Examined the relation of control beliefs to individual differences in 63 elderly adults in 1981 and 1986. Over the 5 years, generalized control and intellectual performance did not change, but intellectual control beliefs did. (RJC)

Cohort-sequential analyses were conducted on measures from the Primary Mental Abilities Test and the Test of Behavioral Rigidity for 2,151 participants at the first testing and 723 individuals at the retesting 7 years later. Data were examined for 7-year age intervals from 25 to 81 years and cohort intervals from 1889 to 1938. (Author/JMB)

New understanding of the aging process and adult developmental psychology, particularly of feeling among older people of loss of control over their lives, suggests that higher education for older adults must go beyond simply providing mental activity to providing opportunities for renewed social relationships and accomplishment of substantial…

Investigates differences between adolescents and older adults in their explanations of linguistic metaphors. Adults displayed a synthesizing, integrative perspective, while adolescents displayed an analytic perspective in their explanation of metaphors. (Author/SS)

A major issue concerning adult intellectual development is whether intellectual decline in late adulthood is uniform or ability-specific. Differential patterns of ability decline were analyzed by comparing data on longitudinal age change over the age range from 53 to 81 years from two successive 14-year periods (1956-1970 and 1970-1984). The…

Two studies examined modifiability in intellectual functioning in older adults. The fluid-crystallized theory provided a theory base for the research. (Fluid intelligence follows a normative decline through adulthood, while crystallized intelligence remains stable or even increases.) In the first study thirty subjects (average age 69.2)…

The contributions to this volume were drawn from selected symposia of the Division on Adult Development and Aging at the 76th and 78th annual meetings of the American Psychological Association. The four parts of the book are as follows: Part I. Individual Changes in Adult Intelligence: Longitudinal Approaches; Part II. Somatic Components of…