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Reflection Questions 1
Mi-Chelle Leong
Upper Iowa University
Reflection Questions
1. Some critics have argued that disengagement theory may have accurately characterized the behavior of the older population in the 1950s, but that it was a mistake to infer that this pattern was universal. According to these critics, activity theory or continuity theory might well be a better description of how older people actually live today. If the critics’ view is correct, does it mean that any theories of aging simply express the way aging appears at a certain time in history? If so, how would it be possible to develop an account that is more general and not limited to a certain time and place?
Theories are summarization of facts in
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Being flexible is the most important aspect in the field of psychology. The willingness to view aging from many perspectives by involving multiple combination of theories helps in generating more possibilities that benefit the society as a whole.
3. Psychologist Carl Jung believed that the psychologist goal of a later life is to become more and more oneself as an individual. What does this goal mean in practice? What drawbacks to this idea can you think of? If we adopt Jung’s approach, how would we evaluate older people who remain very much as they have always been, in contrast to older people who dramatically change their lives, say, after the point of retirement or
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He believes in searching for meaning of life within ourselves. As some of the psychologists consider life review and reminiscence are disruptive for older adult to find meaning in old age, they focuses on promoting activity and future-orientated doings. However, Jung believes that reminiscence is beneficial for older adults as it can promote interiority that enables them to know themselves better which helps in finding meaning in old age. As much as I agree with Carl Jung’s perspective, there are some major concerns to consider. An individual’s past is one of the concern to consider before adopting Jung’s approach. It would be disastrous for an individual to reminiscence his or her past if it reminds them of negative events in their life. Depression which is prominent among older adults might develop if they mourn on the negative events. Another concern is when the older adult dwell on his or her past to the extent that they ignore their current life. Not only it does not help in finding meaning in their lives, it deteriorates their health as
In conclusion, my opinion on Carl Gustav Jung has come full circle. In a sense, the very qualities about him that I found troubling initially are the same qualities that allowed him to be brave enough to defy and question, at first, Freud, and later perhaps the entire psychiatric establishment base, and come up with theories and concepts that are still being built upon. There are elements of his work in the Humanistic approach, Existentialism, and obviously the various Jungians, and neo-Jungians that continue to explore the meaning he was able to give to what previously held little meaning. Dr. Jung’s work was visionary, to say the least, visionary indeed.
An individual’s personality and character structure portrays a major reflection of how they age. Personality style and character structure both incorporate the conscious and unconscious motivational, cognitive and affective mental states, as well as defense mechanisms (Silver 1992). Biopsychosocial factors-broken down into biological, psychological, and sociocultural-also play a huge role in personality and aging (Notes 10/08). Some examples of biological factors are health, genetics, and physiological function. Thoughts, feelings, and emotions would be considered psychological factors. Sociocultural factors include family, religion and community. Additionally, people endure unique experiences and circumstances throughout their life course,
An assessment of Jung’s theory reveals that as though the arguments he presents has a lot in common with other neo- Freudians, it is still traced from Freud’s ideas because he emphasizes on the unconscious even more than the Freudians do. Moreover, personality and life in general seem to be over- emphasized due to a number of ideas he postulates concerning them. In spite of the critiques revealed, Carl’s theory on a brighter side remains a gem in the field of psychology. His concepts of introversion and extroversion have made notable impact on personality psychology and influenced psychotherapy. Also, emphasis on the drive toward psychological growth and self-realization projected some of the ideas of humanistic perspective in personality.
perspective, such as when the attributes of age are deemed advantageous. A positive view of
Functionalists study the roles that people play in a society. In regards to aging, the elderly play an important part in the function of
Carl Jung came into the world in 1875 in the country of Switzerland and he passed in 1961. He was a very famous psychologist who founded the habits of analytic psychology in response to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory. He had many finding that still affect today such as extroverted and introverted personality types, archetypes, and collective unconscious. Jung was a very lonely child and had a rather ...
An interview was arranged with an older adult to discuss issues related to aging. The interview was designed to gain appreciation and understanding of an older adult. One theory of aging came into mind when I thought about this topic. Erik Erikson Life-Course and Personality Development theory, “Erikson described the task of old age as balancing the search for integrity and wholeness with a sense of despair.” NS is the older adult that I conducted the interview with. I’ve decided to pick NS to interview because she is very positive about life and her age. Everything that I have come across about aging is negative such as depression, isolation, and illness.
There are a number of benefits to be found from thinking about ageing as a lifelong process and not just one that affects older people. This essay will define some of these benefits whilst backing up this reasoning with reference to the K118 material. It will then explain briefly which experiences I have had personally which have led me to responding to the question in this manner.
Aging and old age for a long time presented as dominated by negative traits and states such as sickness, depression and isolation. The aging process is not simply senescence most people over the age of 65 are not Senile, bedridden, isolated, or suicidal (Aldwin & Levenson, 1994). This change in perspective led the investigation of the other side of the coin. Ageing is seen as health, maturity and personal Royal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generatively, coping and acceptance of age-related constraints (Birren & Fisher, 1995). Psychological und...
In an attempt to define ageing one must take in consideration the biophysiological together with the psychosocial aspects; these two aspects are intertwined.
Developmental health psychologists - specialists who study the interaction of age, behavior, and health and gerontologists - specialists in the science of aging -- are piecing together the details of diet, exercise, personality and behavior that make it practical to shoot for 80, or even 120. People approaching middle age can expect a bonus of several years of extra living thanks to continuing medical progress against cancer, heart disease and stroke. Specialists in the field of aging, developmental health psychologists, and gerontologist , concentrate their area of study on determining health status over the course of adulthood, and determining the nature and origin of age-related diseases. They are also concerned with describing the effects of health on behavior and describing the effects of behavior on health. The goals of these specialists are: prevention of diseases, preservation of health, and improved quality of health for those suffering from disability and disease.
The last stage of Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development, which I have no personal experience with, is the crisis between integrity and despair. Swartwood (2014, p. 86) states that at this stage individuals “struggle [with] the acceptance of impending death and the fact that our lives are primarily historical, rather than in the future.” When the elderly look back on their lives and realize that they lived their life with purpose, they are filled with a sense of integrity. On the other hand, individuals who fail to view their life in this positive light tend to fall into despair.
Though both theories are good and state a lot of great points, I believe older adults are more active in society than we give them credit for. It varies from person to person and depends on how healthy they are. My godmother is 80 years old and is still active in society as much as she can; she does have bad knees and is taking medications that have produced side effects. But she does the best she can considering her age and not having any family around. I disagree with the disengagement theory because I don’t believe older adults disengage from society or that society disengages from older adults. I believe that older people who choose to disengage from society is because of health issues or a loss of a significant other.
As human beings age, according to Erik Erikson, they go through developmental stages that help to create and transform their personalities. If needs are met and the ego is gratified, then the individual is able to move on to the next challenge. Onward they march in life and in stage until they find the end level: integrity versus despair. This has been categorized as adults 65 years and older by Erikson. Here, people are to reminisce and judge their lives in terms of merit or disappointment. Erikson himself had a lot to comb through in his later years.
Aging and being old was dominated by negative characteristics and conditions such as illness, depression, and isolation for a long time (Eibach, Mock, & Courtney, 2010). At first glance the terms “success” and “aging” seem to be in conflict to each other. When asking people about aging, their answers have many facets that are also found in psychological definitions: successful aging is seen as health, maturity and personal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generativity, coping, and acceptance of age-related limitations. In the psychological sense successful aging is also often seen as the absence of age-associated characteristics (Strawbridge, Wallhagen, & Cohen, 2002). It seems that successful aging means is not aging.