Lecturer: Dr. Joana Salifu Yendork , Department of Psychology - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

College of Education School of Continuing and Distance Education

2014/2015 – 2016/2017

Lecturer: Dr. Joana Salifu Yendork, Department of Psychology Contact Information: jyendork@ug.edu.gh

Session Overview

• One of the obvious signs of ageing is the physical changes in

body parts brought about by ageing. For this session, the focus will be changes in appearance (i.e., skin, hair and voice), mobility (i.e., muscles and joints) and the sensory system (i.e., vision, hearing, somesthesia and balance, taste and smell) and influence of these physical changes on the psychological well- being of the adults.

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Session Outline

The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows:

• Changes in appearance
• Changes in mobility
• Changes in the sensory system
• Implications of physical changes on adults’ psychological well-

being

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Reading List

• Read Chapter 2 of Recommended Text – Adult development

and aging, Cavanaugh & Blanchard-Fields (2006).

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CHANGES IN APPEARANCE

Topic One

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Changes in appearance

• Changes in:

– skin – hair – voice – height – weight

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Changes in skin

• The skin undergoes four-step processes

– outer layer of skin becomes thinner through cell loss, causing the skin to become more fragile – the collagen fibers lose much of their flexibility, making the skin less able to regain its shape after a pinch. – elastin fibers in the middle layer of skin lose their ability to keep the skin stretched out, resulting in sagging. – underlying layer of fat, which helps provide padding to smooth out the contours diminishes.

• Light skinned: number of pigment-containing cells in the
• uter layer decreases, and those that remain have less

pigment, resulting in lighter skin

• Age spots and moles appear more often.

– Mainly caused by exposure to ultraviolet rays from the sun (Yang et al., 1995).

• VIDEOS\skin ageing process.mp4

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Changes in hair

• Graying in both men and women

– Cessation of pigmentation production

• Hair loss caused by destruction of germ centre that

produce follicles

– Men don’t lose facial hair – Women develop patches of hair on their face

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Changes in the voice

• Comparing older and younger adults

– Younger adults: full and echoing – Older adult: thinner or weaker

• Age-related change include:

– lowering of pitch, – increased breathlessness and trembling, – slower and less precise pronunciation, and – decreased volume

• Caused by changes in the larynx, the respiratory system,

and the muscles controlling speech

• Poor health is not part of normal aging

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Changes in body build (height & weight)

• Decrease in height and fluctuation in weight
• Height:

– Stable until 50s – Between mid-50s and mid-70s, men lose about 1 inch and women lose about 2 inches – Caused by compression of the spine from loss of bone strength, changes in the discs between the vertebrae in the spine, and changes in posture

• Weight:

– Gain between 20s and mid-50s – Men-abdomen, women-hips – Lost throughout late adulthood

• Lower metabolism rate, reduced exercise

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CHANGES IN MOBILITY

Topic Two

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Changes in mobility

• Changes in mobility:

– Muscles – Bones – Joints

• Muscles: amount decline with age.

– By age 70, lose is not more than 20% – By age 80, lose is up to 40% – More severe in the legs than in the arms and hands – Some people retain their strength into late adulthood – No sex difference

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Changes in bone structure

• Bones: loss of bone tissue through the body

– Begins in late 30s and accelerates in the 50s (mostly in women) and slows by the 70s

• Sex difference results from:

– Women have less bone mass than men in early adulthood – Depletion of estrogen after menopause speeds up bone loss

– Bones become hollow due to loss of bone mass inside the bone. – Bones also become porous (contain pores)

• Bone changes in older adults is problematic because

bones can easily fracture and difficult to heal.

• Changes result from body weight, genetics, and lifestyle

factors such as smoking, alcohol use, and diet

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Changes in the joints

• Joints: aches
• Beginning of the 20s, deterioration of protective cartilage

– Thinning, cracks and worn-out – Can result in osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis – Osteoarthritis: gradual onset and progression of pain and disability, with minor signs of inflammation

• Affects the hands, spine, hips, and knees, sparing the wrists,

elbows, shoulders, and ankles

– Rheumatoid arthritis: develops slowly and typically affects different joints and causes other types of pain

• Affects fingers, wrists, and ankles on both sides of the body

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CHANGES IN THE SENSORY SYSTEMS

Topic Three

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Changes in vision

• Changes in eye structure (begin in the 40s)

– Decrease in amount of light that passes through the eye

• Need for more light

– Decline in adaptation to illumination – Lens becomes yellow causing poorer colour discrimination in green- blue-violet – Decline in ability of the lens to adjust and focus

• Implications for older drivers?

– Disease-related changes cataracts and glaucoma

• Changes in retina (which begin in the 50s)

– Macular degeneration resulting in the progressive and irreversible damage of receptors

• Macula: yellow spot on the retina that provides the greatest visual

acuity and color perception – Loss of ability to see details

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Changes in hearing

• Hearing loss is usually gradual and accelerates during the 40s
• Presbycusis: reduced sensitivity to high-pitched tones
• May results from 4 changes in the inner ear:

– Sensory: atrophy and degeneration of receptor cells

• Little effect on other hearing abilities

– Neural: loss of neurons in the auditory pathway in the brain

• Can affect ability to understand speech

– Metabolic: diminished supply of nutrients to the cells in the receptor area

• Severe loss of sensitivity to all pitches

– Mechanical: atrophy and stiffening of the vibrating structures in the receptor area

• Loss of all pitches but greatest for high pitches
• Cumulative effects of noise and normative age-related changes
• Half the population of individuals in their 70s

– Higher in men than in women – VIDEOS\Take the High-Frequency Hearing Test.mp4

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Changes in taste and smell

• Taste: Ability to detect different tastes declines gradually

with age

– Varies from flavour to flavour and from person to person – Lack of clear explanation for the changes in taste

• Smell: ability to detect odour remains intact until age 60s,

then declines gradually

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IMPLICATIONS OF PHYSICAL CHANGES ON ADULTS’ PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING

Topic Four

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Physical changes and self-concept

• Physical changes tend to affect self-esteem

– Culture definition of beauty may worsen issues

• Feelings of embarrassment and stress

– E.g., loss of muscle coordination

• Reduced independence and inability to complete

activities of daily living

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Hearing changes and psychological well-being

• Reduced quality of life
• Adverse emotional reactions:

– loss of independence – social isolation – irritation – paranoia – depression

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Sample Questions

• Describe the four step processes that result in the age-

related changes observed in the skin

• Describe differences in/contrast the voice of the voice
• f younger adult and older adults
• Describe weight changes in adulthood

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References

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