Question 1

When she is honest with herself, Judy recognizes that she has wasted many of the opportunities that could have led her to a positive lifestyle. In this respect, Judy is engaging in the developmental task that Erikson thought characterized which of the following periods of the lifespan?

Accepted Answer

Reflecting on one's lost opportunities is what Erikson defined as despair, which is the negative outcome of the stage of integrity versus despair. Integrity versus despair is the developmental conflict that Erikson believed characterized older adulthood.

Question 2

A change in role and social position that occurs as one enters a new developmental stage is the text's definition of:

Accepted Answer

The text defines status passage as a change in role and social position that occurs as one enters a new developmental stage. Role reversal refers to a situation where two individuals exchange social positions, while lateral transition refers to a movement between roles at the same level of hierarchy. Although a rite of passage often involves a status passage, it is not solely defined as such, as it can also involve symbolic or ceremonial activities.

Question 3

According to Piaget, the best adjustment is characterized by:

Accepted Answer

Ideally, according to Piaget's view, people maintain a balance between assimilation and accommodation. Refusal to accommodate may mean that the person is denying reality. Such a person may be defensive, rigid, and may unjustifiably blame other people. On the other hand, accommodating too readily can make a person hysterical, impulsive, or hypersensitive.

Question 4

As a young adult, Aaron had many friends, but his friends were not very important to him. In older adulthood, researchers would expect that Aaron would have ______ friends and his friends would __________ to him.

Accepted Answer

Older adults may not maintain as many relationships, but the ones they keep do not diminish in intensity. In fact, older people tend to experience more satisfaction with their interpersonal relationships than they have throughout their earlier lives.

Question 5

The text describes a study of older adults who experienced major negative changes to their health and living circumstances. As these people adjusted, they usually did so by:

Accepted Answer

Those who were in this study, mostly individuals in their 70s and 80s, who were most successful in adapting managed to do so by maintaining and validating their identities. Despite adversity, they were able to say, "I am who I have always been." Even while they were being faced with very real shifts in their lives and in their physical abilities, they were able to do this by shifting from thinking about the present to thinking about the past.

Question 6

Which of the following is the final stage in Erikson's theory of the life cycle?

Accepted Answer

The final stage in Erikson's theory of the life cycle is integrity versus despair, which occurs in late adulthood. In this stage, individuals reflect on their lives and feel a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment if they believe they have lived a meaningful life, or they may experience feelings of regret and despair if they feel they have not lived up to their potential.

Question 7

Wilma, age 90, is able to look back and say that her life had meaning and that she has done the best she could under the circumstances. According to Erik Erikson's theory of the life cycle, Wilma has successfully resolved the conflict called:

Accepted Answer

According to Erikson, integrity versus despair is the final developmental task in the lifespan when people think about how their lives have fulfilled their earlier expectations.

Question 8

According to the text, the major difference between the status passage into older adulthood, compared to status passages into earlier stages of the lifespan, is that moving into older adulthood includes:

Accepted Answer

The text states that moving into older adulthood involves "losses of power, responsibility, and autonomy," which is a major difference compared to earlier stages of the lifespan. The other choices (A, C, D) are not mentioned as major differences in the passage.

Question 9

According to Piaget, if new events and changing circumstances can be absorbed into one's self-concept, this defines the process called:

Accepted Answer

According to Piaget, assimilation is the process of incorporating new events and changing circumstances into one's existing self-concept. Equilibration refers to the process of balancing cognitive schemas with new information, while accommodation involves modifying existing schemas to fit new information. Integrity is a concept related to Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, not Piaget's cognitive development theory.

Question 10

Max and Toni just had their first child, thereby entering a new period of their lives. According to the text, such a change in role and position would best be considered an example of what is meant by the term:

Accepted Answer

Status passages refer to the changes in role and social position that occur when a person enters adolescence, becomes a parent, retires, or becomes a widow or widower.

Question 11

Gwen looks back over the last 77 years of her life and feels satisfied that her life has had meaning and that she has done the best she could with life's circumstances. According to Erikson, Gwen will develop a sense of:

Accepted Answer

According to Erikson, those who can look back and feel satisfied that their lives have had meaning and that they have done the best they could develop a strong sense of personal integrity. Integrity versus despair is the developmental conflict that Erikson believed characterized older adulthood.

Question 12

Greta has lost her driver's license because she can no longer pass the vision test. Rather than feeling bad about her lost abilities, she has simply adjusted to this new circumstance by selling her car, getting a bus pass, and using a taxi service for unanticipated trips. Greta's ability to adjust to her new circumstances without its negatively affecting her self-concept is a good example of:

Accepted Answer

Piaget described the process of adaptation, which involves assimilating new events and changing circumstances into one's existing self-concept.

Question 13

According to Piaget, if new events and changing circumstances cannot be absorbed into one's self-concept, and the self-concept changes in order to adapt to these new events, this defines the process called:

Accepted Answer

Piaget believed in a process of adaptation in which individuals must accommodate new experiences that do not fit within their current cognitive structures. This means that if new events and changing circumstances cannot be absorbed into one's self-concept, the individual must change or adjust their self-concept to adapt, which is known as accommodation. Equilibration refers to the balance between assimilation and accommodation, and integrity is not a term used by Piaget in his theory of cognitive development. Assimilation, while related, refers to the process of incorporating new information into existing cognitive structures.

Question 14

In comparison to early stages of adulthood, in older adulthood, adults tend to have _______ friends; during this stage, their friendships tend to be _________ meaningful.

Accepted Answer

Older adults may not maintain as many relationships, but the ones they keep do not diminish in intensity. In fact, older people tend to experience more satisfaction with their interpersonal relationships than they have throughout their earlier lives.

Question 15

Although individuals must sometimes deal with losses that occur unexpectedly in their lives, losses are an inevitable part of which of the following stages of the lifespan?

Accepted Answer

The text notes that the status passage into older adulthood differs from all others in that it includes dealing with losses, in addition to gains. Earlier status passages typically are characterized by gains in such things as ability, freedom, autonomy, status, and so forth.

Question 16

According to Erikson, older adulthood is ideally a time when:

Accepted Answer

in Erikson's view, a satisfactory resolution of the developmental tasks of older adulthood involves accepting that not everything in life has worked out as ideal, yet realizing that one's life has been of value (that is, that integrity has predominated over despair).

Question 17

Marie is dying of cancer and she tells her husband that she is "at peace" with the way she lived her life, because she always tried to do her best to be a good wife and mother. Marie's statement best reflects the meaning of the term:

Accepted Answer

According to Erikson, those who can look back and feel satisfied that their lives have had meaning and that they have done the best they could develop a strong sense of personal integrity. Integrity versus despair is the developmental conflict that Erikson believed characterized older adulthood.

Question 18

Lou is dying of cancer and he is very angry that his life "didn't work out the way it should have." In Erik Erikson's view, Lou's disappointment is best considered to be an example of:

Accepted Answer

Reflecting on one's lost opportunities, wrong turns, and failures is what Erikson defined as despair, which is the negative outcome of the stage of integrity versus despair. Integrity versus despair is the developmental conflict that Erikson believed characterized older adulthood.

Question 19

During most of older adulthood

Accepted Answer

Research suggests that this life stage is usually experienced as one of continued emotional growth. If well-being declines at all, it generally does so only in the period immediately preceding a person's death when cognitive and physical problems seriously impact a person's critical areas of functioning.

Question 20

An elderly widow is angry with her children for telling her she should not live alone in her home anymore, because she fell recently. She blames the fall on inadequate lighting and claims that if her children did some house repairs, she could stay in her house. This woman's inability to deal with her changed circumstances reflects her difficulty in which of the following processes?

Accepted Answer

Piaget described the process of adaptation, which involves accommodating (changing) one's self when major life events cannot be readily assimilated.

Quiz 17: Older Adulthood: Personality and Sociocultural Development