Chapter 13 Intro to Human Development

What accounts for the increased population of older adults?

20th century advances in life expectancy

falling fertility/birth rates

What happens to the median age when birth rates decline?

the median age increases

(inverse relationship)

What is predicted to happen to the median age of the population by 2030?

median age will increase

1 in 5 Americans will be 65+

What is the main difference between young-old and old-old?

young old: old but still healthy

old-old: more physical frailities

How has old age been viewed through the ages? How are elderly individuals treated?

people link it with physical and mental decline

ageism is prevelant

What happens to memory as we age?

it declines

What are divided-attention tasks and how do they relate to memory?

need to learn info while monitoring something else

make memory worse

practically impossible in old age

Why does working memory-bin space decrease as we age?

reduced synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus

weaker executive processor (integrates info into permanent memory)

frontal lobe deterioration (makes focus and memory harder)

What happens in the brain hemispheres when older adults are given a memory task?

In young people: only left hemisphere active

In old people: both hemisphere must work

T or F: The brain has to go into overdrive to remember new things in later life.

false

What are the three basic types of memory in the memory-systems perspective?

procedural: automatic, no concious thought (walking)

semantic: fund of basic facts (history, etc)

episodic: ongoing events of daily life (what you did last tuesday)

T or F: On tests of semantic memory, older people generally do much worse than younger people.

false, they do just as well

Which is the most fragile type of memory?

episodic memory

People with Alzheimer’s disease can retain___memories after the other memory systems are largely gone.

procedural

Describe three approaches for keeping memory fine-tuned as we age.

1) selectively focus on what you remember

2) optimize turnign what you know into permanent info

3) compensation/external memory aids

T or F: When asked to remember emotionally vivid material, older people tend to perform much worse than younger people.

false

Describe Carstensen’s socioemotional selectivity theory

time left living affects priorities, old people focus less on future and more on present

When do we prioritize the present, regardless of our life stage?

When we have shortened time left with people we love (fatal illness, moving, etc)

How do the concepts of paradox of well-being and positivity effect relate to being an older person?

focusing on positive and filtering out negative experiences (positivity effect) causes the paradox of wellbeing (old ppl are as happy as young ppl)

T or F: Feeling that time is slipping away may result in older adults’ seeking fewer flow experiences.

false, the opposite occurs

Define Erikson’s eighth psychosocial stage, integrity vs. despair.

integrity: old people must review their lives and make peace with what they’ve done

How has the average retirement age and duration of retirement changed in the last 50 years?

age increased from 62 → 67

duration increased due to longer lifespan and social security policy shifts

Most people now are retired for about __ of their life

¼

What does retirement look like around the world?

Scandanavia: secure, old age support

Central/Eastern Europe: income gaps, retirement uncertin

Germany: no concerns, aging population

USA: do-able, but no cushion/help from gov

By the late twentieth century, how many countries had government-funded old-age retirement programs?

more than 160 countries

Which country stands out as a model of what the government can provide to retirees? Why?

Germany: funded by taxes, supports old people financially until death

How does the United States compare?

allows people to barely make it (financially) with no comfort, Social Security helps a lot

Describe Social Security and private pensions, including how they differ.

Social Security: employees and employers currently working give taxes to program to help current retirees, benefits them in future

Private Pension: worker and employer put part of paycheck into account for retirement

How have poverty trends for older adults changed from 1950 to 2020?

dropped due to Social Security and Medicare

less likely than children to live in poverty

What is the impact of age discrimination upon older workers? Why is discrimination unwarranted?

50% of older workers feel pushed out of jobs

more expensive to pay older-higher up workers

older workers are more flexible, less likely to take time off, more reliable

What makes life as a retiree satisfying?

be open to experience, contientious, agreeable, NOT neurotic

be happily married

have economic resources to enjoy life

How can you predict who will be happy as a retiree?

is the person healthy, wealthy, did they voluntarily leave work

Why are older workers and retirees both at-risk groups?

older adults: higher risk of layoff due to agesim

retirees: ack of pension income, cutbacks in Social Security, more retirees

What is the old-age dependency ratio and how does it relate to retirement?

The ratio of working adults to reitrees decreased → fewer workers paying into SS, less money for retirees

In a classic study of life stress, what was ranked as life’s most traumatic change?

death of a spouse

Describe the experience of mourning a partner or spouse.

people obsess with events surrounding loved one’s death, want to look for them

What did researchers find to be the most acute feeling widowed people experienced a year after having lost their partner?

loneliness

What is the widowhood mortality effect?

Widowed spouses have an elevated risk of death

Do women cope better with the death of a spouse than men? Why or why not?

women recover more quickly from being widowed, men are more attatched and likely to fall into chronic depression

What is a major concern for elderly, widowed men living alone?

suicide