PSYCHOLOGY OF AGING

Lecture by
Dr. Tehreem Arshad
OVERVIEW
 Today, people are living longer than ever before due
to advances in education, technology, medicine, food
distribution, and sanitary conditions. Living longer
does not always mean we will also have better or a
good quality of life in later years.
 Some older adults in late life are healthy and
independent and are still very involved in their family
and community lives. Then again, it is not unusual to
see older persons who can get very ill and are not
able to get themselves out of bed.
 Gerontologists, specialists who study aging, paint a
new picture of late adulthood which is now seen as a
stage in which people continue to change i-e to grow
in some areas and yes, to decline in others.
AGING
 Aging is a lifelong process of growing up and
growing old. It begins at conception and ends with
death. So, in this sense, we are all aging from the
time of birth. However, in our younger years,
aging is called by other names.
 For example, in our infant years, we call aging
“growth and development.” In our teenage and
young adult years, we refer to aging as
“maturation.” After age 30, our physical body
begins to exhaust and our functioning declines. In
the western and developed countries,
chronologically 65 years is considered as
beginning of aging.
ADVANCING AGE
 The human body changes in many noticeable
ways with age, and aging is often accompanied
by decline in bodily functions. However, a
decline in function is different from loss of
function that results from disease.
 Perhaps the first sign of aging occurs when the
eye cannot focus easily on close objects. Often
by age 40, many people find it difficult to read
without using glasses. Hearing also changes
with age. People tend to lose some ability to
hear the highest pitched tones. Our skin
wrinkles and our hair turn gray or white.
 Despite decline, most functions still remain adequate
throughout life, because most organs have
considerably more functional capacity (functional
reserve) than the body needs. For example, even if
half the liver is destroyed, more than enough liver
tissue remains to maintain normal function.
 It is important to remember that disease, rather than
normal aging, usually accounts for loss of function in
old age. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the
difference between normal aging and disease, so that
diseases can be diagnosed and treated in their early
stages.
PRIMARY VS SECONDARY AGING
 Two broad categories of aging are as follows;
 Primary Aging involves the universal and
irreversible changes that occur as people get older
due to genetic programming. It reflects the inevitable
changes that all of us experience from the time we
are born.
 In contrast, secondary aging encompasses changes
that are due to illness, health habits and other
individual differences but are not due to increases
age itself and are not inevitable. Although the
physical and cognitive changes that involve
secondary aging are more common as people
become older, they are potentially avoidable and can
sometimes be reversed.
TYPES OF AGING
 Aging is classified as;
 Chronological aging
 Biological aging
 Psychological aging
 Social aging
 Functional aging
CHRONOLOGICAL AGING
 Chronological Aging is the number of years a person
has lived so far. Example; An 85-year-old lady is
chronologically older than a man who is 75 years old.
 However, chronological age may not match a
person’s biological, psychological, or social age. For
example, the 85-yearold woman may be an active
volunteer, while the 75-year-old man could be
homebound.
 Sometimes we say, “he looks younger than his age,”
or “she does not act her age.” In these cases, the
biological, psychological, and social age do not match
the chronological age
BIOLOGICAL AGING
 Biological Aging involves the loss of cells over
time. With biological aging, tissues and organs are
less likely to function efficiently, the body’s ability
to repair itself slows down, and the immune
functions decline, making the body more prone to
infection.
 Biological aging is sometimes referred to as
Physical Aging.
 A person who keeps fit and gets regular check-ups
can appear biologically younger than someone
who is the same age but does not keep fit.
PSYCHOLOGICAL AGING
 Psychological Aging involves changes
in personality, coping and cognitive
abilities such as attention, memory,
learning, intelligence.
 An older person who is mentally active
and is able to deal with new situations
can be said to be psychologically
young.
SOCIAL AGING
 Social Aging refers to changes in roles and relationships
as we age. For example, it is not unusual for older people
to gain new roles, like becoming grandparents. Or they
may change roles, from an employee to a retiree.
 With role changes in later years, society may expect
people to behave in certain ways. So, for some people, it
may not be proper for “grandma” to go roller skating or
jumping because “these are things that young people do.”
 The social age of a person in a given context can be very
important because it shapes the meaning of aging for the
person, and this can make aging a positive or negative
experience.
FUNCTIONAL AGING
 This term for a person's age is determined as
a measure of their functional capabilities. It
describes the way a person functions in daily
life.
 It is the combination of physiological,
psychological and social age.
 It is related to how people compare
psychologically to others to similar age in
relation to functionality which means having
the quality of being suited to serve well.
WHAT IS OLD AGE?
 The definition of old is changing as many
people in the period of late adulthood, which
begins at around age 65 and continues to
death, are as vigorous and involved with life
as people decades younger.
 The reality, then, is that we cannot define
old age by chronological years alone and we
also must take into account people’s
physical and psychological well-being known
as functional age in defining the old age.
 For demographers, who define old age
chronologically, elders can be classified as;
 Young old: Year (65 to 74)
 Old-Old: Year (75 to 84)
 Oldest Old: Year (85 and older)
 However, according to functional ages,
people are divided into following groups;
 Young Old: are healthy and active
 Old-Old: have some health problems and difficulties
with daily activities
 Oldest Old; are frail and in need of care
AGEISM
 Ageism is the prejudice and discrimination
directed at older people.
 It is manifested in several ways. It is found in
widespread negative attitudes towards older
people suggesting that they are in less than full
command of their mental faculties.
 Results of many attitude studies have found
that older adults are viewed more negatively
than younger ones on an variety of traits
particularly associated with general competence
and attractiveness.
CHANGES WITH AGING
 As people age, they experience;
 biological changes
 Psychological changes
 social changes
 These changes are normal, but there
are a lot of things that can be done to
help older adults adjust to and
compensate for these changes.
BIOLOGICAL CHANGES
External Changes
 These are some of the most obvious changes with
aging. These include changes to one’s hair, nails,
and skin.
 As people age, their hair loses its pigment and
turns gray or white. As people get older, their
hair thins, even women notice that their hair
becomes less thick. Because the hair disappears
or thins, older people are more likely to get
sunburned on their heads.
 Nails thicken and become rigid and more brittle.
 As people get older, skin loses
elasticity. It becomes thin and fragile.
The blood flow and oil production in the
skin decrease, and the skin tends to
become dry and wrinkled. The skin may
look pale . Wounds take a longer time
to heal in older persons.
Internal Changes
 As the outward physical signs of aging become

increasingly apparent, significant changes in the

internal functioning of organ systems also occur
 The brain becomes smaller and lighter with age,

although, in the absence of disease, it retains its

structure and function. As the brain shrinks, it pulls
away from the skull. Blood flow is reduced within
the brain. The number of neurons or brain cells also
declines in some parts of the brain.
 The reduced flow of blood in the brain is due in part

to the heart’s reduced capacity to pump blood

throughout the circulatory system.
 Respiratory system also become less efficient with
age. The digestive system produces less digestive juice
and is less efficient in pushing food through the system
which produces a higher incidence of constipation.
 Some hormones are produced at lower levels with
increasing age. Furthermore, muscle fibers decrease
both in size and in amount and they become less
efficient at using oxygen from bloodstream and storing
nutrients
 With age, kidneys decrease in size and volume, this
affects renal function. This makes the need to urinate
more frequent. Weak muscles of the bladder can lead
to incontinence (the inability to control bladder
functions)
INFLUENCE OF LIFESTYLE
 Although all of these changes are part of the
normal process of aging, they often occur
earlier in people who have less healthy
lifestyles. For Example, smoking accelerates
declines in cardiovascular capacity at any age.
 Lifestyle factors can also slow the changes
associated with aging. For instance, people
whose exercise program includes weightlifting
may lose muscle fiber at a slower rate than
those who are sedentary.
Sensory Changes: It include changes to taste, smell,
sight, and hearing.
 The senses of taste and smell decline in later years.

The danger is that the loss of taste and smell can make
it difficult to tell if food is spoiled or if there is a gas
leak in the kitchen stove. The decline in senses of taste
and smell can also have serious nutritional outcomes.
Tasteless, foods can make eating less enjoyable.
 As a person gets older, the lens in the eye becomes

yellow and thickens. This means that the older eye

needs more light than a younger eye. for an older
adult, and it may cause anxiety or affect their ability to
concentrate. Changes in the lens also make color
perception more difficult.
 There is also a decline in the hearing
ability of older persons. High pitched
sounds may be more difficult to hear than
low-pitched sounds in old age. Changes in
hearing may mean that;
 Some sounds will be heard and others may not
 Some sounds may be distorted or heard
incorrectly
 Things are heard incorrectly and misinterpreted.
PSYCHOLOGICAL CHANGES
 Learning can be a challenge if elders have
problems with their hearing or eyesight.
Learning and memory can be impaired if the
environment is noisy, uncomfortable, or
unpleasant. Learning and memory can also be
impaired due to illness, overmedication,
depression, and stress.
 In normal aging, people become slower at
“recalling” facts. It takes them a longer time to
“react” to things. However, if given enough
time, they may be very functional.
Slowed Reaction Time
 As people get older, they take longer; longer to put
on a tie, longer to reach a ringing phone etc. One
reason for this slowness is a lengthening of reaction
time.
 Reaction time begins to increase in middle age and
by late adulthood the rise in reaction time can be
significant.
 Two hypotheses explain the slowness in reaction
time;
 Peripheral slowing hypothesis
 Generalized slowing hypothesis
1. Peripheral Slowing Hypothesis:
This theory suggests that overall
processing speed declines in the peripheral
nervous system with increasing age
2. Generalized Slowing Hypothesis
This theory suggests that processing in all
parts of the nervous system, including the
brain, is less efficient in old age.
SOCIAL CHANGES
 Elders experience many losses. Their
children grow up and leave home, they retire
from work, they experience physical
declines, and their older friends start to die.
Most elders live on fixed incomes.
 When elders can’t live on their own, they
have to live with others, for example with
family or friends or in nursing homes.
 When elders are lonely and frail, they can
become victims of fraud and abuse.
REFERENCES

Chalise, H. N. (2019). Aging: Basic Concept. American

Journal of Biomedical Science & Research, 1(1), 8-
10.
Feldman, R. (2016). Life span development (8th ed.).
Boston, MA: Pearson.