PSYC 361 Study Guide - Final Guide: Liver Spot, Night Sweats, Sildenafil
15 May 2018
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Psych. 361 Final Exam Review
Changes in vision, hearing, skin, muscle/fat
Vision: Inability to adjust focus to varying distance, Pupil shrink, yellow lens, poor vision in dim light, risk
of glaucoma.
Hearing: Initially, decline in sensitivity of high frequency, Men show earlier, and more rapid decline
Skin: Wrinkles at age 30, "crows feet" at age 40. saggy skin in arms, face, legs (skin elasticity declines).
Age spots occur after age 50 - more in women due to sun exposure
Muscle/fat: Bot gender: increase in in the torso area. Men: Gain fat = upper abdominal & back. Women:
Gain fat = waist and arms. Muscle declines gradually. Can be avoided through low-fat diet, exercise and
resistance training.
Menopause definition and symptoms
The end of fertility, menstruation, and reproduction capacity. Occurs late 30's to late 50's. Women who
haven't childbirth or smoked a lot can get menopause earlier. Decline in estrogen leads to: complaints of
sexual functioning, sagging skin and decline of bone mass, hot flashes, night sweats and irritability
Reproduction changes in men
After age 20, sperm speed and mobility declines. After age 40, semen volume declines. Testosterone
declines as well, but sexual activity stimulates the production. Erection difficult could be link to anxiety,
illness, disease, loss of sexual interest - Viagra or other drugs offer temporary relief
Hostility and Health
Type A personality: Competitive, impatient, angry - prone to heart disease and other health problems.
Hostility: Angry outburst, criticize, rudeness, and contempt to others - predicts cardiovascular problems
Managing Stress
Reevaluating the situation
Focus on what you can control
View life as fluid
Consider alternative
Set reasonable goals for self
Exercise regularly
Master relaxation techniques
Reduce anger constructively
Seek social support
Problem-centered vs. Emotion-centered Coping
Problem centered: appraise that a situation can be changeable, identity the difficulty,
Emotion centered: Internal, private and aimed at controlling distress when little can be done about a
situation
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Information processing slowing-neural network view vs. information loss view
Neural network view: Neuro in brain dies, Neuro-network breaks. Brain adapts by forming bypasses -
synaptic connections are made around the break, but are not as efficient.
Information loss view: Older adults experience greater loss of information as it movies through the
cognitive system. The whole system slows down to inspect and interpret the information.
Memory change
Working Memory declines from twenties to sixties: Less use of memory strategies, slower processing;
attention difficulties.
Adults can compensate: Self-pased task, training in strategies.
A few changes in (improved or retain): procedural, factual and metacognitive knowledge.
Erikson: Generativity vs. Stagnation
Generatively: Reaching out to others in ways that give and guide the next generation (sharing your
knowledge). Extending commitment beyond self and partner. may be realized through parenting or
other roles through family, work or mentoring relationships.
Stagnation: Self-centered, self-indulgent, self-absorbed. No interest in young people - including their
kids. Focus on what they can get from others rather than what the can give. Little interesting in being
productive at work or developing talents.
Levinson's Four Tasks of Middle Age
Young-old: seek new ways of being both young and old: Giving up youth qualities, transferring others,
and finding positive meaning in being older.
destruction-creation: Focus on the ways they acted destructively - past hurtful acts lead to strong desire
to participate in activities that advance human welfare and leave a legacy for future generation.
Masculinity and Femininity: Balance masculine and feminine qualities (Men become more nurturing and
caring, Women learn to be open to autonomy)
Engagement-separteness: forge better balance been engagement with the external world and
separateness.
Possible selves
Define as: future oriented representation of what one hopes to become and what one is afraid of
becoming. As we age though, our possible selves decrease and we become more modest and concrete.
We focus less on social comparisons on our self-worth, but focus more on temporal comparisons - how
well we are doing in relations to what we had planned. Can be redefine by the individual, permitting
affirmations of the self. Play protective role in self-esteem.
Self-acceptance, autonomy, and environmental mastery
Gains in expertise, practical solving skills. More complex and integrated self description.
Self-acceptance: Accepting good and bad qualities , have a positive feelings of self
Autonomy: Focused less on others expectations and evaluations and more focused on self-chosen
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standard
Environmental mastery: capable of managing a complex array of tasks easily and efficiently.
Big 5 Personality Traits and changes with age
Neuroticism: HIGH: worried, self-conscious, emotional, vulnerable & temperamental. LOW: calm, self-
content, even tempered, comfortable and hardy
Extroversion: HIGH: fun-loving, creative, imaginative, passionate, active. LOW: Reserved, passive, sober,
emotionally reactive, quiet.
Agreeableness: Soft-hearted, trusting, generous, good natured and lenient. LOW: irritable, suspicious,
ruthless, stingy, antagonistic, critical
Openness to experience: HIGH: curious, creative, imaginative, original. LOW: down to earth, uncreative,
conventional, uncurious and conservative
Conscientiousness: HIGH: hard working, well-organized, punctual, ambitious, and preserving. LOW:
negligent, lazy, disorganized, late, aimless, and nonresistant.
Relationship at midlife-launching children, feelings of liberation
Launching children: Negative transition - women who devoted their life raising their children who don't
need parenting anymore start having feelings of emptiness and regrets.
Feelings of Liberation: Most adults feel a sense of completion = more opportunities to strengthen social
ties and rekindle with their interests
Caring for aging parents: the sandwich generation, stresses
Factors include: Finance, Gender, location and culture.
High stress: Time devoted to care averages 10-20 hours a week, more for women.
Emotional strain witnessing parents growing old.
Burnout
A condition of long term job stress that leads to mental exhaustion, a sense of loss of personal control
and feelings of reduce accomplishments.
Occurs more often in helping profession such as human services, health care, and teaching due to high
emotional demands on employees
Functional ages
Older adults competence and performance may not match chronological age.
Biological factors do not predict rate of aging
Factors contributing to long life
-Hereditary
-Environmental and lifestyle factors: Healthy age, regular weight, exercise, optimism, low substance use,
tough minded, independent, social support, community involvement and learning.
Quality of life-activites of daily living (ADLs) and Instrumental activities of daily living (IADLS)
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