UNIT

THREE
Cognitive Development
in Middle Adulthood
 Middle

A
Adulthood
•  As Middle Adulthood is a long
period in the life span, it is
customarily subdivided into Early
Middle Adulthood, which extends
from age forty to age fifty, &
Advanced Middle Adulthood, which
extends from age fifty to age sixty,
physical and psychological
changes that first began during the
early forties become far more
Presentation title apparent. 2
 Characteristics of Middle Age
1. Middle Adulthood is a Time of Stress
2. Middle Adulthood is a "Dangerous Age”
3. Middle Adulthood is an "Awkward Age”
4. Middle Adulthood is a Time of Achievement
5. Middle Adulthood is a Time of Evaluation
6. Middle Adulthood is the Time of the Empty
Nest
7. Middle Adulthood is a Time of Boredom

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DEVELOPMENT TASK OF
MIDDLE AGE
 • The STRAINS of middle adulthood result largely from difficulties
in balancing many roles and striving to navigate through
predictable as well as sudden role transitions.
1. Adjusting to physical and physiological changes
2. Adjusting to the reality of the work situation
3. Assuring economic security for old age
4. Maintaining contact with children & grandchildren
5. Reorganizing living arrangements
6. Adjusting to being a couple again
7.  Participating in the community
8. Ensuring adequate medical supervision for old age
9. Looking after aging parents
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“ MAJOR ADJUSTMENT IN

”
MIDDLE AGE
 Adjustment to physical changes & changed
interest

• It has been found that the body organ of most persons show a 0.8 to 1 percent decline per year in
the functional ability after the age of 30.
• Part of this decline is normal, some is disease-related, and some is caused by factors such as
stress, occupational status, nutritional status and many other environmental factors.
• Middle-aged adults still report good health and physical functioning. However, as a result of the
passage of time, middle adults undergo various physical changes. Decades of exposure and use
take their toll on the body as wrinkles develop, organs no longer function as efficiently as they
once did, and lung and heart capacities decrease.
• Other changes include
• decreases in strength, coordination, reaction time,
• sensation (sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch), and
• fine motor skills.
• the conditions of presbyopia (farsightedness or difficulty reading) and
• presbycusis
Presentation title (difficulty hearing high-pitched sounds). 7
• Still, none of these changes is usually so dramatic that the middle adult cannot
compensate by wearing glasses to read, taking greater care when engaging in complex
motor tasks, driving more carefully, or slowing down at the gym.

• Of course, people age at different rates, so some 40 year olds may feel middle-aged long
before their 50-year-old counterparts. Most people, however, describe feeling that they have
reached midlife by their mid-50s.

• The bio-psychosocial changes that accompany midlife appear to be major turning points in
terms of the decline that eventually typifies older adulthood. specifically, menopause (the
cessation of menstruation) in women male climacteric (male menopause) in men

• None of the biological declines of middle and late adulthood needs to be an obstacle to
enjoying all aspects of life, including sex.

• Menopause

• Sexuality in Middle Adulthood

• Adjustment To Mental Changes

•Presentation
Social title
Adjustments 8
 Conclusion: The Status Of Basic Research
On Middle Childhood
• The study of children ages 6-12 has yielded considerable information about the processes of
development. A number of significant questions remain, but the basic research now available is a
promising foundation from which new evidence can be generated. New methods will be required in some
areas, particularly in those of social relationships and competence, but a number of the required methods
for generating new knowledge about this period are now in place.
• The most urgent need at present is simply a conviction that the phenomena of middle childhood warrant a
commitment of scholarly energies and resources. The panel believes that they do. The panel also believes
that the study of any given age period is likely to be most productive when it concerns the distinctive
tasks and qualities of the period within the general flow of developmental changes. This approach is well
established in the literature on children ages 6-12, and the panel urges its continuation. The complexities
of the task notwithstanding, the prospects and benefits of understanding the nature and processes of
development in the school years warrant serious attention in the decades ahead.

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 The role of ego-control and ego-
resiliency in the organization of
behavior. Pp. 39-101 in W.A. Collins,

References editor. , ed., Development of

Cognition, Affect, and Social
Relations: Minnesota Symposia on
Child Psychology. Vol. 13. Hillsdale,
N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Cognitive development in young
adulthood
 Young adulthood is a unique
developmental period that occurs between
the ages of 18 and 25 years, during which
there are key developmental tasks that
allow the young adult to participate in
self-exploration and identity formation.

Young Currently, among various organizations

there are differing definitions and age

adulthood
range inclusions for young adulthood,
which cause confusion during program
development, healthcare service delivery,
and research. Young adulthood should be
categorized separately from adolescence
and adulthood, because young adults have
lower rates of healthcare utilization and
worse health outcomes related to
preventable causes of morbidity and
mortality than the surrounding age groups.
 Cognitive development

• Most young adults aged 18 and over will:

• Move into adult roles and responsibilities and may learn a trade, work, and/or pursue higher
education
• Fully understand abstract concepts and be aware of consequences and personal limitations
• Identify career goals and prepare to achieve them
• Secure their autonomy and build and test their decision making skills
• Develop new skills, hobbies, and adult interests

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 Postformal Thoughts
• Postformal thought is defined as a stage of development that occurs in early adulthood in which a person
gains the ability to synthesize opposing ideas or feelings into a more complete understanding. It is
practical , logical, realistic and more individualistic, but also characterized by understanding the
complexities of various perspectives.
• According to Piaget’s theory adolescents acquire formal operational thought. The hallmark of this type of
thinking is the ability to think abstractly or to consider possibilities and ideas about circumstances never
directly experienced.
•  The adult has gained experience and understands why possibilities do not always become realities. 
• They learn to base decisions on what is realistic and practical, not idealistic, and can make adaptive
choices.  Adults are also not as influenced by what others think.
•  As a person gets closer to their late 30s, it's more likely that their actions are driven by necessity or past e
xperience and less by what other people may think. 

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 Dialectical Thoughts
• Thinking in early adulthood may also become more flexible and
balanced. The adolescent's strong beliefs in abstract concepts could become the criteria by which they judge the w
orld.
• Adolescents tends to think dichotomies ideas are true or false, good or bad, and there is no middle ground.
However, with experience, the adult comes to recognize that there is some right and some wrong in each position,
some good or some bad in a policy or approach, some truth and some falsity in a particular idea.
• This ability to bring together salient aspects of two opposing viewpoints or positions is referred to as dialectical thoughts.
• Such thinking is more realistic because very few positions, ideas, situations, or people are completely right or wrong. 

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 Perry’s scheme
One of the first theories of cognitive development in early adulthood originated with William Perry (1970). Perry
noted that over the course of students’ college years, cognition tended to shift from dualism (absolute, black and
white, right and wrong type of thinking) to multiplicity (recognizing that some problems are solvable and some
answers are not yet known) to relativism (understanding the importance of the specific context of knowledge—it’s all
relative to other factors). Similar to Piaget’s formal operational thinking in adolescence, this change in thinking early
adulthood is affected by educational experiences.

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