Study Guide - Adult Development and Aging - Exam III
You should be able to:
- What are some of the benefits found in the coping and adaptation of caregivers?
- Define and discuss caregiver distress.
- Compare and contrast the three styles of coping with an ailing parent.
- Who are the hidden victims of Alzheimer's Disease?
- Discuss the value of social support and of personality and social interaction in coping effectively with stress.
- How does race and ethnicity interrelate with caregiving..
- Summarize the effect of autonomy and personal control on coping.
- Describe the psychometric approach to the study of intelligence.
- Define intelligence.
- Compare and contrast the views of intelligence as a single, general process with view of intelligence as a number of independent abilities.
- List and describe the seven primary mental abilities proposed by Thurstone.
- Distinguish between crystallized intelligence and fluid intelligence.
- Explain what factors must be considered in developing an intelligence test.
- Describe the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale.
- Describe how one's IQ is calculated.
- Compare and contrast cross-sectional and longitudinal studies on the developmental changes in intelligence.
- Discuss the difference between ability and performance. Outline different factors which may impact an older adults performance on tests of cognitive ability.
- Describe the components of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS).
- Discuss the benefits and limitations of IQ tests.
- Summarize the findings of Schaie's Seattle Longitudinal Study.
- Explain cohort effects on developmental changes in intelligence.
- Summarize the effects of selective dropout, health and terminal drop.
- Explain how mental exercise and training can affect mental abilities in adulthood.
- Define the term plasticity.
- Describe the relationship between intelligence and everyday problem-solving.
- List Gardener's multiple intelligences, and explain how he came up with these specific types.
- Compare and contrast the three components in Sternberg's view of intelligence.
- Define creativity and distinguish between creativity and intelligence.
- Distinguish between exceptional creativity and ordinary creativity.
- Describe developmental changes in exceptional creativity and in ordinary creativity
- What characteristics are found in geniuses and how do they function over the lifespan.
- Define genius and discuss the role of problem finding.
- Describe how various components of the WAIS might be biased for or against older adults.
- Identify the main characteristics of cognitive stages.
- Summarize the primary features of Piaget's first three stages: sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage and concrete operational stage.
- Describe the main characteristics of the stage of formal operations.
- Give an example of a proportional-thinking task and an isolation-of-variables problem.
- Discuss newer research on formal operations, including proportion of adults who achieve it.
- Identify six limitations of formal thinking.
- Describe the main characteristics of postformal thinking.
- Discuss the view of dialectic thinking.
- Summarize research on postformal thinking.
- Discuss the levels of postformal thinking as put forth by Lamberson and Fischer.
- Discuss the basic assumptions of absolute, relativistic and dialectical perspectives on personal and social issues.
- Discuss problem-finding vs. problem-solving.
- Define social cognition.
- Discuss the encapsulation model and define its dimensions: processing, knowing and thinking.
- Discuss accumulated domain-specific knowledge and aging, providing examples from typing and chess.
- Define wisdom.
- Distinguish between mechanics of mind and pragmatics of mind.
- Discuss research on testing the limits of cognitive reserve.
- Discuss the relationship between age and wisdom-related tasks.
- Define selective optimization with compensation.
- Summarize Baltes and Staudinger's viewpoint on the relationship between biology, society and the aging individual.
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