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Human Development Across the Lifespan Cover Image
Human Development Across the Lifespan, 5/e
John S. Dacey, Boston College
John F. Travers, Boston College
Late Adulthood
Physical and Cognitive Development in Late Adulthood

Outline

  1. Must we age and die?
    1. Physiological theories of aging
      1. Wear and tear theory
      2. Aging by program
      3. Homeostatic imbalance
      4. Cross-linkage theory
      5. Accumulation of metabolic waste
      6. Autoimmunity
      7. Accumulation of errors
    2. Genetic theories of aging
      1. Evidence from identical twin research
    3. Effects of the natural environment on aging
      1. Genes and physiology greatly affect longevity
      2. Natural environment is an important factor in mortality rate
    4. Other modifiers of ability
      1. Training
      2. Practice
      3. Motivation
      4. Nutrition
      5. Organic malfunction
      6. Illness
      7. Injury
      8. Stress level
      9. Educational level
      10. Occupation
      11. Personality type
      12. Socioeconomic status
  2. Physical development
    1. Reaction time
      1. No decrease in reaction time with age
      2. Factors that influence reaction time
        1. Ageism
        2. Motivation
        3. Depression
        4. Anxiety
        5. Response strategies
        6. Response style
    2. Sensory abilities
      1. Vision
        1. Farsightedness
        2. Floaters
        3. Dry eye
        4. Senile macular degeneration
        5. Cataracts
        6. Glaucoma
        7. Psychosocial adjustment
      2. Hearing
        1. Changes in ability to understand spoken language when background noise is present
      3. Speech
        1. Increased value in communicating about life experiences
      4. Smell
        1. Some atrophy of olfactory fibers in the nose occurs with age
      5. Taste
        1. Decline in tasting ability among the elderly
    3. Other body systems
      1. Skeletal system
        1. Changes in stature
        2. Diseases such as osteoporosis and arthritis
      2. Skin
        1. Collagen is a factor in skin changes
        2. Weight loss among the elderly causes skin changes
      3. Teeth
        1. Loss of teeth likely caused by gum disease
      4. Hair
        1. Hair changes caused by hormonal changes
      5. Locomotion
        1. If good health and active lifestyle are maintained, locomotive decline can be kept to a minimum
    4. Health
      1. Alcoholism
        1. Continuation of problem drinking
        2. Late-onset problem drinking
        3. Difficult to detect signs of problem drinking in the elderly
      2. Prostate cancer
      3. Alzheimer's disease
        1. Difficult to diagnose and to treat
        2. Breakdown of the system in the brain that produces acetylcholine
        3. Theories of the causes of Alzheimer's
        4. Alzheimer's may be transmitted genetically
        5. New research on potential therapies
      4. The gastric system
      5. The relationship between physical and mental health
        1. Strong correlation exists
        2. Married men have better health than unmarried men
        3. Social resources are strongly associated with mental health for women, but less so for men
        4. Economic resources are clearly related to mental health
      6. Health and retirement
        1. The healthiness of adults appears to be more a result of the cultural conditions in which they find themselves than of their age
    5. Appearance
  3. Cognitive development
    1. Cognitive ability in the elderly: tests versus observations
      1. Hypotheses about what accounts for the discrepancy between tested ability and actual performance
        1. Differences in type of cognition
        2. Differences in the representativeness of the individuals or observations
        3. Different standards of evaluation
        4. Different amounts of experience
    2. Terminal drop
      1. Looks at the relationship between intelligence and survivorship
      2. Evidence for the terminal drop hypothesis
    3. Creativity
      1. Cross-sectional studies of creative productivity
        1. Alpaugh and associates
        2. Jacquish and Ripple
      2. The stages of life during which creativity may best be cultivated
        1. Dacey's premise is that a person's inherent creativity can blossom best during a period of crisis and change
      3. The sixth peak period
        1. Opportunities for creativity increase with retirement
    4. Wisdom
      1. Sternberg's comparison of cognition, wisdom, and intelligence
      2. Baltes and Stuadinger's five factors that produce wisdom








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