Understanding Communication & Aging Ch. 1

Activity Theory

Theory of aging that suggests maintaining levels of physical and cognitive activity may help maintain positive function in older adulthood

Aging

Inevitable chronological change in our age from year to year; one’s passage through time

Baby Boom

People born between 1946 and 1964

Period of high birth rates

Biomedicalization of Aging

Treatment of aging as a disease rather than a natural part of life

Cohort Effect

Effect due to the timing one was born

Ex: People during the 1950s were more likely to experiment with drugs than those in the 60s and 70s

Continuity Theory

Theory that suggests that older people are more successful if they maintain activities and relationships from earlier in their lives

Cross sectional Design

Research design in which people of different ages are measured at one point in time

Cross-sequential design

Research design in which people of different ages are measured across time

Ex: As all of them age 

Disengagement Theory

Debunked theory that argues that older adults need to disengage from society and their personal relationships in order to approach death in a solitary manner

Erikson’s Lifespan Theory

Theory of psychological development across the lifespan

Focuses on challenges that need to be faced at each age

Gerontology

Study of human aging, older adults, and all that surrounds and occurs with human development at and after the age of 55

Longitudinal Design

Research design in which a group of people are followed over time (measured at different ages as they get older)

Narrative

Stories that can be written or oral

Enacted accounts of one’s life

Political Economy of Aging

Describes how specific social institutions function to reinforce existing norms for what aging is

Ex: Social institution of retirement is a mechanism for removing older people from the workforce and separating them from young people

Population Pyramid

Graphical representation of the numbers of men and women in different age groups

Young people at the bottom, older people at the top

Selective Optimization with Compensation

Theory that argues that aging successfully involves the maximization of things that you can still do and finding alternatives for things that are challenging

Short term Memory

Used for holding things in mind for a brief second

Aging can contribute to degeneration

Ex: Remembering a phone long enough to write it down

Long Term memory

Used for remembering long term knowledge

Ex: Mother worked at walmart in the 90s

Social Construction

Idea that components of reality are created and modified through human interaction

Socioemotional Selectivity Theory

Theory that suggests we orient differently to our social worlds as we age, in part because of our changing orientation to time

We emphasize positive emotional experiences as we age