Late Aging: A Stereotype Analysis

As these abnormalities begin to occur in the brain, the first outward symptom of Alzheimer’s disease is mild memory loss. This occurs gradually over a period of time, and often remains ignored until it begins to interfere with the person’s work or social life. It is often difficult for patients and family to acknowledge a slowly worsening memory. Forgetting small things like names and appointments is attributed to the aging process, as are mental declines such as the loss of quick mental calculation. Elderly people who are suspected to have Alzheimer’s disease are more likely to

Knowledge of negative stereotypes can influence people’s performance. Stereotype threat creates extra performance pressure through apprehensiveness about conforming to negative stereotypes (Woolfolk &

As people continue to live life and grow older, it is inevitable that they will age. Aging has many effects on an individual’s physical health, emotional well-being, and cognition. Key developmental changes occur in vision and hearing; both begin declining as people age (Weiten, 2014). The deterioration of these senses can be seen in Young@Heart during the scene where a few members are joking around in a car. The driver was Lenny, an ex-World War II pilot, because he was the only one out of the group who could still see properly (Walker, 2008). The vision of every other member in the car had worsened to a point where it impacted their functioning in daily life by limiting their ways of transportation.

From birth, the body and mind go through physical and cognitive changes that human beings will have to adapt to throughout life. Some individuals lose mental and physical abilities age they age that allow them to live a normal lifestyle. The most common age-related physical changes include hearing impairment, weakening vision, and the increasing probability of multiple chronic conditions such as arthritis, hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis (Abeles, 1998). The most common cognitive changes associated with normal aging are short-term, or primary, memory loss, long-term, or secondary, memory loss, and the overall levels of performance in sustained attention. Other issues relative to aging and cognitive memory impairments are anxiety disorder, panic disorder, chronic pain, and mood disorders. This issue may cause several social, medical and family problems as individual

A topic I learned more of this semester in regards to the older population was dementia. Some loss in memory function is an inevitable consequence of aging, and as one ages, it takes more time to process information and retrieve memories. However, "Dementia is a general term that refers to progressive, degenerative brain dysfunction, including deterioration in memory, concentration, language skills, visuospatial skills, and reasoning, that interferes with a person's daily functioning" (Mauk, 2014, p. 377). This loss of mental skills affects the ability to function over time, causing problems with memory and how one thinks, impacting these individual's overall quality of life.

Age related memory impairment: Age related memory loss, is an inevitable part of getting older, the brain slows down as does the processing of information mild cognitive impairment. Signs that an individual has age related impairment are forgetfulness, losing things, names of people they know, roads they know, easily distracted, slower at accessing information as quick as they used to. This is all normal and to be expected as we get older, and is not considered serious as long as the individual, is able to live independently, common sense, achieve tasks as they have always done and are able to hold a conversation, occassionaly forgetting the odd word, be able to recall information forgotten earlier. Severe memory loss is cause for concern and could be a sign Dementia, signs that differ from aged related are that dementia affects an individual’s ability to function, it disables them, disrupting their work, social activities, and family relationships. Individuals with dementia will have difficulty performing their usual day to day tasks like paying bills, washing up, changing clothes, forgetting how to do things they have done many times before. They often don’t remember times when they have had memory loss even when it is recalled to them. Get lost and disorientated easily even when in familiar surroundings, repetitive phrases and stories often in the same conversation.

As adults age there are many changes that one may be challenged with. Aging adults begin to face cognitive, physical, and emotional issues that can present a challenge to health care professionals who are providing care. As one enters older adulthood, he or she is faced with potential memory loss. A struggle of forgetfulness can be a daily challenge that comes with aging. Degradation of the body can make everyday tasks increasingly challenging. With this degradation, simple activities such as walking, dressing oneself, eating, and showering can be limiting and difficult. Depression, loneliness, and a sense of

When you get older one part of your brain grows with you and deteriorates as you get older. This part of your brain is called “hippocampus”. That is the reason that when you go shopping with your nanny she forgets half of the list and she also forgot to write it down. The elderly also don’t have cognitive memory because you can ask them their original cheesecake recipe and they have it written down because they can’t remember. I would advise that the elderly play regularly memory games so they can’t forget. The elderly can play luminosity which is a website that challenges your brain. It also includes memory games which are a big help for the elderly. According to an ABC news article younger people tend to remember specific details in their

In the next study Inzlicht and King(2010) explain about the study of identity threat and how it takes away sources. In the study people were told to think of when they were a target of prejudice to study if the memory would have an effect on the persons identity. In the end result or was revealed that people respond negatively and emotionally to a stereotype threat due to stress because they are made to keep these emotions inside(Inzlicht,King,2010). This method of thinking can hurt someone's thought process this is why this is so important.

Ageism is a popular and important topic to discuss as it represents a great issue in today’s society. The article “Ageism in America” focuses on the biases and stereotyping of older people here in America. The elderly is highly discriminated against and we tend to not realize this enough. Ageism is an ever growing concern in the United States and is an issue that needs to be resolved.

This concern can have ironic effects on performance and behavior that inadvertently increase an individual’s likelihood of confirming the stereotype. In their seminal research on this phenomenon, demonstrated that when the stereotype that Blacks are low in intelligence is salient, Black students underperform relative to White students on standardized tests.” (Najdowski 564) Therefore if Najdowski were to discuss this research question, she would elaborate on the fact that really the stress that the victim and the person who stereotypes is great, as due to stereotype threat, the victim would subconsciously act in such a way that conforms with the claims of the stereotype, while those who do stereotype will see the pattern, which will in turn make it even the more difficult for them to control this forced habit.

Alzheimer’s is not a normal part of aging. As a person ages, their memory starts to decline, but not nearly as detrimental as a person with Alzheimer’s. When a person has memory loss they may not remember certain details of a conversation or

When one says that this elderly person has wisdom from various life experiences, he/she is not saying that the elderly person knows much about books and their profession. Instead, one would be speaking about the elderly person’s vast knowledge about what is important in life due to their multitude of experiences. While the elderly person may not be completely wise in the most encompassing form of wisdom, the elderly person does appear to have a more expansive understanding of what is important in life. Simply knowing what matters in life, however, does not satisfy the ultimate form of wisdom, for the wise must know why these things matter in life. That is, a truly wise person must have insight beyond the theoretical, into the practical. Beyond this, a wise person, in this view, must also know how to achieve what matters most, and, in knowing so, do what matters most. I say this because a truly wise person would be able to act upon what they know to be the most important thing in life. It is wiser for a person to act than to merely conceptualize what is most essential in life.

Being wise has different meanings to different people, and sometimes the word contradicts itself. If you define the word wise, “having or showing experience, knowledge, and good judgment” is what you will get. To get the knowledge and to get experienced one would have to make mistakes and do things that someone that isn’t so wise would do. Naturally you would think of someone like a grandparent being wise because of old age. The person I find to be wise is not considered old, she is only a little older than I am. I find her to be wise because she has been through some things that many people can relate to, she has went through ups and downs. Drugs, abuse, alcohol, and everything in between. She went from that to having a family, getting a

Advancing age is commonly associated with loss of memory. The inability to maintain both short term and long term memory is serious. Learning new things or remembering familiar words and names can be quite daunting.