Aging and Intelligence Module 11 AP Psychology Rachel Brady Daniel Torres Bailee Barnett p.3

Phase1: Cross-Sectional Evidence for Intellectual Decline In Cross sectional studies researchers test and compare people of various ages, when giving intelligence test to representative samples of people researchers consistently find that older adults give fewer correct answers than do younger adults David Wechsler, creator of the most widely used adult intelligence test, concluded that the decline of mental ability with age is part of the general aging process of the organisms as a whole

Phase 2:Longitudinal Evidence For Intellectual Stability Longitudinal Study: research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period. Until late in life, intelligence remained stable. On some tests, it increases. The myth that intelligence sharply declines with age, has been proven false. Examples: At 89 years old, Frank Lloyd Wright was the architect who designed New York City's Guggenheim Museum. At  age 70, John Rock developed the birth control pill. At age 78, Grandma Moses took up painting, and she painted after age 100.

Phase 3: It All Depends -Longitudinal studies may be inaccurate because the people that survive to the end of them may be bright, healthy people whose intelligence is less likely to decline. -Intelligence is not a single trait, but a number of distinct skills and abilities. -With age, people lose recall memory and processing speed, but they gain vocabulary and knowledge. -Crystallized intelligence: one's accumulated knowledge and verbal skills- tends to increase with age. -Fluid intelligence: one's ability to reason speedily and abstractly- tends to decrease with age. For example: -Mathematicians and scientists (fluid intelligence) produce most of their creative work during their late twenties or early thirties, but those in literature, history, and philosophy (crystallized intelligence) tend to produce their best work in their forties, fifties, and beyond. -Poets (fluid intelligence) tend to reach their peak earlier than prose authors (crystallized intelligence).

Social Development Many differences between younger and older adults are created not by the physical and cognitive changes that accompany aging but by life events associated with family relationships and work A new job means new relationships new expectations and new demands Marriage brings the joy of intimacy and the stress of merging your life with another’s The birth of a child introduces responsibilities and significantly alters your life focus The death of a loved one creates and irreplaceable loss and need to reaffirm your own life