Middle Adulthood - Cognitive Development Flashcards
- An individual’s accumulated information and verbal skills, continue to increase
- Individual’s learnings or their accumulated experiences equates to wisdom
- Increases in middle adulthood
Crystallized Intelligence
- The ability to learn or process new things or solve problems not learned previously
- One’s ability to reason abstractly
- begins to decline in middle adulthood
Fluid Intelligence
Speed of Information Processing in Middle Adulthood
- Perceptual speed continues to decline
- Causes may occur at different levels, such as:
Cognitive: Maintaining goals, switching between tasks, preserving internal representations despite distractions
Neuroanatomical: Changes in specific brain regions such as the prefrontal cortex
Neurochemical: Changes in neurotransmitter systems such as dopamine
Memory in Middle Adulthood:
- Verbal memory is at its peak but begins to decline at a later part of middle or late adulthood
- Decline of work memory is a result of information overload that builds up through our adult years
- Slows down
- Decline is likely to occur when individuals do not use effective memory strategies
- Decline in short-term and long-term memory and in abstract thinking
Expertise in Middle Adulthood
- Often shows more in middle adulthood
- Rely on expertise and lived experiences to compensate for their cognitive decline
- More creative and flexible in solving problems
- Efficient to share information and solve problems
Career in Middle Adulthood:
Adjusting idealistic hopes to realistic possibilities considering how much time they have left before retiring
Work issues in Middle Adulthood:
- recognizing limitations in career progress,
- deciding whether to change jobs/careers,
- determining how and when to rebalance family and work,
- planning for retirement
- afternoon of life
- time of evaluation, assessment, and reflections in terms of the work they do and want to do in the future
Midlife
Work in Midlife:
- Reach their peak in position & earnings
- Also saddled with multiple financial burdens including rent/mortgage, childcare, medical bills, home repairs, college tuition, loans to family members, or bills from nursing homes
Leisure in Middle Adulthood:
- Pleasant time after work when individuals are free to pursue activities and interests of their own choosing
- Adults begin to prepare psychologically for retirement
- Regret not engaging in more leisure the most
Organized set of beliefs, practices, rituals, and symbols that increase an individual’s connection to a sacred or transcendent other
Religion
Degree of affiliation with an organized religion, participation in its prescribed rituals and practices, connection with its beliefs, and involvement in a community of believers
Religiousness
Experience something beyond oneself in a transcendent manner and living in a way that benefits others and society
Spirituality
RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY, AND MEANING IN LIFE in Middle Adulthood
- Some cults and religious sects encourage behaviors that can be damaging to health, such as ignoring sound medical advice
- Religious commitment helps moderate blood pressure and reduce hypertension
- Higher level meaning in life is linked to a higher level of psychological well-being and physical health
Quest for meaningful life in 4 main needs:
To have:
- Purpose
- Values
- Sense of efficacy
- Self worth
