Psych Ch. 19 & 20

Approval by institutional review board, informed consent

Two major research ethics

Approval by institutional review board

○ All behavioral and medical studies with human subjects undergo an independent ethics evaluation

○ All researchers receive ethics training (including students, technicians, etc.)

○ Scientific publications are anonymous—IRB approval checked during peer review

Informed consent

○ Research participants are given full knowledge of the possible consequences of participating in a study

○ Participation is voluntary

○ Full knowledge of risks and benefits

○ Parental must consent and children must assent (agree)

Population pyramid

Graph that depicts age and sex structure of a population over time

Increasing number of young individuals

More older women than men

Growth of individuals 65+, more young people too

Pyramid is getting wider

Changing population demographics

Japan, Italy Greece

US at 44

Countries with largest percentage of individuals 65 and older in 2020

Geriatrics

the medical specialty devoted to aging people

Gerontology

the multidisciplinary study of old age (psychological, cultural, and biological factors)

Young-old

65-75 years

Healthy, financially secure; well-integrated into lives of fam. and comm.

Mid-old

Over 75

More likely to experience physical, mental, or social challenges

Old-old

Over 85 years of age

Mostly dependent on others, requiring supportive serves such as nursing homes or regular hospital stays

Centenarians

Those beyond 100

Despite physical limitations, most centenarians have low rates of diseases and good mental health

Quadruple

Number of centenarians in US is projected to ________ between 2024 and 2054

4%

What percent of US residents over age 65 are in nursing homes?

5%-10%

Brain loses ___________ of its weight between 20 and 90 years old

Slowing of central and auto. nerv. syst. dramatic in late adulthood

Atrophy

Individual differences in the extent to which brain shrinking happens

More parts of their shrinking brains

• In younger individuals, brain power is more centered around specific locations

Do older adults use more or fewer parts of their brain?

Neural reorganization

Atrophy of hippocampus and prefrontal cortex

Reduced blood flow

Diminished neurotransmitter firing

Deteriorating white matter

Key changes to brain makeup during aging

20-30

Brain aging starts at what age?

Little

______ neuron cell loss in aging brain

NDMA receptors

Lower levels of these receptors - that are used to learn things - in the aging brain

Exercise every day

Running increases molecules in the brain, maintaining volume

One way to stop brain aging

Little changes and shrinkage

Lots of changes or little changes in primary visual cortex?

Think dumbbell graph

Frontal lobe

Mission control center for the brain of executive functions

○ Sets goals

○ Delegates

○ Directs attention

○ Monitors results

Lower perception

Increase medications

Driving accidents frequent

What is caused by declining executive function?

50%

Frontal lobe volume shrinks up to __________ in old age

30%

Hippocampus shrinks by _______%

Explicit memory

Conscious recall

Divided into episodic and semantic

Episodic memory

Type of explicit memory

Memory for specific moments in your life

○ What, where, when–and you in it

○ Includes your memories of what you did last night, your favorite vacation, and conversations you have had

Semantic memory

Type of explicit memory

Facts and general knowledge

Implicit memory

Without conscious recall

Divided into procedural and conditioned responses

Procedural

Motor and cognitive skills learned via practice - walking

Conditioned responses

Associations - knowing someone’s face by their name

Episodic (vivid memories of events), semantic (facts & knowledge collected)

While _____ memory decreases linearly from 20s to 80s, ______ memory tends to increase with age

Dementia

Umbrella term for memory loss, impaired reasoning, language problems, personality changes

The irreversible deterioration of intellectual ability accompanied by emotional disturbance

● Unlike milder forms of mental decline with normal aging, ______may lead to significant impairment in social functioning

MORE COMMON IN WOMEN OVER MEN 85 YEARS OR OLDER

Reversible dementia

Causes

Medication: when elderly people are prescribed several medications, it might lead to side effects with dementia-like symptoms

Depression: most common diagnostic mistake–other mental health problems, social isolation, significant social changes (e.g. death of partner)

Vascular dementia

Degeneration of material in brain by multiple strokes

Alzheimer’s

Disease

Progressive, irreversible brain disorder characterized by deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and eventually physical functioning

More common in women due to longer life expectancy

Horrible damage to neural communication

Integrity versus despair

This stage is about life review.

If people can mentally resolve their experiences—good and bad—they achieve _____.
If they cannot reconcile their past, they fall into ______.

Ageism

Discrimination against elderly on groups of their age

Institutional, interpersonal, internalized

Institutional ageism

Unjust policies in organizations that discriminate against older people

Interpersonal ageism

Interaction with other individuals discriminate against older people

Internalized ageism

Internal discrimination of old people within themselves

“Because I’m old, I can’t do XYZ”

Increased chance of cardiovascular events/disease

What can ageism lead to?

An expert knowledge system dealing with the conduct and understanding of life

○ Includes factual and practical knowledge (know-how)

○ Intellectual humility - Knowing you don’t know everything

○ Compromise

○ Recognition of uncertainty and change

○ Others' perspectives/broader contexts

Wisdom

Life experience, personal motivations

Two main contributors to wisdom

Selection, optimization, compensation (SOC model)

Three components of successful aging
Dealing with the changing psychological resources due to aging

Selection

Component of SOC model

Focusing attention to more important and manageable goals

Optimization

Component of SOC model

Maintaining performance in certain areas due to continued practice

Compensation

Component of SOC model

Accounting for one’s decline in performance

Arthur Rubinstein - World-renowned pianist who played last concert at young age of 89

Example of successful SOC model

Socioemotional selectivity theory

Theory outlining how people consider what to value depending on how many more years lie ahead

● Older adults become more selective about their social network

● Spend more time with familiar individuals with whom they have had rewarding

Decline, improve

As one grows older, the number of relationships _____, but quality of these relationships _______

Friendships at old age

Provide intimacy and companionship, acceptance, community, consoling when losing a loved one

Familiarity, number

At old age, people prefer _______ over _______ of relationships

Friends must align with personal values

Myths vs. reality of old people

● Professor Laura Carstensen Ted-Talk

○ Emotional aspects of life improve

○ Older people are happier than middle age and young people

○ Fewer older people experience stress compared to younger people

○ Recognizing that we won’t live forever changes our perspectives on life in positive ways

○ Less tolerance for injustice