1. How much did your early experiences in life, such as the way your parents reared you and how securely or insecurely attached you were to them, determine what type of person you are today?
Heredity, early experiences, and later experiences all contribute to who we are. Early experiences are important and provide a prototype and foundation for later experiences and relationships, but they are no the sole determinant of how competent we are as adults. Throughout our development as human beings, we have the capacity to change and to grow, although when we reach late adulthood that plasticity shrinks but does not completely go away. As we develop, we go through many transformations as a result of heredity, early experience, and later experience.

2. What's wrong with today's youth?
For most adolescents, nothing. This question that has been asked for centuries. Aristotle once said that youth think they know everything and are too sure about it. Today's parents worry about the younger generation, who will grow up and worry about the next generation. Seeking an identity and finding one's place in the world are time-honored, normal aspects of adolescent development. Nonetheless, too many youth today do not have an adequate opportunity to make a competent transition from being a child to being an adult, especially those who live in impoverished conditions and who do not have one or more caring adults to monitor and support them.

3. Can humans live to be 400?
Not yet but it might be possible because of all the advances taking place in the biology of aging. One fascinating area of research involves the tips of chromosomes, called telomeres, which shorten as we age. Scientists recently have found that by injecting the enzyme telomerase into this area of chromosomes that cells will continue to grow and multiply to a level far beyond the current limit to the human life span-about 122 years of age. Such findings raise intriguing questions such as, "If these biological modifications really turn out to expand the human life span, who will have access to them?" " Do people really want to live to be 400?"

4. What does it take for people to develop and age successfully?
In thinking about this question, it is important to recognize the three main facets of our development: physical, cognitive, and socioemotional. Too often we focus only on one of these to the exclusion of the other(s). Developing and aging successfully requires growth in all three areas. For example, successful aging includes health, cognitive fitness, and good relationships with family and friends.