This video Maturing and Aging demonstrates the novel psychological research on aging and maturing. The foundational concept is life-long development, which states that human’s psychological and physical processes continue to evolve from conception to the last life phases (Zimbardo, n.d.). Levinson’s theory of a life cycle approaches the life course as a sequence of developmental periods, lasting approximately 20-25 years (Zimbardo, n.d.). The periods are childhood and adolescence, adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood, each characterized by various personal responsibilities. In early adulthood, people seek to establish themselves in society, find occupation form, raise a family, and advance toward personal ambitions (Zimbardo, n.d.). In middle adulthood, people enjoy the established course of the adulthood paradigm (Zimbardo, n.d.). In late adulthood, people gradually step away from having major responsibilities and obligations (Zimbardo, n.d.). Thus, the elderly simultaneously have more time on their hands and risk feeling irrelevant.
However, each developmental stage has certain challenges, from youth to seniors. According to Erikson, each stage is distinguished by an age-specific crisis – a developmental task (Zimbardo, n.d.). Failure to resolve one can accumulate physical and mental problems later, causing further distress. For the youth, a typical conflict is accepting responsibility for others, potentially causing an isolation crisis (Zimbardo, n.d.). The middle-aged group’s crisis may stem from rejecting new commitments to family, work, and community due to yearning for one’s adolescent years (Zimbardo, n.d.). Lastly, if prior issues are unresolved and aspirations are unrealized, the end-of-life crisis may cause feelings of futility, despair, and anger (Zimbardo, n.d.). However, Carstensen’s research showed that these feelings are no more common among the elderly than in youth. This phenomenon may be explained by one’s emotional processing improving over time (Zimbardo, n.d.). This video illustrates that each life stage has its downfalls and benefits.
Another common aging-related fear is the loss of cognitive abilities, often based on the gradual loss of mental rigor. Some of it is preventable thanks to special exercises; however, severe deterioration may also occur due to a neural disease called senile dementia (Zimbardo, n.d.). It may have devastating consequences on the brain functions and cause inappropriate behaviors (Zimbardo, n.d.). However, this disease is rarer than most think, and, further, most other mental disorders do not increase with age (Zimbardo, n.d.). Generally, this video reveals that many popular beliefs regarding aging are untrue.
Nonetheless, people’s physical limitations may severely compromise their existence in this world. Moore’s experiment demonstrates pervasive ageism by exploring the challenges of functioning in a world designed for physically capable youth. However, studies have shown that older people are remarkably psychologically resilient despite physical and societal challenges (Zimbardo, n.d.). This resilience may be due to selective optimization, a self-actualization strategy in the aging process, where one maximizes the gains and minimizes the losses associated with growing up (Zimbardo, n.d.). Hence, this video presents a hopeful picture of one’s outlook in the later years.
One of the most striking sentiments from this video was its distinction between age differences and age decrements. It sends a message that different does not automatically imply wrong and that emotional development can also occur in the later life stages. Incorporating these principles in real life would mean treating people of any age as individuals with growth and improvement potential. It may change the perception and treatment of the elderly in society, significantly improving many people’s lives.
The covered research on aging calls out the inherently biased attitudes held by the majority. Part of it may be due to the availability heuristic through mass media representation and downplaying the achievements of the elderly (Zimbardo, n.d.). Changing this attitude may reduce the prevalent fear of aging since understanding that the quality of life, at least emotionally, does not diminish with age. Instead of striving to avoid aging and denying the inevitable biological processes, people may be able to accept and appreciate later stages of life as worthy. Ultimately, the applicability of this video’s findings is in uncovering that many of the aging ‘problems’ can be addressed through education, training, and environmental changes.
References
Zimbardo, P. (n.d.). Maturing and Aging. Annenberg Learner.