PSYCHOLOGY 100 January 2930, 2003 Lifespan Development Chapter 11 continued

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PSYCHOLOGY 100January 29/30, 2003Lifespan
DevelopmentChapter 11 (continued)

• Kathy Pichora-Fuller

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What Happens as a Person Ages?

• Positive Change?
• Negative Change?

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When is a Person Old(er)?
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Continuity vs Stages

• Figure 11.7
• Stage theories of development. Some theories view
  development as a relatively continuous process,
  albeit not as smooth and perfectly linear as
  depicted on the left. In contrast, stage theories
  assume that development is marked by major
  discontinuities (as shown on the right) that
  bring fundamental, qualitative changes in
  capabilities or characteristic behavior.

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Adolescence
Change

• Developmental period ages 12 to 18
• Many biological, perceptual, cognitive, social,
  and personality traits change from childlike to
  adultlike
• Puberty
• Developmental period between the ages of 9 and 17
  when the individual experiences significant
  biological changes that result in developing
  secondary sex characteristics and reaching sexual
  maturity

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Eriksons Ages of Human Development

• Young Adulthood
• Young adults come to terms with the importance of
  companionship and connection
• Shall I share my life with another person or
  live alone?
• The central conflict of early adulthood is that
  of intimacy versus isolation.
• But consider an example framed in terms of
  continuity Teen suicide in aboriginals
  (Chandler)
• http//www.cheos.ubc.ca/Urban/healthChandler.html

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Young Adulthood

• The beginning of young adulthood is marked by
  commitments in the areas of career, relationships
  and lifestyle.
• Knowledge gathering
• Expanding social networks/roles
• The quality of the period known as middle age is
  influenced in part by the outcome of these early
  adult decisions.

Change
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Eriksons Ages of Human Development

• Middle Age
• In the middle of adulthood one wants to feel that
  they have contributed to society in some
  meaningful way
• Will I add anything of real value to the world
  as a worker and a parent?
• The conflict of middle adulthood is the desire to
  achieve generativity versus stagnation.

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Middle Adulthood
Change

• The Midlife Transition
• The midlife crisis is a dramatic expression for
  the reassessment of personal goals that many
  people experience.
• A more low-key and accurate term is midlife
  transition.
• Some abandon unrealistic goals set in youth and
  set new goals that fit with their current lives.
• Others try to fulfill some of those early life
  dreams, or set new ones.

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Eriksons Ages of Human Development

• Old Age
• The reality that time is growing short forces
  people to face a final and profound question
• Have I lived a full and meaningful life, or have
  I squandered my time?
• As older adults we struggle to determine whether
  we have arrived at a stage of ego integrity
  versus despair.

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Old Adulthood
Change

• Despite the stereotypes we hold, old age is not a
  uniform experience for humans
• Some deteriorate rapidly physically and/or
  intellectually
• Shrinking social networks/roles (isolation)
• Others remain active and alert into their 80s and
  later
• Knowledge giving
• In general, the elderly in our society have been
  experiencing improved health, activity and
  intellect.

within between
heterogeneity
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Eriksons Stages
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Demographics Booms Echoes

• http//www.statcan.ca/english/Pgdb/demo31b.htm

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The Aging Population

• Prevalence How many in the total population
  affected by a condition at a given time
• Incidence How many new cases in a given time
• Longevity
• Health
• Education/Literacy
• Career
• Wealth
• Happiness (Quality of Life)

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The Shape of the Population
2016
1966
2041
1996
MalesltFemales
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Longevity
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Lifespan Perspective Defining Age

• Chronological Age
• Legal (retirement/pension)
• Experiences (world events)
• Genetic clocks
• Generational Cohort
• Peer Comparisons
• Self-perception
• Available Time
• Physical Status
• Growth vs Decline
• Activity Profile (Cognitive)
• Quantity/Quality
• Participation (Social)
• In(ter)dependence?

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Healthy (Successful) Aging

• Maturity
• Growth Completed
• Strength/Skill
• Experience/Expertise
• Knowledge
• Wisdom
• Independence
• Wealth
• Contribution to Others
• Leadership

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Negative Aspects Ageist Stereotypes?
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Research Questions

• What changes with age?
• Positive and/or negative change?
• Why does it change with age? (Is it really
  aging?)
• Causes (genetic, environmental)
• Predisposing conditions (genetic, environmental)
• What could counteract change?
• Early intervention to prevent (e.g., diet,
  education, lifestyle)
• Cure (e.g., drugs, surgery)
• Assistive technology (e.g., glasses, walker)
• Rehab to cope/compensate (e.g., retraining,
  counselling)
• Fountain of Youth
• Longevity Preservation and/or Regeneration of
  Function

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Research Designs

• Cross-sectional
• (between subjects comparisons)
• Simulations?
• Longitudinal
• (within subjects process over time)
• Retrospective
• Prospective
• Intervention
• Hybrid

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• Figure 11.4
• Longitudinal versus cross-sectional research. In
  a longitudinal study of development between ages
  6 and 10, the same children would be observed at
  6, again at 8, and again at 10. In a
  cross-sectional study of the same age span, a
  group of 6-year-olds, a group of 8-year-olds, and
  a group of 10-year-olds would be compared
  simultaneously. Note that data collection could
  be completed immediately in the cross-sectional
  study, whereas the longitudinal study would
  require four years to complete.

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• Table 10.5 (Kalat, Introduction to Psychology)
• Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Studies

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Sources of Bias

• Selective attrition
• differential survival
• increased probability of some kinds of subjects
  dropping out.
• Cohort effects
• bias created because groups of contemporaries all
  have the same experience, knowledge or behaviors.

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Hybrid DesignVictoria Longitudinal
Study(http//web.uvic.ca/psyc/VLS/index-projects.
html)
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Research Approaches

• Experimental
• Group
• Correlational
• Case Study
• Observation
• Interviews/Narratives
• Population Survey
• Stats Canada

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Some Answers
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Aging Mind and Brain

• Same Performance
• More widespread activation brain reorganization
• Deterioration or Compensation?
• http//www.rotman-baycrest.on.ca/content/people/pr
  ofiles/grady.html

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Predicament Enchancement Models of
Communication Aging

• Ageist Stereotypes fuel communicative
  incompetence.
• Dependent behaviours are reinforced and
  independent behaviours are ignored by nurses in
  residents of care facilities (Margaret Baltes).
• Ryan EB, Giles H, Bartolucci G, Henwood K.
  Psycholinguistic and social psychological
  components of communication by and with the
  elderly. Language and Communication 198661-24.
• Ryan EB, Meredith SD, Maclean MJ, Orange JB.
  Changing the way we talk with elders Promoting
  health using the Communication Enhancement Model.
  International Journal of Aging and Human
  Development 19954189-107.

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Key Finding
Resilience

• Early experiences influence latter life
• http//www.earlylearning.ubc.ca/research.htm
• Example from aging research Nuns Study
• Those who wrote more complex language did not
  show symptoms of dementia in Alzheimers disease
• Snowdon, D.A., Kemper, S., J.A. Greiner, L.H.,
  Wekstein, D.R., Markesbery, W.R. (1996).
  Cognitive ability in early life and cognitive
  function and Alzheimer's disease in late life
  Findings from the Nun Study. J American Medical
  Association, 275, 528-532.

"Use it or lose it."
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Key Finding
Support

• Age differences in memory are diminished when
  contextual support is available.
• Free recall What did you learn last week?
• gt
• Cued recall Last week you learned about which
  two experimental designs?
• gt
• Recognition recall Last week did you learn
  about cross-sectional and longitudinal designs?

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Key Finding
Slowing

• Knowledge is enhance/preserved
• Processing is slowed
• Perception
• Cognition
• Performance varies with time/timing of task
  components

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Key Finding Sensory Cognitive Aging Linked

• Sensory and cognitive processing both decline
  with age Coincidence or not?
• Hypotheses
• Deprivation
• Information Degradation
• Cognitive Load on Perception
• Common Cause
• Lindenberger U, Baltes PB. Sensory functioning
  and intelligence in old age A strong connection.
  Psych Aging 19949339-55.

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Older Listeners Models Hypotheses
Cognition
Perception

• Modular vs Integrated Systems
• Schneider BA, Pichora-Fuller MK. Implications of
  perceptual deterioration for cognitive aging
  research. In Craik FIM, Salthouse TA, eds, The
  Handbook of Aging and Cognition, 2nd ed. Mahwah,
  NJ Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2000 3 155-219.

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UTM Research Equating for Perceptual Difficulty
during Cognitive Processing to Test the
Information Degradation Hypothesishttp//www.erin
.utoronto.ca/w3cihrsc/Cihr/index.htm

• Would old do as well as young if cognitive
  measures were tested under enhanced perceptual
  conditions?
• Would young do as poorly as old if cognitive
  measures were tested under degraded perceptual
  conditions?
• Is it really aging or just hearing loss?

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Speech Perception in Noise TestPichora-Fuller
MK, Schneider BA, Daneman M. How young and old
adults listen to and remember speech in noise. J
Acoust Soc Am 1995 97593-608.

• 8 lists of 50 sentences
• Half low-context
• John did not talk about the feast.
• Half high-context
• The wedding banquet was a feast.
• Repeat last word of sentence
• Vary SN
• Conversation at 65 dB SPL
• Noise in home at 50 dB SPL
• 15 dB SN in quiet living room
• - 2 dB SN in subway/aircraft

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Effect of Simulated Auditory Aging on Working
Memory SpanBrown S, Pichora-Fuller MK. Temporal
jitter mimics the effects of aging on word
identification and word recall in noise. Canadian
Acoustics 200028126-128.
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Noise and Discourse ComprehensionSchneider BA,
Daneman M, Murphy D, Kwong See S. Listening to
discourse in distracting settings The effects of
aging. Psych Aging 200015110-125.
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Final Comment

• Should we think about older adults like younger
  adults performing under stressful conditions?