1. Adulthood and Aging

2. Social Development

3. Adulthood
Play “Stages of Adult Development” (3:07) Segment #23 from Psychology: The Human Experience.

4. Emerging Adulthood
Developmental period between adolescence and adulthood

5. Social Clock
The culturally (society’s) preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement
The “best” timing for certain life events
The timing varies from culture to culture.

6. Social Development
Erik Erikson described two fundamental themes that dominate adulthood: love and work
According to Erikson, the primary psychosocial task of early adulthood is to form a committed, mutually enhancing, intimate relationship with another person.
During middle adulthood, the primary psychosocial task becomes one of generativity, to contribute to future generations through your children, your career, and other meaningful activities.

7. Adult Friendships
Female friends tend to confide in one another about their feelings, problems, and interpersonal relationships
Male friends typically minimize discussions about relationships or personal feelings or problems; instead, male friends tend to do things together that they find mutually interesting, such as activities related to sports or hobbies

8. Marriage & Family
Today, many young adults postpone marriage so they can finish their education and establish a career
As a general rule, we tend to be attracted to and marry people who are similar to us on a variety of dimensions, including physical attractiveness, social and educational status, ethnic background, attitudes, values, and beliefs
Marital satisfaction tends to decline after the birth of the first child and rise again after children leave home
Becoming a parent at an older age and waiting longer after marriage to start a family helps ease the adjustment to parenthood.

9. Careers in Adulthood
Researchers have found that close to a third of people in their late twenties and early thirties do not just change jobs within a particular field; they completely switch occupational fields
Dual-career families have become increasingly common
Although many fathers are actively involved in child rearing, women still tend to have primary responsibility for child care
Multiple roles seem to provide both men and women with a greater potential for increased feelings of self-esteem, happiness, and competence.
The critical factor is not the number of roles that people take on but the quality of their experiences on the job, in the marriage, and as a parent.

10. Social Changes and Life’s Commitments

11. Erik Erikson Constructed an 8-stage theory of social development
Each stage has its own psychosocial developmental task.
The last 4 stages deal with Adolescence through late adulthood.

13. Generativity
Erikson’s term for being productive and supporting future generations

14. Commitment to Work
Most high school/college students aren’t sure of their career goals.
Happiness seems to be correlated with work that is challenging, provides a sense of accomplishment, and is interesting.

15. Commitment to Love An important factor in adult happiness
Lasting love includes:
Intimate self-disclosure
Shared emotional and material support
Similar interests and values

16. Commitment to Marriage
90% of the population gets married
50% divorce rate
75% of those who have divorced remarry

17. Commitment to Children
Children result in a change in the marital relationship
Potential disagreement on the division of labor with children

18. Empty Nest
The change married couples go through as a result of their children leaving home
Not necessarily a negative event for couples

19. Physical Changes of Middle Adulthood

20. Adult Physical Development
Genetics and lifestyle combine to determine course of physical changes
Your unique genetic blueprint greatly influences the unfolding of certain physical changes during adulthood. Such changes vary significantly from one person to another.
Staying mentally and physically active and eating a proper diet can both slow and minimize the degree of physical decline associated with aging.

21. Typical Physical Progression
Physical strength typically peaks in early adulthood, the twenties and thirties;
By middle adulthood, roughly from the forties to midsixties, physical strength and endurance gradually decline
During late adulthood, from the mid-sixties on, physical stamina and reaction time tend to decline further and faster
Aging and its effects on vision (NBC Report – 2 min.)

22. Menopause The time of natural cessation of menstruation
Referred to as the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines
Usually occurs between age 45 and 55
Does not usually lead to depression

23. Later Adulthood’s Physical Changes

24. Late Adulthood
Old age as a time of poor health, inactivity, and decline is a myth.
Activity theory of aging—life satisfaction is highest when people maintain level of activity they had in earlier years. See NBC Report (1 ½ min.)
The average life expectancy for men is about 74 years; for women, it is about 79 years.
The majority of older adults live healthy, active, and self-sufficient lives. Only 4.5 percent of those age 65 and over live in nursing homes. After 85, it is 20 percent.

25. Physical Changes: Vision

26. Physical Changes: Sense of Smell

27. Physical Changes: Hearing

28. Physical Changes: Hearing

29. Diseases Related to Aging

30. Alzheimer’s Disease
A progressive and irreversible brain disorder characterized by gradual deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and physical functioning

31. Alzheimer’s Disease
Play “Alzheimer’s Disease” (7:06) Module #19 from The Brain: Teaching Modules (2nd edition).

32. Alzheimer’s Disease
Play “Understanding Alzheimer’s Disease” (11:40) Segment #19 from The Mind: Psychology Teaching Modules (2nd edition).

33. Senile Dementia
The mental disintegration that accompanies alcoholism, tumor, stroke, aging, or Alzheimer's disease

34. Senile Dementia

35. Parkinson’s Disease
Play “Brain Transplants in Parkinson’s Patients” (11:09) Module #31 from The Brain: Teaching Modules (2nd edition).

36. Cognitive Changes and Memory

37. Aging and Memory

38. Cognitive Changes and Transitions: Intelligence

39. Intellectual Ablities
Psychologist K. Warner Schaie and his colleagues have found that general intellectual abilities gradually increase until one’s early forties, then become relatively stable until about age 60, when a small but steadily increasing percentage of older adults experience slight declines on tests of general intellectual abilities.
Schaie found that those who were better educated and engaged in physical and mental activities throughout older adulthood showed the smallest declines in mental abilities.

40. Fluid Intelligence One’s ability to reason speedily and abstractly
Can be used to solve novel logic problems
Declines as people get older

41. Crystallized Intelligence
One’s accumulated knowledge and verbal skills
Tends to increase with age

42. Age and Verbal/Nonverbal Intelligence

43. Memory and Aging
Play “Aging and Memory” (11:16) Segment #17 from The Mind: Psychology Teaching Modules (2nd edition).

44. A Lifetime of Well-Being

45. Overall Life Satisfaction
Most studies show the elderly as happy and satisfied with life.
People tend to mellow with age.
Most regrets focus on what the person didn’t do rather than mistakes they have made in life.

46. Overall Life Satisfaction

47. Death and Dying

48. Death and Dying
In general, anxiety about dying tends to peak in middle adulthood, then to decrease in late adulthood
Kubler-Ross stages of dying
Denial
Anger
Bargain
Depression
Acceptance
Not universally demonstrated
Dying is as individual a process as is living.
People cope with the prospect of dying much as they have coped with other stresses involved in living

49. Reactions to Death
Reactions to death are different from culture to culture.
Attitudes toward death and dying are changing in the United States more openness facing death with dignity; hospice helps