ADULT DEVELOPMENT AND AGING
COMPREHENSIVE TEST PAPER QUESTIONS
AND SOLUTIONS GRADED APLUS
●● How does ageism relate to stereotypes of aging?
Answer: myths of aging lead to negative stereotypes of older people
-can result in ageism
-ageism: form of discrimination against older people because of their
age
●● What is the life-span perspective?
Answer: life-span perspective divides human development into two
phases
1) early phase: childhood and adolescence
2) later phase: young adulthood, middle age, old age
●● Plasticity (key feature of lifespan perspective)
Answer: one's capacity is not predetermined or set in concrete
-many skills can be trained/improved with practice
-limits to potential improvement
●● Multiple causation (key feature of lifespan perspective)
, Answer: how people develop is based upon variety of forces
- biological, psychological, sociocultural, and life-cycle forces
●● Multidirectionality (key feature of lifespan perspective)
Answer: development involves both growth and decline - as people
grow in one area, they may lose in another and at different rates
●● Historical context (key feature of lifespan perspective)
Answer: everyone develops in certain circumstances determined by
historical time when we were born and culture in which we grew up in
●● What are the characteristics of the older adult population?
Answer: -# of older adults in US and other industrialized countries is
increasingly A LOT because of better health care, including declines in
mortality during childbirth
-large # of older adults has significant implications for human services
-# of older Latino, Asian American, and Native American adults will
increase much faster between now and 2050 than the # of European
Americans and African Americans
-whether older adults reflect individualism or collectivism impacts
interventions
-increase in # of older adults is most rapid in developing countries
●● What four main forces shape development?
COMPREHENSIVE TEST PAPER QUESTIONS
AND SOLUTIONS GRADED APLUS
●● How does ageism relate to stereotypes of aging?
Answer: myths of aging lead to negative stereotypes of older people
-can result in ageism
-ageism: form of discrimination against older people because of their
age
●● What is the life-span perspective?
Answer: life-span perspective divides human development into two
phases
1) early phase: childhood and adolescence
2) later phase: young adulthood, middle age, old age
●● Plasticity (key feature of lifespan perspective)
Answer: one's capacity is not predetermined or set in concrete
-many skills can be trained/improved with practice
-limits to potential improvement
●● Multiple causation (key feature of lifespan perspective)
, Answer: how people develop is based upon variety of forces
- biological, psychological, sociocultural, and life-cycle forces
●● Multidirectionality (key feature of lifespan perspective)
Answer: development involves both growth and decline - as people
grow in one area, they may lose in another and at different rates
●● Historical context (key feature of lifespan perspective)
Answer: everyone develops in certain circumstances determined by
historical time when we were born and culture in which we grew up in
●● What are the characteristics of the older adult population?
Answer: -# of older adults in US and other industrialized countries is
increasingly A LOT because of better health care, including declines in
mortality during childbirth
-large # of older adults has significant implications for human services
-# of older Latino, Asian American, and Native American adults will
increase much faster between now and 2050 than the # of European
Americans and African Americans
-whether older adults reflect individualism or collectivism impacts
interventions
-increase in # of older adults is most rapid in developing countries
●● What four main forces shape development?
