Class 5: Coping & Stress (Chapter 10)
 
Reading: Chapter 9
Course Notes
Exam Schedule Next Saturday 1 to 5 pm
1 pm - 2:15 pm Presentations (Note: questions on these presentations WILL appear on the test)
Website Review (Alex 10 min)
Iris (January, Jen?, Brad 25 min)
Golden Pond (Mona, 10 min)
Cocoon (Amber, 10 min)
Terms of Endearment (Karleen, 10 min)
Tuesday’s Morrie (15-20)
Straight Story
Driving Miss Daisy
2:15 pm - 3 pm Optional Review/Snack
3 pm Multichoice Test (about 30 min)
3:30 pm or so Essay Test
The Co-op Test
Research Designs
Sample Designs
Know this for next exam
The essay prompt no one would answer...
4. From an editorial (fictitious): “Why is it that most of our national leaders are over 60 years old while research clearly shows that the ability to make rapid decisions and remember key items declines from age 50 on? And today’s world requires rapid action. Moreover, we have had a great deal of trouble encouraging a Southern senator and a supreme court justice to resign when they became senile in office. We need mandatory retirement ages for national politicians. Certainly few 90 year olds can be capable national leaders.” Analyze this argument using material from the chapters on memory and intelligence. I am looking for your ability to use the material in these chapters and apply them in analyzing this argument. Arguing on the basis of the Constitution or human rights exclusively will not be an effective response in this case.
Review Questions Chap 8 and Lecture
1 According to the textbook, which of the following is most common reportly by men and women in successful marriages
a “My spouse is my best friend”
b “We have great sex!”
c “My dog is my best friend”
d “My marriage and family therapist is my best friend”
2 Which is the following best describes the aging pattern of female sexuality
a Compared to men, females show greater declines in physiological indicators of sexual arousal and greater physiological problems with sexuality
b Women show highly similar rates of sexual activity as men unless they are ill
c Women and men show highly similar declines physiological indicators of sexual arousal
d Women show fewer physiological signs of decline in sexual functioning but report less sexual activity then men
3 Styles in grandparental interactions with children are
a best classified as permissive, authoritative, authoritarian
b best classified as gregarious, independent, discerning
c difficult to classify because of grandparents usually experience some dementia
d difficult to classify because of great variation in the ages of grandparents and children
4 In lecture, I defended exchange theory as the most promising theory to understand social interactions by
a arguing that adults do follow roles and that these roles serve to explain their behavior
b arguing that rewards can be both intrinsic and extrinsic
c arguing that the elderly tend to withdraw from society to protect themselves from rejection
d arguing that increased activity usually means increased happiness or life satisfaction
5 According to text and lecture, which of these is most likely to become a greater social problem
a Americans are increasingly abandoning and neglecting their elderly parents
b Americans will have increasing difficulty caring for the oldest old as they themselves become older
c Americans will have difficulty maintaining frequent contact with their elders
d American elders are living farther away from their adult children (e.g. moving to Florida)
Dinner (30 minutes)
About Stress

What is it?
Seyle: Alarm, Resist, Exhaustion
Some stress is helpful
Individual differences in stress response
Perhaps due to prenatal and postnatal conditions?
Environment demands exceed ability to cope and increases chance of damage and disease
How to study it?
Environment: Life events checklist
Psychological: Look at individual perception
Biological
Sympathetic Nervous System
Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal system
Sapolsky “Epinephrine is the one handing out guns. Glucocorticoids are the ones drawing up blueprints for new aircraft carriers ”
Cortex to amygdala to brain stem to adrenals
Adrenals release epinephrine and cortisol (chronic)
Note: this cycle has feedback!

General Model
Stressors
Appraisal
Positive Emotion
Negative Emotion
Physiological Reaction
Increased risk
Note: Some neuroscientists would say the physiological reaction and emotion leads to the feelings
Life events v. daily hassles
Major Life Events
Set death of a spouse to 100 and make everything relative to that
If 300+ in recent months than 80% chance of major illness in 2 years (dubious statistic)
What’s the problem here?
Causal direction
Life Events tend to focus on young adults
Daily Hassles (Lazarus)
Better predictor of psychosomatic illnesses than major life events
Stress and aging
Widowhood v. divorce
Widowhood seems less stressful while divorce seems more stressful
Type A v. Type B
Hostility is a better predictor
Relocation
Associated with greater probability of death and illness but...
ACTIVITY
Design a Daily Hassles instrument tailored for the elderly. What experiences might the elderly encounter daily or weekly that would cause stress (positive or negative)?
Coping

The biological costs of caring
Remember: Greater likelihood of depression and guilt in caregivers
Also, greater likelihood of depressed immune systems
Coping strategies
problem-based coping
emotion-based coping
(Eric: read examples in class)
Trend: more emotion-based coping observed in elderly
May not be aging per se but the nature of the problem e.g. acceptance
Undiscussed in text
Drug approach
Sapolsky wants to find a drug to inhibit cortisol release
Exercise
Coping helpers in the future?



Caregivers of Alzheimer's Patients
What are the triple threats here?
Increased emotional stress
Increased emotional and financial burdens
Increased apathy and hostility from person
Alzheimer’s [Video: The Mind]
KNOW
Why do many researchers consider Alzheimer’s to be pathological rather than normal aging?
What do Hugh and Bert suggest about the genetics of Alzheimer’s?
Describe plaques and tangles and suggest how they may lead to symptoms of Alzheimer’s.
Describe one approach to finding the trigger to Alzheimer and countering it.