PSYCHOLOGY Flashcards
What is the bio-psychological approach to the psychology of aging?
Suggests ageing brain is principle determinant of psychological changes associated with age
What did David Wechsler find out about IQ scores throughout life?
Scores on IQ tests were highest in early twenties and declined constantly afterwards
When is intellectual decline considered abnormal?
Statistically intellectual decline is more abnormal when it occurs earlier in old age and affects life
In old age, it is more common to lose what type of intelligence?
Loss of wit (fluid intelligence) is more common than loss of wisdom (crystallised intelligence)
What is one way to measure wisdom?
Giving someone an impossible scenario and asking them to provide solutions
What is the critical age period in humans where there is maximal brain plasticity
0-12 years
When is a life event less likely to demand individual adjustment? Give example
When it is more predictable e.g. widowhood in an older person
What is a positive illusion?
Unrealistically favorable attitudes that people have towards themselves or to people close to them
What are the 3 kinds of positive illusion?
Inflated assessment of own abilities
Unrealistic optimism about future
Illusion of control
People consistently _______ the likelihood of anything bad happening to them
Underestimate
What experience in early adult life helped older people cope with reduced income better than those not so affected?
Depression
People who had been exposed to traumas in childhood and adolescence were more likely to suffer from what in later life?
Anxiety disorders
Some research suggests that those who express a sense of personal responsibility for what has happened are more or less likely to adjust to trauma?
More likely to adjust to such trauma than those who see such events as their bad luck
Study found that looking after a pot plant in a nursing home showed what in mortality?
Increased life span by about 7 months even if their mortality risk was lower before
Perception of time remaining in life prompts shifts in motivation away from gaining knowledge towards what?
Emotional satisfaction
Describe Erikson’s model
He argued that at each stage of life we face a particular type of psychosocial crisis, whose resolution helps establish an emergent trait or ‘virtue’ that then serves us well in addressing challenges later in life
Psycho-social crisis according to Eriksons’s model: age 18 months
Trust vs mistrust
Psycho-social crisis according to Eriksons’s model: age 3-5 yrs
Initiative vs guilt
Psycho-social crisis according to Eriksons’s model: age 5-13 yrs
Industruy vs inferiority
Psycho-social crisis according to Eriksons’s model: age 13-21 yrs
Identify vs role confusion
Psycho-social crisis according to Eriksons’s model: age 21-39 yrs
Intimacy vs isolation
Psycho-social crisis according to Eriksons’s model: age 40-65 yrs
Generativity vs stagnation
Psycho-social crisis according to Eriksons’s model: >65 yrs
Ego integrity vs despair
50% of suicide victims >60 had seen GP in month of death with 26% in the week of death yet more than half only reported what?
Physical complaints
Define loss
Being separated from or deprived of someone or something we are emotionally attached to
List some things a person could experience loss of
Person Relationship Health Hope or dream Role or job or function Change in body image Stage in life - children moving house, leaving home, old age
Define bereavement
Describes having lost someone significant through death
Define grief
Normal, natural emotional reaction to loss. Incorporates psychological (cognitive, social, behavioural) and physical (physiological, somatic) responses
Describe mourning
Process of adaptation to loss, with particular reference to cultural and social rituals and expectations. Includes public display of grief and social expression
Acute grief responses - 7 listed
Disbelief/ shock/ numbness/yearning
Agitation/anger/hostility/irritability
Crying, tearful, sadness
Disrupted sleep and eating patterns
Aimless activity / inactivity
Illusions or hallucinations and worry that the think they are going mad
Preoccupation with images of the lost person
Duration of acue grief response
Difficult to estimate duration: may last around 6 wks or so – individuals differ, very vague guideline
When does the duration of acute grief response become concerning?
Should start worrying if these signs are there many months after bereavement
Longer term grief responses - 7 listed
Social withdrawal Sleep disturbance Restlessness or anxiety Decreased concentration Decreased or increased food intake Reduced libido Depression
Duration of longer grief response
May last 3 -12 months plus: individuals vary
Is a minimal/absent grief response normal?
Yes
What is one of the biggest impediments to children’s healing after death?
Actions of adults
Children who suffer bereavement are vulnerable to a range of negative factors - give 5 examples
Low self esteem Mental health problems Anxiety and depression Substance abuse Increased risk of suicide (2 to 3x)
What are some things that can mediate the negative impacts of bereavement on children? List 5
- Parental warmth and positive family relationships, particularly with surviving parent
- Child feels safe and secure within supportive family
- Personal attributes e.g. sport, hobby
- Having ongoing relationship with person who died through visual or auditory cues
- Being helped to understand loss, express, accept grief, share with others who have had similar experiences
Children from disadvantaged backgrounds are particularly vulnerable following bereavement - describe why
Greater risk of experiencing other stressful events such as physical or mental illness of surviving parent, financial problems, relationship breakdown. 6x more likely than peers to be looked after by local authorities at some point
Five stages of loss: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross is a theory of loss or grief - describe
Framework originally developed for patients with terminal illness facing death:
- Denial, numbness, isolation
- Anger
- Bargaining - doesn’t work in bereavement, applies more to those facing death themselves
- Depression, despair
- Acceptance
Pros of the 5 stages of loss theory
Well known theory, easy to understand and quantify
Cons of the 5 stages of loss theory
- Based on interviews with people who were facing death, not those facing bereavement
- Grief is not linear as theory suggests. Stages may/will repeat
- Model has been applied to other situations (e.g. loss as a result of bereavement, divorce). Little evidence to support the efficacy
Describe a problem with the bargaining stage of the grief theory
Traditionally this stage for people facing death can involve attempting to bargain with God. People facing less serious trauma can bargain or seek to negotiate compromise e.g. “can we still be friends?” Rarely provides sustainable solution