Summary: Comparing Two Theories Of Aging

Theories of aging are extremely important because they allow us to see what effects aging have on the human body. The experience of graying hair in America for men is looked at as maturity and well established but for women, the effects are just that they are getting older. According to USA Today “"The long-standing perception that men with gray hair are experienced and women with gray hair are simply old may still be an issue that affects employees in workplaces across the U.S." (Italie, 2012). More women are dying their hair than ever before. There is a lot of pressure in today’s society to “not look old”. According to USA today “In 1950, 7% of women colored their hair, she said. Today, it's closer to 95% or more, depending on geographic

Erikson was a psychologist who was greatly influenced by Freud. Although influenced by Freud there are some differences in there developmental stages. Erikson believed that development in an individual was molded by society, culture, and environment. While Freud’s belief was that development is in some way is influenced by the fixation of sexual interest of different areas of the body. The stages in Erikson’s development theory outline how important social experiences can shape us. While Freud’s theory is mainly based on ones sexuality. Additionally the other significant difference between Erikson’s and Freud’s theories is the outcome of a particular stage. Erikson believed that the outcome of a certain stage was not permanent and that it could be changed later on in life. While Freud presumed that if an individual became fixated on a stage problems associated with that stage would be carried on through life.

As you age all your vital organs begin to lose some function. Aging happens in all the body cells, organs and tissues, and these changes affect the functioning of all body systems. Physiological changes that take place in the human body leading to senescence, the decline of biological functions and of the ability to adapt to metabolic stress. In humans the physiological developments are normally accompanied by psychological and behavioral changes, and other changes, involving social and economic factors, also occur.

Psychoanalytic theories describe development as primarily unconscious and heavily colored by emotion. Psychoanalytic theorists emphasize that behavior is merely a surface characteristic and that true understanding of development requires analyzing the symbolic meanings of behavior and the deep inner workings of the mind. They also stress that the experiences children have with their parents earlier on in life shape development. The psychoanalytic theory highlighted by Sigmund Freud who was born in 1856 and died in 1939. As he listened to and examine his parents he was influenced they were the result of experiences early in life. He thought that as children grow up, their focus of pleasure and sexual impulses shifts from the mouth to the anus and eventually to the genitals. As a result, we go through five stages of psychosexual development: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. The oral stage is when the infant’s pleasure centers on the mouth, the anal stage is when

Unit 4 P5 Explain the physical and psychological changes which may be associated with ageing.

A theory of ageing is a explanation or reason for the natural cause of ageing. It explains the changes a person goes through when they age. Theories can be proved or sided by laws and facts and tested hypotheses.

When most people think of aging, the only thing that comes to mind is frail, weakly and wrinkled. In fact, a lot of people associate aging with disease prevalence. These myths and stereotypes about aging have been brought about by the media, jokes we hear and even the films we watch. Some of these you hear are blown out of proportion and exaggerated.

He said child development is described as a series of 'psychosexual stages. Freud outlined these stages as oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital. Each stage involves the satisfaction of a libidinal desire and can later play a role in adult personality. If a child does not successfully complete a stage, Freud suggested that he or she would develop a fixation that would later influence adult personality and behavior.

Freud’s stages of psychosexual development. Freud believed that early childhood experiences provide unconscious motivation for actions later in life (Freud, 1960). The basis of Freud’s psychosexual theory is certain parts of the body assume psychological significance as the focus of sexual energy throughout the development of the child (James, et al, 2013, p. 57). “Freud’s work may help to explain normal behavior that parents may confuse with abnormal behavior, and it also may provide a good foundation for sex education” (James, et al, 2013, p. 57). The stages of this theory include oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital (James, et al, 2013, p. 57).

The psychosexual stages have three main parts. Each of Freud's five stages has a physical focal point where the child's energy is strongest and where their pleasure is obtained. The stages also have a psychological theme and an adult character type.

Senescence in the phrase “effects of senescence on physiology”, refers to the complex process of ageing that eventually leads to death. Therefore, effects of senescence to physiology refers to how biological processes and organs within the human body change as a result of one growing old (Shock, 2015). In addition, the author points out that the performance of organs such as heart, kidneys, brains or lungs decreases as a result of cell death due to the decreased ability of the body to produce or repair cells- when one is growing old. Shock (2015) mentions that during senescence the remaining cells in the elderly body may not perform as well as those in a young individual thus, taking enzymes in the elderly body to carry out chemical reactions.

We all have at least some knowledge of how and why people age biologically and physiologically. Today, there are many theories that have tried to explain why do we age, but still more research is needed. Rate of living theories explain that people are born with a certain amount of energy to expend in a lifetime. Each individual’s metabolism is extremely related to how long we live. Also, the production and used of hormones in our body is associated with aging. A second group of theories have tried to explain aging at cellular level. Cellular theories state that can exists a limit of how frequently cells divide before we die (the Hayflick limit) and that the biggest factor of aging can be the shortening of telomeres. Another type of cellular

this theory is an important theory that talks about the biology of humans. However, this theory also talk about how ageing is planned or programmed into our body systems. Based on this theory, there are three key systems that associated with the ageing process. These three systems are: endocrine (hormonal) system, the immune system and the genes. All, these three systems make some changes as time goes on and these changes causes the symptoms and signs of ageing.

Freud identified five stages of psychosexual development, namely: The oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage, latency stage and genital stage.

Causes of aging are very uncertain. Besides, there are several factors which predispose an individual to premature aging. Current theories suggest that this process occurs to due to cellular damage such as DNA oxidation by free radicals causing