Middle Adulthood—Physical, Cognitive, and Psychosocial Development Flashcards
Define Climacteric:
term that is used to describe the midlife transition in which fertility declines
Define Menopause:
when a woman’s menstrual periods cease.
Define Fluid Intelligence, how does it change in middle adulthood?
one’s ability to reason abstractly, begins to decline in middle adulthood
Define Crystallized intelligence, how does it change in middle adulthood?
an individual’s accumulated information and verbal skills, continues to increase in middle adulthood,
Define information processing speed, how does it change in middle adulthood?
perceptual speed begins declining in early adulthood and continues to decline in middle adulthood
Define working memory, how does it change in middle adulthood?
the mental “workbench” where individuals manipulate and assemble information when making decisions, solving problems, and comprehending written and spoken language (Baddeley, 2007, 2012). In this view, in late middle age working memory capacity becomes more limited. Think of this situation as an overcrowded desk with many items in disarray. As a result of the overcrowding and disarray, long-term memory becomes less reliable, more time is needed to enter new information into long-term storage, and more time is required to retrieve the information. Thus, Park concludes that much of the blame for declining memory in late middle age is a result of information overload that builds up as we go through the adult years.
The term ____ describes adults’ desire to leave legacies of themselves to the next generation.
Generativity
How do men and women differ in reactions to stressful life events?
When men face stress, they are more likely to respond in a fight-or-flight manner—to become aggressive, withdraw from social contact, or drink alcohol. By contrast, according to Shelley Taylor and her colleagues (2011a, b, c; Taylor & others, 2000), when women experience stress, they are more likely to engage in a tend-and-befriend pattern, seeking social alliances with others, especially friends.
Costa and McCrae’s Baltimore Study
Big Five factors of personality Emotional stability (neuroticism), extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness.
Berkeley Longitudinal Studies
The results from early adolescence through a portion of midlife did not support either extreme in the debate over whether personality is characterized by stability or change. Some characteristics were more stable than others, however. The most stable characteristics were the degree to which individuals were intellectually oriented, self-confident, and open to new experiences. The characteristics that changed the most included the extent to which the individuals were nurturant or hostile and whether or not they had good self-control.
Helson’s Mills College Study
In the Mills College Study, some women moved toward becoming “pillars of society” in their early forties to early fifties. Menopause, caring for aging parents, and an empty nest were not associated with an increase in responsibility and self-control
George Vaillant’s Studies
Vaillant categorized 75- to 80-year-olds as “happy-well,” “sad-sick,” or “dead.” He used data collected from these individuals when they were 50 years of age to predict which categories they were likely to end up in at 75 to 80 years of age. Alcohol abuse and smoking at age 50 were the best predictors of which individuals would be dead at 75 to 80 years of age. Other factors at age 50 that were linked with being in the “happy-well” category at 75 to 80 years of age included getting regular exercise, avoiding being overweight, being well educated, having a stable marriage, being future-oriented, being thankful and forgiving, empathizing with others, being active with other people, and having good coping skills.
