I. Choose the word from the box to match the definition on the left.

Social psychology	Social influence	Social interaction
Social behavior	Social psychologist	Social norm
Sociology	Social science	Social context

1. A cover term for all those pro-

cesses through which a person,

group or class influences the opinions, attitudes, behaviors and values of other persons, groups or classes.

2. A process of establishing a link

between oneself and another

person or group.

3. The science of the evolution,

structure, andfimctioning of

human society, the study of human institutions and social relationships.

4. Any pattern of behavior that occurs

so often within a particular society

that it comes to be accepted as reflective of that society and taken as sanctioned by the members of that society.

5. The scientific study of reciprocal

influence of the individual and his

or her social context, ranging from intrapersonal process and interpersonal relations.

6. A psychologist who studies social

interaction and the ways in which

individuals influence one another.

7. Behavior of an individual which

has social components; behavior

that influences and is influenced by the presence, attitudes and actions of others; or behavior learned primarily as a result of social factors.

8. Those events and processes that

characterize a particular social

situation and have a specific impact on an individual’s behavior.

9. The branch of knowledge dealing

with all that relates to the social

condition or to the relations and institutions involved in man’s existence and his well-being as a member of an organized community.

2. Answer the questions to the text.

1. What is social psychology?

2. What makes people change their opinion concerning other people?

3. What is the influence of mass media upon self-images of different people?

4. Why are most people interested in questions which deal with social influence?

5. What is the main difference between the attempts to understand human social behavior of professional and amateur social psychologists?

2. Prove the following statements by the facts from the text:

1. Socio-psychological situations contain one common factor: social influence.

2. Often, the results of scientific research are identical with what most people “know” to be true.

3. Many things that we “know” to be true turn out to be false when carefully investigated.

4. The professional social psychologist has a great advantage over most amateur social psychologists.

Text 14 adulthood

Cognitive Development

One of the most controversial issues in developmental psychology is the course of adult cognitive development. Early studies showed that we experience a steady decline in intelligence across adulthood. But this apparent decline was found more often in cross-sectional studies than in longitudinal studies, which indicates that the decline found in cross-sectional studies might be a cohort effect rather than an aging effect. Longitudinal studies have found that a marked decline in intelligence does not begin until about age 60. Moreover, the decline does not encompass all facets of intelligence. Instead, it holds for fluid intelligence but not for crystallized intelligence. While fluid intelligence reflects ability to reason and to process information, crystallized intelligence reflects the ability to gain and retain knowledge.

But what accounts for the decline in fluid intelligence in old age? The Seattle Longitudinal Study of 1,620 persons between 22 and 91 years of age found that the speed of information processing slows in old age. The slowing of information processing is especially detrimental to working memory, also called short-term memory. This is the stage of memory that involves the conscious, purposeful manipulation of information, as in performing mental arithmetic or deciding whether two objects are the same. This means that elderly persons perform more poorly on times tests. Another factor in the decline in fluid intelligence

is a decrease in the efficient use of attention. When attention is removed as a factor in task performance, the elderly show no decline in fluid intelligence and actually show an increase in crystallized intelligence.

Other factors also contribute to the poorer performance of older people on cognitive tasks. One factor that explains why older adults do more poorly than adolescents and young adults on cognitive tasks is that they have not been in school for many years. This was the finding of a study that compared the recall ability of college students of traditional age, their peers not attending college, and older people not attending college. The average age of the younger groups was 22 and the average age of the older group was 69. The three groups were equal in their intelligence.

The results showed that the recall ability of the college group was better than that of the other too groups. But there was no difference in the performance of the groups of older persons and younger persons who were not attending college. This indicates that it maybe the failure to use one’s memory, rather than simply brain deterioration accompanying aging, that accounts for the inferior performance of the elderly on tests of recall. When it comes to the maintenance of cognitive abilities, the adage “use it or lose it” may have some validity.

The increasing number of older students in colleges demonstrates that the mind dos not simply shut down as we age. Learning can, indeed, be lifelong. Staying cognitively active is associated with better physical, social, and emotional well-being. A study of women students over the age of 50 found that they were healthier, more independent, and less depressed than their peers who were nonstudents. Of course, this finding by itself does not indicate whether attending school retards aging or, instead, people who age well are more likely to attend school.

Recognition of the importance of lifelong learning in keeping older adults alert and happy has inspired Elderhostel, a program of organized educational experiences for older adults. Research indicates that such formal training is beneficial. The decline in fluid intelligence seen in old age can be offset by special training in the use of problem-solving strategies. In one experiment, healthy older adults were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a training program under a tutor, a self-guided training program, and a control group that received no

special training. Both training programs were equally effective and superior to the control condition in improving problem-solving performance.

Though aging does bring some slowing of cognitive processes, the greater experience that older adults may have in performing a particular task (a facet of crystallized intelligence) can prevent a decline in performance on that task. For example, older chess players, who have presumably experienced a decline in fluid intelligence, perform as well as younger players of equal ability. Evidently, the older players use their chess-playing experience to search more efficiently for the best moves.

In his old age, B.ESkinner (1983) suggested ways for older adults to compensate for any decline in their perceptual and cognitive abilities. He created what he called a “prosthetic environment.” Among his many suggestions, he urged that elderly persons who could not see well enough to read should listen to recordings of books, and that elderly persons who noticed their memories failing should begin writing reminders to themselves.

But what accounts for the cognitive deterioration that accompanies old age? It is attributable, in part, to the loss of brain cells. The growth of fibers from surviving cells in the aging brain compensates only somewhat for this loss. Perhaps the most devastating cause of cognitive deterioration associated with brain-cell loss is Alzheimer’s disease, which affects up to 2 million Americans, the great majority being over the age of 60. About 100,000 Alzheimer’s victims die each year. The disease was first identified in 1907 by the German neurologist Alois Alzheimer in patients who had gradually lost their cognitive abilities over a period of years. Alzheimer’s disease begins with memory loss for recent events and progresses to the point that the victim cannot recognize family members or remember his or her own name, has difficulty performing cognitive tasks such as arithmetics, and exhibits personality deterioration,

The disease is associated with the destruction of brain cells that play an important role in memory. Preliminary, and so far unsuccessful, efforts have been made to treat the disease by administering the dietary substance choline, which is a precursor of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter secreted by brain cells that play a significant role in memory.

Psychosocial Development

Social development continues through early, middle, and late adulthood. Keeping in mind that these divisions are somewhat arbitrary, early adulthood extends from age 20 to age 40, middle adulthood extends from age 40 to age 65, and late adulthood extends from age 65 on. The similarities exhibited by people within these periods are related to the common social experience of the “social clock”, including leaving home, finding a job, getting married, having a child, retiring from a job, and becoming a widow and a widower. In recent decades, the typical ages at which some of these events occur have varied more than in the past. A graduate student might five at home until his late twenties, a woman working toward her medical degree might postpone marriage until her early thirties, and a two-career couple might not have their first child until they are in their late thirties. Of course, events that are unique to each person’s life may also play a role in psychological development. For example, chance encounters in each of our fives contribute to our unique development. You might reflect on chance encounters that influenced your choice of a college or that helped you meet your current boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, or wife.

Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development continues past adolescence, into adulthood, and through old age. A potential alternative to Erikson’s theory, based on age instead of stages, has been put forth by Daniel Levinson (1978). Levinson based his theory on extensive biographical interviews with successful middle-aged men (and, more recently, women) in a variety of vocational fields. Like Erikson, he found that adults face predictable tasks in early, middle, and late adulthood. Note that adulthood consists of relatively stable periods of what Levinson calls “structure building” connected by transitional periods of what he calls “structure changing.”

Though Levinson’s theory provides one of the few comprehensive alternatives to Erikson’s, it has stimulated relatively little research. A study of the psychosocial development of policemen found strong support for Levinson’s views on early adulthood, but weaker support for his views on middle adulthood. Levinson (1986) found that adult men do proceed through the stages in the sequence he put forth and

that they occur within two years of the ages he proposed. Preliminary evidence indicates that his theory holds true, at least in part, for women as well as men, with women progressing through the same developmental stages and at about the same ages as men.