Psychology Of Aging Essays (Examples)

Psychology of Age and Euthanasia

Aging is inevitable; it happens to all of us and as much as we wish we could, there is simply no way to stop or reverse the aging process. It is defined as the accumulation of changes in an organism or object over a period of time. Aging in humans refers to a multi-dimensional process of physical, psychological, and social change. Some people age gracefully, while others do not fare as well.

Our society tends to view physical changes to our exterior appearance, in a negative light. As we get older, we notice small appearance changes over time. For some people that are a difficult adjustment because appearance plays a large role in our sense of identity. Some of the physical changes to occur when we get older include: sagging skin, frown lines, wrinkles, loss of hearing, vision deterioration and gray hair.

Some individuals attempt…

Psychology of Aging

Aging of whole organisms is a complex process that can be defined as a progressive deterioration of physiological function, an intrinsic age-related process of loss of viability and increase in vulnerability. Many psycholological and physical changes in humans can be brought about by aging, it is the most normal and regular process that affect human beings either positively or negatively. The most important stage of aging can be felt in the transition period that is from middle to old age graying of hair, skin wrinkles, muscle weakening can be an indication of changes in age manifested by individuals as a measure of health and physical manifestations.

Most human beings identify with their bodies and aging of the body for instance naturally brings about the aging of mind accompanied by the decline of physical strength and at times psychological strength. In the end result the poor psychological health…

Psychology of Aging: Vignette Analysis

Vignette one

When we talk of socio-cultural age, we mean those particular roles played by individuals as regards the members of the society and the culture they belong to. The evaluation of socio-cultural age is based on a number of habits and behaviors, like the type of dress, interpersonal style and language. Socio-cultural age is mostly important in our understanding of the different work and family roles we adopt. The right time for one to marry, when to have children, when to make career moves, when to retire, and all other such things are all influenced by what we take our socio-cultural age to be. Our self-esteem and all other aspects of our personality are determined by such decisions. Most stereotypes about aging depend on faulty assumptions surrounding socio-cultural age (Cavanaugh and Blanchard-Field, 2015). Jake and Nora are an African-American couple, who migrated from Nigeria…

Psychology of Aging

Trait: Personality traits refer to established or fairly constant characteristics which identify individual differences among people. For instance, if a person suffers from bipolar disorder, he/she might possess trait impulsivity -- a characteristic of personality influencing his/her response to events. This trait impulsivity varies marginally between normal and bipolar (depressive and manic) phases, or with time. Certain studies indicate that particular personality traits, such as trait anxiety or trait impulsivity, might be risk elements for the development of mood-related disorders in future (DiMaria, 2013).

Mood: Moods refer to transient ways of feeling or being. For instance, if an individual suffers from an acute case of depressive disorder, he/she might feel extremely miserable for many weeks in a row. This unhappy mood constitutes a transient mood state. In other words, it does not form part of the individual's personality structure. Therapy may help cure unhappiness. Therapists and research…

Suicide ates Among Geriatric Persons

The causes of death among the elderly are traditionally associated with the normal aging process or what would be called natural process, diseases associated with age and the debilitations it can cause. Yet, other factors also contribute to the cause of death an individual might succumb to, widowhood, retirement, forced relocation, and/or loneliness especially around the holidays. (Huyck Hoyer 1982) Still other studies are making it clear that murder and suicide rates are increasing dramatically among the elderly. (cf., Birren, Schaie, 1977) (Nussbaum, Pecchioni, obinson & Thompson, 2000, p. 294) Suicide was the eleventh leading cause of death among persons over the age of 65 in 1982. (iley, 1983, p. 144) Some strides have been made and between the years 1983 and 1998 suicide averaged as the fourteenth leading cause of death for persons over the age of 65, lower than the average for all…

Psychology of Aging

Compare and contrast current research on alternative stage theories of adulthood and personality development.

Child developmentalists traditionally categorized adult personality development into stage theories (Kagan, 2001). Sigmund Freud advocated the psychosexual stage, which held that personality is shaped early in life and generally resists change. Carl Jung proposed the opposite, in that personality develops in adulthood. Other theories surfaced in the 30s an the 40s in Europe and the U.S., such as Charlotte Buhler's, which called for empirical evaluations of theoretical predictions and Erik Erikson's similarly psychoanalytic stage theory, which asserts that a person develops through stages of human needs. Eventually, these early stage theories failed empirical tests. Critics of stage theories argued that personality does not evolve systematically in adulthood. Then came the Trait Theory in the 80s, which suggested that personality only changes slightly when a person reaches age 30 (Kagan, 2001).

The Trait Theory…

Know the predominant features of each personality disorder = Such knowledge will help the therapist to identify assistance strategies ahead of time, which can be modified as necessary.

Know about the link between borderline personality disorder and suicide attempts = an awareness of this link will help the therapist to identify warning signs and provide assistance in a timely way.

Know that group therapy is useful for treatment of avoidant personality disorder = Knowing this avoids the intuitive tendency to reinforce the patient's avoidance.

Patients with which disorder are most likely to seek treatment on their own? Depression sufferers are most likely to seek treatment for their condition.

Problems in using the DSM-IV-TR to diagnose personality disorders = the main concern is that some guidelines are very specific. Some personality disorders may overlap or display atypical symptoms.

Chapter 14

Are boys or girls more likely to have a diagnosable psychological…

Psychology Development

Early Childhood

Medelein N. Moody, (2013). A Relational Aggression Intervention in Early Childhood. University of Nebraska. ProQuest LLC.

The paper was aimed at interrogating the relational aggression in early childhood and if there are interventions within the school setting that can act to reduce the aggression. This intervention is referred to as the Early Childhood Friendship Project and entailed taking stock of the changes in the behavior of the children as they undergo the study and the project. The preliminaries within the article indicates that there is usually a significant differences between the relational aggression between the boys and girls in school with the later recording a higher rate of aggression.

The study was conducted through a survey method and formal testing as the children went through the project and the teachers concerned recorded the results and any noticeable changes over time.

The results that were observed showed…

Question: Explain the factors that cause or are associated with eating disorders, substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, and juvenile delinquency.

Answer: While these problems appear to be divergent, they are however linked together by a common factor and that is poor self-esteem. There is a close relationship between self-esteem elements that promote it, and the absence of some of the problems listed. The converse is also true that persons who have self-esteem issues are more prone to have an eating disorder, engage in risky sexual behavior, abuse substances, and be delinquent.

Self-esteem is essentially how the individual views himself or herself or values the self. Ideas of self-esteem are developed very early in childhood and as the individual matures, the sense of self may become damaged. Persons who have a damaged conception of themselves usually think that others see them as damaged when it is really how they see themselves. Even…

Genes that are involved in the large families with a lot of individuals with ALS are sometimes called causative genes since they are usually sufficient to cause ALS devoid of any other genes or factors being involved. Genes involved in the smaller ALS families can either be susceptibility or causative genes (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), 2005).

There appears to be no clear cause in the majority of ALS cases and there is just one medication, riluzole, has been shown to modestly prolong survival. esearch has recognized some of the cellular processes that take place after disease onset, including mitochondrial dysfunction, protein aggregation, generation of free radicals, excitotoxicity, inflammation and apoptosis, but for most people the underlying cause is unknown. While ALS is measured to be a multifaceted genetic disorder in which multiple genes in amalgamation with environmental exposures merge to render a person susceptible, few genetic or environmental risks have…

Cognitive Aspects of the Aging Process

The purpose of this work is to define cognition and to explain the effects of aging on the brain in relation to memory, attention, metacognition, effects on languaging and the effects of aging on the executive function and finally cognitive function in very old age. This will be inclusive of primary cognitive diseases found in aging adults such as dementia and Alzheimer's.

Medical science continues to discover more about aging with each passing year. Cognitive effects of aging are one element that the aging individual must face as well as something that family and friends of the individual will cope with at some point. Cognition is defined as "the mental process of knowing, thinking, learning, and judging." (Online Medical Dictionary, 2005) Therefore the elderly experienced "cognitive dysfunction" is defined as "disturbance to the mental processes of knowing, thinking, learning and judging." Disturbances or dysfunctions…

Furthermore, as Baltes makes clear, there are some events that are generally going to impact people at various stages in their lives. For example, an East European Jew who survived World War II would probably have a historical influence that changed other age-expectations, which could impact other longevity factors. Time in a concentration camp, which would be normative for the Jewish cohort in that place and time period, would also likely impact the age of marriage, parenthood, and other culturally normative behaviors that might impact health and longevity in one's old age. While that might seem to be a dramatic example, the reality is that most generations are going to have cohorts impacted by at least one event of similar magnitude. For the practitioner working with geriatric clients, knowing the historical events that are most likely to have impacted the client and how those are likely to interact with the…

society we seem to place research on the brain in high regard. In what ways is this sentiment positive for science and the care of humans, and in what ways might this be negative? Does neuroscience always hold the "best" answers?

A way in which the focus on the brain is positive is that it is indeed true that the brain is really the "center of action" in a lot of ways. When it comes to the most intriguing, fascinating and important parts of the body, the two top really have to be the brain and the heart. The heart is the catalyst for things like circulation, oxygen flow and so forth. The brain, however, has many more important things behind it including the nervous system in general, memory and so forth (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2011; YouTube, 2015; YouTube, 2015).

However, ordaining the study of the mind as it currently…

Optimism and Pessimism Relates to Stress and Coping with Cancer

An increasing amount of research links negative and positive emotional states to wellness or ill health. The negative or pessimistic emotions seem to have a negative effect on the immune system and on general health. Pessimism has been shown to be unhealthy and have adverse effects on health, including increasing the risk of cancer and preventing recovery from the disease. On the other hand, positive or optimistic emotions have been shown to strengthen immune function and bring good health. (Gillman, 1989)

There is a wealth of research that suggests optimism has a positive association with better mental and physical health, as well as coping with stress. Pessimism has been linked to a higher risk of death before the age of 65, while positive emotions, like optimism, are linked to lowered production of the stress hormone cortisol, better immune function, and…

Leaning does not only imply facts, but continual and fluid evolution of the brain. This is the identical process that the brain takes when improving itself and reducing aging. If the brain continues to receive stimuli and appropriate chemicals for energy, then it follows tat there will be increased brain function and activity. If the voltage, just as in a battery, becomes stronger, then activity increases. As the brain is continually stimulated, more building materials are produced that allow information to become part of our experience. Interestingly, the variety and frequency of certain exercise programs, in fact, "teach" the body at different rates. Using different intensities of movement, concerns of overeating, weight regulation, quality of life, and especially depression are mitigated (Douglas, 2009).

Finally, the healthcare and other market modifiers will need to change and evolve as the population ages. The global baby bust will change financial markets, investing, products,…

If anything, such a person may have regrets over having wasted too much of life on impersonal achievements and selfish pursuits.

6. Do you agree that in later life men become more nurturing and women more assertive? What do you think are the findings that could support or challenge that observation?

The observation that men tend to become more nurturing, less competitive, less aggressive, and "gentler" in later life and that women tend to become less emotional and more confident or assertive would seem to be substantially true. That is largely attributable to hormonal changes; specifically, aging males tend to produce much less testosterone and post-menopausal females secrete less estrogen in their later years (Pinker, 2002). Naturally, those hormonal changes would be expected to result in various behavioral changes in areas where human behavior (and gender-specific behavior in particular) are products of the secondary sex hormones (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2008;…

Interview With the Elderly

As Cavanaugh and Blanchard-Fields (2014) assert, "We cannot understand adults' experiences without appreciating what came before in childhood and adolescence" (p. 4). The interviewee, therefore, was asked to describe her childhood experiences on the farm where she grew up. She recalled a life that was much more rugged and basic than today's childhood experiences. She described having to help with the slaughter of pigs, which she did not like, because it smelled terribly. She described the flowers that her father grew and the greenhouse that was popular. She talked about the stone house and how it was divided up among her parents and her siblings and how they would have curtains separating "rooms" and how there was no such thing as television when she was a child. These experiences clearly shaped her character and her perspective of things as she grew older and the world around…

It is an unfortunate fact that Alice's self-perception and its reinforcement by social and media images of age and aging is hardly unique. Older people, and especially those in retirement and care communities, tend to be perceived as old, frail, and unable to continue any sort of contribution to society. This tends to hasten the aging process and, in cases like Alice's, perpetuates a vicious cycle in which aging becomes a curse rather than the blessing that she was first to those around her and then to her husband.

According to Holstein, Parks, and Waymack (2011, p. 11), one important component of care giving and retirement communities is respecting the autonomy of older individuals by providing them with meaningful choice. This means that older people in such communities should be provided with choices that match their remaining cognitive and physical abilities.

When applied to Alice's case, her residence in the…

Keys to Successful Ageing

The concept of ageing has undergone considerable change in the past decade or so (Garnett, 2004, p. 3). The literature reviewed on successful ageing focused on three key components: (1) avoiding disease; (2) remaining engaged with life through meaningful work, activities, and relationships, and (3) maintaining high cognitive and physical function (Tsao Foundation (2004); Garnett; Balandin (Sep. 2004); Keys to vital ageing (2004)). As more and more people are beginning to realize, as the general population ages, ageing also has many positive factors, such as learned resilience and survival in the face of adversity, which may serve one well during the ageing process itself (Garnett, p. 3). ecommendations from the Institution on Ageing include: eating a balanced diet; exercising regularly; getting regular check-ups; not smoking; maintaining personal contacts, and maintaining a positive attitude about oneself and about life by doing what makes one feel happy, satisfied,…

282). Furthermore, research supports that an audience is more likely to be persuaded when the persuasion technique matches their attitude functions. Thus, people in the advertising industry are far more likely to be successful persuaders when they carefully consider the predominant attitude type of their audience and tailor their advertisements to that specific group.

A final example of the contributions of psychology to advertising is a highly significant one. In 1957, Vance Packard wrote a book titled The Hidden Persuasion, which discussed the psychoanalytical techniques used by many advertising companies (Nelson, 2008). The book sold millions of copies, was translated into 12 languages, and remained on the U.S. bestseller list for a year. Nevertheless, it was highly criticized by many academics and people in the advertising industry who wrongfully assumed that it was focused mainly on subliminal messages. However, Packard never actually used the term "subliminal" and focused very little…

Psychology Treatment

For most of U.S. history up to the time of the Community Mental Health Act of 1963, the mentally ill were generally warehoused in state and local mental institutions on a long-term basis. Most had been involuntarily committed by orders from courts or physicians, and the discharge rate was very low. Before the 1950s and 1960s, there were few effective treatments for mental illnesses like depression, anxiety disorders and schizophrenia, which were commonly considered incurable. Only with the psycho-pharmacological revolution in recent decades and new anti-depressant and anti-psychotic medications has it been possible for the severely mentally ill to be treated on an outpatient basis through community mental health centers. Of course, as the old state hospitals have emptied many of the mentally ill have ended up homeless, since they are unable to hold maintain regular employment or continue on a medication regimen without supervision. According to present-day…

Aging can be defined as the buildup of damage in molecules, tissues, and cells throughout an individual's lifetime. As a result of this accumulation, the capacity of an organism to sustain homeostasis in stress situations is decreased and enhanced risk for many diseases emerges (Rodriguez-Rodero et al., 2011). The process of aging, which is commonly known as senescence, affects people in different ways because of its varying impact on different parts of the body and at varying rates (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, 2016). Given these differences, the aging process is different between individuals as some seemingly age faster than others.

There are several factors that affect the aging process and contribute to the differences through which some people seem to age faster than others. One of the major factors that affect the aging process is cell aging, which entails DNA damage and telomeres. In this case, aging is a by-product of…

Looking at a problem from several different angles and viewpoints is the ultimate goal of group work and group decision-making. Having people who are different from one another helps to avoid 'groupthink' and contributes to in-depth discussions and better ideas than could be found in a group where the participants were basically all alike (Chartrand, van aaren, & argh, 2006). How a person reacts to others and to the situation, though, can seriously affect the outcome of the group. Society is made up of many different kinds of people, so a good group will be comprised of the same. This will help to ensure the success of whatever decision that the group comes to, since there will be a greater suggestion that the public will be receptive to it, as based on the opinions of the various group members.

oth internal and external information must be tracked in order to…

Learning and Cognitive Psychology Related to Memory

Memory has control over everything that an individual does and is a part of cognitive psychology that deals with all the human behavior and mental processes. It is divided into different categories with each of them performing their particular functions. The paper investigates the different types of memories and their purpose as each one plays its part in keeping the memory part of the brain functioning. The nature, maintenance, retrieval and capacity of memory are also discussed along with the different factors that influence it. The paper also discusses the application of TRS model on the working memory, which leads to the prediction that maintenance activities should postpone concurrent processing.

Introduction

Memory is what drives our everyday life, makes us relate to or recollect things from the past and in many ways defines our behavior. We take it for granted as the effort…

The assessment was done in one session which included estimation of verbal, attention, memory, working memory, intellectual and language functions of the participants. The researchers used the American Adult eading Test to estimate the premorbid verbal intelligence of the participants where they were required to read irregular words which cannot be pronounced correctly using the rules of phonics out loud. This provided a good estimate of the Verbal IQ of the participants on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. It was also a stable and valid measure of the premorbid intellectual functioning of the older demented and non-demented adults.

The verbal intelligence and general intellectual ability of the study participants was estimated through the administration of the information subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III and it provided a stable and valid measure despite the advanced age of the participants. The performance of the subject's verbal memory was measuring using the…

An initial psychotic episode is often the result, with immediate in-hospital treatment recommended for testing and observation. Treatment includes anti-psychotic medication and patients often respond well, particularly in milder cases of the illness. (Csernansky, 2001) However, a general inability to adapt socially will persist and prevent a "normal" existence for these individuals. In one case, a female patient described her general personality despite medication as characterized by "low self-esteem, hypersensitivity to criticism, hyperempathy, excessive generosity, susceptibility to manipulation, and social awkwardness" (eichenberg-Ullman, 2010). In addition, substance abuse, inability to hold a job, risk of suicide, and unwanted pregnancy are typical themes in these patients' lives. (Csernansky, 2001) in the case of pregnancy, females often suffer complications beyond their mental illness, such as poor prenatal care, risk of violence during pregnancy, and reduced likelihood of having a male supportive figure (staff, 2007)

In the middle phase of schizophrenia, or the first…

Another area of development in psychology that is likely to see great amounts of growth over the next couple of decades is Evolutionary Psychology. Evolutionary theory has made great inroads into the science of Psychology over the past decade. The theory has been both controversial and informative, leading to new areas of inquiry and helping psychologists to gain a greater understanding of human behavior, thought, development and history (ozin, 2010). When psychologists are able to determine that one aspect of humanity has evolutionary roots, they can rule out other causes, such as culture or environment, which can then in turn lead to a better understanding of how the human mind functions. The more we understand about how the brain functions, the better equipped we are to battle against the dysfunctions of the brain (ozin, 2010).

As the majority of the population begins to age, there will be a growing interest…

I sih Hillman could be more direct with this point.

Explication Paper 6

Hillman might perhaps more accurately be called a philosopher than a psychologist; his views are incredibly expansive and rooted in what is ultimately a conjectured construct of human understanding and existence. This is made abundantly clear in these sections regarding character and the development of personhood and human individuals' sense of self. Again, language and its influence is very much at the heart of Hillman's explanation of how our understanding of character has developed and should develop, claiming that both consciousness and unconsciousness should always be characterized, thus making us fully aware and responsible for ourselves and our world rather than passive entities obedient to the laws of cause and effect and the limitations of language as it now stands.

Much of what Hillman says in these excerpts is so esoteric that it is difficult to understand.…

Diversity and Psychology

Derived from the Greek word, psyche "meaning 'breath, sprit, soul' and the Greek work logia meaning the study of something," the study of psychology is "the science of the mind and behavior" (Nordqvist, 2009). In the medical dictionary, psychology is "The profession (clinical psychology), scholarly discipline (academic psychology), and science (research psychology) concerned with the behavior of humans and animals and, related mental and physiological processes" (Nordqvist, 2009). In short, psychology is the science that answers the ever fascinating questions of how and why people and organisms think and behave in the manner in which they do. Psychology is imperative in the study of understanding and exploring one another and the people that surround us- society often looks to the study of psychology to explain the diverse population that inhabits the world. To that end, the concept of diversity is also another essential concept to comprehensively understand.…

Social Construction of Aging in Nursing Homes

Aging is socially constructed. Using the perspective of symbolic-interactionism, it is possible to show the precise processes whereby the social construction of aging takes place inside specific institutional contexts, like the American nursing home. The American nursing home offers insight into the culturally constrained concept of aging, for attitudes towards aging bodies and aging as a philosophical concept are informed by cultural milieu, worldview, and value construction. Biological aging is not social aging. The positive aging movement and the harmonious aging movement offer counterpoints to traditionally antagonistic and negative views of aging. Especially as the population of the United States and other industrialized nations shifts towards the older end of the age spectrum, it becomes important to reconsider the biological, psychological, and social processes and functions of aging.

The nursing home offers the opportunity to examine aging from a multidisciplinary perspective, while using…

Psychology

In the 1950's in Kansas City married couples ages 40 through 90 were put through a series of psychological tests to gain insight into the optimal idea of aging (USC, 2010). The Kansas City study lent to the idea of the disengagement theory which states that optimally aging adults gradually withdraw from society and social obligations as they age. Cumming and Henry, whom devised the disengagement theory, argued that the theory sufficiently explained why the elderly reduce their workload, social interactions, amount of new activities, and seem to have increased wisdom (USC, 2010). One suggested reasoning for adults' disengagement in life is because of the departure from society that takes place with death. In order to reduce emotional pain, many adults attempt to sever ties with friends and loved ones beforehand (USC, 2010). The other possibility is that lessening social obligations and commitments essentially frees elderly people as they…

AGING
It is a generally known fact that some weaknesses in the body start developing that directly or indirectly affect one's mental health. Since physical health is related to its impact on the mental health visible in later stages of life, older people must take extra care of their mental health. This paper aims at first, graphically representing mental health conditions in older people in the form of Microsoft Word Excel bar chart for both males and females so that a better comparison could be made, and secondly analyzing the factors for one of those mental health diseases and explaining the reason for its gender disparity.
Task 1
The following graphical representation of the five mental diseases for the age group 65 years and older within the US population. The data is extracted from Statista.com (2020) from the most recent years, 2017 and 2020. The only slight difference in the…

A: Integration of Mind/Body/Spirit
The integration of body, mind, and spirit can create harmony and healing. In fact, the integration of body, mind, and spirit can also take into account culture and ethnicity to provide holistic care. There is no one way to integrate body, mind, and spirit, but multiple modalities that each person can choose to use at different points to address their own needs. Some body-mind-spirit integration practices like yoga or tai chi can also be divorced from their religious and cultural contexts to provide all people with access to their benefits (Luskin, 2004). Although there is some evidence starting to emerge showing how these types of practices lead to measurable or at least observable outcomes in patients, it is important for healthcare practitioners to focus more on phenomenological approaches and qualitative methods than on the potentially futile quest for quantitative data proving the efficacy of practices like…

Drug treatment and behavior therapy may be useful, rather than analysis.

Also, psychological symptoms may produce biological phenomenon, like sleep disturbances. "Sleep disturbances and unipolar depression are such intransigent bedfellows that troubled sleep is considered a hallmark of the mood disorder," for example. (Marano, 2003) However, insomnia can also fundamentally unbalance the brain's natural state of homeostasis, causing the symptom of depression, as well as manifesting itself as a symptom of depression itself.

Behavioral problems in children can have their roots in biology. Children without enough sleep or proper nutrition are more likely to act out inappropriately, and without treating these biological causes, simply addressing the children's purely psychological feelings or even giving them coping mechanisms such as rationally discussing the issues, will matter little. Children and adolescents also have different sleep needs, and different internal time 'clocks' because their bodies are still busily growing at night. Children and adolescents,…

Lubben, James E. And Damron-Rodriguez, JoAnn. 2003. " An international approach to community health care for older adults." Family and Community Health. October-December. available from Proquest Database.

In this article, Lubben and Damron-Rodriguez propose a model for community-based primary healthcare that could be more responsive to the needs of the growing elderly population around the globe. Lubben and Damron-Rodriguez base their study by analyzing the results and ramifications of the community healthcare approach developed by the World Health Organization Kobe Centre for Health Development (WKC). Based on the results of the WKC approach, the authors make recommendations regarding changes needed to allow community healthcare organizations to better serve the needs of older adults.

The authors observe that one important aspect of the WKC approach is the promotion of healthy ageing. By delaying disability through educating individuals regarding the importance of nutrition and family support, the WKC thus advocates a community-based…

he author's method was simply collecting older data through secondary sources like previous studies and researches. He examined the methods used in these studies and critically evaluated them and also mentioned their limitations according to his assessment.

he author has not clearly discussed the significance of his results but he has thoroughly mentioned the results from previous studies and their positive and negatives have been identified too. He shows why some results cannot be trusted and why some were optimistic but are not relevant his particular hypothesis. For example in one study he found that though the results were optimistic, they are not relevant because the researchers had focused on immediate effects on mental exercise instead of its long-term benefits. In other words, the author agrees that there is a significant difference in mental performance immediately after a mentally stimulating exercise but he doesn't agree that the benefits would last…

The theory describes stages as patterns of behavior which are typical for a certain development period and it leads to a different pattern that is more advanced and more unusual Olson & Byron, 1942()

The organismic meta-theory is represented by Erikson's theory of personality which illustrates an important feature of the development in an organismic viewpoint. At each stage of development, there is the resolution of a particular crisis which is a turning point and which serves as a healthy balance between the opposing traits of the particular stage of development. The resolution of this crisis leads to the development of a virtue which is a good thing. If the crisis goes unresolved, the person struggles with the crisis and this impedes the healthy development of the individual Hoogendyk & ichardson, 1980()

The organismic view is associated with the structural or qualitative changes. It states that a person is different…

Child Play Time Naturalistic Observation

Describe the setting and why you chose it.

The naturalistic observation approach is performed in a pre-school environment. The reason being that the environment allows the experiment to focus on the possibility of behavior of a child to be influenced by environmental factors or conditions, giving a comprehensive depiction of what occurs in classrooms in the case of preschool children. The following study gives a unique observational design and approach which allows numerous observations on a child for the purpose of examining the trends of behaviors both within and across classroom event settings and the manner in which they relate to a given child's gender and also basic tutor conducts (Leslie M. Booren, Jason T. Downer, & Virginia E. Vitiello, 2012).

Discuss the age, gender, ethnicity and overall physical description of the child?

The observation was performed on a child of pre-school age, around five…

Abnormal Psychology

Many women are afraid of getting older and are willing to do right about anything to appear always young. infarct many people perceive it is rude to ask a woman her age since the society has no room to accommodate old women and the changes that their bodies go through. It is not possible for women in the society not to struggle with issues of their appearance .this has resulted to many women trying to change how they look as they age so that they can be accepted in the society. They go to an extent of denying themselves food and applying anti-wrinkle cream so that they maintain their states of their bodies and faces.

Aging is always a taboo subject with women as compared to their male counterparts. Women are afraid of the aging factor due to the perceptions in the society. The society tends to create…

Psychology

Changing elationships in Late Adulthood

Late adulthood is often mistakenly viewed as a time of relaxation, where everything slows and an individual's life becomes more consistent and less stressful. In reality, late adulthood is a time of great change. Individuals retire, children move away, lifestyles alters significantly, and social ties decline. Most significantly, a person's relationships change significantly in late adulthood. This includes relationships with siblings, spouses, friends, children, and grandchildren. By considering these relationships and how they change, it will be shown that late adulthood is far from being a time of reduced stress. It may become a time of reduced stress if the individual makes the transition successfully, but the actual process of transition involves many significant changes.

One of the significant changes that occurs during late adulthood is that individuals often become more involved with their siblings. Stark and Hall (1988) suggest that this is partly…

Males are not only stronger than most of their female counterparts, the methods of suicide tend to be more lethal as well. According to research, "the higher male suicide rank is explained in part by males' more frequent use of lethal methods (e.g. firearms and hanging), but surely that cannot be the entire explanation," (Maris et a. 2000:75). This is true. There is a whole array of explanations lurking within the mental state of the individual, as well as the external world.

In face, gender differences found within the context of society itself can also be attributed to the increased risk for males. Within most of the world, men are considered the providers. Thus, there is lots of social pressure to succeed and become a provider, which the female is not expected to do. This pressure can then build up, and with social pressure to act like a man and…

Interview for the Analysis of Ageing

Mae was a first generation American aged 90. Mae was born on June 1927 in Bethlehem, PA. When Mae was a young girl, she moved to Queens. Married at the age of 18, Mae well-being and general health issues are normal with no major health problems despite the usual high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and stents that come along with old age.

The objective of this essay is to explore the experience of late adulthood and ageing using the case study of Mae. This study analyzes the interview questions to identify the health and social issues associated with old age.

Analysis of Interview Question

One of the problems associated with old age is health issues. However, findings from the interview with Mae reveal that Mae is still in a good health despite her age, and she does not have any major health issue. However,…

Windy McNernev and obert West (2007), both with the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, India, explain that returning the DVD while running errands depicts an illustration of effective prospective memory. Substantial documentation signifies that in various instances, the accessibility of one's effective memory ability or attentional resources can be vital for the comprehension of deferred intentions.

ichard L. Marsh, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, Jason L. Hicks, Louisiana State University, Baton ouge, Louisiana and Gabriel I. Cook (2006), University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, examine whether ask interference, having an intention, creates a cost to other ongoing activities. In the journal article, "Task interference from prospective memories covaries with contextual associations of fulfilling them," Marsh, Hicks and Cook report contemporary research indicates that particular intentions held over the shorter term interfere with other tasks. As the collective effect of such costs would prove prohibitively costly in everyday life, Marsh, Hicks…

This was a clear gap in the research that was examined. The proposed research study will attempt to fill this gap by examining the importance of the adult child and parent relationship and its affect on the physical body.

Methodologies found

A number of different study methods were found amongst the studies in the literature review. Many of the studies that examined the use of psychotherapy with the treatment of a condition used a comparative study method. Clinical trials used a comparative study method in most cases. However, studies that were found to be theoretical in nature tended to use either a qualitative interview method or quantitative study methods.

No single method of study was found to be more prevalent in the group studied during the literature review. The method selected was highly dependant on the subject matter and the research question being asked in the study. no single method…

Multicultural Psychology

Japanese Culture

Culture is commonly understood as a set of shared beliefs, values, goals and other such common ideas practiced by a group. It is an integration of art, architecture, language, food, music, lifestyle, religion and other such facets which are the defining feature of every culture. Amongst the several varying cultures of the world, this paper would focus on the Japanese culture thereby highlighting its practices and also linking it with the traditional psychological theories.

The Japanese culture is a complex system which is seen to go through a number of transformations. The initial establishment had an influence from the Chinese and Korean practices. As a matter of fact, it was the military that actually ruled the country. However, apart from going through several military conquests, instabilities and isolation, the Japanese culture took a new turn under the influence of the Western presence ultimately making Japan the…

onald F. Levant (n.d.), candidate for position of president of the American Psychological Association, sees the future of professional psychology as one where a shift will take place from its being focused on mental health issues per se, to its being perceived as a discipline that deals with health in general.

Although not explaining his reasons for the occurrence of this difference in perception, his theory may likely originate from the fact that contemporary psychology tends to focus on the biopsychological / pharmaceutical determinants of human mental welfare, particularly with its interest on the brain, and from its reduction of so many of its sub-fields (such as addiction, depression, disease, and so forth) to medical models. From there it is a short step to equivocating certain areas of psychology with medicine and, once done, psychology seems inseparable from the discipline of Medicine. Levant (n.d.) states that with psychology entering the…

Life-Trajectory of Kevin

Development Theory: The Life-Trajectory of Kevin

Kevin was born on a sheep farm in 1942, halfway between Canberra and Melbourne. As a young man he left farming to work in construction in Melbourne, where he met and married his wife. They raised three children together, but the marriage faltered once the children left to start their own lives. They separated amicably, continued to stay engaged with their families, and Kevin successfully transitioned to retirement despite a diagnosis of diabetes in his mid 50s.

Timeline

Birth. WWII (BBC, 2014)

Age 8. Korean Conflict. The market price of wool reaches an all-time high (ABS, 2007).

Age 15. Leaves school to work on sheep farm full-time

1962 -- Age 20. Leaves farming for construction work in Melbourne

1965 -- Age 23. Vietnam Conflict (BBC, 2014). egisters for National Service and serves 2 years, but never sees combat

1970 -- Age…

Distinguish among analytic, creative and practical thinking and give an example of each. Explain how culture can influence the extent to which these different types of thinking are valued.

Analytic thinking refers to the ability of a person to take a complex problem and break it down into constituent parts, to find solutions or identify the root causes. However, analytic thinking does not just refer to one's ability to solve problems. Analytic thinking can help a person study and understand music, art, or literature. Creative thinking applies to many different scenarios, too, and can also be used for solving problems. The essence of creative thinking is freedom, allowing the mind to come up with an abundance of ideas without self-censorship, adopting a new schema, paradigm, or worldview. Although creative thinking is typically associated with the arts, it is just as evidence in science and other fields that depend on fresh…

Psychodynamic Model, The Model's Developmental Processes, And Use In Assessment And Treatment Psychodynamic Model

A large proportion of this research relied on historical data. Most of the data originated from institutions that take care of the aged, books, and journal articles. The views of health experts and professionals in mental health also shaped the judgement of this paper. The paper focused on extracting information from the four models under its analysis. Most of the findings originated from the four frameworks. ( The psychodynamic, the cognitive behavior, the stress and coping model, and the family systems model).

Given the demographics of the present age, almost all adult mental shape practice will certainly include older adults. As people grow older, various changes occur, more valuable is the vulnerability to stress and illnesses. The challenges one faces through the years like the death of loved ones, loneliness and others exposes one to the…

Test Development

This research is a mixed methods study designed to explore the perceptions of self-identifying individuals with anxiety and depression regarding any relation between their conditions and their ability to access appropriate healthcare under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Five respondents completed the questionnaire constructed explicitly for this research study. A review of the literature serves as a canvas of instruments also developed for assessing Axis 1 disorders as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5). The research on instrumentation included the following: 1) The SCID, 2) the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI), 3) the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), 4) the Center for Epidemiologic Studies of Depression Scale (CES-D), and 5) Severity Measure for Generalized Anxiety Disorder -- Adult (an emerging online measure provided in association with the DSM-5).

Their responses negate the theoretical construct, however, an insufficient number of respondents in this pilot study meant…

Cognitive Changes

Developmental cognitive occur starting age 50 moving end life.

Developmental and cognitive changes

The essay aims at exploring the developmental and cognitive changes that occur starting at the age of fifty years moving through end of life. The developmental changes are easily noticeable or observable, hence not much of literature or scholarly articles have been written about it. On the other hand a lot of materials, studies and researches have been conducted on cognitive changes because cognition is a key requirement needed in both the young and old to meet the job demands, challenges of education and day-to-day life of an individual (MacDonald, Hultsch, & Dixon, 2003, p 32-52).

Before the essays embark on the changes that occur at the age of fifty and beyond its important to consider the early changes right from when a baby is born up to middle life for us to understand the…

Caregivers of Alzheimer's Patients

Community Health Promotion Project Design

As we have discovered in the first part of the study, Alzheimer's is a major health issue for the population of seniors 65 years and older. Alzheimers costs taxpayers and individuals billions of dollars for the provision of care for those who can no longer care for themselves. Alzheimer's is an expensive disease and many times it is the family who must bear much of the expense. We found that the financial strain of caring for someone who has Alzheimer's creates an incredible amount of stress on family members. However, we also found that perhaps even greater than the financial strain, Alzheimer's places in incredible load on the family as they are usually the ones who must care for their family member.

The aggregate for this study consists of family members who must care for other members of the family who…

There are certainly different approaches to the theory of anticipatory mourning. Clearly, one of the major issues within the literature surrounds the communication between the dying person and the caregiver, and both caregiver and patient and those who will be most affected or will mourn their loss. Conventional theory finds that preparing for loss involves experiencing most of the features of grief prior to the demise of the patient; numbness, anger or blame, fear, desperation, and even despair. However, an important difference is that the period of mourning begins before death occurs, and while contact and communication with the dying person is still a viable option. Because of this, there are additional emotions involved; hope, nostalgia, kindness, tenderness, and opportunity for closure (Fulton, 2003). It is this sense of hope, this feeling that there may still be something that can be done for the patient that is the focus of…

person creative? In what ways do you think creativity can be supported and enhanced by the environment?

What makes a person creative is the combination of imagination and will and exercising of that interaction. A creative person is one who can do things in a unique way -- one who is imaginative and likes to take part in the creative process by developing ideas and utilizing latent skills within the individual that all concepts and expressions to be manifested in any number of ways. Creativity stems from a desire to produce works, whether art or writing or sewing or knitting or architecture -- anything that one can put the mind to accomplishing -- in a manner that is pleasing. It does not even have to be something that is aesthetically pleasing to all. For some creative people, what they make is only admired by a few or maybe even by…

Brain training with non-action video games and its effects on brain health among the elderly showing early signs of dementia

Specific Aims

Past researches have revealed the potential contribution of video game-playing to the improvement of certain cognitive functions among healthy aged individuals (Lampit, Hallock & Valenzuela, 2014; Jak, Seelye & Jurick, 2013). Drawn by the above results reached by scholars in the field, game-making firms have developed and released several kinds of games aimed at brain training (for instance, Brain Age, Brain Challenge and Big Brain Academy). Ever since their earliest releases into the gaming market, games of this sort have enjoyed immense popularity worldwide (Toril, Reales & Ballesteros, 2014; Nouchi et al., 2013). Among the anticipated advantages of such games is improved cognitive functions (for instance, recall, processing pace, executive function, and concentration), indicated often using the term 'transfer effect'.

This research project specifically aims at examining the…

Mental therapy using non-intense video games and how it affects brain health among the aged population showing early symptoms of dementia.

The deterioration of cognitive abilities and brain tissue due to age could have several adverse effects on mental systems and could even lead to dementia. Thus, researchers are trying to discover methods which could help keep brain function, independence, health and cognition among aged people in its best shape. Usually, with age, the white and gray matter of the brain shrivels with this action seen more in its prefrontal cortex than other regions. Other affected brain parts are the cerebellum, the prefrontal cortex on the side as well as the central temporal lobe structure which includes the hippocampus. Despite this, the occipital cortices and the entorhinal do not experience any form of shrinkage (Ballesteros et al., 2015). Common symptoms of this shrinkage include reduced memory strength, lower mental processing…

Increasing of skills and knowledge and even knowledge of the society cannot be possible without social interactions. That is the basis of the social cognitive theory as it brings together attitudinal and cognitive effects. The major forms of continuous learning are via the environment, the web, media houses and social communications. The intensity of the effect this new knowledge would have on people is dependent on their individual mindsets. Social communication (as earlier stated) is a major way of increasing knowledge and deriving meaning from these. In this handbook, we have given a thorough breakdown of social cognition and the workings of social communication in its various forms. This topic is very useful for schools, service establishments, research institutes, the government, professional training schools, industries and firms among others. Even the military could benefit from this as it has employees who daily apply their cognitive abilities for various uses such…

Psychological Climate

The notion of the individual's environment as a direct determinant of one's behavior has been a cornerstone of learning theorists such as Skinner (1953) and Lewin's field theory (B = f [P, E]; Lewin, 1951). While Skinner concentrated on how environmental contingencies and reinforcement shaped behavior, Lewin's original conceptualization consisted of both dispositional characteristics of individual that include both genetic and the chacterological variables (P; the Person) and the psychological environment (E; the psychological environment). As attempts to explain the totality of influences on a person's behavior as developed by Lewin the notion of psychological environment was expanded to include the social, situational, and organizational influences that contribute to behavior (Forehand & Von Haller, 1964; Glick, 1985). The term "organizational climate" has been used to identify these different types of environmental influences that exist within organizations; however, as Glick (1985) discusses this term has not been well defined…

" (AAF, nd)

The Health Maintenance Organization further should "…negotiate with both public and private payers for adequate reimbursement or direct payment to cover the expenses of interpreter services so that they can establish services without burdening physicians…" and the private industry should be "…engaged by medical organizations, including the AAF, and patient advocacy groups to consider innovative ways to provide interpreter services to both employees and the medically underserved." (AAF, nd)

One example of the community healthcare organization is the CCO model is reported as a community cancer screening center model and is stated to be an effective mechanism for facilitating the linkage of investigators and their institutions with the clinical trials network. It is reported that the minority-based CCO was approved initially by the NCI, Division of Cancer revention Board of Scientific Counselors in January 1989. The implementation began in the fall of 1990 and the program was…

In this regard many studies on ageing concluded that there is a definite correlation between psychosocial factors and both physical and metal health. Stuart-Hamilton, (2006), in the Psychology of Ageing: an Introduction states that "... If an older person has a strong sense of social identity, this may cushion (but not remove) the negative effects of a decline in physical health" (Stuart-Hamilton, 2006, p. 183). However, retirees like Albert who do not have a sense of identity or of social 'belonging' can be subject to a wide range of negative effects. This is also supported by studies which suggest that "...psychosocial factors mediated the impact of illness on the ability of old people's daily living activities" (Stuart-Hamilton, 2006, p. 183).

3. Conclusion

In conclusion, there is a growing awareness of the psychological and sociological problems that the retired and elderly person faces when he or she retires from the active…