1. OBJECTIVE: 11-4Aging and Intelligence Do we get dumber as we get older?

2. Phase I: Cross Sectional Evidence for Intellectual Decline • Cross Sectional Research: Intelligence tests and comparisons between people of various ages. • When administered to a representative sample of people, researchers have found that older adults give fewer correct answers than younger adults • “the decline of mental ability with age is part of the general aging process of the organism as a whole” – David Wechsler • Corporations usually have a mandatory retirement age to replace aging workers with younger employees.

3. Phase II: Longitudinal Evidence for Intellectual Stability • Longitudinal Intelligence Research: • -Retesting the same people over a period of years • -Results: Until late in life, intelligence stays stable, or even increases • Longitudinal vs. Cross Sectional • - Cross Sectional compared not only people of different ages, but of different eras. • For example: Comparing someone born in 1900 to someone born in 1950 • The idea that intelligence declines over age was no longer viable. • Longitudinal Research also revealed that people over 75 years old have a steep decline in intelligence. • -People who live long enough for the end of the study may be healthier, more intelligent people than those who were removed from the study

4. Phase III: It all Depends Complications: Intelligence is not a single trait, but a rather a number of distinct skills and abilities. A study of more than 2000 people over 75 in Cambridge revealed a steeper intelligence decline. Crystallized Intelligence: One’s accumulated knowledge and verbal skills, tends to increaseswithage. Fluid Intelligence: The ability to reason speedily and abstractly (solving math problems) tends to decrease in late adulthood.

5. Social development • The differences between younger and older adults are not created by the physical and cognitive changes, but by life events associated with family relationships and work. • Example: going to a new job, meeting new people, certain expectations and demands.