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Full-Text Articles in Developmental Psychology

Secondary Mental Abilities, Kim Fitzgibbon, Lisa K. Lashley, Charles J. Golden Apr 2025

Secondary Mental Abilities, Kim Fitzgibbon, Lisa K. Lashley, Charles J. Golden

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Mental abilities have commonly been broken down into two main categories; primary and secondary. Primary mental abilities are thought to be large scale groups with similar abilities. Secondary mental ability builds off foundational primary mental abilities of intelligence. Research has suggested that there are six main secondary mental abilities, with the potential for additional abilities to be named or discovered as more research emerges. Expanding research on these abilities has also suggested that they can morph and evolve with age, just as primary abilities related to intelligence.


Brain Study Techniques, Rhonda Douglas Brown Apr 2025

Brain Study Techniques, Rhonda Douglas Brown

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Brain study techniques are used to understand how the brain processes information and manages behavior.  They can establish which parts of the brain are responsible for different types of cognition and behavior.  One technique, called lesion studies, involves conducting case studies of patients with brain injury and associating damage in specific regions or structures with loss or impairment of specific cognitive processes and behaviors.  For example, in the mid1800s, using post-mortem autopsy, Paul Broca observed that patients who had lost the ability to speak, but could understand language, had damage in the posterior sections of the inferior frontal gyrus; whereas, …


Marriage In Old Age, Nicole M. Fornalski, Lisa K. Lashley, Charles J. Golden Apr 2025

Marriage In Old Age, Nicole M. Fornalski, Lisa K. Lashley, Charles J. Golden

Essays in Developmental Psychology

As closely interactive cohorts throughout their adult lives, husbands and wives have been seen to become even closer confidants and partners in older age.  These changes may predominate after retirement and the loss of daily work practices and professional systems.  Older couples have frequently shared a considerable quantity of time with one another, and subsequently are able to call forth collective memories and years of intercommunications.  In addition, older adult couples usually report less conflicts, and appear to acquire more meaning out of their spousal relationships.  They also report less psychological distress and rates of illness than older singles.  These …


Role Transitions, Nicole M. Fornalski, Lisa K. Lashley, Charles J. Golden Apr 2025

Role Transitions, Nicole M. Fornalski, Lisa K. Lashley, Charles J. Golden

Essays in Developmental Psychology

A role can be defined as one’s position in a relationship or social structure, whereas a role identity consists of the behavioral expectations that are included in that role. While some individuals may view their roles through a fixed set of social standards, others rely on their own subjective perceptions and interpretations of these positions through flexible guidelines.  Through the process of a role transition, the literature identifies two types defined as a macro role transition or micro role transition.  A macro role transition consists of a psychological or physical change between consecutively held roles.  Examples can include career transitions, …


Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Fallon Flowers, Lisa K. Lashley, Charles J. Golden Apr 2025

Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Fallon Flowers, Lisa K. Lashley, Charles J. Golden

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) are diseases that can be passed from one person to another via sexual contact. Some STDs can be treated and cured, while others, once contracted, remain for a lifetime. Chlamydia is one of the more common STDs that both women and men are susceptible to. It is the result of exposure to a bacteria called Chlamydia Trachomatis. In women, the infection can occur in the cervix, throat, or rectum, while men who are infected experience the infection inside the penis (urethra), throat, and rectum. With regard to transmission, Chlamydia can be transmitted from one person to …


Social Exchange Theory, William Goulart, Lisa K. Lashley, Charles J. Golden Apr 2025

Social Exchange Theory, William Goulart, Lisa K. Lashley, Charles J. Golden

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Exchange theory originated in the field of sociology in the 1920s. However, since the late 1950s and early 1960s, social exchange theory has been a major school of thought in the field of both social psychology and sociology. This is largely due to the work of George Homans, John Thibaut, Harold Kelley, and Peter Blau. Social exchange theory describes all human interactions as a series of trades or exchanges of rewards between actors.


Lifespan Construct, Meghan Gilmore, Lisa K. Lashley, Charles J. Golden Apr 2025

Lifespan Construct, Meghan Gilmore, Lisa K. Lashley, Charles J. Golden

Essays in Developmental Psychology

Susan K. Whitbourne’s (1985) lifespan construct derives from her identity theory. Lifespan construct is a combined sense of past, present, and future events that are connected by their common occurrence to the individual. Cognitive-affective schemata are part of building this construct and shape the way adults approach identity-discrepant experiences.  Cognition is the organizer of the experiences, and all events are measured against these experiences. The affective aspect is the individual’s evaluation of events that lead to positive or negative feeling-states.