Exam 4 Study GuideChapter 15• Changes in senses: vision, hearing, taste and smell• Vision: • Presbyopia : decreased near vision related to age• People become more far sighted, can’t read as well up close• Changes in near vision, dynamic vision, sensitivity to light, visual search, speed of processing, visual acuity (trouble reading signs on highway)• Changes in the pupil of the eye• Loss of elasticity in the lens• Part of the eye that focuses on things• Difficulty seeing close up, blurriness• Hearing:• Presbycusis : gradual, age-related hearing loss• Normally limited to higher pitch sounds than used in speech• Proceeds faster in males than females• Somewhat changing because of differences of profession- males were much more engaged in loud activities/careers inthe past.• Preventable hearing loss• Due to environmental factors, loud work environments, concerts, use of headphones- Taste and Smell:o Sensitivity to taste and smell decreaseo Foods may seem more blando Women keep these senses longer than meno Sensitivity may change to different types of food: salty, sweet, bitter, etc. Related to why very old people don’t enjoy eating anymore• Changes in appearance – why it occurs• Skin thins and becomes less taut• Layer of fat in face is thinning out and makes it look more droopy• More ridged and brittle• Hair thins and grays• Because of a slowed replacement rate• Gray due to less pigment in hair• Gain weight and lose height• Bone density decreases• More calcium is being absorbed than replaced• Osteoporosis, much more common in women • Menopause• Menopause : cessation of menstruation and of ability to bear children (45-55)• Symptoms: hot flashes, changes in sexual desire, depression, moodiness, tension.• Some symptoms are directly associated to decrease in estrogen, some are not• Not all are empirically supported• Stress in middle age• Stress : response to physical or psychological demands• Stressors: perceived environmental demands that may produce stress (actual demands/cause of stress)• Stress starts in the brain (sympathetic NS activation)• People do not all experience stress or stressors in the same way• Stressors related to • health • aging • role changes (retirement, parents/children, etc.)• financial risk • children• **More stress than early and late adults**• Life change events and illness• Daily stressors buildup• Chronic stress may suppress the immune system.• Acute stress strengthens the immune system (at certain levels)• Stress may harm health directly through increase blood pressure or indirectly through lifestyle factors. • Cognitive Development in Midlife– Fluid vs. Crystallized intelligence• Fluid: applied to novel problems; independent of culture and education.• Peak in young adulthood. Declines in middle adulthood• Ability to think outside of the box, come up with new solutions• Crystallized: ability to remember and use learned information; dependent on education and culture.• Improves through middle age and older age (focused on things we know, as we get older we know more stuff) • Specialized knowledge or expertise• Knowing things that are culturally relevant– Encapsulation and integrative thought• Encapsulation: progressive dedication of information processing and fluid thinking to specific knowledge systems, making knowledge more readily accessible. • Integrative: integrate logic with intuition and emotion. Chapter 16• Individuation• Individuation : emergence of the true self through balancing or integration of conflicting parts of the personality.• Shift from concentration on obligations to family and society to their inner, spiritual selves.• Giving up image of youth and acknowledging mortality (your priorities have changed)• Incorporate previously ignored aspects of self• There might be a part of you that you don’t like and you arenow focusing on, trying to fix, etc. you have more time now to turn inward and focus on yourself• Generativity vs. Stagnation• Generativity vs. Stagnation• Eriksons 7th stage of psychosocial development.• Generativity : establishing, guiding, and influencing the next generation• Parenting, grandparents, teachers, mentors, productivity, volunteering, self development• Stagnation : a sense of inactivity or lifelessness• Advice is given that is more and more profound• Interiority• Interiority : turning inward; introspection. • Stop worrying about work. Start worrying about relationships, realize that’s what’s important• Midlife Review• Crisis: A stressful life period precipitated by the review and reevaluation of one’s past, typically occurring in the early to middle forties. • Re-evaluating their lives, making strange choices• Highly unusual, NOT normative• Influence and intensity of “midlife crisis” has been extremely overexaggerated• More accurate to call it midlife review:• Yields new insights into the self • Spurs midcourse corrections in the design and trajectory of one’s life• One last chance to do what they want to do • More awareness of developmental deadlines• Crisis may be more related to personality• Neuroticism- more prone to crisis, emotional instability, more dramatic• Ego-Resiliency- less prone to crisis• Identity Assimilation and Accommodation• Identity assimilation: to fit new experience into an existing self-concept• Identity accommodation: adjusting the self-concept to fit new experience• Things we learn about ourselves that don’t fit the schema• Changing the schema• Gender Crossover• Gender crossover: reversal of gender roles after the end of active parenting. • Men feel free to explore their previously repressed feminine side, become more passive.• Women become more dominant and independent. Chapter 17• Primary vs Secondary Aging– Primary Aging : gradual, inevitable process of bodily deterioration throughout life.– Secondary Aging : aging process that results from disease and bodily abuse and are often preventable. • Functional age– Functional age : measure of person’s ability to function effectively in his or her physical and social environment in comparison to others of the same chronological age• Life expectancy, Longevity, Life span– Life expectancy : age to which a person in a particular cohort is statistically likely to live.–
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