Course-Notes.Org - Chapter 4: Adolescence and Adulthood

� Begins with puberty: period of sexual maturation, during which one first becomes capable of reproducing; 2-year period of rapid development usually beginning in girls at age 11 and in boys at age 13

� Primary sex characteristics: body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible

� Secondary sex characteristics: nonreproductive sexual characteristics –female breasts and hips, male voice quality and body hair

� Landmarks of puberty for boys are first ejaculation at about 14 and first menstrual period for girls at about 13

� Menarche: first menstrual period

� Although variation in the timing of growth spurt has little effect in height, there are psychological consequences

� Early maturation is good for boys –stronger, more athletic, and tend to be more popular, self-assured, and independent

� Early maturation for girls is stressful; but later when peers catch up, helps enjoy greater prestige and self-confidence

� Reasoning is often self-focused –may believe private experiences are unique and no one understands the feelings

� Kohlberg’s Moral Ladder

1. Preconventional morality (before age 9)

� Obey to either avoid punishment or to gain concrete rewards; If you don’t feed the dog, he will die; If you do the dishes, you can have desert

2. Conventional morality (by early adolescence)

� Morality evolves to a more conventional level that upholds laws simply because they are laws and rules; since able to see others’ perspectives, follow actions that gain social approval or maintain social order; if you steal, everyone would think you are a thief

3. Postconventional morality

� Those who develop abstract reasoning of formal operational thought; follow what affirms people’s rights or what one personally perceives as basic ethical principles; if you steal the drugs, you would not have lived up to your own ideal; Robin Hood is a hero because he stole from the rich for the poor

� As our thinking matures, our behavior becomes less selfish and more caring

� To refine sense of identity, adolescents in western cultures try out different “selves”

� Different selves gradually reshape to form identity: one’s sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent’s task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles

� Identity searching continues past teen years; as it becomes clearer, self-esteem increases

� Erikson contended that after identity stage is developing capacity for intimacy: ability to form close, loving relationships; primary developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood

� As identity is formed, separation from parents occur

Adulthood

� Physical abilities peak in early adulthood; world-class sprinters and swimmers peak in their teens or early twenties;

but decline of abilities not noticed till later in life

� Women, because of early maturation, peak earlier than men

� Foremost biological sign of aging in women is menopause: time of natural cessation of menstruation; refers to biological changes a women experiences as ability to reproduce declines

� Menopause does not usually create psychological problems for women

� Women’s expectations and attitudes regarding menopause influence its emotional impact

� Men experience decline in sperm count, testosterone level, and speed of erection and ejaculation

� With age, eye’s pupil shrinks and lens becomes less transparent –reducing light reaching retina

� Disease-fighting immune system weakens –more susceptible to life-threatening disease; but due to lifetime collection of antibodies, less suffering of short-term ailments

� Since early adulthood, small, gradual loss of brain cells, but can be compensated by active growth of neural connections in people who remain active

� Some do suffer brain ailment such as Alzheimer’s disease: progressive and irreversible brain disorder characterized by gradual deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and physical functions; deterioration of neurons that produce neurotransmitter acetylcholine

� Hard for older people to recall meaningless info, but if it is meaningful, their rich web of existing knowledge helps them catch it

� Cross-sectional study: study in which people of different ages are compared with one another; cross the age groups

� Show that younger people do better than older ones

� Longitudinal study: research in which same people are restudied and retested over long period; a group of people for a long time

� Show that until late in life, intelligence remains stable

� Found that because cross-sectional use people of different eras, other variables may skew the results; but longitudinal may be at fault as those who survive the end of test may be the healthiest, smartest

� Conclude that whether intelligence increases/decreases depends on type of intellectual preformance measured

� Crystallized intelligence: one’s accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age; As time passes,

“hardens” = stronger (increases with time)

� Fluid Intelligence: one’s ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease with age

� Types of intelligence explain why mathematicians and scientists produce creative work in early adulthood while those in literature produce best work in late adulthood

� Social clock: culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement

� 2 basic aspects of lives dominate adulthood: intimacy (forming close relationships) and generativity (being productive and supporting future generations)

� Children are the most enduring of life changes

� When children leave home, the empty nest is for most people a happy place and they report greater happiness and enjoyment of marriage

� People of all ages report similar levels of happiness and satisfaction with life; teenagers have quick changing range of moods while adults have less extreme, but more enduring moods

Death and Dying

� Elisabeth Kubler-Ross proposed that terminally ill pass through 5 stages (Dabda):

� Denial; unacceptance of ill

� Anger or resentment; Why me?

� Bargaining; with God

� Depression; loss of everything and everyone

� Acceptance; peaceful, accepting one’s fate

Bibliography

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