Physical, Cognitive & Personality Development

Chapter 10

Role Transitions

Markers of adulthood New responsibilities & duties

Completing education, full-time jobLiving independently, marriage & children

Individual differences in age (Western culture)

Cohort effects (age of marriage dropping)Non-western cultures clearer about when

adulthood begins• Girls: menarche; Boys: provide, protect, impregnate

Psychological Views

Adulthood = interacting w/ world differently Cognitively Behaviorally

fewer riskier behaviorsMore self-control

PsychosociallyConcerns surround autonomy and intimacy

Establishing Intimacy

Create shared identity w/ another Identity critical to this process (Erikson)

W/o identity fear of commitment/over dependent on partner for identity

Research support mixed

Gender differences?Men resolve identity before intimacySome women resolve intimacy before identity

When Are You An Adult?

Thresholders (18-25) No clear set boundary Depends on variety of cultural &

psychological factors

Physical Development

Height: peaks & stable through middle adulthood

Strength, coordination, sensory acuity Peaks late 20s, mid 30s & declines slowly Visual acuity high until middle age

Health

Young adults very healthy Death from disease rare

Cancer: 5/100,000 (15-24), 130/100,00 (45-54), 1,800 (> 85)

Leading cause of death is accidents (25-44)Men (25-34) 2.5x as likely to die as women

Lifestyle Factors

Smoking Kills 430,000/year $100 billion/year

> 50% of all cancers linked to smokingSecond hand smoke kills thousands/year

Quitting very difficult80% relapse at least onceReduces risks to non-smokers in a few years

Lifestyle Factors

Nutrition Impacts mental and emotional functioning Linked with cancer & CVD

Cholesterol & BMI key predictors of health

Metabolic needs change as we age BMR slows down so need fewer calories More protein needed

Additional Factors & Health

Social factors predict health SES (higher more health) Education (college educated healthier)

Likely impacts lifestyle -> health

Gender predicts health Women live longer & use health services >

Cognitive Development

Intelligence: multidimensionalVital for intellectual development in adults

MultidirectionalitySome features improve/some decline

Interindividual variabilityPatterns of change vary across people

PlasticityAbilities not fixed but can be modified at any point

Intelligence

Changes in adulthood Primary mental abilities decline > 30s/40s

Number, word fluency, spatial orientationCohort differences

Secondary mental abilities (broader, subsume primary)

Fluid intelligence declines • Flexible, adaptive thinking, inferences, relationships

Crystallized intelligence improves• Acquired knowledge (e.g., trivia, history)

Post Formal Thought

Recognition that truth may vary across situations

Solutions must be reasonableContradictions are the ruleEmotion & subjective factors play a role in

thinking

Reflective judgement

7 stages whereby one comes to develop post-formal reasoning Stage 1: knowledge and truth exists

absolutely w/o qualification Stage 7: knowledge & truth are probabilistic &

constructed via reasonable inquiry

Emotion & Logic

Adult thinking integrates emotion & logic More sensitive to context, relativity Emphasize emotional impact of situation More pragmatic than rule-based More willing to tolerate ambiguity,

contradiction, compromise

Stereotypes

Organized prior knowledge about group of people Attitude about some social class or group Positive or negative

Automatically activated & drive perception & behavior Bargh et al. (1996): elderly walk slow Stereotype threat: “AA perform poorly on tests”

Personality in Young Adulthood

Life-span construct Unified sense of the past, present and future Constructed via experience w/ world & others

Life Span Construct

Manifested in several ways Scenario: future expectations

Identify features projected into futureSocial clock: tagging key events to track progress in

adulthood

Life story: personal narrative organizing life events into coherent sequenceEver changing, being rewrittenNovel events feature prominentlyLinked with identity changes & experiences

Life Span Construct

Possible selves key feature of scenario What we could, want to become What we are afraid of becoming Age differences exist

Young adults hoped for selves involve family concerns

Middle adults hoped for selves involve personal issues (be a good person)

Older adults focus on health issues

Personal Control Beliefs

The degree to which you believe you have control over the events in your life Locus of control

Guides behavior, performance Higher control beliefs associated with greater

effort, higher goal aspirations,