XX. Physical and Cognitive Changes
1. early adulthood: (18-30)
a. reach physical peak: strongest, healthiest, and quickest reflexes
b. physical decline is slow and gradual (usually unnoticed until late 20s)
1. possible explanations
a. cells lose ability to repair themselves
b. cells have preset biological clocks (limit ability to divide and multiply)
2. middle age (30-65)
a. changes in appearance: grey and thinning hair, wrinkles
b. sight difficulties (seeing in the distance)
3. old age (66+)
a. muscles and fat begin to break down; lose weight and become shorter
b. gradual or sudden loss of hearing
c. reaction time slows
Health Problems
1. some changes are natural others develop from disease, or lifestyle
a. sensible eating, exercising, avoiding tobacco, drugs and alcohol will look and feel younger
b. cancer, heart disease, and cirrhosis of the liver (encouraged by lifestyle)
Marriage and Divorce
1. 90% of population will marry; 40-60% of new marriages end in divorce
a. marriage success: how couples resolve conflicts & how often they share intimate and happy moments
1. arguments are constructive
2. arranged marriages are surprisingly successful
Menopause and Sexual Behavior
1. menopause: the biological event in which a woman’s production of hormones is sharply reduced (usually between age of 45 & 50)
a. woman stops ovulating and menstruating: conceiving children is no longer possible
b. irritability and depression can develop (psychological origin)
c. many women enjoy this stage (more confident, calmer, and freer)
2. sexual activity doesn’t decline with age
Cognitive Changes
1. mid 20s: learning new skills and information, solving problems, and shifting problem solving strategies improves dramatically
2. 40s: peak of creativity and productivity
3. 50s-60s: peak in humanities (history, foreign languages, and literature)
a person’s character and personality remain stable through the years
A. Daniel Levinson’s Theory of Male Development (structures and transitions)
1. Early Adult Transition: 17-22
2. Entering the Adult World: 22-28
a. desire to explore the options of the adult world conflict with need to establish a stable life
Age 30 transition: 28-33
a. reexamining life structure: occupation, marriage partner, life goals
4. Settling down: 33-40
a. “making it” & “becoming one’s own man”
5. Midlife transition: 40-45
a. “midlife crisis”
Entering middle adulthood: 45-50
a. stability if transition was satisfactory
7. Midlife transition: 50-55
a. generativity: the desire, in middle age, to use one’s accumulated wisdom to guide future generations
b. stagnation: a discontinuation of development and a desire to recapture the past
Culmination of middle adulthood: 55-60
9. Late adult transition: 60-65
10. Late adulthood: 65-70
Female Development
1. women often face the same challenges as males
a. 58% of adult women work outside the home
2. women generally don’t have a midlife crisis
a. some women see period as a challenge after starting a family first
3. last child leaving home
a. usually only traumatic if paired with an unstable marriage
4. depression is common among middle-aged women
a. loss of role as mother, daughter, and wife
Changes that Come with Aging
1. decremental model of aging: idea that progressive physical and mental decline are inevitable with age
a. view is unrealistic
b. ageism: prejudice or discrimination against the elderly
Misconceptions
a. the elderly rarely suffer from poor health, rarely live in poverty, and are rarely victims of crime
b. the elderly rarely withdraw from life
c. the elderly are rarely inflexible or senile
Changes in Health
1. good health in adulthood carries over into old age
2. 80% of elderly have at least one chronic disease
a. heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and arthritis
3. 65-74 year olds: 80% believe health is good
4. 75+: 72% believe health is good
5. quality of care is inferior to that of the general population
a. 4% of elderly population live in nursing homes
Changes in Life Situation
1. transitions in late adulthood
a. 41% of women and 13% of men 65+ are widowed
b. 60% of women and 22% of men 75+ are without a spouse
2. more elderly are spending time learning and developing new skills
C. Changes in Sexual Activity
1. the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior
Adjusting to Old Age
1. a negative self-concept results from:
a. changes in health, recognition in the community, rare visits from family and friends, respect of privacy, leisure and work activities
b. loss of physical control
2. assertive personalities cope better
3. AARP: speak out about social issues that affect the elderly
there is much less decline in intelligence and memory than assumed
2. crystalized intelligence: the ability to use accumulated knowledge and learning in appropriate situations (increases with age)
3. fluid intelligence: the ability to solve abstract relational problems and to generate new hypotheses (decreases as nervous system declines)
Dementia: decreases in mental abilities, which can be experienced by some people in old age
1. memory loss, forgetfulness, disorientation of time and place, decline in ability to think, impaired attention, altered personality
2. is not a normal part of normal development
Alzheimer’s Disease: a condition that destroys a person’s ability to think, remember, relate to others, and care for herself or himself
1. 4.5 million have disease in U.S.
2. 6th leading cause of death among U.S. adults
3. most often leads to a weakened state that leads to fatal problems
4. causes are not completely understood and there is currently no cure
Approaching Death
1. death is a culturally and emotionally confusing and complex process
A. Stages of Dying
1. thanatology: the study of dying and death
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: studied how the terminally ill react to their impending death
a. denial: “no it can’t be happening to me”
1. often leads to individuals avoiding treatment
b. anger: “Why me?”
1. often alienate themselves from others
c. bargaining: changing of attitudes combined with bargaining
d. depression: begin contemplating the losses that are coming
e. acceptance: often experience a sense of calm
Making Adjustments
1. Camille Wortman theorized that Kubler-Ross’s stages were just the five most common styles of dealing with death
2. how should we deal with the impending death of others
a. provide opportunities for the dying to have respect, dignity and self-confidence
b. open communication about dying process and legal and financial issues
c. avoid judgments concerning grieving of others
the contemporary population is mostly insulated from death
2. life expectancy is much longer today and most people no longer die at home
A. Hospice Care
1. hospice: a facility designed to care for the special needs of the dying
a. goal is to create the most home-like environment where pain management can be provided
b. home-based hospice care is now more frequently used than inpatient
Dealing with Grief
1. John Bowlby: grief-based attachment research
a. shock and numbness
1. can last several hours or weeks
b. yearning and searching
1. grievers often isolate themselves
2. guilt and anger can manifest in this stage
3. may last for several months
John Bowbly: disorientation and disorganization
1. depression can manifest
2. new reality becomes very confusing
d. reorganization and resolution
1. griever overcomes feeling of isolation
Pavlov’s Dogs
1. classical conditioning: a learning procedure in which associations are made between a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus
a. attaching an old prompt or stimulus to a new prompt or stimulus
2. neutral stimulus (N): a stimulus that does not initially elicit any part of an unconditioned response
a. sound of tuning fork (Pavlov’s experiment)
3. unconditioned stimulus (US): an event that elicits a certain predictable response typically without previous training
a. food (Pavlov’s experiment)
4. unconditioned response (UR): an organism’s automatic (or natural) reaction to a stimulus
a. salivation (Pavlov’s experiment)
5. conditioned stimulus (CS): a once-neutral event that elicits a given response after a period of training in which it has been paired with an unconditioned stimulus
6. conditioned response (CR): the learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus
A. Acquisition
1. gradually occurs every time a N/US is paired with a UR/CR
2. best timing is when the N is presented just before an US (.5 seconds)
B. Generalization and Discrimination
1. generalization: responding similarly to a range of similar stimuli
a. Pavlov taught dog to respond to a circle; dog would respond to other figures
2. discrimination: the ability to respond differently to similar but distinct stimuli
a. Pavlov proved by never pairing the food with the oval
Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery
1. extinction: the gradual disappearance of a conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus
a. Pavlov stopped giving food after sound of tuning fork
2. spontaneous recovery: when a CR reappears when a CS occurs without a US
John Watson & Rosalie Rayner: the case of Little Albert
a. explored the relationship between classical conditioning and emotional responses
b. trained 11-month old Albert to fear lab rat
c. Rat (NS) + loud sound (US) => fear (UR)
Hobart & Mollie Mowrer 1938 study
a. developed a bed-wetting alarm to awaken children as they begin to wet bed
b. Full bladder (NS) + Alarm (UCS) => Awaken (UCR)
Taste Aversions
1. develop after illness follows dining experience
a. usually connected to new food even when other food was eaten
John Garcia & R.A. Koelling
1. Rats (A) shocked after drinking flavored water paired with flashing lights and clicking sounds
a. rats developed an aversion to the lights/sounds
2. Rats (B) injected with drug activated by drinking water (led to upset stomach)
a. rats developed an aversion to the taste of the water
c. used to condition coyotes to hate the taste of sheep
Behaviorism
1. classical conditioning is a great example of behaviorist theory
a. behaviorist study behaviors that can be observed and measured; not unobservable mental activity
Reinforcement
1. operant conditioning: learning in which a certain action is reinforced or punished, resulting in corresponding increases or decreases in occurrence
a. participant must be actively involved
1. classically conditioned organisms are passive participants
Positive and Negative Reinforcement
1. B.F. Skinner: trained rats to respond to lights and sounds (Skinner Box)
2. reinforcement: stimulus or event that follows a response and increases the likelihood that the response will be repeated
positive reinforcement: adding something desirable after a behavior occurs
1. food (Skinner Box), social approval, money, extra privileges
b. negative reinforcement: removal of something undesirable after a behavior occurs
1. changing a smoke alarm battery, buckling seatbelt, use of an umbrella
Primary and Secondary Reinforcers
1. primary reinforcer: stimulus that is naturally rewarding, such as food or water
2. secondary reinforcer: stimulus such as money that becomes rewarding through its link with a primary reinforcer
a. Wolfe experiment 1936 (Chimpanzees)
b. money is best example
Schedules of Reinforcement
1. continuous schedule: reinforcing behavior every time it occurs
2. partial schedule: positive reinforcement occurs sporadically
a. acquired behaviors are more slowly established but are more persistent
1. discovered when the Skinner Box kept breaking down
ratio schedules: reinforcement based on the number of responses
1. fixed-ratio: reinforcement depends on specified quantity of responses
a. most consumer loyalty punch cards
2. variable-ratio: reinforcement after varying number of responses
a. slot machines, door to door sales, telemarketing
1. very resistant to extinction
interval schedules: reinforcement occurs after an amount of time elapses
1. fixed-interval: reinforcement of first response after a fixed amount of time has passed
a. salaries, cramming for tests
2. variable-interval: reinforcement of the first response after varying amounts of time
a. fishing, pop quizzes
1. very resistant to extinction
shaping: technique in which the desired behavior is “molded” by first rewarding any act similar to that behavior and then requiring ever-closer approximations to the desired behavior before giving the reward
1. flag-raising rat
a. reinforce rat for approaching flagpole
b. reinforce after rat raises paw while near flagpole
c. reinforce after rat gets on hind legs while near flagpole
d. reinforce after rat nibbles at cord while on hind legs
Combining Responses: Chaining
1. response chains: learned reactions that follow one another in sequence, each reaction producing the signal for the next
a. complex skill of swimming involves organizing large response chains
1. arm stroke chain, breathing chain, leg kick chain
Aversive Control: process of influencing behavior by means of unpleasant stimuli
completed through use of negative reinforcers or punishers
A. Negative Reinforcement: increasing the strength of a given response by removing or preventing a painful stimulus when the response occurs
1. escape conditioning: training of an organism to remove or terminate an unpleasant stimulus
a. parents removing an unpleasant meal when child whines and gags while eating
avoidance conditioning: training of an organism to respond so as to prevent the occurrence of an unpleasant stimulus
a. parents deciding against presenting an unpleasant circumstance because child whines at the possibility
Punishment
1. leads to the removal or reduction of behavior
2. must be unpleasant to work
a. some reprimands may actually serve as reinforcers
3. positive punishment: adding unpleasant circumstances
4. negative punishment: removal of pleasant circumstances
Disadvantages of Punishment
1. can produce rage, aggression, and fear in children
2. spanking can lead to increased aggression toward other children
3. can lead to children avoiding person who punishes
4. fails to teach appropriate and acceptable behavior
Cognitive Learning
1. social learning: process of altering behavior by observing and imitating the behavior of others
a. learning goes beyond mechanical responses to stimuli or reinforcement
2. cognitive learning: form of altering behavior that involves mental processes and may result from observation or imitation
Latent Learning and Cognitive Maps
1. Wolfgang Kohler: chimpanzee study on insight
2. Edward Tolman: rat study on cognitive maps and latent learning
a. cognitive map: a mental picture of spatial relationships or relationships between events
b. latent learning: alteration of a behavioral tendency that is not demonstrated by an immediate, observable change in behavior
Learned Helplessness: condition in which repeated attempts to control a situation fail, resulting in the belief that the situation is uncontrollable
1. college students/noise study
2. Martin Seligman Theory
a. stop trying
b. lower self-esteem
c. depression ensues
Modeling: learning by imitating others; copying behavior
mimicry: performing old, established responses that we might not be using at the time.
2. observational learning: learning to perform a behavior after watching others perform it
a. Albert Bandura: Bobo doll experiment
3. disinhibition: the increased likelihood a behavior will be repeated when observed behavior is not punished
a. often used to alleviate phobias
the systematic application of learning principles to change people’s actions or feelings
A. Computer-Assisted Instruction
1. S.L. Pressey (1933) & B.F. Skinner (1950s)
a. program that uses reinforcement (new information, choices, or point rewards) each time a student shows they learned something new
b. program builds on information student has already mastered
Token Economics
1. token economy: conditioning in which desirable behavior is reinforced with valueless objects, which can be accumulated and exchanged for valued rewards
a. used in schools, prisons, mental hospitals, and halfway houses
Self-Control
1. having people set up personal systems of rewards and punishments to shape their own thoughts and actions
a. define the problem
b. track the behavior
c. set up a behavioral contract
Improving Your Study Habits
1. progressively increase study quotas (successive approximations)
a. remove conditioned aversive stimuli
adjust
to change or alter in order to fit or conform
adapt
A changing to fit new conditions
menopause
the biological event in which a woman's production of sex hormones is sharply reduced
generativity
the desire, in middle age, to use one's accumulated wisdom to guide future generations
stagnation
a discontinuation of development and a desire to recapture the past
function
the ability to achieve his or her goals within him or her self and the external environment. It includes an individual's behavior, emotion, social skills, and overall mental health
assumed
accepted as real or true without proof
decremental model of aging
idea that progressive physical and mental decline are inevitable with age
ageism
prejudice or discrimination against the elderly
dementia
decreases in mental abilities, which can be experienced by some people in old age
Alzheimer's disease
a condition that destroys a person's ability to think, remember, relate to others, and care for herself or himself
component
A part or element of a larger whole.
isolating
causing one to feel alone
thanatology
the study of death and dying
hospice
a facility designed to care for the special needs of the dying
classical conditioning
a learning procedure in which associations are made between a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus
neural stimulus
a stimulus that does not initially elicit any part of an unconditioned response
unconditioned stimulus
an event that elicits a certain predictable response typically without previous training
unconditioned response
an organism's automatic (or natural) reaction to a stimulus
conditioned stimulus
a once-neutral event that elicits a given response after a period of training in which it has been paired with an unconditioned stimulus
conditioned response
the learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus
generalization
responding similarly to a range of similar stimuli
discrimination
the ability to respond differently to similar but distinct stimuli
extinction
the gradual disappearance of a conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus
operant conditioning
learning in which a certain action is reinforced or punished, resulting in corresponding increases or decreases in occurrence
reinforcement
stimulus or event that follows a response and increases the likelihood that the response will be repeated
secondary reinforcer
stimulus such as money that becomes rewarding through its link with a primary reinforce
primary reinforcer
stimulus that is naturally rewarding, such as food or water
shaping
technique in which the desired behavior is "molded" by first rewarding any act similar to that behavior and then requiring ever-closer approximations to the desired behavior before giving the reward
response chain
learned reactions that follow one another in sequence, each reaction producing the signal for the next
aversive control
process of influencing behavior by means of unpleasant stimuli
negative reinforcement
increasing the strength of a given response by removing or preventing a painful stimulus when the response occurs
escape conditioning
training of an organism to remove or terminate an unpleasant stimulus
avoidance conditioning
training of an organism to respond so as to prevent the occurrence of an unpleasant stimulus
social learning
process of altering behavior by observing and imitating the behavior of others
cognitive learning
form of altering behavior that involves mental processes and may result from observation or imitation
cognitive map
a mental picture of spatial relationships or relationships between events
latent learning
alteration of a behavioral tendency that is not demonstrated by an immediate, observable change in behavior
learned helplessness
condition in which repeated attempts to control a situation fail, resulting in the belief that the situation is uncontrollable
modeling
learning by imitating others; copying behavior
token economy
conditioning in which desirable behavior is reinforced with valueless objects, which can be accumulated and exchanged for valued rewards
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