Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

408 CHAPTER 9 Lifespan Development©The New Yorker Collection 2004 David Sipress from cartoonbank.com.All Rights Reserved.“This next one is a hard-rockin’, kick-ass, take-no-prisonerstune we wrote about turning sixty.”colleagues have followed some 5,000 people as they have aged to learnwhat happens to intellectual abilities.Schaie (1995, 2005) found that general intellectual abilities graduallyincrease until one’s early 40s, then become relatively stable untilabout age 60. After age 60, a small but steadily increasing percentageof older adults experience slight declines on tests of general intellectualabilities, such as logical reasoning, math skills, word recall, and theability to mentally manipulate images. But even after age 60, mostolder adults maintain these previous levels of abilities. A longitudinalstudy of adults in their 70s, 80s, and 90s found that there were slightbut significant declines in memory, perceptual speed, and fluency.However, measures of knowledge, such as vocabulary, remained stableup to age 90 (Singer & others, 2003; Zelinski & Kennison, 2007).When declines in mental abilities occur during old age, Schaiefound, the explanation is often simply a lack of practice or experiencewith the kinds of tasks used in mental ability tests. Even just a fewhours of training on mental skills can improve test scores for most older adults.Is it possible to minimize declines in mental abilities in old age? In a word, “yes.”Consistently, research has found that those who are better educated and engage inphysical and mental activities throughout older adulthood show the smallest declinesin mental abilities. In contrast, the greatest intellectual declines tend to occur in olderadults with unstimulating lifestyles, such as people who live alone, are dissatisfiedwith their lives, and engage in few activities (see Calero-Garcia & others, 2007;Newson & Kemps, 2005).activity theory of agingThe psychosocial theory that life satisfactionin late adulthood is highest when peoplemaintain the level of activity they displayedearlier in life.Japan’s Super-Seniors Born in 1906,Japanese educator Dr. Saburo Shochi hascompleted four international speakingtours over the past four years, lecturing onthe importance of early childhood education,especially for developmentally disabledchildren. He has traveled to countriesas far-flung as Senegal, Finland,China, Brazil, and the United States.Shochi was a pioneer in the field of specialeducation in Japan, founding the firstschool for the disabled in 1954. At the ageof 97, Shochi opened a toy-making classroomfor children and their parents.Shochi, who turned 102 while on his lastworld tour, also lectures on healthy agingand the importance of remaining sociallyengaged and active, whatever your age.There are more than 36,000 centenariansin Japan, which has one of the world’shighest life expectancy rates.Social DevelopmentAt one time it was believed that older adults gradually “disengage,” or withdraw,from vocational, social, and relationship roles as they face the prospect of their livesending. But consider Sandy’s father, Erv. Even after Erv was well into his 80s, hewould join about a dozen other retired men in their 70s and 80s for a monthly pokergame and frequent lunches. About once a year, the group took a fishing trip.What Erv and his buddies epitomized is the activity theory of aging. Accordingto the activity theory of aging, life satisfaction in late adulthood is highest whenyou maintain your previous level of activity, either by continuing old activities or byfinding new ones (Benyamini & Lomranz, 2004).Just like younger adults, older adults differ in the level of activity they find personallyoptimal. Some older adults pursue a busy lifestyle of social activities, travel,college classes, and volunteer work. Other older adults are happier with a quieterlifestyle, pursuing hobbies, reading, orsimply puttering around their homes.Such individual preferences reflect lifelongtemperamental and personalityqualities that continue to be evident as aperson ages.For many older adults, caregivingresponsibilities can persist well into lateadulthood. Sandy’s mother, Fern, forexample, spends a great deal of time helpingout with her young grandchildrenand caring for some of her older relatives.She’s not unusual in that respect. Manyolder adults who are healthy and activefind themselves taking care of other olderadults who are sick or have physicallimitations.