PS 277 – Adulthood and Aging

1. PS 277 – Adulthood and Aging Dr. Mike Pratt

2. PS277: Adulthood & Aging – Introductory Lecture 1 • Course Information & Goals • My Background • Everyday Views and Myths of Later Adulthood • Life Span Perspective on Development • Darwin’s Life Story and Aging Process

3. Contact Information • Dr. Michael Pratt • Office: 2024 Science Building • Telephone: x2824 • E-mail: mpratt@wlu.ca • Office Hours: Thursday 10:30-12:00 pm • TA: Eric Theriault

4. I. Introductory Material • Course syllabus on my Psych Dept webpage • Field placements and paper assignment • Evaluations • Class discussions • My vision issues

5. Course Goals • Encourage you to think about development across the lifespan, not just during childhood/adolescence • Get you to learn about how people study development in later life scientifically, some things they’ve found out so far and all the questions that remain! • Spend some quality time with older adults as volunteer • Give you an interest in finding out more about aging

6. II. My Interests, Background • Trained as a developmental psychologist • Interested in development across the lifespan – have taught courses on children, adolescents, and adults • Research interests in adulthood and aging – moral development, family stories, parenting and grand-parenting, environmental concern –see lab information on my webpage • Some clinical training working with families, children and adolescents

7. My Maternal Grandmother – Carrie Anne Watts - 1904?

8. My Parents & Grandmother – Ted and Louise Pratt, 1949

9. My Maternal Grandmother’s Paternal Grandparents – Watts Family, England, c. 1875

10. My Grandchildren, Maxwell and Ellie – Christmas, 2009 – 7th generation

11. III. Studying the Life Cycle – Life Span Views • Generally distinguish segments of lifespan in more detail within 2 major periods: • Early Period: Infancy, childhood, adolescence, emerging adulthood • Later Period: Young adulthood, midlife, young-old, old-old adults

12. The Far Side View – Some Common Stereotypes of Aging

13. Facts on Aging Quiz • Some aspects of intelligence decline with old age • The majority of older adults say that they are happy most of the time • The majority of older adults will at some point end up in a nursing home • Suicide is more common among the elderly than any other age group • Rarely does someone over the age of 65 produce a great work of art, science, or scholarship • Most older adults are preoccupied with death • Older adults are set in their ways – you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

14. What Are Some Implications of Stereotypes/Myths about Aging? • Others may “expect” problems and thus create them (self-fulfilling prophecy) – e.g., treating older adults as very dependent in nursing home contexts (Langer’s work) • Older adults may anticipate these problems for themselves and thus create them too – feeling incompetent • We may “overlook” serious problems, thinking they’re just typical – e.g., dementias

15. Social Implications of Aging in the Canadian Population • Aging adults are the fastest-growing segment of the population in Canada (60% growth from 1981 to 2001 in old-old group, over 85) + Baby Boomers coming! • Older adults are often seen as “burden” on rest of society – demanding resources, in conflict with young • Important to remember that older adults are diverse, more multi-cultural, better educated, more healthy than in past • Comments, reactions?

16. IV. Paul Baltes’ Integrated Perspective on Lifespan Development • Bio-cultural framework • Multi-directionality of development • Plasticity • Adaptation in later life – the SOC model

17. Paul Baltes (1939-2006)

18. Bio-Cultural Model • Influences of nature and nurture – always intertwined • Human biology and the genome become less favorable later in life (e.g., diseases of later life – Alzheimer’s) • Why? Hard to eliminate these problems from the genome, since selection operates on reproductive potential, which is lower in later life • Need for environment to sustain high levels of function increases with age – e.g., recent improvements in life span due to medical research and technology

19. Allocation of Resources in Development – Multidirectionality • Growth functions = early life • Maintenance, resilience functions = mid-life, adulthood • Regulation of loss functions = late life • STILL: Older adults may show some gains – ex., broader lessons in their stories, but more losses – memory for details • Children show some losses – ex., breadth of phoneme perception declines, but more gains – language development

20. Plasticity in Development – “Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks?” • Older adults show declines on average in test performance in later life – e.g., spatial rotation skills (Schaie & Willis, 1986) • Older adults also show considerableplasticity of development through improvement in training studies – e.g., spatial rotation if given training in strategies • Comparative training studies show that plasticity is greater for younger adults than elderly, however

21. Artur Rubenstein – Pianist (1887 – 1982)

22. A Model of Goal Regulation (SOC Framework) • Selection + Optimization + Compensation in Managing Losses of Later Life • Arthur Rubenstein example in 80’s for playing fast passages on piano: • Chose easier pieces (Selection) • Practiced them more (Optimization) • Played slow parts slower for contrast with the fast parts, which couldn’t do as fast (Compensation)

23. IV. Charles Darwin in Late Life (1809-1882)

24. Darwin’s Life Story – A Whole Person View of Adulthood and Aging • Born in February 1809 in well-to-do English family • Mother died young, when Darwin was 8, raised by older sisters • A poor student who liked hunting and collecting in nature, “amount to nothing” comment of father • Voyage at 22 on HMS Beagle as key early life experience (1831-1836) and turning point • Became an independent “gentleman” scholar on return • Married cousin Emma in 1838, 10 children born to couple, lost 2 • Developed theory of evolution through natural selection in 1839 or so, spent many years gathering support, finally published in 1859 • Experienced severe health problems throughout adulthood, both mental and physical, anxious over unconventional implications of theory • Spent last 25 years of life working out implications of theory for humans, other life forms, carrying out research • Died at age 73, in 1882