2021S01 **PYC2603** SUMMARY
PYC2603
ADULTHOOD & MATURITY
Summary
Table of Contents
ABBREVIATIONS & KEYS TO THE SUMMARY .............................................................................................................. 2
DEFINITIONS ................................................................................................................................................................. 3
CHAPTER 1 = Basic Concepts........................................................................................................................................ 7
CHAPTER 2 = Physical Development & Sexuality ......................................................................................................13
CHAPTER 3 = Cognitive Development .......................................................................................................................21
CHAPTER 4 = Personality Development ....................................................................................................................31
CHAPTER 5 = Social Development .............................................................................................................................42
CHAPTER 6 = Successful Aging & Mental Health ......................................................................................................55
CHAPTER 7 = Death & Grief .......................................................................................................................................60
L.Smith (67337163) Page 1
, 2021S01 **PYC2603** SUMMARY
ABBREVIATIONS & KEYS TO THE SUMMARY
ABBREVIATION MEANING
* Info contained in the Assignments
** Study for examination (heading with no stars are for recommended reading only)
// Versus
abcde Term / Word linked to its definition in the definitions list
abcde (italics) Additional info from internet sources
Approx.. Approximately
CGS Chronic Grief Syndrome
Eg. Example
ito In terms of
LOC Locus of Control
NB Important
PsySSA Psychology Society of South Africa
re Regarding / Relating to
RS Religion & Spirituality
SA South Africa
y Year(s)
L.Smith (67337163) Page 2
, 2021S01 **PYC2603** SUMMARY
DEFINITIONS
TERM DEFINITION
Accommodation (identity) The process of changing one’s identity in response to experiences.
Adaptation The process of adjusting thinking to the environment.
Ageism Discrimination based on chronological age.
Ageless Self The experience that the self (core of one’s personality) remains the same, regardless of biological and
chronological ageing.
Analytic Intelligence The ability to analyse, compare and evaluate.
Arteriosclerosis The thickening and hardening of the walls of the arteries, occurring typically in old age.
Assimilation (identity) The attempt / tendency to interpret new experiences ito an existing identity.
Atrophy Deterioration, wasting away or diminution of tissue cells.
Attachment Strong affectional ties that bind people together.
Balance (identity) The integration of age-related changes into one’s identity; maintaining a balance between identity assimilation
& identity accommodation (positive view of the self).
Biological Age The physical condition of a person, in comparison with his/her peer group.
Chronic Grief Syndrome (CGS) An intense and unresolved grief for more than a year after the loss of a loved one (especially a spouse / partner).
Chronological Age The number of years that have passed since a person’s birth.
Climacteric The transitional period in middle-age during which a woman’s reproductive capacity ends and ovulation stops.
Cohabitation The state or condition of living together as sexual and domestic partners without being married (VanderBos,
2007).
Cohort Effect The term cohort effect is used in social science to describe variations in the characteristics of an area of study
over time among individuals who are defined by some shared temporal experience or common life experience,
such as year of birth, or year of exposure to radiation [Wikipedia].
The effects of history-related influence on research: people born in one period of time are influenced by
particular historical and cultural conditions that differ from those born in another historical period. Eg.
Differences in socio-economic, educational and health-care backgrounds.
Compensation The counteracting (compensating for) losses in those means previously employed in attaining goals by using
alternative means to maintain functioning, such as using external cues to compensate for memory loss.
Concurrent Processing When the individual has to do two or more attention-demanding tasks at the same time.
Creative Intelligence The ability to create, invent and design.
Creativity An ability / skill which is original, unique and appropriate to the situation, eg. originality, imagination and
expressiveness.
Cultural Age Social expectations have to meet specific culturally determined criteria, eg. undergoing a cultural ceremony.
Daily Hassles Little irritations and frustrations (flat tyre, traffic jam, unavailability of parking, flat cell battery, forgetting an
appointment, arguments, etc.) experienced in daily living.
Delirium A state of severe confusion.
Demography Statistical study of human populations concerning factors and characteristic such as age, gender, race, ethnicity,
social class, education, income, marriage, family structures, crime, births and deaths.
Divided Attention Attending to and processing more than one source of info at the same time.
Emigration Moving from a place.
Encapsulation The idea that the process of thinking (ie. Attention, memory and logical reasoning) becomes connected to the
products of thinking (ie. Knowledge about specific topics).
L.Smith (67337163) Page 3
, 2021S01 **PYC2603** SUMMARY
Epigenetic Each stage unfolds from the previous according to a predestined order.
Expertise Having special skills, knowledge or judgement in particular areas.
Family A kinship unit consisting of a group of individuals united by blood or my marital, adoptive or other intimate
ties (VanderBos, 2007).
Finitude The perception that the time left is limited.
Functional Age The total ability of an individual to function effectively in his/her environment.
Generativity The concern and care for the people who will follow one’s own generation.
Geriatrics A branch of medicine that deals the problems and diseases of old age.
Gerontology The multidisciplinary study of old age and the aging process.
Geropsychology Specific branch of psychology dealing with the multiple aspects of normal and abnormal psychological changes
that occur in the later years of life [Gerontological Psychology / Geriatric Psychology].
Homogeneous Everything is the same / similar (Thus everything is memorised in the same way).
Hypothesis A tentative assumption about behaviour or a phenomenon that has to be investigated empirically (through
research).
Identity A person’s sense of self involving continuity (feeling that one remains the same person despite changes that
might occur.
Immigration Moving to a place.
Info Processing Speed The amount of time it takes a person to process a stimulus, prepare a response and then execute that response.
Insomnia The impairment of the ability to fall or stay asleep, as well as an impairment in the quality and duration of sleep.
Insulin The hormone necessary to carry glucose from the bloodstream into the body cells where it is used for energy.
Job Satisfaction The positive feelings that result from an appraisal of one’s work.
Learned Helplessness A feelings of powerlessness and lack of motivation that individuals experience after having been exposed to a
series of unpleasant events.
Legal Maturity The age at which one is considered to be old enough to make one’s own decisions as per the legislation of a
country (the international trend being 18 years).
Life Structure The underlying pattern or design of a person’s life at t given time which evolves through an orderly series of
universal stages in adulthood.
Lifestyle The specific way in which an individual or group lead their lives.
Locus of Control [LOC] Term coined by Rotter (1969; 1975) to assess how much control people have over the conditions in their lives.
Loneliness An unpleasant and distressing emotional state in which an individual experiences a strong feeling of emptiness
and isolation.
Marriage A social institution in which two (or more) people, usually but not always, a man and woman, commit to a
socially sanctioned relationship in which sexual intercourse is legitimised and there is legally recognised
responsibility for any offspring, as well as for each other.
Mechanics The hardware of the mind: reflects operations of neurobiologically based basic info-processing mechanisms
(perceptual processing of sensory input, comparing & categorising info & carrying out basic memory
functioning).
Memory The acquisition, storage and retrieval of information.
Memory self-efficacy A self-evaluative system of beliefs and judgement regarding one’s own memory competence and confidence in
one’s own memory abilities, typically measured by assessing everyday memory competence.
Menopause The cessation of menstruation and the childbearing capacity in women.
Metamemory The knowledge about how the memory system works.
L.Smith (67337163) Page 4
PYC2603
ADULTHOOD & MATURITY
Summary
Table of Contents
ABBREVIATIONS & KEYS TO THE SUMMARY .............................................................................................................. 2
DEFINITIONS ................................................................................................................................................................. 3
CHAPTER 1 = Basic Concepts........................................................................................................................................ 7
CHAPTER 2 = Physical Development & Sexuality ......................................................................................................13
CHAPTER 3 = Cognitive Development .......................................................................................................................21
CHAPTER 4 = Personality Development ....................................................................................................................31
CHAPTER 5 = Social Development .............................................................................................................................42
CHAPTER 6 = Successful Aging & Mental Health ......................................................................................................55
CHAPTER 7 = Death & Grief .......................................................................................................................................60
L.Smith (67337163) Page 1
, 2021S01 **PYC2603** SUMMARY
ABBREVIATIONS & KEYS TO THE SUMMARY
ABBREVIATION MEANING
* Info contained in the Assignments
** Study for examination (heading with no stars are for recommended reading only)
// Versus
abcde Term / Word linked to its definition in the definitions list
abcde (italics) Additional info from internet sources
Approx.. Approximately
CGS Chronic Grief Syndrome
Eg. Example
ito In terms of
LOC Locus of Control
NB Important
PsySSA Psychology Society of South Africa
re Regarding / Relating to
RS Religion & Spirituality
SA South Africa
y Year(s)
L.Smith (67337163) Page 2
, 2021S01 **PYC2603** SUMMARY
DEFINITIONS
TERM DEFINITION
Accommodation (identity) The process of changing one’s identity in response to experiences.
Adaptation The process of adjusting thinking to the environment.
Ageism Discrimination based on chronological age.
Ageless Self The experience that the self (core of one’s personality) remains the same, regardless of biological and
chronological ageing.
Analytic Intelligence The ability to analyse, compare and evaluate.
Arteriosclerosis The thickening and hardening of the walls of the arteries, occurring typically in old age.
Assimilation (identity) The attempt / tendency to interpret new experiences ito an existing identity.
Atrophy Deterioration, wasting away or diminution of tissue cells.
Attachment Strong affectional ties that bind people together.
Balance (identity) The integration of age-related changes into one’s identity; maintaining a balance between identity assimilation
& identity accommodation (positive view of the self).
Biological Age The physical condition of a person, in comparison with his/her peer group.
Chronic Grief Syndrome (CGS) An intense and unresolved grief for more than a year after the loss of a loved one (especially a spouse / partner).
Chronological Age The number of years that have passed since a person’s birth.
Climacteric The transitional period in middle-age during which a woman’s reproductive capacity ends and ovulation stops.
Cohabitation The state or condition of living together as sexual and domestic partners without being married (VanderBos,
2007).
Cohort Effect The term cohort effect is used in social science to describe variations in the characteristics of an area of study
over time among individuals who are defined by some shared temporal experience or common life experience,
such as year of birth, or year of exposure to radiation [Wikipedia].
The effects of history-related influence on research: people born in one period of time are influenced by
particular historical and cultural conditions that differ from those born in another historical period. Eg.
Differences in socio-economic, educational and health-care backgrounds.
Compensation The counteracting (compensating for) losses in those means previously employed in attaining goals by using
alternative means to maintain functioning, such as using external cues to compensate for memory loss.
Concurrent Processing When the individual has to do two or more attention-demanding tasks at the same time.
Creative Intelligence The ability to create, invent and design.
Creativity An ability / skill which is original, unique and appropriate to the situation, eg. originality, imagination and
expressiveness.
Cultural Age Social expectations have to meet specific culturally determined criteria, eg. undergoing a cultural ceremony.
Daily Hassles Little irritations and frustrations (flat tyre, traffic jam, unavailability of parking, flat cell battery, forgetting an
appointment, arguments, etc.) experienced in daily living.
Delirium A state of severe confusion.
Demography Statistical study of human populations concerning factors and characteristic such as age, gender, race, ethnicity,
social class, education, income, marriage, family structures, crime, births and deaths.
Divided Attention Attending to and processing more than one source of info at the same time.
Emigration Moving from a place.
Encapsulation The idea that the process of thinking (ie. Attention, memory and logical reasoning) becomes connected to the
products of thinking (ie. Knowledge about specific topics).
L.Smith (67337163) Page 3
, 2021S01 **PYC2603** SUMMARY
Epigenetic Each stage unfolds from the previous according to a predestined order.
Expertise Having special skills, knowledge or judgement in particular areas.
Family A kinship unit consisting of a group of individuals united by blood or my marital, adoptive or other intimate
ties (VanderBos, 2007).
Finitude The perception that the time left is limited.
Functional Age The total ability of an individual to function effectively in his/her environment.
Generativity The concern and care for the people who will follow one’s own generation.
Geriatrics A branch of medicine that deals the problems and diseases of old age.
Gerontology The multidisciplinary study of old age and the aging process.
Geropsychology Specific branch of psychology dealing with the multiple aspects of normal and abnormal psychological changes
that occur in the later years of life [Gerontological Psychology / Geriatric Psychology].
Homogeneous Everything is the same / similar (Thus everything is memorised in the same way).
Hypothesis A tentative assumption about behaviour or a phenomenon that has to be investigated empirically (through
research).
Identity A person’s sense of self involving continuity (feeling that one remains the same person despite changes that
might occur.
Immigration Moving to a place.
Info Processing Speed The amount of time it takes a person to process a stimulus, prepare a response and then execute that response.
Insomnia The impairment of the ability to fall or stay asleep, as well as an impairment in the quality and duration of sleep.
Insulin The hormone necessary to carry glucose from the bloodstream into the body cells where it is used for energy.
Job Satisfaction The positive feelings that result from an appraisal of one’s work.
Learned Helplessness A feelings of powerlessness and lack of motivation that individuals experience after having been exposed to a
series of unpleasant events.
Legal Maturity The age at which one is considered to be old enough to make one’s own decisions as per the legislation of a
country (the international trend being 18 years).
Life Structure The underlying pattern or design of a person’s life at t given time which evolves through an orderly series of
universal stages in adulthood.
Lifestyle The specific way in which an individual or group lead their lives.
Locus of Control [LOC] Term coined by Rotter (1969; 1975) to assess how much control people have over the conditions in their lives.
Loneliness An unpleasant and distressing emotional state in which an individual experiences a strong feeling of emptiness
and isolation.
Marriage A social institution in which two (or more) people, usually but not always, a man and woman, commit to a
socially sanctioned relationship in which sexual intercourse is legitimised and there is legally recognised
responsibility for any offspring, as well as for each other.
Mechanics The hardware of the mind: reflects operations of neurobiologically based basic info-processing mechanisms
(perceptual processing of sensory input, comparing & categorising info & carrying out basic memory
functioning).
Memory The acquisition, storage and retrieval of information.
Memory self-efficacy A self-evaluative system of beliefs and judgement regarding one’s own memory competence and confidence in
one’s own memory abilities, typically measured by assessing everyday memory competence.
Menopause The cessation of menstruation and the childbearing capacity in women.
Metamemory The knowledge about how the memory system works.
L.Smith (67337163) Page 4
