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2.Thepsychologyofhumandevelopmentinlateadulthood
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(arthritis,heartdiseases,tumours,etc.)(Rahmanetal.,1994).However,
mainillnessesinthisperiodoflifeareheartdiseases(coronaryheartdis-
ease)andtumours(cancer).
Changesinthepsyche.Amidlifecrisisraisesmanycontroversies.Itschara-
cteristicsisapartoftheoriesofmanyfamousresearchers,forexample
CarlJung(1978)orLevinson(1978),whoclaimedthatitappearsatthe
contactwithtypicalformidlifedevelopmentaltasks:awarenessofone’s
ownmortality,acknowledgmentofone’sowndeficienciesandthehigher
riskoffallingillaswellaschangesinthemajorityofsocialroles,which
isdifficultinpeopleofthisage.Amidlifecrisisoftenoccursaftercrossing
themidlifewhichisxedattheageof40.Crisisexperiencesmayconcern
theevaluationofaccomplishmentsofthepreviousperiodsandplansfor
thefuturefromtheperspectiveofself-realisation.Apersonconsiderswhat
heorshehasobtainedincomparisontowhatcouldhavebeenobtainedand
analyseshowtoeliminatediscrepancies.Theendofadulthood,according
toSzewczuk(1962),isconnectedwithregressiveexpansionwhichmani-
festsitselfingraduallymorevisibleageing.
Cognitivefunctioninginmidlife.Themajoritymaintainsorsometimesim-
provesresultsintheirabilitytoperformeverydaytasksorfocusedstudying.
Theyhavewidevocabularyandgoodproblem-solvingabilities.However,
intasksrequiringpromptness,orunusedoruntrainedskills,thedeclension
ofeffectivenesscanbenoted.Alongwithageing,certainthoughtprocesses
becomeslower(Salthouse,1991a).
Oneofrecognisedresearchersworkingonquestionsunderconsidera-
tion(Schaie,1983)reachedimportantconclusions.Hetooktheposition
thatbeforesixtytherecannotbereallyindicatedanyrecurrent,age-related
changesinpsychomotorabilities,whereasattheageofseventy-fourthedi-
minishingofallabilitiescanbenoted.Thebestexampleismemorywhich
remainsstableorlimitedtoasmallextent,whileinthelaterdecadesoflife
itsefficiencyislargelydependableonexercisesinearlierperiods(Cohen,
Faulkner,1989;Howe,1988).
Otherinterestingissuesarecreativethinking,solvingproblemsandthe
abilitytoworkcreativelyinmidlife.Curiouslyenough,themajorityofcrea-
tiveproductsaremadebythemiddle-aged(Horner,Rushton,Vernon,1986;
Simonton,1988),withsomepersonalexceptions,likee.g.Einstein.Howev-
er,recognisedresearchersandtheirworksofartandproductsareaspecific
example,whereasunderourconsiderationthereisalabourmarketforpeo-
plewithprimaryorsecondaryeducationandnoteminentpersonalitiesand
careerspursuedinthelaterage.Therefore,toavoidgroundlessness,Iwill
citeawell-knownexperimentconductedonteamsconsistingofaverage
managersofpublicandprivatesectorswhosetaskwastomakedecisions.
Therstteamconsistedofpeoplebetween25and35,thesecondpeople
inmidlife(45–55)andthethirdonepeoplebetween65and75.