Lecture 4: Humanities, Arts, & Older Adults

Front 1

Developmental intelligence

Back 1

degree to which an individual has manifested their intellectual, neurological, and psychological capacities
- defined as the maturing of cognition, emotional intelligence, judgment, social skills, etc

Front 2

Relativistic thinking

Back 2

knowledge depends on the subjective views, context/situations

Front 3

Dialectic thinking

Back 3

ability to uncover and resolve contradictions in opposing or seemingly incompatible views

Front 4

Systematic thinking

Back 4

Ability to look in a broader view of entire system of knowledge, ideas, and context that are involved

Front 5

Wisdom

Back 5

Balte's definition: Expert knowledge system derived from experience and capable of dealing with pragmatic problems.

how developmental intelligence reveals itself
- reflective judgment in the face of uncertainty

Front 6

Fluid intelligence

Back 6

intelligence applied to new tasks or the ability to come up with new creative solutions

Front 7

Crystalized intelligence

Back 7

reflects accumulated experience and socialization

Front 8

Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale

Back 8

the most influential global intelligence scale, includes a verbal and a performance scale
Verbal: knowledge, comprehension, arithmetic, vocab
Performance: puzzles
As we grow older, people remain stable in the verbal portion but decline in the performance portion.

Front 9

Cognitive reserve capacity

Back 9

degree of unused potential for learning that exists within any time.

Although fluid intelligence tends to decrease, crystalized intelligence tends to increase.

Front 10

Decrement with compensation

Back 10

decline in cognitive ability can be compensated by increase in expertise

Front 11

Optimist view

Back 11

Some experts say intelligence may not decline in late life.
Classic aging pattern may occur because of illness, personality dispositions (how people adapt to life changes), and behavior. .

Front 12

Classic Aging Pattern

Back 12

As people grow older, verbal scores on the WAIS remain stable while performance scores decrease.
Fluid intelligence decreases as we age while crystalized intelligence increases.

Front 13

"Wisdom Paradox"

Back 13

Goldberg says that wisdom is a a different phenomenon than creativy. It urges us to pay attention to the gains and not just the losses.

Front 14

Lehman

Back 14

Creativity does decline with age.
Dennis attacks his claim.

Front 15

Creative potential

Back 15

max number of attempted contributions an indivudal is capable of making

Front 16

Secondary peak

Back 16

a substantial resistance in the later years of life, some people manage to leave monumental creations in the lateyears of their life.

Front 17

Personal vs. Public creativity

Back 17

Personal creativity can affect your own life.
Public creativity is recognized by others.

Front 18

Goals of looking at the arts and humanities

Back 18

Methodological - to illustrate how the humanities can be used to explore and illuminate aspects of aging
Content - to present information about ideas

Front 19

Carl Jung

Back 19

myths tap deep into the human psyche and for the human species
The Myth of the Older Mentor: older mentor helps the hero accomplish his challenge and become a man

Front 20

Mentor roles

Back 20

Key roles: teacher, model, sources of advice and wisdom, a "goad" to remind of what hero should be doing, "seer" into the future / heart of things, initiation, understanding, firmness, decisiveness, strength

Front 21

Huston Smith

Back 21

Retirement - a move away from familiar places and people, a withdrawl from social obligation and a move to "spiritual adventure"

Renunciation - a reentering back into the world but as a different person, getting in touch with who you are while not being brought down by the practical things in life