Question

please answer both homework questions!

5. Choose ONE of the following questions to answer: a. How does the Snowdon et al.'s “Nuns” study demonstrate “successful aging” within the context of resilience within the aging process (e.g. cases of Alzheimer's). Be sure to address specific environmental factors. Hint: Environment always means ANYTHING that is not genetic b. Explain the “Gains/Loss” theory of development (Baltes) as it applies to the life span. Hint: The key here is to focus on “development” vs. “decline"

Answer 1

5.b) Gain/Loss Theory

Life-span developmental psychology can be defined as the exploration of biological, cognitive, and psychosocial changes and constancies that occur throughout the course of life. It has been presented as a theoretical perspective, proposing several fundamental, theoretical, and methodological principles about the nature of human development. An attempt by researchers has been made to examine whether research on the nature of development suggests a specific metatheoretical worldview. Several beliefs, taken together, form the “family of perspectives” that contribute to this particular view.

Baltes argues there are seven key features which affect human development across the life span, namely: (1) development occurs across one's entire life, (2) multidirectionality and multidimensionality, (3) development as growth and decline, (4) the role plasticity plays in development, (5) the influence of socio-cultural condition on development, (6) the interactions of age-graded, history-graded, and nonnormative historical influences on development, and (7) the multidisciplinary nature of human development.

Development as Gain/Loss Edit

Baltes argues development across the lifespan is influenced by the “joint expression of features of growth (gain) and decline (loss).” Extending on the premise of multidirectionality, this principle argues for the existence of a parallel process of development that is composed of both gains and losses. Baltes argues that factors which contribute to gain or loss are not in equal proportions but adjust according to systematic age-related shifts. The result of this gain/loss relationship is that an individual's development occurs within the framework of this dynamic relationship. This relation between developmental gains and losses occurs in a direction to selectively optimize particular capacities which requires the sacrificing of other functions, a process known as selective optimization with compensation. According to the process of selective optimization, individuals over the life-span prioritize particular functions above others, reducing the adaptive capacity of particulars for specialization and improved efficacy of other modalities.

The acquisition of effective self-regulation in adolescents illustrates the gain/loss paradigm put forth by Baltes. As adolescents gain the ability to effectively regulate their actions, they may be forced to sacrifice features to selectively optimize their reactions. For example, individuals may sacrifice their capacity to be spontaneous or creative, if they are constantly required to make thoughtful decisions and regulate their emotions. Adolescents may also be forced to sacrifice their reaction times toward processing stimuli in favour being able to fully consider the consequences of their actions.

6.b) Attribution Theory

attributions may be, they become important parts of our view of the world and can have significant effects on our emotional well-being (Abramson et al., 1978; Mineka et al., 2002). Interestingly, nondepressed people tend to have what is called a self-serving bias in which they are more likely to make internal, stable, and global attri- butions for positive rather than negative events (e.g., Mezulis et al., 2004). 11