Lesson 9: Young Adulthood

Question 1

What are four ways to define adulthood?

Answer 1

1. Cut-off age
2. Set of role transitions (rites of passage, marrying, giving birth, etc)
3. Assuming specific roles (financial independence, engaging in less risky behaviors, etc)
4. Ask the person (are you an adult?)

Question 2

Fluid Intelligence

Answer 2

consists of the abilities that allow one to think flexibly and adaptively (can make inferences and understand relationships among concepts)
–>reflected in timed performances on such tasks as mazes, puzzles, and relations among shapes

Question 3

Crystallized Intelligence

Answer 3

knowledge and information that someone has acquired through experiences and education in a particular cultural context
–>remembering historical facts, certain aspects of how the legal system operates, and basic fundamentals of American government

Question 4

plasticity

Answer 4

individuals’ abilities can be changed under the appropriate conditions at practically any time in adulthood

Question 5

How does intelligence change over time?

Answer 5

• crystallized intelligence improves over time
• fluid intelligence worsens over time
• general IQ scores remain basically unchanged

Question 6

Postformal thought

Answer 6

• an understanding that there may be more than one “truth” or “correct answer” in certain circumstances
• that the context needs to be considered when deciding how to make sense out of what is occurring in a particular situation
• that solutions need to be realistically possible for them to be reasonable
• that most cognitive tasks involve some ambiguity and complexity rather than being clear cut and simple
• that emotion needs to be taken into account in thinking

Question 7

Reflective Judgement

Answer 7

way in which adults reason through real-life dilemmas (ex. current affairs, religion, science, etc)
–> developed by Kitchener and King

Question 8

multidimensional

Answer 8

characteristic of theories of intelligence that identify several types of intellectual abilities

Question 9

multidirectionality

Answer 9

developmental pattern in which some aspects of intelligence improve and other aspects decline during adulthood

Question 10

interindividual variability

Answer 10

patterns of change that vary from one person to another

Question 11

primary mental abilities

Answer 11

groups of related intellectual skills (ex. memory)

Question 12

secondary mental abilities

Answer 12

broad intellectual skills that subsume and organize the primary abilities

Question 13

Pre-reflective Reasoning

Answer 13

first three stages of reflective judgement

• can’t acknowledge that knowledge is uncertain, that there may not be a clear answer
• ->holds a firm position on controversial issues and cannot understand why others would hold a different viewpoint

Question 14

Quasi-reflective Reasoning

Answer 14

4th and 5th stages of reflective judgement

• nothing can be known for certain
• change conclusions based on situation/evidence
• argue that knowledge is subjective
• know they can’t force their views on anyone

Question 15

(True) Reflective Reasoning

Answer 15

6th and 7th stages of reflective judgement

• understand people construct knowledge using evidence/argument after careful analysis
• hold firm convictions only AFTER careful consideration of all viewpoints
• must reevaluate beliefs in view of new evidence

Question 16

life story

Answer 16

a deeply personal account of one’s life that ties together the various incidents, experiences, and situations that one has confronted up to this point in one’s life

Question 17

Sternberg’s triangular theory

Answer 17

He argued that love consists of three dimensions:

1. passion (consisting of physical intimacy)
2. intimacy (mutual sharing of thoughts and feelings)
3. commitment (a willingness or desire to stay in a romantic relationship regardless of what may happen in the future)

Question 18

assortative mating

Answer 18

suggests that people form romantic relationships with others who are perceived as being similar to themselves

Question 19

Murstein’s SVR theory

Answer 19

–> “peeling away the layers of an onion”
S (stimulus) - people first notice physical appearance
V (values) - they then focus on basic views on aspects of life
R (roles) - explore whether they have similar or compatible views of their relationship/continuing relationship

Question 20

intimate terrorism

Answer 20

Most serious types of violence are perpetrated by men whom the woman knows

Question 21

situational couple violence

Answer 21

less invasive types of violence are fairly equally likely to be performed by men and women

Question 22

companionate type of love

Answer 22

the partners became more like companions and less like passionate lovers

Question 23

edgework

Answer 23

the desire to live more on the edge through physically and emotionally threatening situations

Question 24

Intimacy vs. Isolation

Answer 24

Sixth stage in Erikson’s theory and the major psychosocial task for young adults

• establishing one’s identity to be ready to share an identity with another
• without a clear sense of identity one may be afraid to commit or become over-dependent

Question 25

The most widely used criteria for deciding whether a person has reached adulthood are ________.

Answer 25

role transitions

Question 26

Rituals marking initiation into adulthood are called _______.

Answer 26

rites of passage

Question 27

Research indicates that Erikson's idea of resolving identity followed by intimacy best describes men and ________________.

Answer 27

career-oriented women

Question 28

consumption of alcohol

Answer 28

- tougher laws have decreased alcohol consumption --> except in college students - binge drinking: consuming (men- 5+ drinks, women- 4+) drinks in a row - alcohol related rape, DUI, assault by person who has been drinking

Question 29

smoking

Answer 29

* biggest contributor to health problems in adults (400,000 US people die/year) - can affect almost every area of the body (including fetuses)

Question 30

nutrition

Answer 30

directly affects one's mental, emotional, and physical functioning metabolism: how much energy the body needs

Question 31

BMI

Answer 31

a ratio of body weight and height, related to total body fat | -higher BMI = higher risks

Question 32

cohabitation

Answer 32

people in committed, intimate, sexual relationships that live together but are not married -lower education levels --> more cohabitation

Question 33

What is the reasoning behind cohabitation?

Answer 33

1. convenience: sharing expenses, sexual accessibility 2. step towards marriage: "trial period" 3. instead of marriage

Question 34

gay/lesbian couples

Answer 34

- may differ more in demographic characteristics (age, race, etc) - commit/cohabit faster - less supported by families

Question 35

Causes for divorce

Answer 35

- infidelity - incompatibility - drinking - drug use - growing apart

Question 36

low-density lipoproteins (LDL)

Answer 36

chemicals that cause fatty deposits to accumulate in arteries, impeding blood flow "bad cholesterol"

Question 37

high-density lipoproteins (HDL)

Answer 37

chemicals that help keep arteries clear and break down LDL's "good cholesterol"

Question 38

Parieto-Frontal Integration Theory (P-FIT)

Answer 38

proposes that intelligence comes from a distributed and integrated network of neurons in the parietal and frontal lobes of the brain

Question 39

Most modern theories of intelligence are __________ in that they identify many domains of intellectual abilities.

Answer 39

multidimensional

Question 40

Number, verbal fluency, and spatial orientation are some of the _______ metal abilities.

Answer 40

primary

Question 41

__________ reflects knowledge you have acquired through life experience and education in a particular culture.

Answer 41

crystalized intelligence

Question 42

Kitchener and King describe a kind of postformal thinking called _________.

Answer 42

reflective judgement

Question 43

Life problems provide a context for understanding the integration of ________ and _________.

Answer 43

emotion and logic

Question 44

life-span construct

Answer 44

a unified sense of the past, present, and future based on personal experience and input from other people

Question 45

scenario

Answer 45

manifestation of the life-span construct through expectations about the future

Question 46

social clock

Answer 46

tagging future events with a particular time or age by which they are to be completed

Question 47

personal control beliefs

Answer 47

the degree to which you believe your performance in a situation depends on something you do

Question 48

primary control

Answer 48

behavior aimed at affecting the individual's external world

Question 49

secondary control

Answer 49

behavior or cognition aimed at affecting the individual's internal world

Question 50

A ______ is a unified sense of a person's past, present, and future.

Answer 50

life-span construct

Question 51

A personal narrative that organizes past events into a coherent sequence is a __________.

Answer 51

life story

Question 52

__________ reflect the degree to which a person's performance in a situation is believed to be under their control.

Answer 52

personal control beliefs

Question 53

Love relationships in which intimacy and passion are present, but commitment is not are termed _____________.

Answer 53

romantic love

Question 54

marital success

Answer 54

an umbrella term referring to any marital outcome

Question 55

homogamy

Answer 55

similarity of values/interests

Question 56

exchange theory

Answer 56

relationship (such as marriage) based on each partner contributing something to the relationship that the other would be hard pressed to provide

Question 57

vulnerability-stress-adaptation model

Answer 57

model that proposes that marital quality is a dynamic process resulting from the couple's ability to handle stressful events in the context of their particular vulnerabilities and resources

Question 58

nuclear family

Answer 58

most common form of family in Western societies, consisting only of parents and children

Question 59

familism

Answer 59

the idea that the family's well-being takes precedence over the concerns of individual family members

Question 60

A new father who is invested in his parental role, but who may also feel ambivalent about time lost to his career, is probably over the age of ____.

Answer 60

30

Question 61

collaborative divorce

Answer 61

a voluntary, contractually based alternative dispute resolution process for couples who want to negotiate a resolution of their situation rather than having a ruling imposed upon them by a court

Question 62

Following divorce, most women suffer disproportionately in the _______ domain compared with most men.

Answer 62

financial

Question 63

gay/lesbians as parents

Answer 63

- children don't suffer - equally adjusted behaviorally and sexually - lower levels of homophobia