THE PSYCHOSOCIAL ASPECTS

OF
AGING
A. NORMAL CHANGES IN THE
OLDER PERSONS

1. EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND MATURITY

2. CHANGES IN COGNITION AND LEARNING
3. CHANGES IN MOTIVATION
EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND MATURITY
OLDER ADULTS are:
Fewer negative emotions than
younger persons.
More emotional stability and well-
being than younger persons.
May be more savvy at navigating
interpersonal disagreements than
younger persons.
May pay more attention to the
good and less attention to the
bad.
When experience a negative
emotion, they may be able to
recover more quickly than
younger persons.
There seems to be an
emotional “mellowing out” with
maturity and an increased and
potentially deliberate ability to
see the world through rose-
colored glasses.
may react with stronger emotions than
younger persons in some situations.
Bad events may hit older adults
harder than younger persons.
Older adults can react with
stronger emotions than younger
persons.
Older adults react to films about
loss with greater negativity than
younger persons.
Streubel and Kunzmann
(2011)
Suggests that emotional arousal is a
factor that needs more attention in
aging research.
Focus on positive and negative
emotions and aging may be too
limited; rather a focus on the
strength of emotions also is needed.
In circumstances in which strong
emotions are aroused, older adults
may not be able to regulate their
emotions as well as younger
persons.
We see older adults reacting with
stronger negative emotions than
younger persons, the films are
very powerful and highly relevant
to older persons.
Changes in emotions with age
are complex. Older adulthood
is not simply a time of
emotional well-being and
tranquility.
Strong emotions exist and
reactions to important life
events may increase with age,
rather than diminish.
CHANGES IN COGNITION AND LEARNING

• Cognitive abilities such as memory

may see a decline in late
adulthood.
- decline in memory is very common,
due to the decrease in speed of
encoding, storage, and retrieval of
memory.
Problems with:
• short-term memory retention
• ability to learn new information.
In most cases,
Absent-mindedness should be
considered a natural part of
growing older rather than a
psychological or neurological
disorder.
INTELLECTUAL CHANGES
Fluid intelligence (the ability to see and to
use patterns and relationships to solve
problems) does decline.
Crystallized intelligence (the ability to use
accumulated information to solve problems
and make decisions) has been shown to rise
slightly over the entire life span.
K. Warner Schaie and Sherry Willis
-decline in cognitive performance could be
reversed in 40% to 60% of elderly people who
were given remedial training.
• NEUROCOGNITIVE DISORDER
- formerly called dementia
- is a broad category of brain diseases that
cause a gradual long-term decrease in the
ability to think and remember.
-no cure
-many strategies to improve quality life
for people with disorder such as:
 daily exercise programs
 cognitive behavioral therapies
ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE
- most common type of neurocognitive
disorder
-most commonly affect memory, visual-
spatial ability, language, attention, and
executive function (e.g., judgment and
problem-solving).
-slow and progressive
MIXED DEMENTIA
- combination of Alzheimer’s disease and
another type of dementia.
 CHANGES IN MOTIVATION
Might have unique motives for change:
for example,
• They might be especially and uniquely
family oriented, and thus, wish to be less
of a burden to their families.
• They might be motivated to maintain an
exercise program in order to retain
physical functioning.
• They might be uniquely motivated by a
behavior change that would promote
global good.
For instance, older adults might
be willing to make a contribution
to the needs of one generation in
hopes that their contribution might
flow through to other generations.
Whether these unique age-
specific motivators are sufficient
to initiate and maintain change
remains to be investigated.
Aging and Emotions
Mellowing out or stronger reactions?
Posted Aug 29, 2012
Becky Ready Ph.D., ABPP
• Your Quality of Life

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/y
our-quality-life/201208/aging-and-emotions