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Developmental Psychology Chapter 8 Old Age

Psychology (Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila)

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Developmental Psychology
Old Age
Source: Papalia (2021), Santrock (2018)
o Ageism – prejudice or discrimination and that aging is a normal part of
based on age development
o Primary Aging – gradual, inevitable o Programmed Senescence Theory –
process of bodily deterioration that aging also may be in昀氀uenced by speci昀椀c
begins early in life and continues through genes “switching o昀昀” after age-related
years irrespective of what people do to losses occur (Epigenesis)
stave it o昀昀 (nature) o Epigenetic changes do not involve
o Secondary Aging – results from changes in the underlying genetic code;
disease, abuse, and disuse – factors that rather, they involve changes in how
are often within a person’s control genes are expressed
(nurture) o Telomeres become shorter as the cell
o Young Old – 65-74 yrs old divides (cells can divide for no more than
o Old Old – 75-84 yrs old 50 times [ Hay昀氀ick Limit ])
o Oldest old – 85 and above o Once cells can no longer replicate, the
o Functional Age – how well a person body loses its ability to repair damaged
functions in a physical and social tissue and thus, begin to age
environment in comparison with others o Endocrine Theory – biological clocks
of the same chronological age act through hormones to control the pace
o Gerontology – study of the aged and of aging
aging processes o Immunological Theory – programmed
o Geriatrics – branch of medicine decline in immune system functions
concerned with aging leads to increased vulnerability to
Physical Development infectious disease and thus to aging and
Longevity and Aging death
o Life Expectancy – the age to which a o Evolutionary Theory – Aging is an
person born at a certain time and place evolved trait thus genes that promote
is statistically likely to live, given his or reproduction are selected at higher rates
her current age and health status than genes that extend lives
o Longevity – actual length of life of o Variable-Rate Theories – aging is the
members of a population results of random processes that vary
o Mortality Rates – death rates from person to person (Error theories)
o Human Life Span – longest period that o Wear-and-Tear Theory – cells and
members of our species can live tissues have vital parts that wear out
o Women live longer and have lower o Free-Radical Theory – Accumulated
mortality rates at all ages than men damage from oxygen radicals causes
o Women’s longer lives also have been cells and eventually organs to stop
attributed to their greater tendency to functioning
take care of themselves and to seek o Rate-of-Living Theory – the greater an
medical care, the higher level of social organism’s rate of metabolism, the
support they enjoy, and the rise in shorter its life span
women’s socioeconomic status in recent o Autoimmune Theory – Immune system
decades becomes confused and attacks its own
o Senescence – the decline in body body cells
functioning associated with aging o Survival Curve – represents the
o Genetic Programming Theories – percentage of people or animals alive at
propose that people’s bodies age various age
according to instructions built into genes

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Developmental Psychology
Old Age
Source: Papalia (2021), Santrock (2018)
o The most fruitful area for longevity o Falls, the most common cause of
interventions should be focused on risk fracturs, become increasingly common
reduction and living a healthy lifestyle with age
Physical Changes o Functional Fitness – exercises or
o Older skin tends to become paler and activities that improve daily activity
less elastic, varicose veins appears in o Older people tend to sleep and dream
legs less than before driven by the normative
o They become shorter due to disks changes in circadian rhythms
between spinal vertebrae atrophy o Men typically take longer to develop
o Lungs become less e昀昀ective because of erection and to ejaculate, may need
reductions in Lung volume, atrophy in more manual stimulation, may
muscles involve in breathing, and experience longer intervals between
reductions in the ability of cilia erections or may have di昀케culty doing it
o Elderly adults are more likely to su昀昀er o Women have di昀케culty in arousal,
from Arrythmia (irregular heartbeat), the orgasm, etc.
muscle walls thicken, and the valves that Physical and Mental Health
control the 昀氀ow of blood in and out of the o Lifelong program of exercise may
heart may no longer open completely prevent many physical changes once
o Reserve Capacity – backup capacity associated with normal aging
that helps body system function to their o Inactivity contributes to heart disease,
utmost limits in times of stress diabetes, colon cancer, and high blood
o In late adulthood, the brain gradually pressure
diminishes in volume and weight, o Dementia – the general term for
particularly in the frontal and temporal physiologically caused cognitive and
regions behavioral decline su昀케cient to interfere
o Hippocampus (memory area) also shrinks with daily activities
o Decrease in the number of dopamine  Alzheimer’s – most common type,
neurotransmitters due to losses of caused by speci昀椀c changes in the
synapses brain (abnormal build up of
o Older eyes need more light to see, are neuro昀椀brillary tangles and amyloid
more sensitive to glare, and may have plaque in the brain)
trouble locating and reading signs a. Amnesia – memory loss
o Cataracts – cloudy or opaque areas in b. Aphasia – inability to express
the lends of the eyes, are common in through speech
older adults c. Agnosia – inability to recognize
o Age-Related Macular Degeneration – familiar objects, tastes, smells
leading cause of visual impairment in d. Apraxia – misuse of objects
older adults; the retinal cells in the because failure to identify them
macula degenerate over time, and the e. Anomia – inability to remember
center of the retina gradually loses the the names of things
ability to sharply distinguish 昀椀ne details  Vascular – caused by strokes or other
o Glaucoma – irreversible damage to the issues of blood 昀氀ow in the brain; may
optic nerve caused by increased pressure be due to diabetes and high
in the eye cholesterol; have strokes like episodes
o Loss of strength is greater for lower than  Lewy Bodies – have movement or
for upper limbs balance (sti昀昀ness or trembling);
daytime sleepiness, confusion, or

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Developmental Psychology
Old Age
Source: Papalia (2021), Santrock (2018)
staring; trouble sleeping at night and o Episodic Memory – linked to speci昀椀c
visual hallucinations events; most likely to deteriorate with
 Frontotemporal – leads to age
personality and behavior changes and o Semantic Memory – consists of
problems in language skills meanings, facts, and concepts
 Huntington’s – resulted from gene accumulated over lifetime learning; little
mutation which impacts movement, decline
behavior, and cognition; personality o Procedural Memory – motor skills and
also changes, loss of coordination, habits that once learned; relatively
di昀케culty in swallowing and speaking una昀昀ected by age
 Parkinson’s – uncontrollable o Language problems are probably results
movements, tremor, sti昀昀ness, slow of the problems accessing and retrieving
movement, prevalent in men than information from the memory
women; nerve cells in basal ganglia o Dysfunction in frontal lobes and
become impaired; L-Dopa as hippocampus may cause false memories
treatment o Older adults seems to have di昀케culty
Cognitive Development encoding new episodic memories
Aspects of Cognitive Development because of di昀케culties in forming and
o Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – later recalling a coherent and cohesive
measure the intelligence of older adults episode
 Older adults tend not to perform as o Storage also deteriorate to the point
well as younger adults in WAIS but retrieval becomes di昀케cult
the di昀昀erence is primarily processing o Wisdom – exceptional breadth and
speed and nonverbal performance depth of knowledge about the conditions
 Classic Aging Pattern – scores drop of life and human a昀昀ects and re昀氀ective
with age in performance scale and judgement about the application of
slightly on other scales knowledge
 For tasks that do not requires speed,  May involve the lead to
declines are less likely transcendence, detachment from
o Cognitive deterioration often may be preoccupation with the self
related to disuse  The ability to navigate the messiness
o Older adults have more extensive of life
repertoires of strategies to apply to  Older adults tend to make the most of
interpersonal situations than younger their abilities, often exploiting gains in
adults do, and they are more likely to one area to o昀昀set declines in another
chose a highly e昀昀ective strategies o Cognitive Mechanics – the hardware of
o Older adults also tend to have more the mind and re昀氀ect the
di昀케culty with switching attention neurophysiological architecture of the
o Sensory Memory – brief storage of brain that was developed thru evolution
sensory information  Speed and accuracy, visual and motor
o Working Memory – short-term storage memory, discrimination, comparison,
of information being actively process and categorization
o Tasks that require only rehearsal, show a  Decline begins as soon as early midlife
little decline o Cognitive Pragmatics – culture-based
o Tasks that requires reorganization or software program of the mind
elaboration show greater fallo昀昀  Reading and writing, language,
educational quali昀椀cations, professional
skills, life skills

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 Decline in old age
o Selective Attention – focusing on
speci昀椀c aspect of experience that is
relevant and ignoring irrelevant info
o Divided Attention – concentrating on
more than one activity at the same time
o Sustained Attention – focused and
extended engagement with an object,
task, event, or some other aspect of the
environment
o Executive Attention – involves
planning actions, allocating attention to
goals, detecting and compensating for
errors, monitoring progress on tasks, etc.
o Source Memory – ability to remember
where one learned something
o Prospective Memory – remembering to
do something in the future
Psychosocial Development
Theory and Research on Personality
Development
o For Erik Erikson, the crowning
achievement of late adulthood is Ego
Integrity or integrity of the self – need to
evaluate and accept their lives so as to
accept death
Approximat Crisis Virtue
e Age Developed
Old Age Ego Integrity Wisdom
(65-older) vs. Despair
o Wisdom – informed and detached
concern with life itself in the face of
death itself
 Accepting one has lived, without major
regrets
o Maladaptive Tendency: Presumption
– presumes ego integrity without actually
facing the di昀케culties of old age
o Malignant Tendency: Disdain
contempt of life, one’s own or anyone’s
o Stability declines in late adulthood
o Increases in agreeableness, self-
con昀椀dence, warmth, emotional stability,
and conscientiousness and declines in
neuroticism, social vitality, and openness
to experience
o Why do people show normative changes
in personality characteristics? Some
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Developmental Psychology
Old Age
Source: Papalia (2021), Santrock (2018)
researchers argue that these processes
are driven primarily by intrinsic genetic
di昀昀erences between people that unfold
over time
o Personality traits in昀氀uence behavior, and
behavior in昀氀uences health
Well-Being in Late Adulthood
o In general, older adults have fewer
mental disorders and are happier and
more satis昀椀ed with life than younger
adults
o Happiness tends to be high in early
adulthood, declines until people reach 50
years of age, and then tends to rise
again until 85
o As people get older, they tend to seek
out activities and people that give them
emotional grati昀椀cation
o They are also better at regulating
emotions
o Positivity E昀昀ect – older adults are more
likely to pay attention to and then
remember positive events than negative
events
o Terminal Drop – rapid decline in well-
being and life satisfaction approx. 3-5 yrs
before death
o Coping – adaptive thinking or behavior
aimed at reducing or relieving stress that
arises from harmful, threatening, or
challenging conditions
o Cognitive-Appraisal Model – people
respond to stressful or challenging
situations on the basis of two types of
analyses:
1. Primary Appraisal – people analyze
situation and decide
2. Secondary Appraisal – people
– evaluate what can be done to prevent
harm
o Older adults tend to use more emotion-
focused coping than younger people
o Older adults are more religious than
younger adults
o Disengagement Theory – normal part
of aging involves gradual reduction in
social involvement and greater
preoccupation with the self
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Developmental Psychology
Old Age
Source: Papalia (2021), Santrock (2018)
o Activity Theory – the more active older 2. Retirement – makes the transition from
people are, the better they age full-time work to retirement they’ve planned
o Continuity Theory – people’s need to 3. Contentment – positive phase when
maintain connection between past and retirees get to enjoy the fruits of a lifetime of
present is emphasized, and activity is labor (Honeymoon period)
viewed as important, not for its own sake 4. Disenchantment – they may experience
but because it represents continuation of some of the emotional downsides of
previous lifestyle retirements such as loneliness,
o Selective Optimization with disillusionment, and a feeling of uselessness
Compensation – involves developing 5. Reorientation – people try to 昀椀gure who
abilities that allow for maximum gain as they are and map their place in the world as
well as developing abilities that a retiree
compensate for decline and could lead to 6. Routine – people accept their situation
loss and settle into a new set of routines
 Older adults conserve resources by o Aging In Place – staying in their own
selecting meaningful goals, optimizing home
the resources they have to achieve it, o Group living arrangements for Older
and compensating for the losses by Adults
using resources in alternative ways to a. Retirement Hotel
achieve their goals b. Retirement Community
Practical and Social Issues related to c. Shared Housing
Aging d. ECHO (Elder Cottage Housing
o Retirement is a single event but a Opportunity) Housing
dynamic adjustment process that is best e. Congregate Housing
conceptualized as a form of decision f. Assisted-Living Facility
making g. Foster-Care Home
o Five broad categories of resources that h. Continuing Care Retirement
help determine how well a person adjusts Community
to retirement: Personal Relationships in Late Life
1. Individual attributes such as health o Social Convoy Theory – aging adults
and 昀椀nancial status maintain their level of social support by
2. Pre-retirement job-related variables identifying members of their social
such as job stress network who can help them
3. Family-related variables such as o Socioemotional Selectivity Theory –
marriage quality and dependents as remaining time becomes short, older
4. Retirement transition-related variables adults choose to spend time with people
5. Postretirement activities and in activities that meet immediate
o Volunteering during retirement has been emotional needs
positively associated with good health Marital Relationships
and negatively associated with o Married couples who are still together in
depression, functional limitations, and late adulthood are more likely than
mortality middle-aged couples to report higher
o Phases of Retirement: satisfaction and fewer adjustment
1. Pre-Retirement – begin to think problems in their marriages
seriously about the life they want for o Close marital relationship can moderate
themselves in retirement and whether they the negative psychological e昀昀ects of
are 昀椀nancially on track to achieve it functional disabilities by reducing
psychological distress

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Developmental Psychology
Old Age
Source: Papalia (2021), Santrock (2018)
o Widowhood has been increasingly
associated with increased mortality, with
sharpest declines seen in the 昀椀rst 6
months following the death of a spouse
Nonmarital Lifestyles and Relationships
o Old never-married adults are more likely
to prefer single life and less likely to be
lonely
o Less likely to experience “Single Strain” –
chronic practical and emotional stressor
attributed to the lack of intimate partner
o Gay and Lesbian relationships in late life
tend to be strong, supportive, and
diverse
Nonmarital Kinship Ties
o Older adults who receive more help from
their children than they give them, over
time, are more likely to show increases in
psychological stress
o Relationships with siblings tend to be
among the long lasting of all
relationships
o To mourn for a sibling is to mourn for the
lost completeness of the original family
within which one came to know oneself
and can bring home one’s own nearness
to death
end

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