Chapter 1 – Study Questions:
1. What are the four key features of the lifespan perspective as identified by Paul Baltes. Provide original examples for each feature. (pp. 4-5)

Paul Baltes identified 4 features of the life-span perspective:
1. Multidirectionality: development involves both growth and decline – as people grow in one area they may lose in another and this may occur at different rates
Ex: (Book): people’s vocabulary abilities tends to increase throughout life, but reaction time tends to slow down.
Ex: (original): Language acquisition. At a young age children are able to learn multiple languages very quickly. However, as they get older, their ability to learn multiple languages quickly becomes more difficult. Social situations. At a young age children are not able to understand complex social situations such as parents fighting or divorce or financial problems between their parents. As they grow up and age, they begin to understand these social situations and deal with them. They may comfort a parent through a hard time, or go get a job to help with the financial situation.

2. Plasticity: One’s capacity is not predetermined or set in concrete. Many skills can be trained or improved with practice, even late in life. There are limits to the degree of potential improvement
Ex: (original): Your IQ is not predetermined. You’re ability to play a sport is not predetermined. With practice and dedication you can improve your ability to play the sport. However, there are limits to how much you can improve in the sport.

3. Historical context: Each of us develops within a particular set of circumstances determined by the historical time in which we are born and the culture in which we grow up.
Ex: (Book) Maria’s experiences were shaped by living in the 20th century in a Chicano neighbourhood. In South West Texas.
Ex: (Original): Compare someone who grew up in the 18th century and someone who grew up in today’s society. Views on premarital sex would be different between the two individuals. In addition, women in today’s society have more rights such as the ability to vote and get jobs men would normally only have in the 18th century. (schooling is available to women today). Each individual having growing up during times in which values, beliefs, laws and rules were very different, would have different experiences.

4. Multiple Causation: How people develop results from a variety of forces. Development is shaped by biological, psychological, sociocultural, and life-cycle forces.
Ex: (original): Development can be shaped by biological factors including age realted changes to the body such as menopause, hair turning grey, and wrinkles. Psychological factors may include emotional and personality factors such as memory ability. Sociocultural factors include the society and culture that affect development such as social stereotypes about aging. Life-cycle forces reflect differences in how the same event or combination of biological, psychological and sociocultural forces affects people at different points in their lives.

2. Take the Global Aging Quiz first. Were you surprised at the answers? Why or why not? Describe the demographic changes that are occurring around the world. (pp. 9-12)
Population Trends around the world:
- population trends in the United States are not unique
- the number of older adults will increase dramatically in nearly all areas od the world over the next several decades
- the “oldest” area will be Europe while the “youngest” area will be Africa (reduced access to health care and high incidence of AIDS will shorten lives)
Industrialized/Developed Countries:
- Powerful countries around the world are trying to cope with increased numbers of older adults that strain the country’s resources
- the rate of growth in older adults in Japan is the highest in the industrialized world due to declining birth rate
- by 2025 there will be twice as many adults over age 65 as there will be children
- the economic impact will be substantial for Japan, and in general will have a great effect on the world’s population
- Pension and health care costs will increase dramatically and there will be fewer workers to bear the burden in many in industrialized countries
- Canada leads the industrialized world in the rate of increase in the older adult population: it will increase by 126% between 2000 and 2030
Developing Countries:
- Developing countries face an explosive increase in the population of older adults
- Singapore will see a 372% increase in older adults, Malaysia 227%, Columbia 258%, Costa Rica 250%
Economic conditions:
- conditions in different countries have a powerful effect on aging
- parents of adults in households in developing countries are alive
- the odds of having a living parent was the same for all adults whose daily per capita expenditures were $4 or less and increased steadily for the higher the daily expenditure got.
- the probability of having a living parent for adults whose daily expenditures were between $6 and $10 dollars was 36 percentage points higher than for adults with daily expenditures of $1 and $2.
- poverty is strongly related to the odds of living a long life.
- Having people over the age of 50 with daily expenditures of only $1-$2 have a three times greater chance of dying compared to someone who has $6-$10 in daily expenditure
Implications of aging:
- the main reasons why countries such as Japan and countries in Europe are aging is because there is a decreased birth rate
- once the older population dies, population decreases are inevitable
- the economy faces the problem of shrinking supply of workers
- in contrast, the dramatic increase in the older adults in areas around the rest of the world present the multiple problems of caring for more older adults in health care systems that are already inadequate and strained, as well as trying to absorb more workers in fragile economies
3. Describe the 4 forces that shape development and provide an original example for each. (pp. 13-14)
The forces of development:
1. Biological forces: includes all genetic and health-related factors that affect development.
Ex (Book): menopause, facial wrinkling, and changes in the major organ system
Ex: ( original): reduced metabolic rate, loss of hair, change in elasticity of skin

2. Psychological factors: include all internal perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and personality factors that affect development
- collectively, psychological forces provide characteristics we notice about people that make them individuals
- How a person feels about losing their hair or the change in color of their hair
- What they believe of hair loss with increasing age

3. Sociocultural forces: include interpersonal, societal, cultural, and ethnic factors that affect development
- sociocultural forces provide the overall contexts in which we develop
- influence of stereotypes about losing hair or hair turning grey

4. Life-cycle forces: reflect differences in how the same event or combination of biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces affects people at different points in their lives
- life-cycle forces provide the context for developmental differences of interest in adult developmental differences of interest in adult development and aging

biopsychosocial framework: way or organizing the biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces on human development.
- Together with the life-cycle forces, the biopsychosocial framework provides a complete overview of the shapers of human development
4. Describe the 3 developmental influences and provide original examples of each. (pp. 15-16)
- there are three sets of influences that interact to produce developmental change over the life span:
1. Normative age-graded influences: experiences caused by biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors that occur to most people of a particular age
- some of these are biological and include puberty, menopause, menarche,
- these indicate a major change in an individual’s life
- Menopause indicates that a woman can no longer have children
- Normative psychological events include focusing on certain concerns at different points in adulthood such as middle-aged person’s concern with socializing the younger generation
- sociocultural events include marriage and what age someone retires
Ex: (original) what age someone has a kid
- normative age-graded influences typically correspond to major time-marker events which are often ritualized like turning 21, becoming an adult, getting married, retirement
- often surrounded with celebration and ritual
- these events provide the most convenient way to judge where we are on our social clock

2. Normative history-graded influences: are events that most people in a specific culture experience at the same time
- can be biological (epidemics), psychological (such as stereotypes), sociocultural (such as changing attitudes toward sexuality)
- often give a generation a unique identity such as the baby boom generation, X generation (1965-1975) and the millennial generation (1979-1994) – echo boomers
- these influences have a profound effect
Ex: (book) – September 11th world trade center fundamentally changed attitudes about safety and security that had been held for decades
Ex: (Original) – the Boston Marathon bombing local law enforcement implemented a plan to help prevent any other marathon bombing events
- they have increase video surveillances cameras, and now will have 400 heavily armed military police from the Massachusetts National Guard

3. Nonnormative influences: Random or rare events that may be important for a specific individual but are not experienced by most people
- these may be favorable events such as winning the lottery or an election or unfavorable events such as an accident or lay off
- these events are unpredictable making them unique
- can turn your life upside down
5. Describe the 3 processes of aging and the 4 different meanings of age. (pp. 16-17)

Aging consists of three distinct processes:
1. Primary aging: normal disease-free development during adulthood
- changes in biological, psychological, sociocultural, or life-cycle process in primary aging are inevitable part of the developmental process
Ex: menopause, decline in reaction time, loss of family or friends
2. Secondary aging: developmental changes that are related to disease, lifestyle, and other environmental induced changes that are not inevitable (Ex.pollution)
- the progressive loss of intellectual abilities in Alzheimer’s disease and related forms of dementia are examples of secondary aging
3. Tertiary aging: the rapid losses that occur shortly before death
- terminal drop intellectual abilities show a marked decline in the last few years before death

- everyone does not age in the same way
- it may be due to a unique combination of genetics, optimal environment, flexibility in dealing with life situations, a strong sense of personal control, a luck
- everyone may develop arthritis but how people cope with it is unique

4 different meanings of aging:
1. Chronological aging: how long we have been around since our birth
- our age
- shorthand way to index time and organize events and data by using a commonly understood standard
- calendar time
- chronological age is not a shorthand index variable used in adult development and aging
- gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status are index variables
- For ex: gender it is not whether the person is male or female
- it is how long he or she will lives on average
- age or time does not directly cause things to happen either
- human behavior is affected by experiences that occur with the passage of time, not by time itself

2. Perceived Age: refers to the age you think or yourself as
- the saying “you’re only as old as you feel”
3. Biological age: where people are, relative to the maximum number of years they could possibly live, is their biological age
- it is assessed by measuring the functioning of the various vital or life limiting, organ systesms such as the cardiovascular system

4. Psychological age: refers to the functional level of the psychological abilities people use to adapt to changing environmental demands
- these abilities include memory, intelligence, feelings, motivation and other skills that foster and maintain self esteem and personal control

5. Sociocultural age: refers to the specific set of roles individuals adopt in relation to other members of society and culture to which they belong
- sociocultural age is judged on the basis of many behaviors and habits, such as style of dress, customs, language, and interpersonal style
- it is important in understanding many of the family and work roles we adopt
- marriage, sex, kids, retirement are influenced by what we think our sociocultural age is
6. Discuss the 4 core issues in developmental psychology. Be sure to define key concepts. (pp. 17-20)

Core Issues in Development:

The four main cores issues in development are nature vs. nurture, stability vs. change, continuity vs discontinuity, and universal vs. context-specific development

1. The Nature-nurture Issue: the degree to which genetic or hereditary influences (nature) and experiential or environmental influences (nurture) determine the kind of person you are
- scientists identify either inheritance or environment as the cause of the particular aspect of development
- no features of the lifespan development are due exclusively to either heredity or environment
- nature and nurture are mutually interactive influences
Ex: some forms of Alzheimer’s disease are genetic but the way the disease progresses or whether one actually gets the disease is environmental (environmental trigger may be needed for the disease to occur)

2. The stability-Change Issue: concerns the degree to which people remain the same over time
- stability is essential for us to reconizes that one is the same individual as time goes on
- we also like to believe our characteristics are not set in concrete, that we can change ourselves if we so desire
- there is much controvers about whether adults change
- this controversies stems from how specific characteristics are defined and measured
- how much we change and how much we stay the same turns out to be difficult
- it depends on what personal aspect is being considered and what theoretical perspective one is adopting

3. The Continuity-Discontinuity Controversy: concerns whether a particular developmental phenomenon represents a smooth progression over time (continuity) or a series of abrupt shifts (discontinuity)
- continuity approaches usually focus on the amount of a characteristic a person has, whereas discontinuity approaches usually focus on the kinds of characteristics a person has
- on a day-to-day basis, behaviors often look nearly identical
- but when viewed over the course of many months or year, the same behaviors mau have changed dramatically reflecting discontinuous change
- Ex: reaction time as people get older the speed which they can respond slows down
- within discontinuity view lies the issue of how adaptable people are in situations as they age plasticity: refers to the belief that capacity is not fixed, but can be learned or improved with practice
- For Ex: people can learn ways to help themselves remember information which in turn may help them deal with declining short-term memory ability with age
- although plasticity can be demonstrated in many arenas, there are limits to the degree of potential improvement

4. The Universal vs. Context-specific Development controversy: concerns whether there is just one path of development or several
- !Kung do not keep track of their age, number of children, or how often they move
- they can describe in details each of their children’s births but they leave it to others to figure out who many children this adds up to
- social roles do not differ by age
- Life with the !kungs contrasts sharply with life in the US
- some theorists argue that such differences are more apparent than real and that development worldwide reflects one basic process for everyone
- the opposing view is that differences between people may not be just variations on a theme
- advocates of this view argue that adult development and aging are inextricably intertwined with the context in which they occur
- a person’s development is a product of complex interactions with the environment and these interactions are not fundamentally the same in all environments
- each environment has its own set of unique procedures that shape development, just as the “recipes” for chocolates, computers, and pens have little in common
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7. Define reliability and validity. Provide original examples. Define systematic observation and the two forms it can take. Define representative sampling. (pp. 20-22)

Research must show reliability and validity reliability: the extent to which it provides a consistent index of behavior or topic of intersest
- it gives consistent estimate of performance each time you administer it
Validity: extent to which it measures what researchers think it measures
Ex: a measure of memory is valid only if It can be shown to actually measure memory ( and not vocabulary ability)
- it is established by showing that the measure in question is closely related to another measure known to be valid
- it is possible to have a measure that is reliable but not valid ( a ruler is a reliable measure of length but not a valid measure of memory)

Ex: If a person steps on scale and measures at 100 pounds consistently for 10 times then the scale is reliable. However, if the person is actually 150 pounds, the scale is reliable but not valid as the scale is not accurately measuring his weight.

Systematic Observation: involves watching people and carefully recording what they say or do
- two forms of systematic observation are common
1. Naturalistic observation: people are observed as they behave spontaneously in same real-life situations
Ex: Leah and Sarah could be observed in the grocery store purchasing their items as a way to test how well they remember
2. Structured Observation: the researcher creates a setting that is particularly likely to elicit the behavior of interest
- especially useful for studying behaviors that are difficult to observe naturally
Ex: how people react to emergencies generally are rare and unpredictable events
- a researcher could stage an emergency and watch how people react
- however, whether the behaviors observed in staged behaviors are the same as would happen naturally often is hard to determine making it difficult to generalize from staged settings to the real world
Representative Sampling:
- all studies include a sample of people, which is a subset of the population
- researchers must be careful to ensure that their sample is truly representative of the population of interest
- an unrepresentative sample can result in invalid research
8. List and define the three general types of research designs. Be sure to describe the strengths and weakness of each. (pp. 22-23)

General Types of Research Designs:
- gerontologists use three primary types of designs
1. Experimental design experiment: a study in which participants are randomly assigned to experimental and control groups and in which an independent variable is manipulated to observe its effects on a dependent variable so that cause-and-effect relations can be established
- experiments consist of manipulating one or more independent variables, measuring one or more dependent variables, and randomly assigning participants to the experimental and control groups independent variable: key variable being manipulated dependent variable: Behaviors or outcomes measured in an experiment
- experiments provide information about cause and effect because the key variable is systematically manipulated
- researchers are interested identifying differences between groups of people
- having a control groups and a experimental group allows the key variable of interest to differ across groups

Weaknesses:
- age is not an independent variable because we cannot manipulate it
- consequently we cannot conduct true experiments to examine the effects of an age on a particular person’s behavior
- we can find-age related effects of an independent variable on dependent variables.

2. Correlational Design correlational study: investigators examine relations between variables as they exist naturally in the world
- a researcher measures two variables, and then sees how they are related
- the results of a correlational study usually are measured by computing a correlational coefficient, abbreviated r.
- correlations can range from -1.0 to 1.0, reflecting three different types of relations
a) when r=0, the 2 variables are unrelated
b) when r > 0, the variables are positively related
c) when r < 0, the variables are inversely related
- correlational studies do provide important information about the strength of the relation between the two variables (reflected in the absolute value)
- correlational techniques are used in a great deal

Weaknesses:
- correlational studies do not give definitive information about cause-and-effect relations
- we can describe a great many developmental phenomena, but we cannot explain many of them

3. Case Studies
- in certain situations research may be able to study a single individual in great detail in a case study case study: an intensive investigation of individual people
- this is useful when researchers want to investigate very rare phenomena such as diseases or people with extremely high ability
- identifying new diseases begins with a case study of one individual who has a pattern of symptoms that is different from any known syndrome
- case studies are valuable for opening new areas of study which can be followed by larger studies using other methods

Weakness:
- figuring out whether the information gleaned from one individual holds for others as well

9. Describe the 3 types of effects or building blocks and explain how they are confounded. Be sure to define the term confounded and the implications for developmental design. (pp. 23-24)
Designs for Studying Development
- designs are based on three key variables
1. Age
2. Cohort
3. Time

- every study of adult development and aging is built on the combination of three building blocks

Age effects: reflect differences caused by underlying processes such as biological, psychological, or sociocultural changes
- although usually represented in research by chronological age, age effects are inherent changes within the person and are not caused by the passage of time per se
Cohort effects: differences caused by experiences and circumstances unique to the generation to which one belongs
- cohort effects correspond to the normative history-graded influences
- defininf a cohort may not be easy
- cohorts can be specific, as in all people born in one particular year, or general, such as the baby-boom cohort
- as described earlier, each generation is exposed to different sets of historical and personal events

Time-of-measurement effects: reflect differences stemming from sociocultural, environmental, historical or other events at the time the data are obtained from the participants
- the point in time in which a researcher decides to do research could lead him or her to different conclusions about the phenomenon being studied

- in conducting adult development and aging research, investigators have attempted to identify and separate all three effects
- this has not been easy because all three influences are interrelated
Confounded: any situation in which one cannot determine which of 2 or more effects is responsible for the behaviors being observed
- confounding of the three effects is the most serious problem in adult development and aging research

- developmental researchers have an interest in understanding how people change
- developmental researchers must look at the ways in which people differ across time
- an age change occurs in an individual’s behavior over time
- to discover an age change, one must examine the same person at more than one point in time
- an age difference is obtained when at elast two different people of different ages are compared
- in some cases age differences reflect age changes, and in some cases they do not
- we should focus on age changes
- we should consider the most common ways in which researchers gather data about age differences and age changes: cross-sectional, longitudinal, time lag, and sequential designs
10. List and define the three specific research designs used in developmental research. Be sure to describe the strengths and weakness of each. (pp. 24-27)

Research Designs in Developmental research

1. Cross Sectional designs: a developmental research design in which people of different ages and cohorts are observed at one time of measurement to obtain information about age differences
- cross sectional designs can point out issues that may provide fruitful avenues for subsequent longitudinal or sequential studies in which case we can uncover information about age changes
- developmental differences are identified by testing people of different ages at the same time
- there are several weaknesses
- because people are tested at only one point in their development, we learn nothing about the continuity of development
- we cannot tell whether someone who remembers grocery items at age 50 is still able to do so at age 80 because the person would be tested at age 50 or 80 but not at both
- cross sectional studies are also affected by cohort effects, meaning that differences between age groups (cohorts) may result as easily from environmental events as from developmental processes
- cross sectional studies assume that when older participants were younger, they resembled age groups in the study
- this isn’t always true
- it is difficult to know why age differences are found in cross-sectional study
- age and cohort effects are confounded in cross-sectional research
- cross sectional research dominates research in gerontology
- all measurements are obtained at onetime, cross-sectional research can be conducted more quickly and inexpensively than research using other designs
- in addition, one particular variation of cross-sectional designs is used the most: the extreme age groups design
- this also has many problems (three concerns)
1. The samples are not representative, so we must be very careful not to read too much into the results
- findings from studies on extreme age groups may not generalize to people other than ones like those who participated
2. Age should be treated as a continuous variable, not as a category
- this allows researchers to gain a better understanding of how age related to any observed age differences
3. Extreme age group assumes the measures used mean the same thing across both age groups
- measures may tap somewhat different constructs, so the reliability and validity of each measure should be checked in each age group
Longitudinal Designs: longitudinal study: the same individuals are observed or tested repeatedly at different points in their lives
- involves a lengthwise account of development and is the most direct way to watch growth occur
- advantage is that changes are identified because we are studying the same people over time
- usually the repeated testing of longitudinal studies extends over years microgenetic study: a special type of longitudinal design, participants are tested repeatedly over a span of days or weeks typically with the aim of observing change directly as it occurs
- useful when researchers have hypotheses about a specific period when developmental change should occur
- researchers will arrange to test individuals before, during, and after this period hoping to see change as it happens
- useful in tracking change as a result of intervention
- cohort effects are eliminated from longitudinal studies
- age and time are confounded (cannot understand which of these two effects are responsible for the behavior)
- Ex: if we conducted a longitudinal study of salary growth, the amount of salary change in any comparison could stem from real change in the skills and worth of the person to the company, or from the economic conditions fo times

- Longitudinal studies have three additional problems
1. If the research measure requires some type of performance by the participants, we may have the problem of practice effects
- practice effects result from the fact that performance may improve over time simply because people are tested over and over again with the same measures
2. We may have a problem with participant dropout because it is difficult to keep a group of research participants in tact over the course of the study
- people may lose interest, move away, or die
- participant dropout can result in two different outcomes:
a) we can end up with positive selective survival if the participants at the end of the study tend to be the ones who where initially higher on some variable
b) we could have negative selective survival if the participants at the conclusion of the study were initially lower on an important variables
3. Our ability to apply the results to other groups is limited
- only one cohort is limited
- whether the pattern of results that is observed in one cohort can be generalized to another cohort is questionable
- studies run the risk of uncovering a developmental process that is unique to that cohort

Sequential Designs: sequential designs: represent different combinations of cross-sectional or longitudinal studies
- a longitudinal sequential design consists of two or more longitudinal designs that represent two or more cohorts
- each longitudinal design in the sequence begins with the same age range and follows people for the same length of time
- although sequential designs are powerful and provide by far the richest source of information about developmental issues, few researchers use them because they are costly
- trying to follow many people over long periods of time , generating new samples, and conducting complex data analyses are expensive and time consuming
11. Summarize the essential guidelines in conducting ethical research. (pp. 30-31)
Essential guidelines:
1. Minimize risks to research participants
- use methods that have the least potential for causing harm or stress for research participants
- monitor all procedures to make sure harm is avoided

2. Describe the research to potential participants so they can determine whether they wish to participate
- participants must be told the purpose of the study, what they will be asked to do, the risks or harm associated with the study, any benefits they may receive, that they are free to discontinue the study, and any other information that is relevant
- after all of this is explained, participants sign a document saying they understand what to do in the study
- special caution must be exercised in obtaining consent for the participation of children and adolescents, as well as people who have conditions affecting intellectual functioning
- in these cases, consent from a legal guardian, or other responsible person along with the agreement of the participant is necessary

3. Avoid deception. If particpants must be deceived, provide a thorough explanation of the true nature of the experiment as soon as possible
- providing complete information about the study in advanced sometimes biases or distorts a person’s responses
- investigators may provide participants with partial information about the study or even mislead them about its true purpose
- as soon as it is feasible, any false information that was given to the research participants must be corrected and the reasons for deceptions must be provided

4. Results should be anonymous or confidential
- people’s data cannot be linked with their name
- when anonymity is not possible, research results should be confidential, which means the identity of participants is known only to the investigator of the study

- informed consent is very important
- when individuals cannot complete the informed consent procedures themselves, someone else must complete it for them
- the researcher must also describe the procedures to the participant
- when dealing with progressive diseases, early stages are when the respondent can respond appropriately
- researchers con obtain advanced consent for future participation when the cognitive impairment is more severe