Psychology of Aging - Term Paper Example

?Topic :Psychology of Aging Aging is a process every human being as to go through and it is a difficult phase to encounter with. Development in people includes both growth and decline and these two processes are inevitable in the life of a person. As people grow older they show decline in their biological activities and quality of life. Just like people in younger age, old people all are not alike. Older people need more assistance in daily life than the people over the age 60.Economic conditions and cultural status of different places have a profound effect on the aging process of people. Studying the developmental process in human beings has been practiced to improve the quality of living of people. In her book (Herlock,2001,pg.23) states that “Development psychology is the branch of psychology that studies intra individual changes and interindividual within these intraindividual changes”. This branch of psychology explains the age related change in behavior in people during their entire life span. The term development refers to the progressive series of changes that occur in a person as a result of maturation and experience. With aging, certain parts of the body and mind change more than others. The human being is never static. From conception to death, change is constantly taking place in the life of a person. Developmental psychology studies why people develop and change as they grow older. In developmental psychology the focus is given on the behavior of people and it cover everything a person do. A person’s development is a complex procedure and has immediate connection with the environment and a person’s interaction with it. Each environment has its own contribution in shaping the development of a person. There is lot of negative myths and misconception among the people about the old aged people. This creates a lot of negative impact on the people who are aged and lead to their isolation. Both individual aging and population aging are socially and historically constructed, subject to interpretation, and therefore open to controversy and debate. Conditions of living such as social class, formal education and occupational experience are determinants of an individual’s experience in old age. Aging is the manifestation of changes that occur in human beings psychological and physiological conditions. Aging is the phenomenon of transformations, transitions and changes. Aging is not about the age but it is about the process that leads to and through the 70% of the life span typically covered by adulthood. In his book(Schaie,2011,pg.34) writes that “Unfortunately, with aging, while the risk factors are accumulating and growing in intensity, the protective resources are typically diminishing in numbers and vitality”. Even the aging concept can be divided in too many like chronological age, biological age, social age and psychological age. Chronological age refers to the years that have passes since the individual was born. Biological age refers to the vitality and physical positioning of a person according to his age. Social age refers to the social roles and status of a person relating to his life. Psychological age is the adaptive capability of a person to the changing environment. There are three main factors which influence the individual performance on a given psychological measure at any point in life: age, cohort and time of measurement. These three factors are related to each other. The age is mostly calculated chronologically and is quantifies in years the year of birth is referred to as ‘cohort’. Conceptually ‘cohort’ refers to the term ‘generation’ in that it refers to the people who have lived in a society with same social influence. The time measurement is the year or period in which the testing occurs. Time of measurement is directly linked with cohort as the people of same age are also part of the same cohort. According to (Whitbourne,2011,pg.123)“ Further more age is inherently linked with time , and so personal aging can never be separated from social aging”. The development in adults occurs on various domains like size, weight and physical appearance. The development of a person from conception to death is influenced by social and environmental factors. Genome factors and environment of a person can lead to psychological problems in a person like schizophrenia, alcoholism and dementia. Hormones also play a significant role in the development of a person. The development of people is largely influenced by their culture, demography and ethnical nature. America is a country with wide ethnical background and racial influence and this effect the individual development of a person. America is country with large population of aging adults, and in the twentieth century there had been great rise in the life expectancy of U.S. population. Life expectancy varies among people of different countries and is influenced by their culture and lifestyle. Sex differences also plays an important role in the longevity of the people as females have outnumbered men in case of life expectancy. The major cause of death in U.S. is due to cancer, heart diseases and vehicle accidents and stress at workplace also affect the longevity of men and women. It is believed that best way to predict the longevity of a person is to look at the longevity of their parents and the similarity in their living environment and lifestyle. The gene of a person also have role to play in the longevity of a person as particular gene act in a typical way in a specific environmental condition. According to studies, the population of U.S. has more things to worry about and anxiety and stress lead to negativity in health. It is said that preventing heart disease and avoiding alcohol and tobacco can add 10 years to the average life of a person. Moreover, a diet rich with fruits and vitamin rich vegetables can enhance the life expectancy of a person. There is also a prevalence of an activity called ageism present in today world. Ageism is a prejudiced behavior of people against older adults which is negativity and stereotyping of them. In some colure, older people are admitted to nursing home and in Hinduism aged people are recommended to be spiritual in older age. Social dimension of aging is analyzed by studying the age integration and the interplay of developing individual and social structure. Age integration is a process in which the barriers between people in different age group are removed and they are allowed to interact with each other. Social interaction among families is important for aged people to feel satisfied and happy. Some people in United States try to age successfully by having an active lifestyle. They try to fulfill different role they have in life and perform their duties in life to be more engaging during the old age period. Even the biological aspect of aging differs according to the physiological structure of a person. The aging and development of a person is determined by the biological process and the cultural or social environment a person living in. Environment has a great influence on the aging process of a person along with the diet and exercise he chooses. However, people should not confuse between poor health and aging. Aging does give way to poor health but consequences to health due to diseases are different. As per (WHO,2011) “The ageing process is of course a biological reality which has its own dynamic, largely beyond human control. However, it is also subject to the constructions by which each society makes sense of old age”. Normal biological ageing process affect the anatomy, physiology and neurochemistry of a person.As a person age the degeneration process replace the regeneration and growth process. Biological aging is a process undergone by every person on earth and it is inevitable. Biological aging brings in various diseases to people like Alzheimer’s, heart problems, diabetes. In the last century the life expectancy of people has increased in double. If one considers the biogenetic the longevity of human species is due to their success in reproduction. Premature ageing is another phenomenon visible in people due to the defect in gene. Progeria and Werner Syndrome are caused due to defect in lamin A gene and WRN gene respectively. The people with these syndromes die in early forties or fifties. With all these complication, people have attempted strongly to intervene the aging process by anti – aging methods. There are certain activates which can delay the aging process like exercise , cognitive activites,social activities, sleep, stress reduction, calorie restriction, nutrition and diet. People should not overeat or indulge in a lazy life style as this could lead to aging in a very early age. In total, people who lead a healthy lifestyle by avoiding tobacco, alcohol along with nutritious food can extend his aging process. Usually men and women get reduced in their height as the age increases and women facing menopause can get osteoporosis due to bone mass loss. There can also be seen a change in the biological system of the body of an old person. The circulation system and respiratory process become poor and weak. Hypertension, high blood pressure, heart disease are problems usually faced by middle aged people. Even the hormone regulation and reproductory system of women gets weakened by aging process. For men there is reduction in the level of testosterone and women get reduction in the estrogen hormone. This largely affects their health and sexual activity and also led to change in the psychological condition of an aged person. Even the sensory process and perceptual activity of the person get weakened as people get aged. Sensation like hearing, seeing, brain sensory, cognitive skill and memory level decreases as people cross 50 years. The poor vision is due to the lack of blood circulation to the eye and hearing problem is caused due to the degeneration of Cochlea. Recent innovations in the medical field have made things much easier and comfortable for old aged people. Also taste, smell and touching capacity of a person reduces as the age catch up with a person. Human tongue contains taste buds which have receptors which detect different taste as its ability decreased the food eating pattern of aged people decreases. This is the reason why people who are aged eat less and hence become smaller in size and frame. Aged people also are less receptive about the temperature and they fall victim to hypothermia and heat stroke. Even they are less sensitive to pain which can be an advantage as they fell less pain than young people. The old people also have a problem of understanding where their body parts are and this phenomenon is called kinesthesia. Moreover, the normal activities of people in their daily life become less active as they get older. The cognitive tasks and physical tasks of older people are largely dull compared to young adults. Even older people are less adaptive to the changing environment as their motor performance and cognitive skills get reduced. Every person has to encounter aging and the consequence of aging depends on the physiology of a person. Brain aging is another phenomena happening to older people which largely affect their behavioral pattern. Brain stem is the oldest part of the brain and it controls the activities like breathing and heart functioning. When people get older, their brain shrink and this affects the overall health of the brain and change the size of the brain. The neuron aging and brain aging lead to decline in cognitive abilities and sensory functioning of aged people. The scanning techniques like PET and MRI can help in analyzing the ageing in brain.EEG also helps in understanding the electrical activity in the brain in old age people. The Alzheimer’s is another disease widely seen in elderly people throughout US. It leads to confusion, memory loss and also is a cause of death among elderly people. Genetic risk factor is the leading cause of Alzheimer’s and is due to the neuron degeneration on death occurring in the brain. Drug treatment can delay the occurrence of Alzheimer’s but complete cure is not possible. Dementia, mixed dementia and Parkinson diseases are other forms of diseases faced by old people and treatment of these diseases is a challenge to the medical field. Coping with old age is not a very easy task but with the support of family and friend it can be made a joyful experience. References Herlock, E. B. (2001). Developmental Psychology (5th ed.,p. 23). New York, NY: Mc graw Hill. Schaie, W. (2011). Handbook of the Psychology of Aging (7th ed.,p. 34). London: Elsevier Inc. Whitbourne, S. K. (2011). Adult Development and Aging: Biopsychosocial Perspectives By Susan Krauss Whitbourne (4th ed., p. 123). New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc. World Health Organization.(2011) Definition of an older or elderly person. In WHO. Retrieved September 19, 2011, from http://www.who.int/healthinfo/survey/ageingdefnolder/en/index.html Read More