t use reasoning to utilize schemas.

Question 6

COGNITIVE PROCESS

Answer 6

Changes in an individual’s thought, intelligence & language.

Question 7

Schemes - Piaget

Answer 7

Actions or mental representations that organize knowledge.
They are simple actions that can be performed on objects such as sucking, looking, grasping.
Behavioural schemes characterize Infancy.
Mental schemes develop in childhood. Schemes that include strategies & plans for solving problems (open door)
When we reached adulthood, would have constructed enormous number of diverse schemes, from driving car to balancing budget to understanding concept of fairness.

Question 8

Assimilation & Accommodation in Infancy

Answer 8

Assimilation - using existing schemes to deal with new information or experiences. Adapting new concepts or information into a scheme you already have. Easier. (Call all moving vehicles a car)(assimilate all sorts of objects into their sucking scheme)
Accommodation - adjusting schemes to fit new information & experiences. Occurs when new information won’t fit into an existing scheme, must be modified or a new scheme must be created. (Soon learns is not car, so accommodates)(after months of experience of sucking different objects, learn new things, accommodate their sucking scheme)

Question 9

What are emotions?

What is the nature of an infant’s emotions & how do they change?

Answer 9

Emotions are feelings or affects, that occurs in a state or interaction that is important to him or her. It is characterized by behaviour that reflects/expresses the pleasantness or unpleasantness of the state a person is in or the transactions being experienced.

Emotions are influenced both biologically & by person’s experience.

Question 10

What is Temperament, & how does it develop in infancy?

Infancy

Answer 10

Temperament involves individual differences in behavioural styles, emotions & characteristic ways of responding.

Temperament has Biological influences:
Jerome Kagan asserts that Temperament is resulted from children inheriting a physiology that biases them to have a particular type of temperament (eg. Fearful & inhibited), but through experience they may learn to modify their temperament to some degree (reduce their fear & inhibition).

Physiological characteristics are linked with different temperaments. Heredity has an influence on differences in temperament.
The contemporary view is that temperament is biologically based. But the behaviour evolves as the child’s experiences are incorporated into a network of self-perceptions & behavioural preferences that characterize the child’s personality.

It is influenced by gender, cultural factors, which affect their reaction to the infant’s temperament. Many aspects of the child’s environment can encourage or discourage the persistence of temperament characteristics (Bates & Pettit, 2007)

Question 11

Temperament (Infancy)

Answer 11

Chess & Thomas 3 basic types = Easy, Difficult, Slow to warm up child
Kagan - Behavioural Inhibition
Rothbart & Bates - Extraversion/Surgency, Negative Affectivity, Effortful control

Question 12

Individual Differences in Attachment: Strange Situation

By Mary Ainsworth

(Infancy)

Answer 12

An observational measure of infant attachment in which the infant experiences a series of introductions, separations, & reunions with the caregiver & an adult stranger in a prescribed manner. Provides information about infant’s motivation to be near caregiver & the degree to which the caregiver’s presence provides infant with security & confidence. May be culturally biased.

• Securely attached babies (use caregiver’s presence to explore environment. When caregiver departs, they might mildly protest, only to reestablish positive interaction with her by smiling or climbing to her lap) –[most frequent classification in cultures]
• Insecure avoidant babies (avoids caregivers, engage in little interaction with caregiver, not distressed when caregiver departs. If contact is established, infant leans or looks away)
• Insecure resistant babies (often cling to caregiver & then resist her by fighting against the closeness, kicking or pushing away. Doesn’t explore. When caregiver departs, they often cry loudly & push away if is comforted.
• Insecure disorganized babies (disorganized & disoriented. Appear dazed, confused, fearful. Show strong patterns of avoidance & resistance, or display certain specified behaviours, such as extreme fearfulness around caregiver)

Question 13

Theory of Mind

early childhood

Answer 13

The awareness of one’s own mental processes & the mental processes of others.

Question 14

Preoperational Stage (early childhood)

Answer 14

(2-7 yrs) Egocentrism:
• Transductive Reasoning (making errors in understanding cause & effect. (Inferring cause & effect from a correlation that doesn’t exist)
o Animism (believing that inanimate objects are alive)
o Imminent Justice (If a rule is broken, punishment will be meted out immediately)

Question 15

Childhood Egocentrism

Early Childhood

Answer 15

In Piaget’s theory, the inability of the preoperational child to take another’s point of view.
A self-centered, but not selfish perspective on the world where the child believes that everyone perceives the world exactly as they do.

Question 16

Animism

Early Childhood

Answer 16

Believing that inanimate objects are alive.

Question 17

Diana Baumrind’s Authoritarian Parenting

Early Childhood

Answer 17

A restrictive, punitive style which parents exhort the child to follow their directions & to respect their work & effort.
The parent places firm limits & controls on the child & allows little verbal exchange.
Authoritarian parenting is associated with children’s social incompetence.

Question 18

Baumrind’s Authoritative Parenting

Early Childhood

Answer 18

A parenting style in which parents encourage child to be independent but still places limits & controls on their actions.
Extensive verbal give-and-take is allowed, & parents are warm & nurturant toward the child.
Authoritative parenting is associated with children’s social competence.

Question 19

Baumrind’s Neglectful Parenting

Early Childhood

Answer 19

A style of parenting in which the parent is very uninvolved in the child’s life.
It is associated with children’s social incompetence, especially a lack of self-control.

Question 20

Baumrind’s Indulgent Parenting

Early Childhood

Answer 20

A style of parenting in which parents are highly involved with their children but place few demands or controls on them.
Indulgent parenting is associated with children’s social incompetence, especially a lack of self-control.

Question 21

Operations & Concrete Operations

Middle & Late Childhood

Answer 21

Operations are mental actions that are reversible.
Concrete operations are operations that are applied to real, concrete objects.
Child can perform concrete operations & can reason logically as long as reasoning can be applied specifically or concretely.
They allow the child to consider several characteristics rather than focus on a single property of an object.
One important skill - is the ability to classify & divide things into different sets or subsets & to consider their interrelationships.
Capable of seriation - ability to order stimuli along a quantities dimension.
Have the ability to logically combine relations to understand certain conclusions.

Question 22

What are Howard Gardner’s 8 frames of mind Multiple Intelligences?

(Middle & Late Childhood)

Answer 22

1. Verbal
2. Mathematical
3. Spatial
4. Musical
5. Bodily-kinesthetic
6. Interpersonal
7. Intrapersonal
8. Naturalist
9. Spiritual

Question 23

What are Robert Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory?

Middle & Late Childhood

Answer 23

1. Analytical Intelligence - ability to analyze, judge, evaluate, compare & contrast
2. Creative Intelligence - ability to create,invent, originate & imagine
3. Practical Intelligence - ability to use, apply, implement & put ideas into practice

Ana
Creative
Pract

Question 24

What is Intelligence?

Middle & Late Childhood

Answer 24

The ability to solve problems & to adapt and learn from experience.

Question 25

Concrete Operational Stage

Middle/Late Childhood

Answer 25

(7-11 years) - child has decentered, can think about more than one thing at a time, and has become more logical in his or her thoughts. However, child can only conceive things that exist in physical reality, not abstract concepts.
o Conservation (recognizing that the important properties of an object remains the same despite changes in appearance)

o Reversibility (the understanding that logical operations can be reversed. (2+3=5, therefore, 5-3=2) They can also mentally undo an action)

o Seriation (the ability to order objects along some dimension from memory)

o Class Inclusion (the ability to reason simultaneously about subsets & supersets. (To think about the whole & the parts at once))

Question 26

Conservation

Middle/Late Childhood

Answer 26

Recognizing that the important properties of an object remains the same despite changes in appearance.

Question 27

Evaluate Piaget’s Concrete Operational Stage

Answer 27

Concrete operational abilities do not appear in synchrony (children do not learn to conserve at the same time as they learn to cross-classify), Piaget thinks various aspect of a stage should emerge at the same time.

Education & culture exert stronger influences on children’s development than Piaget reasoned. Some preoperational children can be trained to reason at a concrete operational stage. The age which children acquire conservation skills is related to how much practice their culture provides in these skills.

Question 28

4 types of peer statuses (Wentzel & Asher)

Middle Late Childhood

Answer 28

Popular children
Average
Neglected
Controversial

Question 29

Development of Self Understanding for Middle & Late Childhood

Answer 29

• Children increasingly describe themselves with psychological characteristics & traits, in contrast to more concrete self-descriptions during Early Childhood.
• Become more likely to recognize social aspects of the self. They include references to social groups in their self-descriptions (Girl Scouts, Catholics).
• Increasing reference to social comparison distinguish themselves from others in comparative rather than absolute terms.
• They no longer think about what they do or do not do, but more likely to think about what they can do in comparison with others.

Self-description increasingly involves psychological & social characteristics, including social comparison.

Question 30

Understanding of others in Middle/Late Childhood

Answer 30

Increase in perspective taking, assume other people’s perspectives & understand their thoughts & feelings.
Perspective taking - Helps to develop prosocial or antisocial attitudes & behaviour.
Prosocial: Improved children’s likelihood of understand & sympathizing with others when they are distressed or in need.
Antisocial: Children have low level of perspective-taking skills.

Become more skeptical of others’ claims. Become skeptical of some sources of information about psychological traits.

Question 31

Define self esteem

(Middle&Late Childhood)

Answer 31

Refers to the global evaluation of the self which include self-worth or self-image.
Self esteem reflects perceptions that do not always match reality, not necessarily accurate justified perceptions of one’s worth as a person & one’s successes & accomplishments.

Question 32

What is self-concept?

Middle & Late Childhood

Answer 32

Refers to domain-specific evaluations of the self.

Eg. Academic, athletic, appearance

Question 33

Self-efficacy

Middle & Late Childhood

Answer 33

The belief that one can master a situation & produce favourable outcomes.
A critical factor in whether or not students achieve.
“I can” attitude belief.
Influences a students’ choice of activities.

Students with low self-efficacy for learning - may avoid many learning tasks, especially those that are challenging.
High self-efficacy - eagerly work at learning tasks. More likely to expend (spend) effort & persist longer at a learning task than students with low self-efficacy.

Question 34

Self-Regulation

Middle & Late Childhood

Answer 34

Increased capacity for self-regulation.
This increased capacity to manage one’s behaviour, emotions, & thoughts.
Leading to increased social competence & achievement.
High self-control was linked to lower levels of deviant behaviour.
The increased capacity of self-regulation is linked to developmental advances in the brain’s prefrontal cortex -improved cognitive control (includes self-regulation).

Question 35

High & Low self esteem

Answer 35

High self esteem - may refer to accurate, justified perceptions of one’s worth as a person & one’s successes & accomplishments. It can also indicate an arrogant, grandiose, unwarranted sense of superiority over others.

Low self esteem - may suggest either an accurate perception of one’s shortcomings or distorted even pathological insecurity & inferiority.

Question 36

What are 2 stages of Piaget’s Moral Development

Middle Late Childhood

Answer 36

Heteronomous Morality - rules are important, punishment is fixed
Autonomous Morality - rules are made by people, so can be changed, punishment does not always follow wrong doing.

Question 37

Formal Operational Stage

Adolescence

Answer 37

(12+) Child is able to think about more abstract concepts. They can make up imaginary situations, hypothetical events & possibilities. It is evident in the adolescent’s verbal problem-solving ability, to reason out logically. He is able to ‘think about thought’ itself, a focus on thought & its abstract qualities.
Their thoughts are full of idealism & possibilities, during beginning of formal operational stage where Assimilation dominates.
They also engage in extended speculation about ideal characteristics & qualities they desire in others & themselves, leading them to compare in regard to such idealized standards.
Not only do they have the ability to think abstractly, they also do more logically - conducting hypothetical-deductive reasoning, resulting in attempts to problem solve through trial & error, planning & systematically testing solutions (eg. Algebraic equations).

o Adolescent Egocentrism (As adults, we experience the spotlight effect, which is the overestimation of the extent to which our own actions & appearances affect those around us)

o Personal Fable (the belief that our own problems are entirely unique - no one else has experienced them in the same way (applies in particular to parents)

Question 38

Psychosocial Moratorium

Adolescence

Answer 38

Psychosocial Moratorium is Erikson’s term - Gap between childhood security & adult autonomy. In which society leaves Adolescents free of responsibilities & experiment with & try out different identity ‘fits’. This is a search for a identity to find out where they fit in the world.

Youths who successfully cope with conflicting identities - emerge with a new sense of self that is both refreshing & acceptable.
Those unsuccessful of resolving this identity crisis suffer ‘Identity Confusion’ (Erikson’s term).

2 courses of confusion: Individuals withdraw, isolate themselves from peers & family. Or immerse themselves in the world of peers & lose their identity in the crowd.

Question 39

How do adolescents go about the process of forming an identity?
- James Marcia

Answer 39

James Marcia expands on Erikson’s theory of Identity development - contains 4 statuses of Identity, or ways of resolving the identity crisis.

1) Identity Diffusion (Have not yet experienced a crisis or made any commitments. Undecided on occupational & ideological choices, likely to show little interest)
2) Identity Foreclosure (Have made commitment, but not experienced crisis. Occurs when parents hand down commitments, usually in authoritarian way, before they had a chance to explore different approaches, ideologies, vocations on their own)
3) Identity Moratorium (Are in the midst of crisis, but commitments are ether absent or only vaguely defined- unclear)
4) Identity Achievement (Undergone crisis & made commitment)

What determines an individual’s identity crisis = is based on existence or extent of their CRISIS or COMMITMENT.
Crisis / Exploration - period of identity development during which the individual is exploring alternatives.
Commitment - personal investment in identity.

Key changes in identity more likely to take place in emerging adulthood (18-25) or later during adolescence stage.

Question 40

Evaluate/Critique Piaget’s Theory of Formal Operational Stage ideas.

Answer 40

1) There is Individual variation, where not all adolescents is a formal operational thinker, neither do may adults.
2) There are Cultural & educational influences exerted strongly on cognitive development than Piaget maintained in Concrete Operational: Some concrete operational children can be trained to reason & practise in the skills acquired by their culture & schools.

Question 41

Adolescent Egocentrism

Adolescence

Answer 41

The heightened self-consciousness of adolescents.

It has 2 components (David Elkind):
1) Imaginary Audience (adolescent’s belief that others are as interested in them as they themselves are. They also can be attention-getting - attempts to be noticed, visible or sense they are on stage, believing they are the main actors & all others are audience.)
2) Personal Fable (is the part of adolescent egocentrism involving a sense of uniqueness & invincibility (or invulnerability). This sense of uniqueness makes them feel that no one can understand how they really feel.
To retain a sense of personal uniqueness, they might craft a story about the self that is filled with fantasy, immersing themselves in a world that is far removed from reality. It shows up frequently in diaries.
To show sense of invincibility or invulnerability, they believe they are invulnerable to dangers & catastrophes that happen to other people. As a result they engage in risky behaviours.

Question 42

Deanna Kuhn’s Information Processing in Adolescence

Answer 42

Most important cognitive change in adolescence = Is improvement in Executive Functioning, which involves higher-order cognitive activities such as Reasoning, Making Decisions, Monitoring thinking critically, Monitoring cognitive progress.
These permit more effective learning & decision making & engage in critical thinking.

Question 43

What is Puberty?

Answer 43

Puberty is a period of rapid physical maturation. It is a marker for the beginning of adolescence - occurs primarily in early adolescence, that involves hormonal & bodily changes. It is not a single, sudden event. It ends before adolescence ends.

Question 44

Reasons for proposal of Fifth, Postformal Stage - new stage in adult’s cognitive development?

(Early adulthood)

Answer 44

A form of thought is that qualitatively different from Piaget’s Formal Operational Thought. Involves understanding that:

1) the correct answer to a problem requires reflective thinking & can vary from one situation to another (engage in more reflective judgment when solving problems, might think deeply about many aspects of politics, career, relationships & other areas of life. What might be the best solution to a problem at work might nit be the best solution at home.)
2) Search for truth is often ongoing, never-ending process (Might become more skeptical about a single truth, not willing to accept an answer as final)
3) A belief that solutions to problems need to be realistic (Recognize that thinking can’t just be abstract but rather has to be realistic & pragmatic.)
4) Emotion & subjective facts can influence thinking (think more clearly when in a calm & collected state than when they are angry & highly aroused.

Question 45

Career Mystique

by Phyllis Moen (2009)

(Early Adulthood)

Answer 45

Ingrained cultural beliefs that engaging in hard work for long hours through adulthood will produce a path to status, security & happiness.

Question 46

How might secure & insecure attachment be reflected in the relationships of young adults? - Infancy Attachment Individual Differences

Answer 46

Pp448

Question 47

Consensual validation

Early adulthood on Attraction

Answer 47

An explanation of why individuals are attracted to people who are similar to them.
Our own attitudes & behaviour are supported & validated when someone else’s attitudes & behaviour are similar to our own.

Question 48

Why are people attracted to others who have similar attitudes, values & lifestyles?

(Early adulthood)

Answer 48

Consensual validation - our own attitudes & values are supported when someone else’s attitudes & values are similar to ours, hence validate ours.

Similarity matters, & people tend to shy away from the unknown. We often prefer to be around people whose attitudes & values we can predict. It implies that we will enjoy doing things with another person who likes the same things & has similar attitudes.

Question 49

Define Rapport Talk & Report Talk

by Deborah Tannen (1990)

Early Adulthood

Answer 49

Rapport Talk: The language of conversation. A way of establishing connections & negotiating relationships.

• Women enjoy rapport talk more, & men’s lack of interest in rapport talk bothers women.
• Use words more for discussing people & what they were doing, communicate internal processes to others, including expression of doubts.

Report Talk: Talk that is designed to give information & includes public speaking.

• Men prefer to engage in report talk, excel through verbal performances (eg. Telling stories & jokes). Use talk as a way of getting & keeping attention.
• Use words more for external events, objects & processes. Occupation, money, sports, swearing.

Question 50

Define Middle Adulthood

Answer 50

40-45yrs to 60-65 yrs

Involves balancing work & relationship responsibilities in the midst of the physical & psychological changes associated with aging. Full of changes, twists & turns. Path is not fixed. People move in & out of states of success & failure.

• Time of declining physical skills & expanding responsibility
• become more conscious of the young-old polarity & the shrinking amount of time left in life
• a point when one seeks to transmit something meaningful to the next generation.
• a time when people reach & maintain satisfaction in careers.

Question 51

Menopause - How does it affect women?
How to reduce the symptoms?

(Middle Adulthood)

Answer 51

Menopause occurs in the late forties or early fifties, where the woman’s menstrual periods completely cease. It is also an important marker on the loss of fertility for women.
Women experiences a DRAMATIC DECLINE in the production of estrogen by the ovaries, and this decline causes uncomfortable symptoms such as Hot Flashes, Nausea, Fatigue, and Rapid Heartbeat.

Hormone Replacement Therapy are often prescribed to treat the unpleasant side effects of menopause. However, studies showed that combined estrogen & progestin hormone therapy poses a threat to increased cardiovascular diseases, stroke and possibly dementia.

Lifestyle changes can help improve overall health & in turn reduce the symptoms. 3 ways:

1) Doing more exercise will help to improve sleep & mood & reduce the night sweats & sleep disturbances.
2) Using stress reduction techniques like Yoga, Meditation, Tai chi
3) Healthy eating & making sure to have a balanced diet. Eating foods high in phytoestrogens such as apples, carrots, oats, cherries, rice, soy, sunflower seeds, corn can help to reduce the symptoms. Also eating foods with vitamins C, E, B & Fatty acids like Omega 3 & 6 found in healthy foods. Avoid caffeine foods, excessive sugar intake, & limit consumption of meats.

Question 52

Intelligence in Middle Adulthood

Answer 52

According to John Horn’s cross-sectional study, some abilities decline in middle age while others increase.
CRYSTALLIZED Intelligence continues to INCREASE in middle adulthood. This is an individual’s accumulated information & verbal skills. FLUID Intelligence begins to DECLINE, this is one’s ability to reason abstractly.

But according to K. Warner Schaie & Willis Seattle Longitudinal Study, peak performance was for both Crystallized Intelligence (Verbal ability) & Fluid Intelligence (Spatial orientation & inductive reasoning) during middle age. Number & perceptual speed declines in middle age. Decline for most cognitive abilities begins to steepen in the 60s. Verbal ability in the mid 70s. He feels people reach a peak in their cognitive functioning for many intellectual skills in middle adulthood, not early adulthood.

Question 53

What changes take place in Speed of Information Processing?

Answer 53

SPEED of Information Processing - a common way to assess speed of information is through a reaction-time task, in which individuals press a button as soon as they see a light appear. Middle-aged adults are slower to push button when the light appears than young adults are.
The possible causes for decline: Cognitive (maintaining goals, switching between tasks), Neuroanatomical (Changes in brain regions; Prefrontal Cortex), Neurochemical (Changes in brain transmitter systems).

Question 54

Changes in Practical Problem Solving in Middle Adulthood?

Answer 54

Everyday problem solving is an important part of cognition.
Nancy Denney observed circumstances such as how young & middle-aged adults handled a landlord who would not fix their stove & what they did if a bank failed to deposit a cheque into their account. She found that the ability to solve such practical problems improved through the 40s & 50s as individuals accumulated practical, experience.

Question 55

Changes in Expertise in Middle Adulthood?

Answer 55

Expertise involved having extensive, highly organized knowledge & understanding of a particular domain. Developing expertise & becoming an expert in a field usually is the result of many years of experience, learning & effort. Hence expertise often shows up more in middle adulthood because it takes so long to attain.

Eg. Experts are more likely to rely on their accumulated experience to solve problems.
Experts have better strategies & shortcuts to solving problems in their domain than novices do.

Question 56

Changes in Memory in Middle Adulthood?

Answer 56

Denise Park argues that starting in late middle age, more time is needed to learn new information. The slowdown in learning new information is linked to changes in working memory, the mental workbench where one manipulate & assemble information when making decisions, solving problems, comprehending written & spoken language.
The working memory capacity(linked to short-term memory), the amount of information that can be immediately retrieved & used becomes more limited. Due to overcrowding & disarray, Long-term memory becomes less reliable, more time needed to enter new information into long-term storage & more time required to retrieve information.
She believes that much of the blame for declining memory in late middle age is a result of information overload that continues to build up as we go through the adult years.

Memory decline also occurs when individuals don’t use effective memory strategies (organization & imagery).

Question 57

Meaning of Life in Middle Adulthood -1

Answer 57

Viktor Frankl - “Man’s Search for Meaning” examines the finiteness of our existence & the certainty of death adds meaning to life.
3 most distinct human qualities : Spirituality, Freedom, & Responsibility.
He proposed people need to ask themselves questions as ‘why they exist’, ‘what they want from life’, & ‘what the meaning of their life is’.
Middle adulthood is a time individuals begin to be faced with death more often, esp deaths of parents & older relatives, & also faced with less time in their life. Meaning-making coping is helpful in times of chronic stress & loss.

Question 58

Meaning of Life in Middle Adulthood -2

Answer 58

Roy Baumeister & Kathleen Vohs, 2002
4 main needs to guide people to make sense of their lives
- Need for Purpose (purpose can be divided into a) Goals b) Fulfillments )
- Need for Values (a sense of goodness or positivity)
- Need for Sense of Efficacy (the belief that one can make a difference, that they can control their environment)
- Need for Self Worth (to be a good, worthy person)

Individuals who found a sense of meaning of life are more physically heathy & happier.

Question 59

Adult stage personality theories in Middle Adulthood

Answer 59

Erik Erikson’s Generativity vs Stagnation

Levinson’s Seasons of a Man’s Life

Question 60

Define Midlife Crisis.
Differences between Daniel Levinson & George Vaillant ?

(Middle Adulthood)

Answer 60

Levinson sees midlife as crisis, believing that middle-aged adult is suspended between past & future, trying to cope with this gap that threatens life’s continuity.
Vaillant believes that only a minority of adults experience a midlife crisis. Just as adolescence is a time of detecting parental flaws & discovering the truth about childhood, Forties are a decade of reassessing & recording the truth about the adolescent & adulthood years.

Question 61

Problem of Stage Theories in Middle Adulthood?

Answer 61

Stage theories place too much emphasis on crises in development, especially in midlife crises. There often is considerable individual variation in the way people experience the stages.
Focus on the universals of adult personality development, & do not adequately address individual variations in adult development.
Extensive variation in the way they interpret, shape, alter, give meaning to their lives.
Some experience a midlife crisis in some contexts of their lives but not others, thus turmoil & stress may characterize one area of a person’s life (work) while things go smoothly in another context (family). Hence midlife crises may be triggered by life events.

Question 62

Life Events Approach & drawbacks disadvantages

Middle Adulthood

Answer 62

Early approach: Life events viewed as taxing circumstances for individuals, forcing them to change their personality.
Today’s Contemporary Approach: More sophisticated, emphasizes how life events influence individual’s development depends on not only on 1)Life event, but also 2) Mediating factors like physical health, family support. 3) Individual’s adaptation to the life event like coping strategies, 4) life stage context & 5) Sociohistorical context.

• Places too much emphasis on change, does not adequately recognize the stability that to some degree, characterizes adult development.
• It may not be life’s major events that are primary sources of stress, but our daily experiences.

Question 63

Historical Contexts (Cohort Effects)

Answer 63

Changing historical times & different social expectations influence how different cohorts (groups of individuals born in the same year or time period) move through the life span.
Bernice Neugarten: Our values, attitudes, expectations, & behaviours are influenced by the period in which we live. She believes that the social environment of a particular age group can alter its social clock.

Social clock: the timetable according to which individuals are expected to accomplish life’s tasks, like getting married, having children, establish themselves in a career. It provides guides for our lives.

Individuals whose lives are not synchronized with these social clocks find life to be more stressful than those who are on schedule.

Question 64

Big 5 factors of personality in Middle Adulthood

Answer 64

1) openness - imaginative, interested in variety, independent
2) conscientiousness - organized, careful, disciplined
3) extra version - sociable, fun loving, affectionate
4) agreeableness - softhearted, trusting, helpful
5) neuroticism(emotional stability) - calm, secure, self-satisfied

OCEAN

Question 65

Stability & change in Middle Adulthood

Answer 65

Personality traits continue to change during the adult years, even into late adulthood.
The greatest change in personality traits occurred in early adulthood (20-40 yrs)
Thus people show more stability in their personality when they reach midlife than when they were younger adults.
Cumulative personality model of personality = with time & age, people become more adept at interacting with their environment in ways that promote increased stability in personality.
This does not mean change is absent throughout middle & late adulthood.
Social contexts, new experiences, & sociohistorical changes - can affect personality development, but changes are usually not as great as those in early adulthood.
Changes in personality traits across adulthood also occur in a more positive direction, people become more confident, warm, responsible & calm = More Socially Mature.

Question 66

Empty Nest Syndrome

Answer 66

A decrease of marital satisfaction after children leave home, because parents derive considerable satisfaction from their children.

Question 67

Refilling of the empty nest

Answer 67

Becoming a common occurrence – ‘Boomerang kids’/ ‘B2B’ Back to Bedroom
Adult children return to live at home after graduating from college,
Save money after taking a full-time job,
Moving back in with their parents after an unsuccessful career or divorce,
Some don’t leave home at all until their middle to late 20s because they cannot financially support themselves.

When they return home to live, a disequilibrium in family life is created, which requires considerable adaption on the part of parents & children. They should agree beforehand on the conditions & expectations.

Question 68

Meaning of a grandparent role?

- 3 prominent meanings attached

Answer 68

1) Source of biological reward & continuity
2) Source of emotional self-fulfillment, generating feelings of companionship & satisfaction that may have been missing in earlier adult-child relationships.
3) A remote role

Grandparenting can provide a sense of purpose & a feeling of being valued during middle & late adulthood when generative needs are strong,
Role may have different functions in different families, different ethnic groups & cultures, & in different situations.

Question 69

3 styles of grandparenting

Answer 69

1) Formal (proper & prescribed role: showed strong interest in their grandchildren, but were careful not to give child-rearing advice - over age 65)
2) Fun-seeking (informal & playful; source of leisure activity. Mutual satisfaction was emphasized - under 65)
3) Distant (benevolent but interaction was infrequent)

Grandparent role links 3 generations - grandparents, parents, grandchildren.
Grandparent role is often mediated by parents at least until grandchildren become adults.

Question 70

Sandwich generation

Answer 70

Responsibilities middle-aged adults have for their adolescent children & young adult children on one hand & their aging parents on the other. These simultaneous pressures from adolescents & aging parents may contribute to stress in middle adulthood. They experience considerable stress when their parents become very ill & die.

Question 71

Life Span

Answer 71

The maximum number of years an individual can live. Maximum life span of human beings is about 120years of age.

Question 72

Life expectancy

Answer 72

The number of years that will probably be lived by the average person born in a particular year.

Question 73

5 biological Theories of Aging

Answer 73

1) Evolutionary Theory
2) Cellular Clock Theory (Leonard Hayflick: Maximum number of times that human cells can divide is about 75-80. As we age, our cells have less capacity to divide.)
3) Free-Radical Theory (A microbiological theory of aging that states that people age because inside their cells normal metabolism produces unstable oxygen molecules called Free Radicals. These molecules ricochet around the inside cells, damaging DNA & other cellular structures. Damage can lead to disorders, like cancer & arthritis. Overeating linked with increase in free radicals. Calorie restriction diet reduces oxidation damage created by free radicals.)
4) Mitochondrial Theory (Aging is caused by decay of mitochondria, tiny cellular bodies that supply energy for function, growth & repair.)
5) Hormonal Stress Theory (Aging in body’s hormonal system can lower resistance to stress & increase the likelihood of disease.)

Question 74

4 theories of Socioemotional development & aging

Answer 74

1) Erikson’s Theory - Integrity vs Despair: Involves reflecting in the past & either integrating it positively or concluding that one’s life has not been well spent. Life Review = important theme in this stage.
2) Activity Theory - The more active & involved older adults are, the more likely they are to be satisfied with their lives.
3) Socioemotional Selectivity Theory - Become more selective about their social networks. Because they place a high value on emotional satisfaction, they are motivated to spend more time with familiar individuals with whom they have had rewarding relationships. Emotion-related goals more important than knowledge-related goals when one gets older.
4) Selective Optimization with Compensation Theory - Successful aging is linked with 3 main factors: 1) Selection 2) Optimization & 3) Compensation

Question 75

2 Contributing factors to successful aging?

Answer 75

Under Selective Optimisation with Compensation Theory, effective when loss is prominent in person’s life.

1) Selection: older adults have a reduced capacity & loss of functioning, which require a reduction in most life domains.
2) Optimisation: it is possible to maintain performance in some areas through continued practice & the use of new technologies.
3) Compensation: becomes relevant when life tasks require a level of capacity beyond the current level of the older adult’s performance potential. They need to compensate in circumstances with high mental or physical demands, like thinking about & memorizing new material very fast, reacting quickly when driving a car, or running fast.

Proper diet, active lifestyle, mental stimulation & flexibility, positive coping strategies & skills, good social relationships & support, & absence of disease.

Question 76

4 ways to conceptualize Age? Give examples.

Answer 76

Biological
Psychological
Social
Chronological

Question 77

Cognition multidimensionality & multidirectionality in older adults.
Look at cognitive mechanics & pragmatics

Answer 77

Cognitive Mechanics: ‘Hardware’ of the mind & reflect the neurophysiological architecture of the brain developed through evolution. They consist of the speed & accuracy of sensory inputs, attention, visual memory, motor memory, discrimination, comparison, categorization.
Because of the strong influence of biology, heredity,& health on cognitive mechanics, their decline with aging is likely.

Cognitive Pragmatics: Culture-based influence, ‘software programmes’ of the mind.
These include reading & writing skills, language comprehension, educational qualifications, professional skills, & also the type of knowledge about the self & life skills that help us to master or cope with life.
Because of the strong influence of culture on cognitive pragmatics, their improvement into old age is possible.

Fluid Mechanics (ability to reason abstractly) & Crystalized Pragmatics (verbal, linguistics language skills, accumulated information)

Question 78

What factors are most likely to contribute to the decline in fluid mechanics in Late Adulthood?

Answer 78

Declines in processing speed,
Working memory capacity,
Suppressing irrelevant information (inhibition)

Question 79

Wisdom in Late Adulthood

Answer 79

Wisdom - is expert knowledge about the practical aspects of life that permits excellent judgment about important matters.
This practical knowledge involves exceptional insight into human development & life matters, good judgment, & an understanding of how to cope with difficult life problems.
Wisdoms focuses on life’s pragmatic concerns & human conditions.
Older adults use higher order reasoning activities like multiple perspectives, allowance for compromise, & recognizing limits of one’s knowledge.
No age differences in wisdom, with young adults showing as much wisdom as older adults.
Factors enhance wisdom: Life experiences to be trained & working in a field concerned with difficult life problems, havong wisdom-enhancing mentors, personality-related factors like openness to experience, generativity, creativity.

Question 80

What are the 4 most common predictors of Depression?

Answer 80

Depression - a mood disorder in which the individual is deeply unhappy, demoralized, self-derogatory, & bored. Person does not feel well, loses stamina easily, has poor appetite, listless, & unmotivated. It is called common-cold of mental disorders as it is so widespread.

4 most common predictors:

• Low social support
• Earlier depressive symptoms
• Poor health
• Disability
• Insomnia
• Reduction of daily activities
• Loss events such as death of a loved one
• Self-critical thinking

Question 81

Integrity vs Despair

Erikson

Answer 81

This involves reflecting on the past, & either piercing together a positive review or concluding that one’s life has not been well spent.

Life Review is prominent in this stage. It involves looking back at one’s life experiences, evaluating them, interpreting them, & often reinterpreting them. There are chances of pain, anger, guilt, & guilt, but also opportunities for resolution & celebration, for affirmation & hope, for reconciliation & personal growth. He states that life review is set in motion by looking forward to death. (Robert Butler).

Question 82

Links between childhood attachment & relationship patterns in adulthood. Give examples.

Answer 82

.

Question 83

Sibling relationships & Birth Order
3 characteristics of sibling relationships

Middle Late Childhood

Answer 83

Siblings interact with each other in positive & negative ways.
Emotional quality - positive & negative emotions often expressed
Familiarity & intimacy - know each other very well, either provide support or tease & undermine each other
Variation in sibling relationship - mixed feelings abt each other

Birth order liked to dev of certain personality characteristics
First borns - most intelligent, achieving, conscientious, adult-oriented, helpful, conforming, self controlled.
Later borns- most rebellious, liberal, agreeable

Question 84

Moral Development - Lawrence Kohlberg

Middle Late Childhood

Answer 84

Pg 322

Criticisms:

1) place too much emphasis on moral thought, not enough emphasis on moral behaviour
2) his theory is culturally biased, not universal
3) he argued that family processes are unimportant in child’s moral dev. Little opportunity for give and take or perspective taking. Said is better with peers. Underestimated contribution of family relationships to moral dev.

See notes

Question 85

Erikson Critiques

Answer 85

More attention paid to infancy & childhood than adulthood, despite it being a life span theory.