1. Basic Processes of Development
Maturation
Biological process of systematic physical growth
Experience plays a role in specific contexts
McGraw’s study of toilet training twins
Children change dramatically from birth to adulthood

2. Developmental Psychology
Importance of maturational readiness in McGraw’s study of toilet training twin boys
200
300
Age in days
500
600
700
800 20
Success in percent 40 60 80
100
400
Hilton
Hugh

3. Early Experiences and Critical Periods
Developmental Psychology
Early Experiences and Critical Periods
Imprinting (Lorenz)
Inborn tendency or instinct
Sensitive period – critical period
Early social deprivation
Harlow’s monkeys, social isolation, and continuing detrimental effects
Controversy over effects on children
Some abnormal effects may be irreversible

4. Variations in Development
Developmental Psychology
Variations in Development
Normal for children to be variable in their development
Discontinuities in development are the rule
Parents make important decisions about raising children that impacts on development
Raising deaf child
Impact of technology and medicine

5. Jean Piaget and Cognitive Development: Schemas
An infant’s mind works hard to make sense of our experiences in the world.
An early tool to organize those experiences is a schema, a mental container we build to hold our experiences.
Schemas can take the form of images, models, and/or concepts.
This child has formed a schema called “COW” which he uses to think about animals of a certain shape and size.
“Cow!”
Click to reveal bullets and example.

6. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
A child’s capacity to understand certain concepts is based on the child’s developmental stage

7. Piaget’s Four Stages 2. Preoperational (~2-7)
Believed that all children develop according to four stages based on how they see the world.
He thought the age may vary some, but that we all go through the stages in the same order.
1. Sensori-motor (birth –2 years)
2. Preoperational (~2-7)
3. Concrete operational (~7-11)
4. Formal operations (~12-15)

8. Sensorimotor Stage
Birth to about 2 years, rapid change is seen throughout
The child will:
Explore the world through senses & motor activity
Early on, baby can’t tell difference between themselves & the environment
If they can’t see something then it doesn’t exist
Begin to understand cause & effect
Can later follow something with their eyes

9. Preoperational Stage About 2 to about 7 Better speech communication
Can imagine the future & reflect on the past
Develop basic numerical abilities
Still pretty egocentric, but learning to be able to delay gratification
Can’t understand conservation of matter
Has difficulty distinguishing fantasy from reality (ex: cartoon characters are real people).

10. …more preoperational
Conservation of matter – understanding that something doesn’t change even though it looks different, shape is not related to quantity
Ex: Are ten coins set in a long line more than ten coins in a pile?
Ex: Is there less water if it is poured into a bigger container?

11. Egocentrism: “I am the World.”
What mistake is the boy making?
Do you have a brother?
Yes. Jim.
Does Jim have a brother?
No.
Click to reveal all text.
Answer to the slide question: this boy is unable to see his brother Jim’s perspective and unable to see himself as a brother rather than just as ME, the center of the world.
Egocentrism is another one of those terms that has a different meaning in psychology than in its more vague popular use. It is not about selfishness, but about being unable to see another person’s perspective, or even to imagine that other people have a perspective that might be different from your own.
Hiding their eyes: If I can’t see, you can’t see, right? If the world has just become dark, how can anyone else see?
Egocentrism is also a hallmark of autism, to such an extent that if you point somewhere, an autistic child might look at the end of your finger or at a point past the finger from their perspective, rather than being able to tell where you are looking.
How does this relate to our definition of egocentrism?

12. Maturing beyond Egocentrism: Developing a “Theory of Mind”
Theory of mind refers to the ability to understand that others have their own thoughts and perspective.
Click through to show the three scenes.
This test is typically called the “false belief test” because the younger child is asked to be able to tell when another person has the wrong idea, or a false belief, about where something is. It is a screening test for autism.
The ability to understand a false belief appears at age 3.5 to 4.5, or much later in children with autism spectrum disorders (including Asperger’s Disorder), although I have had a first-year college male fail this test despite repeated explanation and in-class demonstration.
With a theory of mind, you can picture that Sally will have the wrong idea about where the ball is.

13. Examples of Operations that Preoperational Children Cannot Do…Yet
Conservation refers to the ability to understand that a quantity is conserved (does not change) even when it is arranged in a different shape.
Click to reveal all text.
This child could “conserve” the amount of fluid by mentally reversing the operation of pouring it into a different container, but this is difficult for a child at the start of the preoperational phase.
Click for another example: if objects are arranged on a table in two rows of five, but one row is more spread out, a preoperational child will feel sure that there are more objects in the spread-out row.
Which row has more mice?

15. Concrete Operational Stage
From about 7 to about 11
Abstract reasoning ability & ability to generalize from the concrete increases
Understands conservation of matter

16. Formal Operations From about 12 to about 15
Be able to think about hypothetical situations
Form & test hypotheses
Organize information
Reason scientifically

17. Formal Operational Stage (Age 11 +)
Concrete operations include analogies such as “My brain is like a computer.”
Includes arithmetic transformations:
if = 12, 12 – 4 = ?
Formal operations includes allegorical thinking such as “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones” (understanding that this is a comment on hypocrisy).
Includes algebra:
if x = 3y and x – 2y = 4, what is x?
Click to reveal text boxes and examples.
The arithmetic transformation only requires reversing the operation, and by this stage, a child should be able to answer “8.”
The algebra problem requires understanding and manipulating symbols, in this case:
If 3y = x, we can substitute “3y” for “x” in the second equation: 3y-2y = 4, or simply y = 4. If x = 3y, then x = 3(4), or 12.
With formal operations thought comes the skill of imagining the realities that might exist rather than the concrete here and now.

18. Piaget’s cognitive development theory summary
Developmental Psychology
Piaget’s cognitive development theory summary
Birth to 2 yrs
Sensorimotor
Uses senses and motor skills, items known by use; Object permanence
2 - 7 yrs
Pre-operational
Symbolic thinking, language used; egocentric thinking, imagination/ experience grow, child de-centers
yrs
Concrete operational
Logic applied, objective/rational interpretations; conservation, numbers, ideas, classifications
11 yrs on
Formal operational
Thinks abstractly, hypothetical ideas; ethics, politics, social/moral issues explored

19. … Piaget’s Development
Development happens from one stage to another through interaction with the environment.
Changes from stage to stage may occur abruptly and kids will differ in how long they are in each stage.
Cognitive development can only happen after genetically controlled biological growth occurs.

20. Piaget & Education
Piaget did not think it was possible to hurry along or skip stages through education
Regardless, many American schools will try to teach to the stages in an attempt to accelerate development

21. Problems with Piaget’s Theory
Children often grasp ideas earlier than what Piaget found
Cognitive development across domains is inconsistent (e.g. better at reading than math)
Studies have shown that development can to some degree be accelerated

22. Lev Vygotsky: Alternative to Jean Piaget
Lev Vygotsky ( ) studied kids too, but focused on how they learn in the context of social communication.
Principle: children learn thinking skills by internalizing language from others and developing inner speech: “Put the big blocks on the bottom, not the top…”
Vygotsky saw development as building on a scaffold of mentoring, language, and cognitive support from parents and others.
Click to reveal bullets and example.
Regarding the first bullet point: by contrast, Jean Piaget was more focused on how children learned through interaction with the physical environment.

23. Social Development: Attachment
Attachment refers to an emotional tie to another person.
In children, attachment can appear as a desire for physical closeness to a caregiver.
Origins of Attachment
Experiments with monkeys suggest that attachment is based on physical affection and comfortable body contact, and not based on being rewarded with food.
Click to reveal all text.
Instructor: The word “tie” here implies something even stronger, tighter, and closer than the word “connection.” Sometimes this attachment includes anxiety/distress when separated from the caregiver, as we will see in upcoming slides.
In experiments by Harry Harlow (in the late 1950s and 1960s) that gave monkeys a choice of surrogate mothers, a baby monkey would cling to a comfortable cloth ‘mother’ rather than the ‘mother’ that provided food. However, there are numerous critiques of these experiments.

24. Attachment Variation: Styles of Dealing with Separation
The degree and style of parent-child attachment has been tested by Mary Ainsworth in the “strange situations” test. In this test, a child is observed as:
a mother and infant child are alone in an unfamiliar (“strange”) room; the child explores the room as the mother just sits.
a stranger enters the room, talks to the mother, and approaches the child; the mother leaves the room.
After a few moments, the mother returns.
Reactions to Separation and Reunion
Secure attachment: most children (60 percent) feel distress when mother leaves, and seek contact with her when she returns
Insecure attachment (anxious style): clinging to mother, less likely to explore environment, and may get loudly upset with mother’s departure and remain upset when she returns
Insecure attachment (avoidant style): seeming indifferent to mother’s departure and return
Click to reveal bullets and sidebar.
The book mixes the descriptions of the two insecure attachment styles together; I have separated them here.
Some theorists have added a fourth type of attachment--disorganized, not forming a coherent or consistent style.

25. Deprivation of Attachment
If children live without safe, nurturing, affectionate caretaking, they may still be resilient, that is bounce back, attach, and succeed.
However, if the child experiences severe, prolonged deprivation or abuse, he or she may:
have difficulty forming attachments.
have increased anxiety and depression.
have lowered intelligence.
show increased aggression.
Click to reveal bullets.
Genetics and biology still play a role in determining the outcome of prolonged deprivation. Some people’s stress hormone systems seem to be more easily damaged by chronic stress, and some people’s serotonin pathways more easily become inefficient.

26. Childhood: Hypothetical Parenting Styles
Response to Child’s Behavior
Authoritarian
“Too Hard”
Parents impose rules “because I said so”
and expect obedience.
Permissive
“Too Soft”
Parents submit to kids’ desires, not enforcing
limits or standards for child behavior.
Authoritative
“Just Right”
Parents enforce rules, limits, and standards
but also explain, discuss, listen, and express
respect for child’s ideas and wishes.
No animation.
Instructor: You might note here that we have earlier discussed the influences of parenting behaviors on infant attachment. Now we’re looking at a slightly different picture--the way parents handle the issue of control in childhood.
Response to child’s behavior: how does this style control, manage, or otherwise respond to child behavior?

27. Outcomes with Parenting Styles
Authoritative parenting, more than the other two styles, seems to be associated with:
high self-reliance.
high social competence.
high self-esteem.
low aggression.
But are these a result of parenting style, or are parents responding to a child’s temperament? Or are both a function of culture ? Or genes?
Click to reveal bullets.
There could also be other factors, such as genes or culture, affecting both the child outcomes and the parenting styles.

28. Baumrind: Three Parenting Styles
Authoritarian
Permissive
Authoritative
Warmth
low
high
Discipline
strict
rare
moderate
Expected Maturity
Communication: parent-child
Communication: child-parent

29. Theories of Moral Development Kohlberg
Slavin, 2003

30. Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Reasoning
He identified three levels that are made up of six stages; The levels are
Preconventional
Conventional
Postconventional
Kohlberg developed his theory by probing children and adults’ responses to a series of structured situations or moral dilemmas
Slavin, 2003

31. Preconventional Level
Stage 1: Punishment and obedience orientation. Physical consequences of action determine its goodness or badness.
Stage 2: Instrumental relativist orientation. What is right is what satisfies your own needs and occasionally the needs of others, e.g., the expectations of the family group or nation can be seen as valuable in own right.
Slavin, 2003

32. Conventional Level
Stage 3: “Good boy – good girl” orientation – good behavior is what pleases or helps others and is approved by them
Stage 4: Law and order orientation – right is doing one’s duty, showing respect for authority, and maintaining social order for its own sake
Slavin, 2003

33. Postconventional Level
Stage 5: Social contract orientation – what is right is a function of individual rights and agreed upon standards.
Stage 6: Universal ethical principle orientation – what is right is determined decision of conscience according to self-chosen ethical principles (these principles are abstract and ethical not specific moral prescriptions)
Slavin, 2003

34. Kohlberg’s theory of moral development summary
Level I:
Preconventional moral reasoning
Stage 1
“might makes right”
Punishment/obedience orientation: self-interest
Stage 2
“look out for number one”
Instrumental/relativist orientation: quid pro quo
Level II:
Conventional moral reasoning
Stage 3
“good girl,
nice boy”
Proper behavior for the social approval
Stage 4
“law and order”
Proper behavior of the dutiful citizen, obey laws
Level III:
Postconventional moral reasoning
Stage 5
“social contract”
Mutual benefit to all, obey society’s rules
Stage 6
“universal ethical principles”
Defend right/wrong, not just majority, all life is sacred (reflective)
– Check out Heinz Dilemma and see what stage of moral development you are on

35. Criticisms Kohlberg’s population for his research was primarily male.
Some research on girls’ moral reasoning finds patterns that are somewhat different from those proposed by Kohlberg. Whereas boys’ moral reasoning revolves primarily around issues of justice, girls are more concerned about issues of caring and responsibility for others. (Slavin, 2003, pp )
Slavin, 2003

36. Criticisms (continued)
Young children often reason about moral situations in more sophisticated ways than the stage theories of Piaget and Kohlberg would suggest. Children as young as 3 or 4 years old use intentions to judge the behavior of others (Slavin, 2003).
Slavin, 2003

37. Criticisms (continued)
Moral reasoning does not directly translate into behavior. Behavior may be affected by many other factors other than reasoning, e.g.,
“Go along to get along”
Slavin, 2003

38. Example: looting after a natural disaster
Which level of moral reasoning is involved?
Looting is a problem; if everyone did it, there would be escalating chaos and greater damage to the economy.
Looting is generally wrong, yet morally right when your family’s survival seems to depend on it.
Looting is wrong because you might get punished, but if no one is punished, that’s a sign that it’s okay.
Click to reveal bullets.
The goal here is not to have students answer the questions but to have students note that the questions use a variety of levels of moral reasoning. See if they can explain which level of moral reasoning is involved. This may bring out the critique of Lawrence Kohlberg for seeing these levels as stages based on age/development; after all, adults can be found thinking in any of these three ways.
Answers:
conventional morality--this is an example of thinking about rules based on the benefits they bring to society.
postconventional morality--here we put aside rules that benefit society when we decide to invoke a higher moral principle, although it could be argued here that the “higher principle” here is actually selfish. An imperfect example can sometimes generate discussion.
preconventional morality--using punishments and rewards as a cue for deciding what is right and wrong.

39. Moral Intuition
Jonathan Haidt believed moral decisions are often driven by moral intuition, that is, quick, gut-feeling decisions.
This intuition is not just based in moral reasoning but also in emotions such as:
disgust. We may turn away from choosing an action because it feels awful.
elevated feelings. We may get a rewarding delight from some moral behavior such as donating to charity.
An Example of Moral Intuition:
Given a hypothetical choice to save five people from an oncoming trolley by killing one person, many people’s choice is determined not just by reasoning, but by disgust.
Many people would flip a switch to make this choice, but not as many would push a person on the tracks to save five others.
Click to reveal bullets and example.
The emotional areas of the brain, quiet when considering flipping a track switch to have a trolley kill one person instead of five, actually light up when considering pushing someone in the path of a trolley. This supports the idea that emotion is making the difference in the choice.

40. Erik Erikson: The Life-Span Approach

41. Psychosocial Stages of Personality Development
8 successive stages over the lifespan
Addresses bio, social, situational, personal influences
Crisis: must adaptively or maladaptively cope with task in each developmental stage
Respond adaptively: acquire strengths needed for next developmental stage
Respond maladaptively: less likely to be able to adapt to later problems
Basic strengths: Motivating characteristics and beliefs that derive from successful resolution of crisis in each stage

42. Stage 1: Basic Trust vs. Mistrust
Birth to age 1
Totally dependent on others
Caregiver meets needs: child develops trust
Caregiver does not meet needs: child develops mistrust
Basic strength: Hope
Belief our desires will be satisfied
Feeling of confidence

43. Stage 2: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
Ages 1-3
Child able to exercise some degree of choice
Child’s independence is thwarted: child develops feelings of self-doubt, shame in dealing with others
Basic Strength: Will
Determination to exercise freedom of choice in face of society’s demands

44. Stage 3: Initiative vs. Guilt
Ages 3-5
Child expresses desire to take initiative in activities
Parents punish child for initiative: child develops feelings of guilt that will affect self-directed activity throughout life
Basic strength: Purpose
Courage to envision and pursue goals

45. Stage 4: Industriousness vs. Inferiority
Ages 6-11
Child develops cognitive abilities to enable in task completion (school work, play)
Parents/teachers do not support child’s efforts: child develops feelings of inferiority and inadequacy
Basci strength: Competence
Exertion of skill and intelligence in pursuing and completing tasks

46. Stages 1-4 Stages 5-8 Largely determined by others (parents, teachers)
Individual has more control over environment
Individual responsibility for crisis resolution in each stage

47. Stage 5: Identity vs. Role Confusion
Ages 12-18
Form ego identity: self-image
Strong sense of identity: face adulthood with certainty and confidence
Identity crisis: confusion of ego identity
Basic strength: Fidelity
Emerges from cohesive ego identity
Sincerity, genuineness, sense of duty in relationships with others

48. Stage 6: Intimacy vs. Isolation
Ages (approximately)
Undertake productive work and establish intimate relationships
Inability to establish intimacy leads to social isolation
Basic strength: Love
Mutual devotion in a shared identity
Fusing of oneself with another person

49. Stage 7: Generativity vs. Stagnation
Ages (approximately)
Generativity: Active involvement in teaching/guiding the next generation
Stagnation involves not seeking outlets for generativity
Basic strength: Care
Broad concern for others
Need to teach others

50. Stage 8: Ego Integrity vs. Despair
Ages 55+
Evaluation of entire life
Integrity: Look back with satisfaction
Despair: Review with anger, frustration
Basic strength: Wisdom
Detached concern with the whole of life

51. Assessment in Erikson’s Theory
Psychohistorical Analysis
Application of lifespan theory to lives of historical figures
Psychological Tests:
Instruments based on crises in stages

52. Research in Erikson’s Theory
Trust
Early strong bonds with mother later were more curious, sociable and popular
Identity
Strong identity associated with greater cognitive and emotional functioning in college students
Crisis may begin later than age 12
Continuing process over the lifespan

53. Research in Erikson’s Theory
Generativity
Evokes need to feel closer to others
Correlated with extraversion, openness to new experiences
Likely to be involved in community, social relationships

54. Research in Erikson’s Theory
Maturity
High ego integrity: spent much time reviewing their lives
Ethnic Identity
Ethnic minorities: ethnic identity significant factor in determining sense of self

55. Contributions of Erikson
Personality develops throughout the lifetime
Identity crisis in adolescence
Impact of social, cultural, personal and situational forces in forming personality

56. Criticisms of Erikson Ambiguous terms and concepts Lack of precision
Some terms are not easily measured empirically
Experiences in stage may only apply to males
Identity crisis may only apply to those affluent enough to explore identities

57. Adolescent Development
Developmental Psychology
Adolescent Development
Physical development
Puberty becomes production of sex hormones
Primary sex characteristics appear
Females – menarche: menstruation, ovulation
Secondary sex characteristics appear
Females – breasts, pubic hair, wider hips
Males – testes and penis growth, facial and pubic hair, broadened shoulders

58. Adolescence Cognitive development Formal operations stage entered
Developmental Psychology
Adolescence
Cognitive development
Formal operations stage entered
Ability to use abstract concepts
Shift to stage varies among individuals; some never reach this stage, others reach it in early adulthood
Piaget’s classic experiment with weights

59. Adolescence Adolescent egocentrism Social development
Developmental Psychology
Adolescence
Adolescent egocentrism
Imaginary audience – everyone is watching
Personal fable – belief that s/he is unique
Hypocrisy – okay for one to do it but not another
Pseudostupidity – use of oversimplified logic
Social development
Time of drifting or breaking away from family

60. Adolescence Emotional development
Developmental Psychology
Adolescence
Emotional development
G. Stanley Hall – time of storm and stress
Most adolescents are happy, well-adjusted
Areas of problems
Parent-child conflicts
Mood changes - self-conscious, awkward, lonely, ignored
Risky behavior - aggression, unprotected sex, suicide, use of substances or alcohol

61. Social Development: Erik Erikson (1902-1994)
Erik Erikson’s model of lifelong psychosocial development sees adolescence as a struggle to form an identity, a sense of self, out of the social roles adolescents are asked to play.
Adolescents may try out different “selves” with peers, with parents, and with teachers. For Erikson, the challenge in adolescence was to test and integrate the roles in order to prevent role confusion (which of those selves, or what combination, is really me?).
Some teens solve this problem simply by adopting one role, defined by parents or peers.
Click to reveal bullets.

62. Erik Erikson: Stages of Psychosocial Development
No animation.

63. Other Eriksonian stages on the minds of adolescents
While currently in the identity vs. role confusion stage,
adolescents have ideally just finished working through the tension of competence vs. inferiority.
They are ready after adolescence to take on the challenge of intimacy vs. isolation.
Click to reveal bullets.
This is an optional slide, spotlighting material from the two previous slides, and putting the current stage in context of the course of psychosocial development.

64. Adolescence, the sequel… Emerging Adulthood
In some countries, added years of education and later marriage has delayed full adult independence beyond traditional adolescence. This seems to have created a new phase which can be called emerging adulthood, ages
No animation.
The chart at the left shows how the time between the onset of puberty and fully moving on from one’s family of origin has grown to the point that it is not really one single “adolescent” phase anymore. It is now broken into parts, with the departure for college, around age 18, making a natural breaking point.

65. Adulthood
Is the rest of the developmental story just one long plateau of work and possibly raising kids?
Physical Development
physical decline
lifespan and death
sensory changes
Cognitive Development
memory
Social Development
commitments
Click to show box with upcoming topics.
Early on in this section, I highlight that death comes to everyone, so that students will be prepared to shift gears and talk about sensory decline. You can choose to move those lifespan/death slides to the end of the physical development section or to the end of the entire discussion of adulthood.

66. Adult Physical Development
In our mid-20’s, we reach a peak in the natural physical abilities which come with biological maturation:
muscular strength
cardiac output
reaction time
sensory sensitivity
To what extent can training overcome the decline that follows?
Click to reveal bullets.
Answering the last question: with strength and endurance training, you can improve compared to someone not training, but it does not change the decline compared to a younger person doing the same training.
Question (with no correct answer) you can raise with students: does the word “development” still apply if we are talking about a decline?

67. Physical Changes: Middle Adulthood
The end the reproductive years
There is a gradual decline in sexual activity in adulthood, although sexuality can continue throughout life.
Around age 50, women enter menopause (the end of being able to get pregnant).
According to evolutionary psychologists, why might it make sense for women’s fertility to end?
Physical Changes: Middle Adulthood
Between ages 40 and 60, physical vitality (such as endurance and strength) may still be more of a function of lifestyle than of biological decline.
Some changes are still driven by genetic maturation, especially the end of our reproductive years.
Click to reveal bullets and sidebar.
Potential answer to the sidebar question: to ensure the presence of healthy mothers, AND to create a population of back-up help to these mothers (grandmothers).
You might note that is human fertility did not end, evolutionary psychologists would easily explain that too (i.e., to maximize the number of offspring). This might help students understand the limits of evolutionary psychology; explanations cannot almost never be empirically tested.

68. The Aging Body More Aged Women
The rise in life expectancy, combined with declining birth rates, means a higher percentage of the world’s population is old.
More elderly people are women because more men die than women at every age. By age 100, women outnumber men by a ratio of 5 to 1.
Potential lifespan for the human body is estimated to be about 122 years.
Life expectancy refers to the average expected life span.
The worldwide average has increased from 49 in 1950 to 69 in In 2012:
South Africa—49
Cameroon—55
Pakistan—66
Thailand--74
United States--75
Ireland--80
Australia—82
Japan--84
Click to reveal bullets and sidebar bullets.
Although the next few slides leading up to death are here to follow the sequence of the text, I suggest moving them to the end of this “Physical Development” section or even to the end of the chapter.
About the change in life expectancy: picture how adding two more decades of life (on average) changes what a typical life is like, both for individuals and families. (Although actually, much of the rise of this average figure may be due to decreasing infant mortality; not all adults living two decades longer.)
This life expectancy figure may seem low; keep in mind that it averages all countries, and that it is the life expectancy at birth. Figures for life expectancy for those who have survived the infant mortality years is higher, although this was even more true in the past.

69. Why don’t we live forever? Possible biological answers…
Nurture/Environment
An accumulation of stress, damage, and disease wears us down until one of these factors kills us.
Genes
Some people have genes that protect against some kinds of damage.
Even with great genes and environment, telomeres (the tips at the end of chromosomes) wear down with every generation of cell duplication and we stop healing well.
Click to reveal bullets.
Philosophical and evolutionary answers to the question on this slide might speculate about the value of “new blood” but this is highly debatable.
The answers on the slide are biological answers, and more about “how” we don’t live forever, perhaps not a full answer as to “why.”
The wearing down of telomeres is worsened by smoking, obesity, and stress. It happens no matter how life is lived, although researchers are looking into extending the human lifespan by reducing the deterioration of the telomeres.

70. Physical Changes with Age
The following abilities decline as we age:
visual acuity, both sharpness and brightness
hearing, especially sensing higher pitch
reaction time and general motor abilities
neural processing speed, especially for complex and novel tasks
Click to reveal bullets.
The first bullet will shrink to play off the visual acuity issue.

71. Health/Immunity Changes with Age
The bad news
The good news
The immune system declines with age, and can have difficulty fighting off major illnesses.
The immune system has a lifetime’s accumulation of antibodies, and does well fighting off minor illnesses.
Click to reveal good news and bad news.

72. Exercise Can Slow the Aging Process
build muscles and bones.
stimulate neurogenesis (in the hippocampus) and new neural connections.
maintain telomeres.
improve cognition.
reduce the risk of dementia.
Click to reveal bullets.

73. Changes in the Brain with Age
Myelin-enhanced neural processing speed peaks in the teen years, and declines thereafter.
Regions of the brain related to memory begin to shrink with age, making it harder to form new memories.
The frontal lobes atrophy, leading eventually to decreased inhibition and self-control.
By age 80, a healthy brain is 5 percent lighter than a brain in middle adulthood.
Click to reveal bullets.

74. Coping with Death and Dying
Individual responses to death may vary.
Grief is more intense when death occurs unexpectedly (especially if also too early on the social clock).
There is NO standard pattern or length of the grieving process.
It seems to help to have the support of friends or groups, and to face the reality of death and grief while affirming the value of life.
Click to reveal bullets.

75. The Final Issue in Development: Stability and Change
Are we essentially the same person over long periods?
In general, temperament seems stable.
Traits can vary, especially attitudes, coping strategies, work habits, and styles of socializing.
Personality seems to stabilize with age.
Stability helps us form identity, while the potential for change gives us control over our lives.
Click to reveal bullets.