PSYC 289 Midterm: Midterm 4
When does adulthood begin
Role transitions in western cultures
❖Assume new responsibilities
❖Vary as to the ave at which they occur
❖Historical variations are common
Cross cultural evidence of role transitions
●Marriage
●Non Western cultures often have specific criteria for boys transition
●Menarche--common marker for adulthood in girls
Psychological views
❏Adulthood brings more self control and rop in reckless behavior
❏Concerned with autonomy and intimacy (erikson)
❏More concerned with relationships than identity in this stage
So when do people become adults
➢Emerging adulthood: between 18-25 years of age, dealing with less than people older than 25,
not in relationships, not completely independent, still finding themselves in school, have not
gone through all role transitions yet
➢Slower than in past to reach adult milestones
➢Prolonged identity development
■More edu
■Later career entry
Sometimes mixed emotions about adulthood
Emerging: more likely to feel unsure about adulthood
Physical development
➔Physical prime of life
◆Physical maturity by early 20s
◆Strength and health peak between 20 and 35
◆Body systems function optimally
❏Senescence
❏Age-related decline phys functioning(biological aging)
❏Signs of aging
Theories of biological aging
Dna cellular level
●Sam will spend more time focusing on his rise up the corporate ladder. Not true in
middle-more on generativity
●Aging is programmed effects of specific genes
○Aging genes---short telomeres = faster aging, stress etc shorten telomeres
●Random events
○Mutations and cancer
○Free radicals no clear link to aging---chemicals in the cells that damage cells
Organ and tissue level
●Cross linkage theory---as muscles become older, muscle strands link together, they
become less applicable
●Gradual failure of endocrine system
●Declines in immune system --leads to more illness, aging
Challenges to physical health
❖Lifestyle factors/choices
➢Unsafe sexual activity
➢Substance use(smoking, alcohol, marijuana)
➢Destructive dieting
➢Obesity
➢Stress
Exercise
❏Only ⅓ get enough exercise
❏At least 30 minutes moderate five or more days a week
❏More often more vigorous is better
❏Around ⅓ of norm americans are inactive
Benefits of exercise
●Reduce fat, build muscle
●Boost immune syst., prevents some disease
●Longer life
●Mental health
○Stress reduction
○Improve self esteem
●Cardiovascular benefits
Cognitive development
Brain development
Myelination and synaptic pruning
●Sam will spend more time focusing on his rise up the corporate ladder. Not true in
middle-more on generativity
Prefrontal cognitive control network- more balanced with emo/social network
Experience dependent brain growth
Theories of changes in thinking in early adulthood
●neo-Piagetian theorists-postformal thought
○Less abstract, less absolute, more relativistic
●Perry-epistemic cognition
○Persons reflection on how they came to the conclusion
Perry Developm of epistemic cogn
1. Dualistic thinking-- divide info into categories, black and white, things are right or wrong
2. Relativistic thinking- different people have different views, one answer may not be more correct
than another, multiple views can be defended, more tolerant of views different than them, not
wrong but different, everything is relative
3. Commitment within relativistic thinking --though there are many relevant answers, there is
one answer for me, some answers are right for me, but there’s a gray area
When Imelda considers which of five movies most deserves an Oscar, she moves
beyond the stance that everything is a matter of opinion and generates rational
criteria against which the movies can be evaluated. Imelda is engaged in
Commitment w/in relativistic
a. Help development
i. Challenges---having ideas challenged, forces thought on rationality of
thoughts, can i defend my opinion
ii. Opportunities to reflect
iii. Peers
Piagetian theorists continue
Labouvie-vief’s theory moving from logical though and abstract to practical applications/ real world
Hypothetical to pragmatic thought
Cognitive affective complexity - awareness of feelings, incorporate to a more complex view or structure,
depends on brain development
Shelton has just started his own business. While he feels elation at the
prospect of being able to do the work he has always dreamed of, he also
acknowledges feelings of concern, fear, and disappointment at various aspects of
his new life. Shelton's ability to reconcile these various issues reflects
Cognitive affective complexity --understand complex sets of emo
●Sam will spend more time focusing on his rise up the corporate ladder. Not true in
middle-more on generativity
Document Summary
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