What will be fair game for Exam 3? Anything and everything from Chapters 17-25, the Epilogue, movies, and lectures since the second exam… This is just a guideline of the textbook issues to cover/review. I may have missed some things so it’s best not to rely exclusively on this. Remember to review lecture notes! Forming study groups is a wise choice — perhaps divide up the chapters, outline and teach each other main points/concepts as a review. I will have my normal office hours on Monday from 11:30-2. Good luck studying!

Chapter 17:  Early Adulthood: Biosocial Development

1. Describe the changes in growth, strength, and overall health that occur during early adulthood.
2. Describe age-related changes in physical appearance that become noticeable by the late 20s.
3. Discuss changes in the efficiency of various body functions, focusing on the significance of these changes for the individual.
4. (A Life-Span View) Identify age-related trends in the sexual responsiveness of both men and women during the decades from 20-40.
5. Discuss changing attitudes toward contraception from adolescence to young adulthood.
6. (text and in Person) Describe the main causes of infertility in men and women, and list several techniques used to treat this problem, noting some of the issues raised by the techniques.
7. Discuss the causes and consequences of drug abuse during early adulthood.
8. (text and Changing Policy) Identify the potentially harmful effects of repeated dieting.
9. Describe the typical victims of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, and discuss possible explanations for these disorders.
10. Explain how restrictive stereotypes of ‘masculine’ behavior may be related to the self-destructive behaviors of many young Americans.
11. (text and Research Report) Discuss the factors that may determine whether a young male adult will suffer a violent death.

senescence

presbyopia

homeostasis

organ reserve

infertility

pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)

endometriosis

in vitro fertilization (IVF)

drug abuse

drug addiction

set point

Body mass index (BMI)

Anorexia nervosa

Bulimia nervosa

1. Describe three approaches to the study of adult cognition.
2. Identify the main characteristics of postformal thought, and describe how it differs from formal operational thought.
3. (text and Research Report) Explain how emotionally charged problems differentiate adolescent and adult reasoning.
4. Define dialectical thought, and give examples of usefulness.
5. Draw a conclusion about whether postformal thought represents a separate stage of development.
6. Explain Carol Gilligan’s view of how moral reasoning changes during adulthood.
7. (A Life-Span View) Briefly describe the six stages of faith outlined by James Fowler.
8. Explain how the Defining Issues Test helps relate moral development to other aspects of adult cognition and life satisfaction.
9. Discuss the relationship between cognitive growth and higher education.
10. Compare college students today with their counterparts of a decade or two ago.
11. (text and In Person) Discuss how life events may trigger new patterns of thinking and result in cognitive growth.

Concepts/words to know
postformal approach
psychometric approach
information-processing approach
postformal thought
dialectical thought
thesis
antithesis
synthesis
defining issues test (DIT)

1. Identify the two basic tasks, or crises, of adulthood, and explain how the viewpoint of most developmentalists regarding adult stages has shifted.
2. Explain how the social clock influences the timing of important events during early adulthood.
3. (text and In Person) Review the developmental course of friendship during adulthood, noting factors that promote friendship and gender differences in friendship patterns.
4. (Research Report) Identify Sternberg’s three components of love, and discuss the pattern by which they develop in relationships.
5. Discuss the impact of cohabitation on relationships, and identify three factors that influence marital success.
6. Discuss the impact of social systems on divorce, the reasons for today’s rising divorce rate, and the usual impact of divorce on families.
7. (A Life-Span View) Discuss spouse abuse, focusing on its forms, contributing factors, and prevention.
8. Discuss the adjustment problems that accompany divorce, especially those of the custodial parent.
9. Discuss the importance of work to the individual and whether the traditional stages of the career cycle are pertinent to today’s workers.
10. Identify possible reasons for the variability in the job cycle today and the developmental implications for adults just entering the work force.
11. (text and Changing Policy) Discuss the myths, challenges, and opportunities of dual-earner family life.
12. Focusing on broad thesmes, describe the stages of the family life cycle, noting the rewards and challenges of each stage.
13. Discuss the special challenges facing stepparent, adoptive parents, and foster parents.

1. (text and In Person) Identify the typical physical changes of middle adulthood and discuss their impact.
2. Describe how the functions of the sense organs and vital body systems change during middle adulthood.
3. (text and Research Report) Describe the relationship between certain lifestyle factors–smoking, alcohol use, nutrition, weight, and exercise–and health.
4. Differentiate four measures of health, and explain the concept of quality-adjusted life years.
5. Explain how variations in health are related to ethnicity.
6. (Changing Policy) Explain why group differences in health are often misattributed to genes and ancestry.
7. Cite sex differences in mortality and morbidity rates and several ways in which these differences have been exacerbated by the medical community.
8. Identify the typical changes that occur in the sexual-reproductive system during middle-adulthood.
9. (A Life Span View) Discuss historical changes in the psychological impact of menopause, and explain what researchers mean by "male menopause".
10. Identify age-related changes in sexual expression.

Concepts/words to know
aspects of vision decline
glaucoma
autoimmune disease
global disease burden
mortality
morbidity
disability
vitality
quality-adjusted life years (QALYs)
menopause
climacteric
osteoporosis
hormone replacement therapy (HRT)

Chapter 21: Middle Adulthood: Cognitive Development

1. Distinguish between fluid and crystallized intelligence, and explain how each is affected by age.
2. Differentiate the three fundamental forms of intelligence described by Robert Sternberg, and discuss how each tends to vary over the life-span.
3. (Research Report) Explain the concept of selective optimization with compensation.
4. Outline Howard Gardner’s theory of intelligence, noting the impact of genes, culture, and aging on the various dimensions of intelligence.
5. Discuss the multidirectionality of intelligence.
6. (A Life-span View) Briefly trace the history of the controversy regarding adult intelligence, including the findings of cross-sectional and longitudinal research and how cross-sequential research compensates for their shortcomings.
7. (text and In Person) Explain how and why context and cohort affect intellectual development during adulthood.
8. Discuss the plasticity of intelligence.
9. Describe how the cognitive processes of experts differ from those of novices.

Concepts/words to know
General intelligence (g)
fluid intelligence
crystallized intelligence
analytic intelligence
creative intelligence
practical intelligence
plasticity
expertise
expert
Characteristics of expertise
intuitive
automatic
strategic
flexible

Chapter 22: Middle Adulthood: Psychosocial Development

1. Discuss the changes that normally occur during middle age, including whether midlife is inevitably a time of crisis.
2. (A Life-Span View) Explain why middle-aged adults are considered the "sandwich generation".
3. Describe the Big Five clusters of personality traits, and discuss reasons for their relative stability during adulthood.
4. (text and In Person) Explain the concept of an ecological niche, noting how it interacts with personality.
5. Explain the tendency toward gender role convergence during middle age.
6. Characterize the relationship between middle-aged adults and the older and younger generations.
7. Differentiate three patterns of grand-parent-grandchild relationships, and discuss historical trends in their prevalence.
8. (Research Report) Discuss the reasons for and value of grandparents becoming surrogate parents.
9. Discuss how and why marital relationships tend to change during middle adulthood.
10. (text and Changing Policy) Discuss the impact of divorce and remarriage during middle adulthood, including reasons for the high divorce rate among the remarried, and describe the dilemma faced by middle-aged women in the "marriage market".
11. Describe how the balance among work, family, and self often shifts during middle adulthood.

Concepts/words to know
middle age
sandwich generation
midlife crisis
Big Five
ecological niche
gender crossover
kinkeepers
familism
remote grandparents
involved grandparents
companionate grandparents
surrogate parents
mentor

1. Define ageism, and identify two reasons for changing views about old age.
2. (A Life-Span View) Describe ongoing changes in the age distribution of the American population.
3. Distinguish among three categories of the aged, and explain the current state of the dependency ratio.
4. (text and In Person) Differentiate between primary and secondary aging, and list several characteristic effects of aging on the individual’s appearance, noting how the aged see themselves.
5. Describe age-related problems in vision and hearing.
6. (text and Research Report) Discuss the adjustments older adults may have to make in various areas of life in order to maintain optimal functioning.
7. Identify several reasons that the incidence of chronic disease increases significantly with age, and explain the concept of compression of morbidity.
8. Outline the wear-and-tear and cellular accidents theories of aging.
9. Explain how the immune system functions, and describe age-related changes in its functioning.
10. Explain senescence from an epigenetic systems theory perspective.
11. Discuss the role of genetics in aging, and explain what the Hayflick limit is and how it supports the idea of a genetic clock.
12. Identify lifestyle characteristics associated with the healthy, long-lived adult.
13. (Changing Policy) Discuss nutritional and exercise needs during late adulthood, and suggest how these might best be met.

Concepts/words to know
ageism
gerontology
demography
dependency ratio
young-old
old-old
oldest-old
primary aging
secondary aging
cataracts
glaucoma
senile macular degeneration
presbycusis
tinnitis
elderspeak
compression of morbidity
wear-and-tear theory of aging
oxygen free radicals
antioxidants
B-cells
T-cells
maximum life span
average life expectancy
genetic clock
progeria
Hayflick limit

1. Summarize the laboratory findings regarding changes in the sensitivity of the sensory register and the capacity of working memory during late adulthood.
2. Summarize the laboratory findings regarding changes in the older adults’ ability to access the knowledge base and to use control processes efficiently.
3. (A Life-Span View) Describe research methods for assessing long-term memory in older adults.
4. Suggest several reasons, other than the aging process itself, that might contribute to age-related declines in cognitive functioning.
5. Describe age-related changes in the brain’s size, weight, number of cells, and speed of processing.
6. (Research Report) Characterize and explain discrepancies between how the elderly perform on memory and problem-solving tasks in the laboratory, on the one hand, and in daily life, on the other.
7. Summarize and critique the findings of studies showing that special training can reduce the intellectual declines associated with aging.
8. (text and Changing Policy) Discuss the impact of nursing homes on the practical competencies of older adults, and whether age-related declines in memory and processing speed are inevitable.
9. Identify the two most common forms of dementia and discuss the differences between them.
10. Identify and describe other organic causes of dementia as well as causes of reversible dementia.
11. (text and In Person) Discuss the claims of developmentalists regarding the possibility of positive cognitive development during late adulthood, and cite several areas of life in which such development may occur.

Concepts/words to know
working memory
knowledge base
explicit memory
implicit memory
control processes
source amnesia
priming
dementia
alzheimer’s disease (AD) (know stages of this as well)
multi-infarct dementia (MID)
subcortical dementias
Parkinson’s disease
life review
wisdom


Chapter 25: Late Adulthood: Psychosocial Development

1. Explain the central premises of self-theories of psychosocial development during late adulthood.
2. Discuss Erikson’s stage of integrity versus despair and the process of achieving integrity in old age.
3. Identify and describe the stratification theories of psychosocial development during late adulthood.
4. Discuss dynamic theories of late adulthood.
5. Discuss the impact of retirement on the individual and the factors that influence adjustment to this event.
6. List and discuss several alternative sources of achievement during late adulthood.
7. (Changing Policy) Explain how the economic circumstances of the elderly have changed in recent years, and discuss the issue of generational equity.
8. Describe the components of the social convoy, and explain this convoy’s increasing importance during late adulthood.
9. Discuss how, and why, marriage relationships tend to change as people grow old.
10. Discuss the impact of being old and single (never-married, divorced, or widowed) on both women and men.
11. (text and In Person) Discuss friendships and sibling relationships among older people.
12. Discuss the relationship between the generations as it exists today, and identify several reasons for the current pattern of detachment.
13. Describe the frail elderly, and explain why their number is growing.
14. (text and A Life-Span View) Identify and discuss four factors that may protect the elderly from frailty.
15. Discuss alternative care arrangements for the frail elderly, identifying some of the potential advantages and disadvantages of each.
16. Describe the typical case of elder abuse.

Concepts/words to know
self-theories
self-actualization
Erikson’s notions of ‘integrity vs. despair’
identity theory
identity assimilation
identity accommodation
selective optimization
stratification theories
disengagement theory
activity theory
dynamic theories
continuity theory
elderhostel
social convoy
beanpole family
frail elderly
activities of daily life (ADLs)
instrumental activities of daily life (IADLs)
respite care

Epilogue

1. Identify Kubler-Ross’s stages of dying, and discuss these stages in light of more recent research.
2. (A Life-Span View) Discuss age-related differences in the conceptualization of and emotional reactions to death.
3. Discuss the steps that patients, family members, and medical personnel can take to plan for a swift, pain-free, and dignified death.
4. (Changing Policy) Explain the concept of palliative care, focusing on the advantages and disadvantages of hospices.
5. (text and Research Report) Discuss issues surrounding assisted suicide and active euthanasia, noting the Dutch experience with legislation regarding assisted dying.
6. Describe some cultural and religious variations in ho death is viewed and treated.
7. Describe recent changes in the mourning process, and suggest steps that can be taken in helping someone to recover from bereavement.

Concepts/words to know
living will
double effect
palliative care
hospice
physician-assisted suicide
voluntary euthanasia