Define and describe terminal decline
What will be an ideal response?
Answer: Terminal decline refers to acceleration in deterioration of cognitive functioning prior to death. Some investigations indicate that it is limited to a few aspects of intelligence, others that it occurs generally, across many abilities. Findings also differ greatly in its estimated length—from 1 to 3 to as long as 14 years, with an average of 4 to 5 years. In several studies, a sharp drop in psychological well-being, including diminished sense of personal control and social participation and increased negative affect, predicted mortality. The downturn is especially steep in people age 85 and older and is only weakly related to mental deterioration or chronic illnesses. Perhaps different kinds of terminal decline exist—one type that is steeper arising from disease processes, another reflecting general biological breakdown due to normal aging. What we do know is that an extended falloff in cognitive performance or in emotional investment in life is a sign of loss of vitality and impending death.
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Cathy was a very successful real estate agent. At age 36 she decided to donate her wealth to charity and become a missionary in Haiti, where she has been living in relative contentment for the past two years. Which perspective would best explain Cathy's behavior?
a. psychodynamic c. humanistic-existential b. social-cognitive d. developmental
Traditionally, the most common employment arenas for counseling psychologists have been
a. educational settings such as colleges and universities. b. psychiatric hospitals. c. general hospitals. d. private corporations.
Identical twins who have the same genetic propensity for disease and who die at the same age always have the same compression of morbidity, even when they have different lifestyles
Indicate whether this statement is true or false.
If an experimenter uses several t tests to compare the various group means found for a one factor between groups experiment instead of using the ANOVA, the experimenter runs a great risk of _____
a. failing to detect the effect of the treatment at all. b. greatly reducing the power of the experiment c. incorrectly concluding that the treatment affected the group means d. a and b