Psychology of Age and Euthanasia
Aging is inevitable; it happens to all of us and as much as we wish we could, there is simply no way to stop or reverse the aging process. It is defined as the accumulation of changes in an organism or object over a period of time. Aging in humans refers to a multi-dimensional process of physical, psychological, and social change. Some people age gracefully, while others do not fare as well.

Our society tends to view physical changes to our exterior appearance, in a negative light. As we get older, we notice small appearance changes over time. For some people that are a difficult adjustment because appearance plays a large role in our sense of identity. Some of the physical changes to occur when we get older include: sagging skin, frown lines, wrinkles, loss of hearing, vision deterioration and gray hair.

Some individuals attempt to combat aging…...

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References

Carstensen, L.L., Isaacowitz, D.M., & Charles, S.T. (1999). Taking time seriously: A theory of socioemotional selectivity theory. American Psychologist, 54, 165-181

Fingerman, K. (2003). Mothers and their adult daughter: Mixed emotions, enduring bonds. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books.

Timmermann, S. (2011). Aging Gracefully: Are We Up to the Challenge? Journal of Financial Service Professionals, 32-34.

Craik, F.I.M., Luo, L. And Sakuta, Y. (2010) Effects of Aging and Divided Attention on Memory for Items and Their Contexts. Journal of Psychology and Aging, 25 (4), 968-979.

Psychology of Aging
Aging of whole organisms is a complex process that can be defined as a progressive deterioration of physiological function, an intrinsic age-related process of loss of viability and increase in vulnerability. Many psycholological and physical changes in humans can be brought about by aging, it is the most normal and regular process that affect human beings either positively or negatively. The most important stage of aging can be felt in the transition period that is from middle to old age graying of hair, skin wrinkles, muscle weakening can be an indication of changes in age manifested by individuals as a measure of health and physical manifestations.

Most human beings identify with their bodies and aging of the body for instance naturally brings about the aging of mind accompanied by the decline of physical strength and at times psychological strength. In the end result the poor psychological health affects a…...

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References

Baltes P.B. & Baltes M. Ms (eds.) (1990). Successful Aging: Perspectives from the Behavioral

Sciences. Cambridge University Press, New York

Cristofalo V.J. et al., (1999). Biological theories of senescence. In. Bengston V.L. & Schaie

K.W. (eds.) Handbook of Theories of Aging (pp98-112).Springer, New York.

Psychology of Aging: Vignette Analysis
Vignette one

When we talk of socio-cultural age, we mean those particular roles played by individuals as regards the members of the society and the culture they belong to. The evaluation of socio-cultural age is based on a number of habits and behaviors, like the type of dress, interpersonal style and language. Socio-cultural age is mostly important in our understanding of the different work and family roles we adopt. The right time for one to marry, when to have children, when to make career moves, when to retire, and all other such things are all influenced by what we take our socio-cultural age to be. Our self-esteem and all other aspects of our personality are determined by such decisions. Most stereotypes about aging depend on faulty assumptions surrounding socio-cultural age (Cavanaugh and Blanchard-Field, 2015). Jake and Nora are an African-American couple, who migrated from Nigeria to the…...

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References

American Psychological Association (APA). (2014). Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Older Adults. American Psychologist. Retrieved from:  https://www.scribd.com/doc/293082132/2014-APA-Guidelines-Older-Adults 

Birrer, R. B., and Vemuri, S. P. (2004). Depression in Later Life: A Diagnostic and Therapeutic Challenge. Am Fam Physician. 69(10).2375-2382.

Carstensen, L. L., Turan, B., Scheibe, S., Ram, N., Ersner-Hershfield, H., Samanez-Larkin, G. R., Brooks, K.P., andNesselroade, J.R. (2011). Emotional experience improves with age: Evidence based on over 10 years of experience sampling. Psychology of Aging, 26(1), 21- 33.doi:10.1037/a0021285

Cavanaugh, J. C., and Blanchard-Fields, F. (2015).Adult development and aging.(7th Edition). Stanford, CT: Thompson Learning.

Psychology of Aging
Trait: Personality traits refer to established or fairly constant characteristics which identify individual differences among people. For instance, if a person suffers from bipolar disorder, he/she might possess trait impulsivity -- a characteristic of personality influencing his/her response to events. This trait impulsivity varies marginally between normal and bipolar (depressive and manic) phases, or with time. Certain studies indicate that particular personality traits, such as trait anxiety or trait impulsivity, might be risk elements for the development of mood-related disorders in future (DiMaria, 2013).

Mood: Moods refer to transient ways of feeling or being. For instance, if an individual suffers from an acute case of depressive disorder, he/she might feel extremely miserable for many weeks in a row. This unhappy mood constitutes a transient mood state. In other words, it does not form part of the individual's personality structure. Therapy may help cure unhappiness. Therapists and research scholars have…...

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Bibliography

Abel, V. (2013, January 02). Insight into Psychology of Aging with Valerie Abel. Retrieved from:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-31glZYYr8 

Batsch, N., & Mittelman, M. (2012). World Alzheimer Report. London: Alzheimer's Disease International.

Brown, S., Svarkic, D., Przybeck, T., & Cloninger, C. (1992). The relationship of personality to mood and anxiety states: a dimensional approach. J Psychiatr Res, 197-211.

Carstensen, L. L. (2012, March 15). Emotion and Aging: Exploding the Misery Myth. Retrieved from YouTube.com:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXhrrbQCElw

Suicide ates Among Geriatric Persons
The causes of death among the elderly are traditionally associated with the normal aging process or what would be called natural process, diseases associated with age and the debilitations it can cause. Yet, other factors also contribute to the cause of death an individual might succumb to, widowhood, retirement, forced relocation, and/or loneliness especially around the holidays. (Huyck Hoyer 1982) Still other studies are making it clear that murder and suicide rates are increasing dramatically among the elderly. (cf., Birren, Schaie, 1977) (Nussbaum, Pecchioni, obinson & Thompson, 2000, p. 294) Suicide was the eleventh leading cause of death among persons over the age of 65 in 1982. (iley, 1983, p. 144) Some strides have been made and between the years 1983 and 1998 suicide averaged as the fourteenth leading cause of death for persons over the age of 65, lower than the average for all ages…...

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References

Birren, J.E., & Schaie, K.W. (Eds.). (1977). Handbook of the psychology of aging. New York:

Van Nostrand Reinhold.

Coleman, P.G. (1995). 2 Facing the Challenges of Aging: Development, Coping, and Meaning in Life. In Handbook of Communication and Aging Research, Nussbaum, J.F., & Coupland, J. (Eds.) (pp. 39-68). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Hudson, C.G., & Cox, A.J. (Eds.). (1991). Dimensions of State Mental Health Policy. New York: Praeger Publishers.

Psychology of Aging
Compare and contrast current research on alternative stage theories of adulthood and personality development.

Child developmentalists traditionally categorized adult personality development into stage theories (Kagan, 2001). Sigmund Freud advocated the psychosexual stage, which held that personality is shaped early in life and generally resists change. Carl Jung proposed the opposite, in that personality develops in adulthood. Other theories surfaced in the 30s an the 40s in Europe and the U.S., such as Charlotte Buhler's, which called for empirical evaluations of theoretical predictions and Erik Erikson's similarly psychoanalytic stage theory, which asserts that a person develops through stages of human needs. Eventually, these early stage theories failed empirical tests. Critics of stage theories argued that personality does not evolve systematically in adulthood. Then came the Trait Theory in the 80s, which suggested that personality only changes slightly when a person reaches age 30 (Kagan, 2001).

The Trait Theory proposes that there…...

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References

ASHA (2015). Issues in ethics: cultural and linguistic competence. American Speech Language

Hearing Association. Retrieved from  http://www.asha.org/Practice/ethics/Cultural-and-Linguistics-Competence 

Charles, S. and Cartensen, L. L. (2010). Social and emotional aging. Annual Review of Psychology.61, 383-409. Retrieved from  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3950961 

Crowell, C. R. (n.d.).Moral psychology and information ethics. University of Notre Dame.

Know the predominant features of each personality disorder = Such knowledge will help the therapist to identify assistance strategies ahead of time, which can be modified as necessary.

Know about the link between borderline personality disorder and suicide attempts = an awareness of this link will help the therapist to identify warning signs and provide assistance in a timely way.

Know that group therapy is useful for treatment of avoidant personality disorder = Knowing this avoids the intuitive tendency to reinforce the patient's avoidance.

Patients with which disorder are most likely to seek treatment on their own? Depression sufferers are most likely to seek treatment for their condition.

Problems in using the DSM-IV-TR to diagnose personality disorders = the main concern is that some guidelines are very specific. Some personality disorders may overlap or display atypical symptoms.

Chapter 14

Are boys or girls more likely to have a diagnosable psychological disorder? = Boys are more likely…...

Psychology Development
Early Childhood

Medelein N. Moody, (2013). A Relational Aggression Intervention in Early Childhood. University of Nebraska. ProQuest LLC.

The paper was aimed at interrogating the relational aggression in early childhood and if there are interventions within the school setting that can act to reduce the aggression. This intervention is referred to as the Early Childhood Friendship Project and entailed taking stock of the changes in the behavior of the children as they undergo the study and the project. The preliminaries within the article indicates that there is usually a significant differences between the relational aggression between the boys and girls in school with the later recording a higher rate of aggression.

The study was conducted through a survey method and formal testing as the children went through the project and the teachers concerned recorded the results and any noticeable changes over time.

The results that were observed showed that there was a decrease…...

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Sebastian H. Scharf, (2013). Chronic social stress during adolescence: Interplay of paroxetine treatment and ageing. Neuropharmacology 72 (2013) 38e46

The research is centered on the effect of exposure to chronic stress during development especialy at the adolescent and the possibility of developing psychiatric disorders. This was motivated by the fact that little is known about the long lasting effects of the exposures to stress and their relation to age.

The study was focused on the direct and long-lasting impact of chronic social stress during adolescence as well as the chronic treatment of SSRI. Adult and aged animals were used since the experiment could potentially harm human subjects. There was use of CD1 mice at the age of 28 days and these were subjected to a chronic social stress for 7 weeks among other treatments with chemicals. It was observed that the chronic stress as well as the antidepressant treatment at the end of the development period could have a significant and long-lasting impact which is very relevant to healthy ageing.

Question: Explain the factors that cause or are associated with eating disorders, substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, and juvenile delinquency.

Answer: While these problems appear to be divergent, they are however linked together by a common factor and that is poor self-esteem. There is a close relationship between self-esteem elements that promote it, and the absence of some of the problems listed. The converse is also true that persons who have self-esteem issues are more prone to have an eating disorder, engage in risky sexual behavior, abuse substances, and be delinquent.

Self-esteem is essentially how the individual views himself or herself or values the self. Ideas of self-esteem are developed very early in childhood and as the individual matures, the sense of self may become damaged. Persons who have a damaged conception of themselves usually think that others see them as damaged when it is really how they see themselves. Even very beautiful…...

Genes that are involved in the large families with a lot of individuals with ALS are sometimes called causative genes since they are usually sufficient to cause ALS devoid of any other genes or factors being involved. Genes involved in the smaller ALS families can either be susceptibility or causative genes (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), 2005).
There appears to be no clear cause in the majority of ALS cases and there is just one medication, riluzole, has been shown to modestly prolong survival. esearch has recognized some of the cellular processes that take place after disease onset, including mitochondrial dysfunction, protein aggregation, generation of free radicals, excitotoxicity, inflammation and apoptosis, but for most people the underlying cause is unknown. While ALS is measured to be a multifaceted genetic disorder in which multiple genes in amalgamation with environmental exposures merge to render a person susceptible, few genetic or environmental risks have…...

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References

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). (2005). Retrieved from http://www.chg.duke.edu/diseases/als.html

Carlson, N. (2011). Foundations of behavioral neuroscience (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

ISBN: 9780558851910.

Gordon, P.H. (2011). Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: Pathophysiology, diagnosis and management. CNS Drugs, 25(1), 1-15.

Cognitive Aspects of the Aging Process
The purpose of this work is to define cognition and to explain the effects of aging on the brain in relation to memory, attention, metacognition, effects on languaging and the effects of aging on the executive function and finally cognitive function in very old age. This will be inclusive of primary cognitive diseases found in aging adults such as dementia and Alzheimer's.

Medical science continues to discover more about aging with each passing year. Cognitive effects of aging are one element that the aging individual must face as well as something that family and friends of the individual will cope with at some point. Cognition is defined as "the mental process of knowing, thinking, learning, and judging." (Online Medical Dictionary, 2005) Therefore the elderly experienced "cognitive dysfunction" is defined as "disturbance to the mental processes of knowing, thinking, learning and judging." Disturbances or dysfunctions of this…...

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Is there anything special about the aging of source memory?

Psychol Aging. 2005 Mar;20(1):19-32.

PMID: 15769211 [PubMed - in process]

Furthermore, as Baltes makes clear, there are some events that are generally going to impact people at various stages in their lives. For example, an East European Jew who survived World War II would probably have a historical influence that changed other age-expectations, which could impact other longevity factors. Time in a concentration camp, which would be normative for the Jewish cohort in that place and time period, would also likely impact the age of marriage, parenthood, and other culturally normative behaviors that might impact health and longevity in one's old age. While that might seem to be a dramatic example, the reality is that most generations are going to have cohorts impacted by at least one event of similar magnitude. For the practitioner working with geriatric clients, knowing the historical events that are most likely to have impacted the client and how those are likely to interact with the…...

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References

Anstey, K., Stankov, L., & Lord, S. (1993). Primary aging, secondary aging, and intelligence.

Psychology of Aging, 8(4), 562-70.

Bee, H.L., & Bjorklund, B. (2010). Journey of adulthood, 7th Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ:

Prentice Hall.

society we seem to place research on the brain in high regard. In what ways is this sentiment positive for science and the care of humans, and in what ways might this be negative? Does neuroscience always hold the "best" answers?
A way in which the focus on the brain is positive is that it is indeed true that the brain is really the "center of action" in a lot of ways. When it comes to the most intriguing, fascinating and important parts of the body, the two top really have to be the brain and the heart. The heart is the catalyst for things like circulation, oxygen flow and so forth. The brain, however, has many more important things behind it including the nervous system in general, memory and so forth (Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields, 2011; YouTube, 2015; YouTube, 2015).

However, ordaining the study of the mind as it currently exists…...

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References

Cavanaugh, J., & Blanchard-Fields, F. (2011). Adult development and aging. Australia: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.

YouTube. (2015). Emotion and Aging: Exploding the Misery Myth. YouTube. Retrieved 23 December 2015, from  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXhrrbQCElw 

YouTube. (2015). Insight into Psychology of Aging with Valerie Abel. YouTube. Retrieved 23 December 2015, from  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-31glZYYr8

Optimism and Pessimism Relates to Stress and Coping with Cancer
An increasing amount of research links negative and positive emotional states to wellness or ill health. The negative or pessimistic emotions seem to have a negative effect on the immune system and on general health. Pessimism has been shown to be unhealthy and have adverse effects on health, including increasing the risk of cancer and preventing recovery from the disease. On the other hand, positive or optimistic emotions have been shown to strengthen immune function and bring good health. (Gillman, 1989)

There is a wealth of research that suggests optimism has a positive association with better mental and physical health, as well as coping with stress. Pessimism has been linked to a higher risk of death before the age of 65, while positive emotions, like optimism, are linked to lowered production of the stress hormone cortisol, better immune function, and reduced…...

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Bibliography

Schultz, Richard. Bookwala, Judith, Scheier Michael. "Pessimism, Age, and Cancer Survival." Psychology and Aging, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp 304-309.

Brissette, I., Scheier, M.F., & Carver, C.S. (2002). The role of optimism and social network development, coping, and psychological adjustment during a life transition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 102-111.

Carver, C.S., & Scheier, M.F. (2001). Optimism, pessimism, and self-regulation. In E.C. Chang (Ed.), Optimism and pessimism: Implications for theory, research, and practice (pp. 31-51). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Gillman, Jane. The Science of Optimism and Hope: Research Essays in Honor of Martin E.P. Seligman. Templeton Foundation Press, 1999.

Leaning does not only imply facts, but continual and fluid evolution of the brain. This is the identical process that the brain takes when improving itself and reducing aging. If the brain continues to receive stimuli and appropriate chemicals for energy, then it follows tat there will be increased brain function and activity. If the voltage, just as in a battery, becomes stronger, then activity increases. As the brain is continually stimulated, more building materials are produced that allow information to become part of our experience. Interestingly, the variety and frequency of certain exercise programs, in fact, "teach" the body at different rates. Using different intensities of movement, concerns of overeating, weight regulation, quality of life, and especially depression are mitigated (Douglas, 2009).
Finally, the healthcare and other market modifiers will need to change and evolve as the population ages. The global baby bust will change financial markets, investing, products,…...

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REFERENCES

Aging Statistics. (2010, June 30). Retrieved from Administrator on Aging - U.S. Health & Human Services:  http://www.aoa.gov/aoaroot/aging_statistics/index.aspx 

Does Population Aging Affect Financial Markets? (2012). National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved from:  http://www.nber.org/bah/winter05/w10851.html 

Dynamics of Population Aging in the Modern World. (2002, January). Retrieved from Longevity-Science.org:  http://longevity-science.org/Population_Aging.htm 

Family Caregivers: The Issues They Face Are Everyone's Concern. (2010). Capella University,