Psychology 2012		                                                                          	Jan 10/05

Text Book:
	Adult Development & Aging Cavamaught & Brields 4th Edition

What Is an Adult?

1. End of education? Now Lifelong
2. Paying your own way?  ( working financial independence  )
3. Living apart from your family ( University, Welfare paid by parents )
4. Marriage? Some just live together
5. Parenthood? Almost 20% are not interested

 - Social clock no longer runs on time ( at least not like it had in generations before ).
 - Impact of more education
 - Beginning of adulthood between 20-25yrs of age - end of life (approx: an adult for 60yrs )

Adult  - 3 Sub stages  

Young  Adulthood: ( 20yrs - 40yrs ) First & Second Decade

Middle Adulthood: ( 40yrs - 65yrs )

Old Adulthood:   ( 65yrs - Death )
		Young/Old: ( 65yrs - 75yrs )
		Old/Old: ( 75yrs - 85yrs )
		Very Old: ( 85 - Death )

- Age can be:
	Chronological - time since birth
	Biological - ( physical wear & tear ) 
		- Calculate how much time is left for the person to live
	Social - ( Benchmark role -  Education, Marriage, Parenthood Etc).
	Psychology ( emotional mortify, Identity & Development ) 

	January 12/05

Changes in Life Expectancy 

Lifespan à   Life à Death
	- Generation to Generation is 25yrs
	Lifespan  X à Life Expectancy

1. A.D 35 = 35yrs Life Expectancy 

2. 1990 ( 46yrs - 48yrs ) -  v Occupations. Why men live shorter lives ( Longevity ) 
		- Work, War, lifestyle (ex. Drinking and Smoking )
		- infant death was more common in men
3. 1995 ( 74yrs - 81yrs ) -This is in the western world only. Some countries are still in A.D 1
4. 2000 - Country that has the highest life expectancy is JAPAN
	JAPAN - 78yrs for a men & 85yrs for a woman
	CANADA - 76yrs for a men and 84yrs for a woman

 - It took 9 centuries from 1 A.D - 1900 
 - 100yrs from 1900 - 1995 for it to increase the life expectancy 

What has changed from 1900 - 1995 to increase life expectancy  ?

1. Heath Care / Medical Advancement
2. Better nutrition: Quantity & Quality
	Quantity - 1900  - low food, not enough ( improved as well as to much)
	Quality - Its not real food - affordability and advertising has made it much hard to eat less junk etc. 
3. Sanitation - # 1 reason why life expediency is much higher
	Reasons for the increase: Sanitation, Nutrition & medical advances 

Consequences :
	- demographics 
	- marriage / divorce
	- career / retirement / second career 
	- lifestyle of the old

Concurrent Changes:
	- technological advances
	- more education - prolonged childhood/ adolescence   
	- fertility control  - later parenting , fewer children, no children 
	Attitudinal changes about life, death, safety, heath etc.

January 14th /05

Scientific interest in aging :
	 - geriatrics - ( branch of medicine - illness of old age  )
	 - gerontology - ( study of old age)
	 - hematology  -  Value of death ( A study )

The terms development and age have undergone substantial change in the past 2 decades

Development: used to refer to changes of growth and increase complexity.

Aging: mental loss , decay, trend toward simplicity 

Current View: Growth and complexity continue in to old age, while loss can begin at birth  ( at the cellular level at least )

Development: now refers to any age related change in the body or behavior. 

Age - related ( ex. Puberty would be considered aged caused ) is not the same as Aged caused ( ex. Gray hair would be an example of age caused ).

Development Variables

Biological: Heredity, heath ( nutrition, pollution ) Anything physical 

Psychological: Cognitive emotional, behavioral, personal (temperament) and variables  derided from those.
 
Social Culture: Social & cultural environment, ethnicity, religious belief’s and practices 

Lifestyle: Interaction of all the above with each life stage of each individual 

Key Features of Development 

	- multidirectional  ( increase = WRINKLES / decrease = HEART TO PUMP )
 	- plastic ( improvement, adaptation to the environment )
	- role of the time and place ( history & culture )
	- multiple causes - ( contribution of many disciplines: biology, sociology, and anthropology )

Theories & models 

Theories concerned with description and explanation of aged - related changes. ex. Drop in IQ scores in old age. Different ages ( personality moral development, etc) rely on different theories.
	Example of theory: Psychoanalytic

Models cut across content arrest theories. They describe how a specific development process occurs and is organized ( ex. The decrement model says that aging means gradual loss.

Most common Models
	- increment: (ex child development wisdom)
	- decrement: ( reversible or irreversible) ex. Someone old and just giving up - irreversible
	- stability ( no change with age ) ex. Personality 
	- Normative: a) age graded ( menopause ) biological or social. B) history graded ( environment or biological ) ex . desire to be thin  

Non - normative: unique individual events ex. Winning the lotto or have 3 accidents in a row.

Important: Cohort effects: Events that effect a cohort
Ex. Effect an entire cohort ( born around the same time )
Generation: 25yrs cohort 
 
Experiments