AP PSYCH 6.5 Adulthood and Aging

Aging and Bio-Psychological Changes

• In the brain, there is a regional loss of volume in the frontal lobe and cerebellum
  • The telomeres (at the end of chromosomes and keep them together) shorten and plasticity continues to decline with age
  • This creates a risk of dementia at more advanced ages
  • Overall, there is a decrease in the ability to think and remember
• Memory is also affected by age
  • The procedural and semantic memory is stable, but there is a decline in working memory
  • This creates a decline in fluid intelligence, which is how we solve problems and find new perspectives
  • It is also related to the speed at which we can think
• Other changes include declining vision (presbyopia, or the lens’ inability o change shape), sex hormone levels, and muscle mass
• There are certain things that can be done to prevent some of these processes from occurring sooner
  • Inevitably, they will happen, but they can be postponed and the severity reduced
  • Exercise, a healthy diet, and new experiences all keep the brain healthy

Erikson’s Social Development

• In early adulthood, the conflict is intimacy vs. isolation
  • This comes right after the identity and role confusion conflict
  • This focuses on the ability for one to establish and maintain intimate relationships
  • If one is not able to have intimate relationships, they will develop a sense of isolation from the rest of the community
• In the middle adulthood stage, there is a conflict between generativity and stagnation
  • Generativity is leaving something behind, like giving something important to the next generation
  • That may mean having children or finding a sense of purpose that benefits others
  • If middle adults don’t feel that they are moving forward in life or aren’t contributing much, they can feel stagnant and purposeless
• The last stage in later adulthood has to do with someone looking back on their life
  • How they lived their life will influence how they feel about the end of it
  • This is the conflict of ego-integrity vs. despair

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