Week 5: Psychological Theories of Aging Flashcards
what paradoxical finding is there in relation to the prefrontal cortex?
with age, prefrontal cortex exhibits:
- deterioration
- increased functional activation
classical theories (2)
- disengagement theory
2. activity theory
modern theories (2)
- continuity theory
2. modernization theory
new theories (3)
- SOC theory
- life-span perspective
- gerotranscendence
disengagement theory
- Cumming & Henry (1961)
- assumes older person needs to slowly withdraw from society to minimize social disruption
- universal, inevitable, intrinsic
- correlated with widowhood, poor health, retirement
what is missing in the disengagement thoery?
- subgroup of individuals that do not disengage with society
- differences in personality and temperance
activity theory
- Robert Havighurst (1961)
- staying active and resisting shrinkage of social world
- creating new roles for those lost with age
- associated with greater life satisfaction and wellbeing
what is missing in the activity theory?
- those that can’t be active
- those that want to shrink their social world
- other factors can determine life satisfaction
continuity theory
- Robert Atchley (1971)
- how a person has been throughout life is how they will continue through the remainder of life
- old age is NOT a separate phase of life, but a continuation
- internal (who I am) and external (what I do) continuity
- personality!
what is missing in the continuity theory?
- older adults that change due to unpredictable life experiences
- difficult to maintain continuity when faced with new medical conditions, disabilities, or memory impairment
modernization theory
- Cowgill & Holmes (1974)
- status of older adults decline as society becomes more modern
- shift from agriculture-driven to industrial-driven society
- technology!
TB: how can we apply the EDI principles to these theories?
- most theories come from old, white men generalizing populations
- less inclusion with modernization due to tech
life-span perspective
development:
- occurs over the entire life-span
- is related to societal and contextual influences
- is related to normative history-graded events
- multidisciplinary
- includes gains AND losses
- is plastic
gerotranscendence
- Lars Tornstam (1989)
- older adults cope with age-related changes through a shift in perspective
- materialistic to transcendent
what is missing in the gerotranscendence theory?
- “transcendence” is limited to old age and considered from only an individual perspective
- conflicts with increased prevalence of depression in older adults
measuring stress with “life events” approach
- life events creating change and requiring adaptation
- frequency of life events decreases with age
limitations of measuring stress with “life events” approach
- does not consider personal significance of event
- ignores “non-events” and chronic stressors
- does not consider age-related events
measuring stress with “daily hassles” approach
- distressing demands that plague us daily
- better predictor than “life events” approach
coping cannot change ______, but can change the ______
circumstances, meaning of the situation
2 forms of coping
examples?
problem-focused (approach)
ex. external social support, time management, problem-solving
emotion-focused (avoidance)
ex. distraction, prayer, meditation, journaling, eating/drinking, suppressing, cognitive reappraisal
Golden’s coping styles (1982)
- confrontation: major effort to deal with negative situations
- denial: suppression leading to repression of situation
- avoidance: consistent suppression leading to somatic symptoms
example of cognitive appraisal
if someone treats you badly, you say they are having a bad day so it changes your interpretation of the event
