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Human Development: Updated, 7/e

James Vander Zanden, Ohio State University
Thomas Crandell, Broome Community College
Corinne Crandell, Broome Community College

Late Adulthood: Physical and Cognitive Development

Learning Objectives

After completing Chapter 17, you should be able to:

1

Describe some of the common contradictory stereotypes for elderly American men and women, and contrast that view with the Japanese view of the elderly.

2

Define the terms gerontology and geropsychology.

3

Compare and contrast the issue of longevity in various cultures, cite some countries where people seem to live the longest, and cite the results of research about people living to be 120 or older.

4

Describe the demographic statistics on elderly Americans and on the elderly in other cultures.

life expectancy:

numbers and rate of growth of elderly population:

5

List the predicted likely effects of these population changes on the American culture and budget.

6

Briefly summarize from research data several reasons why women are living longer than men.

7

Cite and briefly describe the purpose of several government-sponsored programs to benefit the elderly.

8

Give a brief historical perspective on U.S. government spending on the elderly, cite the current levels of spending in the federal budget, and state projected spending levels.

9

Appraise the concept of ageism by stating some common myths concerning elderly Americans and then citing the facts.

10

Describe the health status of older Americans.

11

Describe several physical changes associated with aging.

hair:

skin appearance:

muscle/fat ratio:

visual efficiency:

hearing loss:

taste bud impairment:

olfactory impairment:

touch sensitivity:

temperature sensitivity:

hypothermia symptoms:

sleep patterns

sexuality:

12

Compare and contrast the following major biological theories of aging.

"notion of inborn limits," supported by James Fries:

"small gains in life span," supported by S. Jay Olshansky:

13

List and briefly describe other biological theories of aging.

14

Succinctly explain the suggested three primary ways of staving off the aging process.

15

Cite the results of studies which criticize traditional intelligence/ability testing with aging subjects.

Labouvie-Vief:

Schaie and Willis:

16

Analyze the differing results produced by cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of late-adult cognitive development, and describe the significant effect of the death drop.

17

Summarize the research dealing with memory loss.

prevalence of memory loss:

recalling people's names:

vocabulary memory:

recall tasks:

recognition tasks:

18

Briefly explain the phases in information processing and retrieval.

encoding:

storage:

retrieval:

19

Discuss factors that influence memory failure.

decay theory:

interference theory:

practical implications:

20

Describe the research on learning and aging.

21

Discuss the following aspects of Alzheimer's disease.

physiological changes/symptoms:

psychological changes/symptoms:

demographics:

effect on family:

phases of progression:

possible causes:

22

List and briefly describe Fowler's 7 stages of Faith Development

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