Integrating aging into introductory psychology

Attitudes toward elderly people are often shrouded in myths and ignorance.

By APA?s Task Force on Diversity Issues at the Precollege and Undergraduate Levels of Education in Psychology

Issues of aging affect us no matter how old we are: We live in families with aging members; we are surrounded by elderly members of our communities; we plan early for how we will live when we are old; and we all confront the realities of living in bodies that change over time.

Ironically, despite the inevitability of aging, many people are uninformed about this developmental process, and attitudes toward elderly people are shrouded in myths and ignorance. The elderly are considered by many to be frail, mentally and physically incompetent, depressed, poor, isolated, tired, rigid and crazy. No wonder most people do not look forward to the final stages of their lives if this is what they believe they will find there!

Fortunately, the area of aging is one of rapid growth in terms of scholarly work, clinical applications and public policy. This means that we, as teachers of psychology, have an increasingly rich knowledge base from which to draw and many resources for curriculum enhancement. APA, for example, has a Committee on Aging, as well as several divisions with interests in aging, for example, Div. 20 (Adult Development and Aging) and Div. 12, Section II on Clinical Geropsychology.

As a result of the expanding knowledge base regarding older adults, we can begin to dispel some misunderstandings students bring to class. We can help them to realize, for example, that the elderly make up a large, important and rapidly growing segment of the population. Many students probably would be surprised to learn that the percentage of Americans 65 years and older has more than tripled during this century, that the population of those over 85 years is the fastest-growing age group in the population and that the life expectancies for women and men have risen to 80 and 73 respectively (Abeles et al., 1997).

More important, we can inform students confidently that most older adults are not lonely, isolated, sick and frail. Rather, the elderly live independently and maintain contact with their families. We also know, contrary to the depression myth, that community-dwelling older adults have lower rates of diagnosable depression than younger adults.

And finally, we can assure students that personality remains fairly consistent throughout the lifespan, that cognitive changes commonly associated with aging are usually manageable and that there is a huge amount of diversity within the elderly population (Abeles et al., 1997).

This diversity is a key understanding for students, because we must guard carefully against perpetuating a uniformity myth?that all old people are much the same and should be treated in similar ways.

While it may be reassuring to students that most older adults are living functional, rewarding lives, it also is true that some elderly members of our society are plagued by poverty (especially women and people of color), disabling diseases and chronic pain, dementia and other memory problems (particularly those over the age of 85), alcoholism and drug abuse, sexual dysfunction, anxiety and depression, and lack of accessible social services and other resources.

It is important for students to understand the complex interplay between age-related individual differences and contextual factors in producing aging patterns and problems.

For example, difficulties with age-related memory loss are likely to be quite manageable for educated elderly with reasonably good physical health, consistent medical care, high levels of activity and accessible support systems.

On the other hand, poor, uneducated, inactive, socially isolated elderly people who lack good medical care and other supportive services may be less able to adapt to cognitive changes and maintain functional living arrangements.

Moreover, the fear of severe memory loss (such as Alzheimer?s) can create enough anxiety to interfere with cognitive functioning (see June 1998 Monitor), and whether or not such anxiety can be alleviated will depend to a large extent on an older individual?s access to correct information and competent health care.

We might ask students to interview elderly individuals from diverse racial, ethnic, cultural and class backgrounds, then compare the beliefs and worldviews of these individuals.

Exercises for class

Where in the introductory course can we incorporate this kind of learning? Virtually everywhere. Although aging issues typically are considered part of developmental psychology and textbooks may include much of their content related to older adults in those chapters, it is important for students to see the relevance of aging to all domains of psychological knowledge.

For example, scholarship on cognitive functioning in older adults can bring to life information on perception, memory and learning as students connect this knowledge to grandparents, neighbors or other older people they know.

Similarly, in teaching about multiculturalism and social attitudes, we might ask students to interview elderly individuals from diverse racial, ethnic, cultural and class backgrounds, then compare the beliefs and worldviews of these individuals based on their life circumstances. Social psychology is particularly fertile ground for studying aging because so many prejudicial attitudes can be assessed and discussed in various ways (e.g., questionnaires, experiential exercises, debates.).

In units on psychopathology and mental health, the effects of poverty, social oppression and isolation on the mental and physical health and health care of the elderly can be explored to dramatically demonstrate to students the cumulative impact of disadvantage and prejudice. Conversely, adaptation also can be examined; the skills needed for successful or healthy aging can be identified; and discussion can focus on how to enhance and improve the aging experience.

A particularly interesting body of work in this regard is that of Richard Friend (1991), who points to many aspects of the coming-out process for lesbians and gay men that build a kind of "crisis competence," preparing them better than many of their peers for the challenges of aging?skills in developing support systems, learning to live with stigma, persevering in obtaining social services and becoming comfortable with flexible gender role behaviors are several examples of such competencies.

One useful exercise to stimulate thought and discussion about coping and adaptation is a card-sort task in which students write down on index cards the names of five people who are important to them in some way, as well as their own names, so that they have six cards in all. They then write down on five self-stick labels an age-related change, illness or disability that they see as difficult to cope with or personally frightening (e.g., Alzheimer?s, osteoporosis, prostate cancer, loss of income.).

As the final step in the exercise, they "assign" each condition to one of the people on their cards by applying the label to the card. Since there is one more person card than label, one individual (including oneself) can be "spared"?that is, can remain free of the change or condition. The thinking process involved in this exercise generally leads students into lively discussions of adaptation, as they share their decisions about why they assigned certain conditions to specific people in their lives.

Of course, in addition to content related to aging that can be incorporated across the entire introductory psychology curriculum, an easy and effective way to raise awareness is to pepper your ongoing pedagogical discourse with references to and examples of older adults. This can be done in everything from the history of psychology (such as the work of G. Stanley Hall) to research methods (such as illustrating how assumptions about older people can influence what questions are explored in psychological research).

Conscious inclusion is critical in helping students move from viewing the elderly as odd and vaguely threatening to accepting older adulthood as a potentially rewarding, positive stage of the human life cycle.Y

This article is the eighth in a series by the APA Board of Educational Affair?s Task Force on Diversity Issues at the Precollege and Undergraduate Levels of Education in Psychology. The group is working to promote the teaching of psychology as a more inclusive discipline. The task force seeks to find constructive ways of supporting teachers? efforts to convey research findings on diverse groups and address such issues as gender, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation and disability. The task force members are A. Toy Caldwell-Colbert, PhD, Ruth E. Fassinger, PhD, Joseph J. Horvat Jr., PhD, Joe Lamas, Linda Mona, PhD, John N. Mortisugu, PhD, and chair Carole E. Wade, PhD.

References and resources

? Abeles, N. et al. What Practitioners Should Know About Working With Older Adults (APA, 1997).

? Baltes, P.B. & Graf, P. Psychological Aspects of Aging: Facts and Frontiers. In D. Magnusson (Ed.), "The Lifespan Development of Individuals" (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1996).

? Craik, F.I. & Salthouse, T.A. (1992). "The Handbook of Aging and Cognition" (Erlbaum, Hillsdale, N.J., 1992).

? Friend, R. A. "Older lesbian and gay people: A theory of successful aging." Journal of Homosexuality, Vol. 20, p. 99?118, 1991.

? Schaie, K.W. "The Seattle longitudinal studies of adult intelligence." Current Directions in Psychological Science, Vol. 2, p. 171?175, 1994.

? Storandt, M. and VandenBos, G.R., Eds., "The Adult Years: Continuity and Change (APA Books, Washington D.C., 1987).