SHS 271 final

Filial piety (xiao)

A cultural norm surrounding caring for and respect for older adults; see also Confucianism.

Universal design

Designing technology so that it is optimized for people with a disability or impairment but also easily usable by people without an impairment.

Telemedicine

Delivery of medical care and testing through an internet connection and online video.

Underrepresentation

Occurs when a group of people is shown on television in numbers lower than the true population representation. Older adults are about 15% of the real population but typically about 3–4% of television characters; hence, they are …

Individualism

cultures (e.g., North Americans of European origin) believe in striving for individual success, valuing individuals’ unique characteristics, expressing oneself, and placing one’s own needs above those of surrounding groups. For instance, individualist parents tend to urge their children toward independence, celebrating and encouraging attempts to operate without the parents’ help and to become a successful individual.

Collectivism

A cultural value for social groups, family, and other collectives; the opposite of individualism. ((e.g., East Asia and Central America) believe in maintaining harmony between individuals, nurturing social relationships, and valuing success of the group over the individual.)

Power-distance

A cultural variable reflecting the extent to which a culture values strong status differences. Egalitarian and democratic cultures tend to be lower on power-distance. This refers to the degree of “hierarchy” in a culture—the extent to which some people have a lot of power and control, while others have very little. 

Media literacy

Degree of understanding about media at different levels, including how they were created, how they try to influence us, and the hidden implications in media messages. 

Co-residence norms

living between older and younger generations, although they also note a lack of differences in other dimensions of filial piety 

Linguistic brokers

Typically, informal translators, such as a bilingual family member who helps an older person talk to a doctor when the older person and the doctor do not speak the same language. 

Authoritarian approach to medical

older patients also contribute to suboptimal communication with their physicians. Older patients tend to prefer this approach more to the medical encounter than younger people. For example, an older patient may think, “The doctor is the expert; I’ll just sit here, and they will tell me what to do.”

Chronic

this condition is one that is long term and generally has no simple treatment to end it— (Many older adults suffer from multiple health problems that are “ongoing” (i.e., unlikely to be cured). They might have diabetes, arthritis, and high blood pressure, for instance.)

Acute condition

problems are more short term, albeit perhaps serious for that period. Broken bones and the flu are these conditions. 

Cohort effect

An effect due to the period during which one was born (e.g., people born in the early 1950s were more likely to experiment with drugs when they were teens and young adults in the 60s and 70s than people born in earlier cohorts). 

Advance directive

A plan or stated set of wishes for how one would like to be treated in the future (e.g., at the end of one’s life, when it might not be possible to directly state those wishes)

Cultivation theory

This states that older people age more successfully if they maintain activities and relationships from earlier in their lives.

Emotion-focused coping

Dealing with a problem by working on one’s feelings about it (e.g., stressing less) versus resolving the problem (e.g., studying for an exam)

Problem-focused coping

Dealing with a problem by working on your feelings about the problem (e.g., stressing less) versus resolving the problem (e.g., studying for an exam).

Health literacy

ability to understand health-related concepts, communicate effectively about them, and retain information (e.g., a diagnosis) effectively (Sparks & Nussbaum, 2008). People who are low in health literacy struggle in doctor–patient interactions, and the link between health illiteracy and poor health is consistent across studies, contexts, races, and incomes (Chesser et al., 2016).

Vitality theory

Describes the factors underlying whether groups are strong or weak in a given social context. Considers factors like demographics (e.g., “Are there a lot of people of a certain age or relatively few?”), status (e.g., “Are people from this age group widely respected and admired?”), and institutional support (e.g., “Do government and industry programs support members of this group?”

Social comparison

Comparing oneself to another person. We compare ourselves to people who are doing worse than us to feel good and to people doing a little better than us to motivate ourselves.

Person-centered communication

Communication (particularly in a medical setting) that emphasizes the unique characteristics of the target.

Eudaimonic

Experiences, particularly with media, that are not based on “pleasure” (hedonic) but oriented to things like personal fulfillment or growth, appreciation, or transcendence.

Hedonic

differ in that they are more interested in expanding their social networks and sensation seeking. Younger people also tend to prefer shows that are funny or exciting

Stereotype threat

Anxiety associated with performing a task at which your group is supposed to be poor. Many old people would experience this while being asked to play a fast-paced video game and, hence, underperform at the game.

Respite help

Assistance for caregivers in the form of other care that gives them a break. 

Communicatively disenfranchising

Removing someone’s self-efficacy or sense of control by ignoring them or otherwise taking away the person’s ability and opportunity to communicate in a normal manner. 

barriers to computer use

older adults’ technology use is their lack of self-efficacy—one’s general feeling of whether they are able to do something. Older people having low tech-nology self-efficacy makes sense, given that they were not raised with technology the way younger people were, and lack of familiarity and practice inhibit one’s confidence. For many people under 65, high-speed computer use and internet access has been a regular feature of their work lives.

digital divide

can be understood by examining some of the barriers to older people using technology

gerotechnology

refers to research and applications integrating the study of ag-ing and the study of technology (Gutman, 2003). Most work that falls under this label concerns assistive technologies—tech designed to help people overcome limitations. Hearing aids and glasses are the oldest communicative gerotechnologies; conversation is dramatically more difficult if one cannot hear or see the other person effectively.

interface

How you connect with a piece of technology (e.g., a keyboard, touch screen, or mouse). Some are friendlier to older bodies and minds than others.

obsolescence

Things becoming (out of date); used with new technology. For example, the first iPhone is now .

patronizing speech

Talking to an older adult in a way that suggests they are incompe-tent, like how one talks to babies or pets. is also sometimes called “overaccommodation,” “secondary baby talk,” and “elderspeak.”

selective optimization with compensation:

A theory that argues aging successfully involves maximizing the things you can still do and finding alternatives for things you find challenging.

communication enhancement model

A model complementing the communication predicament model; the enhancement model focuses on how communication with older adults can be improved by treating each person as a unique individual.

continuity of care

Ensuring care is coordinated and organized and transitions are smooth from one context or caregiver to another (e.g., between a primary caregiver and a specialist or the emergency room and a nursing home

elder abuse

Physical, sexual, verbal, or financial mistreatment of an older person, often by a younger caregiver.

geriatrics

The medical specialty dedicated to the treatment of older people. Also a pejo-rative (negative and politically incorrect) term for old people.

personhood

Someone’s unique personal characteristics and their sense of self as valu-able and coherent.

third party or triadic communication

The presence of someone other than patient or physician/nurse in a medical encounter—typically, a friend or family member of the patient

acculturation

Changing one’s behaviors and worldview based on encounters with a new culture, particularly a new host culture (e.g., for immigrants).

collectivism

A cultural value for social groups, family, and other collectives; the opposite of individualism.

globalization

The breaking down of barriers between cultural and national groups. If your cable television lineup includes channels in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and French,

intergenerational communication schemas

Mental representations of “types” of con-versation between younger and older people.

laodao

A distinctive Chinese form of intergenerational communication, wherein the older person nags or repeatedly chides the younger person.

matrilineal

A society in which inheritance, property, naming, and so on is carried through the female line (versus patrilineal).

modernization

The development of modern society; often includes things like urban-ization, industrialization, and globalization. Typically, is viewed as having made older adults’ positions in some communities less essential.

one-child policy

A policy of the Chinese government from 1979 to 2015 that restricted families to a single child.

age-related marketing

Selling anything (particularly, television programs, in the context of this book) to specific age markets.

selective viewing

Choosing to consume certain media and avoid others; people often make age-driven media selections, choosing to view programs featuring people of their own age group.

redundant cues

Some media feature —the extent to which information in one channel is also carried in another. On television, for instance, the video and audio often contain complementary information that helps you follow what’s going on. Radio doesn’t have so many of these because it carries information in audio form only

literary gerontologists

An area of scholarship that draws from various readings to under-stand how aging is regarded and that appreciates the role of aging in artistic expression.

peripheral imagery theory

This theory suggests not major characters in the media tend to conform more strongly to group stereotypes; hence, groups often portrayed in minor roles are more likely to be portrayed stereotypically.