1. Life Span Development
Spring 2010
PHYSICAL AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN
LATE ADULTHOOD
Chapter 17
SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT IN
LATE ADULTHOOD
Chapter 18
DEATH AND DYING
Chapter 19

2. Physical and Cognitive
Development in Late Adulthood
 Age 65 – Death
 Outward signs of aging
◦ Thinning/ graying hair
◦ Face/ skin wrinkling
◦ People become noticeably shorter
 Internal aging
◦ Brain becomes smaller and lighter
◦ Blood flow is reduced within the brain
◦ Hardening and shrinking of blood vessels
throughout the body
◦ Respiratory system is less efficient
◦ Digestive system less efficient

3. Psychological and Mental Disorders
 15-25% of individuals over the age of 65 show symptoms of
psychological disorder
 Major depression – feelings of intense sadness, pessimism
and hopelessness
◦ Partly due to cumulative loss (death of partner and friends)
◦ Declining health and physical capabilities
◦ Loss of independence and control
 Drug-induced psychological disorders
◦ Drug intoxication
◦ Anxiety
 Dementia
◦ Broad category of serious memory loss and decline in
mental functioning
◦ Lessened intellectual functioning
◦ The most common mental disorder in late adulthood
◦ Chances of experiencing dementia increases with age

4. Alzheimer’s Disease
 A progressive brain disorder that produces memory
loss and confusion
 Symptoms of Alzheimer’s appear gradually
 Unusual forgetfulness
 Trouble recalling certain words during conversation
 Recent memory deteriorates first, then older
memories
 Eventual total confusion – inability to speak
intelligently or recognize family and friends
 Loss of muscle control and bed confinement (near
the end of life)

5. Exercising the Aging Brain
 Continued cognitive stimulation keeps
cognitive abilities sharp
 Training showed long-term effects
 Engaging in some form of mental
workout- consistently and continually
increasing the level of difficulty-is key
to success

6. Memory: Remembrance of
Things Past – and Present
 Episodic memory
◦ Specific life experiences
◦ Most memory losses
 Semantic memory
◦ General knowledge and facts
◦ Typically unaffected by age
 Short-term memory
◦ Declines gradually until age 70 (more pronounced)
◦ Information presented quickly and verbally is
forgotten sooner
◦ Newer information is more difficult to recall

7. Information-Processing Deficits
 Inability to inhibit irrelevant information
and thoughts declines
 Speed of processing declines
 Attention declines
 Less efficient retrieval methods

8. What else?
 Power and prestige for elderly have eroded
in industrialized societies
 Rapidly changing technology causes older
adults to be seen as lacking important skills
 Older adults are seen as non-productive
members of society and in some cases
simply irrelevant

9. Living in Nursing Homes
 Greater the extent of nursing home care =
greater adjustment required of residents
 Loss of independence brought about by
institutional life may lead to difficulties
 Elderly people are as susceptible to
society’s stereotypes about nursing homes

10. Financial Vulnerability in Older
Adulthood
 Reliance on a fixed income for support
◦ Social Security benefits
◦ Pensions, and savings, rarely keeps up
with inflation
 Rising cost of health care

11. The Cost of Staying Well
 Elderly face rising health costs
 Average older person spends 20 percent of
his or her income on health care costs
 Nursing homes can cost $30,000 to
$40,000 a year

12. Work and Retirement
 Retirement is major decision
 Social Security
 Part-time employment
 Mandatory retirement

13. Some employers..
 Encourage older workers to leave their
jobs in order to replace them with
younger employees whose salaries
will be considerably lower
 Believe older workers are not up to
demands of the job or are less willing
to adapt to a changing workplace

14. Retirement
Retirement decision based on
variety of factors
 Burnout
 Health concerns
 Employer incentives
 Desire to travel, study, or spend more time
with family

15. Death of Spouse
 Few events are more painful than
death of spouse
◦ No longer part of a couple
◦ Must deal with profound grief
◦ No one to share life with and social life
often changes
◦ Economic changes often occur

16. Why do friends matter?
Friendships in late adulthood:
 Allow older adults more control about whom
to include in a friendship
 May be more flexible
 Relate to increasing likelihood, over time,
that one will be without marital partner

17. Social Support
 Social support is assistance and comfort
supplied by another person or a network of
caring, interested people
◦ Important for successful aging
◦ Sympathy and empathy
◦ Can help furnish material support such as solve
problems, give a ride, or fix broken things
◦ Dogs can be especially good at providing social
support

18. Elder Abuse
Physical or psychological mistreatment
or neglect of elderly individuals
 May affect as many as 2 million people
above the age of 60 each year
 Is most frequently committed by family
member

19. Erikson’s Final Stage
 Ego-integrity versus despair:
 Characterized by looking back over one’s life,
evaluating it, and coming to terms with it
 Success at this stage:
◦ Integrity – fulfilled the possibilities that have come
their way
◦ Few or no regrets
◦ Sense of satisfaction and accomplishment
 Difficulty at this stage (lack of success):
◦ Looking back on one’s life with disappointment
◦ Regret over missed opportunities
◦ Have not accomplished what they wished
◦ Unhappy, depressed, angry (despair) over the
way their life turned out

20. Coping with aging
 Bernice Neugarten studied the different ways people cope with
aging:
◦ Disintegrated and disorganized personalities are unable to
accept aging, experience despair as they get older, often
end up in nursing homes or hospitalized
◦ Passive-dependent personalities lead lives filled with fear of
falling ill, fear of the future, fear of their own inability to cope
◦ Defended personalities seek to ward off aging and attempt
to act young, exercising vigorously, and engaging in youthful
activities that could lead to unrealistic expectations and
disappointment
◦ Integrated personalities cope comfortably with aging and
accept becoming older with a sense of dignity

21. Death and Dying
 Death Across the Life Span
 Death does not always occur during
old age
 How do our reactions with death
evolve as we age?

22. Death in Infancy and Childhood
 Prenatal Death:
◦ Parents typically form psychological bonds with
unborn child
◦ Feel profound grief when a child dies before it is
born
 Infant/ Child Death:
◦ SIDS
◦ Most frequent causes of childhood death:
 Motor vehicle accidents
 Drowning
 Fires

23. Confronting Death
 Dr Elisabeth Kübler-Ross pioneered methods in
the support and counseling of personal trauma,
grief and grieving, associated with death and dying.
 She also dramatically improved the understanding
and practices in relation to bereavement and
hospice care.
 The study of death and dying is actually known as
thanatology (from the Greek word 'thanatos'
meaning death).
 Kübler-Ross's five stages of grief model was
developed initially as a model for helping dying
patients to cope with death and bereavement,
however the concept also provides insight and
guidance for coming to terms with personal trauma
and change, and for helping others with emotional
adjustment and coping

24. Kübler-Ross's five stages of grief
 Denial:
 Denial is usually only a temporary defense for the individual. This feeling is
generally replaced with heightened awareness of situations and individuals that
will be left behind after death.
 Anger:
 Once in the second stage, the individual recognizes that denial cannot continue.
Because of anger, the person is very difficult to care for due to misplaced feelings
of rage and envy. Any individual that symbolizes life or energy is subject to
projected resentment and jealousy
 Bargaining:
 The third stage involves the hope that the individual can somehow postpone or
delay death. Usually, the negotiation for an extended life is made with a higher
power in exchange for a reformed lifestyle.
 Depression:
 During the fourth stage, the dying person begins to understand the certainty of
death. Because of this, the individual may become silent, refuse visitors and
spend much of the time crying and grieving. This process allows the dying person
to disconnect themself from things of love and affection. It is not recommended to
attempt to cheer an individual up that is in this stage. It is an important time for
grieving that must be processed
 Acceptance:
 This final stage comes with peace and understanding of the death that is
approaching. Generally, the person in the fifth stage will want to be left alone.
Additionally, feelings and physical pain may be non-existent. This stage has also
been described as the end of the dying struggle