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Overview of the Day
Developmental Psychology - Part 2
Adolescence & young adulthood
Middle age
Old age
Physical changes
Adolescence: between the beginning of sexual
maturity to independent adulthood
Secondary sex characteristics
Why are adolescents capable of having children
when marriage is so much later?
Why has onset of menarche occurring earlier in girls
now (about 12-13, when in the past it was 13-15),
even though marriage is much later?
more fat in diet
less physical activity
Adulthood
 Physical capacity: heart, lung, energy expenditure, reaction
time, sensory keenness all peak by early adulthood (mid-twenties );
because women mature earlier, their physical capacities peak earlier
 much of physical vigor is a function of regular exercise: use it or lose it (skiing
12 miles with PK who is mid 50s). people can still be extremely fit into their 60s
and beyond, if they exercise regularly
 Menopause: secession of ability to bear children (onset
typically occurs in late 40s)
many women state that they feel better than they have in years
after menopause
grandmother hypothesis: care for their children’s offspring
Cognitive changes
 Intelligence
general intelligence does not decline much with age
crystallized IQ (store of knowledge and reasoning strategies)
increases and fluid IQ (general problem solving, free of
content) decreases with age
 Memory?
 20s is peak for memory
 but not all that bad when aging: recognition does not decline much
with age (recall does);
 meaningful memory works well into old age (web of associations)
 same as with physical: use it or lose it (stay intellectually active)
 Senility (senile dementia) disturbance of higher
order mental functions associated with age
 5-20% of people become senile into 80s and 90s
 50% of caused by Alzheimer (destroys neurons in the brain causing
loss of memory, reasoning, and language impairment.
Causes (genetic), loss of neurotransmitter acetylcholine (also myelin
sheath); tangled neurons
 What is the relationship between age and performance
at work?
no relation
At what developmental phase is a person’s age
least predictive of her abilities and
personality?
Adulthood
Social and moral
development
Kohlberg's theory of moral development
stages of moral reasoning
Erickson's theory of psycho-social
development
stages of social development
Social clock: Culturally preferred timing for
when one should leave home, marry, have
children, and retire
There is no rigid consensus on "social clock"
cultural prescriptions. They vary by culture
and subculture.
Marriage and children
9 out of 10 adults marry;
75 % of those who
divorce remarry (and are as happy as they were in 1st
marriages)
Marriage bonds are most likely to endure
when . . . ?
Couples maintain at least a 5 to 1 ratio of positive to negative
interactions with each other
When children grow up and leave home,
mothers . . .?
Report feeling happy
Chance encounters
Life course is not entirely predictable due
to chance encounters
Development: The bottom
line
Genes
Peers
Parents (neighborhoods, opportunities)
Education; jobs
Chance encounters
Summary
Development and maturation
Conception and gestation
Competent newborn
Cognitive development
Attachment
Physical changes
Social and moral development
Marriage and children
Chance encounters