Сборник текстов по психологии для чтения на английском языке с упражнениями Г.В. Бочарова, М.Г. Степанова

I. Choose the word from the box to match the definition on the left.

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II.Answer the questions to the text.

1.What is social psychology?

2.What makes people change their opinion concerning other people?

3.What is the influence of mass media upon self images of different people?

4.Why are most people interested in questions which deal with social influence?

5.What is the main difference between the attempts to understand human social behavior of professional and amateur social psychologists?

III.Prove the following statements by the facts from the text:

1.Socio psychological situations contain one common factor: social influence.

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2.Often, the results of scientific research are identical with what most people “know” to be true.

3.Many things that we “know” to be true turn out to be false when carefully investigated.

4.The professional social psychologist has a great advantage over most amateur social psychologists.

T e x t 14

ADULTHOOD

Cognitive Development

One of the most controversial issues in developmental psychology is the course of adult cognitive development. Early studies showed that we experience a steady decline in intelligence across adulthood. But this apparent decline was found more often in cross sectional studies than in longitudinal studies, which indicates that the decline found in cross sectional studies might be a cohort effect rather than an aging effect. Longitudinal studies have found that a marked decline in intelligence does not begin until about age 60. Moreover, the decline does not encompass all facets of intelligence. Instead, it holds for fluid intelligence but not for crystallized intelligence. While fluid intelligence reflects ability to reason and to process information, crystallized intel ligence reflects the ability to gain and retain knowledge.

But what accounts for the decline in fluid intelligence in old age? The Seattle Longitudinal Study of 1,620 persons between 22 and 91 years of age found that the speed of information processing slows in old age. The slowing of information processing is especially detrimental to working memory, also called short term memory. This is the stage of memory that involves the conscious, purposeful manipulation of information, as in performing mental arithmetic or deciding whether two objects are the same. This means that elderly persons perform more poorly on times tests. Another factor in the decline in fluid intelligence

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is a decrease in the efficient use of attention. When attention is removed as a factor in task performance, the elderly show no decline in fluid intelligence and actually show an increase in crystallized intelligence.

Other factors also contribute to the poorer performance of older people on cognitive tasks. One factor that explains why older adults do more poorly than adolescents and young adults on cognitive tasks is that they have not been in school for many years. This was the finding of a study that compared the recall ability of college students of traditional age, their peers not attending college, and older people not attending college. The average age of the younger groups was 22 and the average age of the older group was 69. The three groups were equal in their intelligence.

The results showed that the recall ability of the college group was better than that of the other too groups. But there was no difference in the performance of the groups of older persons and younger persons who were not attending college. This indicates that it may be the failure to use one’s memory, rather than simply brain deterioration accompa nying aging, that accounts for the inferior performance of the elderly on tests of recall. When it comes to the maintenance of cognitive abilities, the adage “use it or lose it” may have some validity.

The increasing number of older students in colleges demonstrates that the mind dos not simply shut down as we age. Learning can, indeed, be lifelong. Staying cognitively active is associated with better physical, social, and emotional well being. A study of women students over the age of 50 found that they were healthier, more independent, and less depressed than their peers who were nonstudents. Of course, this finding by itself does not indicate whether attending school retards aging or, instead, people who age well are more likely to attend school.

Recognition of the importance of lifelong learning in keeping older adults alert and happy has inspired Elderhostel, a program of organized educational experiences for older adults. Research indicates that such formal training is beneficial. The decline in fluid intelligence seen in old age can be offset by special training in the use of problem solving strategies. In one experiment, healthy older adults were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a training program under a tutor, a self guided training program, and a control group that received no

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special training. Both training programs were equally effective and superior to the control condition in improving problem solving performance.

Though aging does bring some slowing of cognitive processes, the greater experience that older adults may have in performing a particular task (a facet of crystallized intelligence) can prevent a decline in per formance on that task. For example, older chess players, who have pre sumably experienced a decline in fluid intelligence, perform as well as younger players of equal ability. Evidently, the older players use their chess playing experience to search more efficiently for the best moves.

In his old age, B.F.Skinner (1983) suggested ways for older adults to compensate for any decline in their perceptual and cognitive abilities. He created what he called a “prosthetic environment.” Among his many suggestions, he urged that elderly persons who could not see well enough to read should listen to recordings of books, and that elderly persons who noticed their memories failing should begin writing reminders to themselves.

But what accounts for the cognitive deterioration that accompanies old age? It is attributable, in part, to the loss of brain cells. The growth of fibers from surviving cells in the aging brain compensates only somewhat for this loss. Perhaps the most devastating cause of cognitive deterioration associated with brain cell loss is Alzheimer’s disease, which affects up to 2 million Americans, the great majority being over the age of 60. About 100,000 Alzheimer’s victims die each year. The disease was first identified in 1907 by the German neurologist Alois Alzheimer in patients who had gradually lost their cognitive abilities over a period of years. Alzheimer’s disease begins with memory loss for recent events and progresses to the point that the victim cannot recog nize family members or remember his or her own name, has difficulty performing cognitive tasks such as arithmetics, and exhibits personality deterioration,

The disease is associated with the destruction of brain cells that play an important role in memory. Preliminary, and so far unsuccessful, efforts have been made to treat the disease by administering the dietary substance choline, which is a precursor of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter secreted by brain cells that play a significant role in memory.

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Psychosocial Development

Social development continues through early, middle, and late adulthood. Keeping in mind that these divisions are somewhat arbitrary, early adulthood extends from age 20 to age 40, middle adulthood extends from age 40 to age 65, and late adulthood extends from age 65 on. The similarities exhibited by people within these periods are related to the common social experience of the “social clock”, including leaving home, finding a job, getting married, having a child, retiring from a job, and becoming a widow and a widower. In recent decades, the typical ages at which some of these events occur have varied more than in the past. A graduate student might live at home until his late twenties, a woman working toward her medical degree might postpone marriage until her early thirties, and a two career couple might not have their first child until they are in their late thirties. Of course, events that are unique to each person’s life may also play a role in psychological development. For example, chance encounters in each of our lives contribute to our unique development. You might reflect on chance encounters that influenced your choice of a college or that helped you meet your current boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, or wife.

Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development continues past adolescence, into adulthood, and through old age. A potential alter native to Erikson’s theory, based on age instead of stages, has been put forth by Daniel Levinson (1978). Levinson based his theory on extensive biographical interviews with successful middle aged men (and, more recently, women) in a variety of vocational fields. Like Erikson, he found that adults face predictable tasks in early, middle, and late adulthood. Note that adulthood consists of relatively stable periods of what Levinson calls “structure building” connected by transitional periods of what he calls “structure changing.”

Though Levinson’s theory provides one of the few comprehensive alternatives to Erikson’s, it has stimulated relatively little research. A study of the psychosocial development of policemen found strong support for Levinson’s views on early adulthood, but weaker support for his views on middle adulthood. Levinson (1986) found that adult men do proceed through the stages in the sequence he put forth and

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that they occur within two years of the ages he proposed. Preliminary evidence indicates that his theory holds true, at least in part, for women as well as men, with women progressing through the same develop mental stages and at about the same ages as men.

I. Choose the word from the box to match the definition on the left.

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that are based on the ability to solve novel problems creatively.

judgemental, neuronal, etc. functions.

II. Answer the questions to the text.

1.When do people begin to experience a steady decline in intelligence?

2.What are the main reasons of the decline in fluid intelligence in old age?

3.What other factors also contribute to the poorer performance of older people on cognitive tasks?

4.What is staying cognitively active associated with?

5.What ways did Skinner suggest for older adults to compensate for any decline in their perceptual and cognitive abilities?

6.Why does the cognitive deterioration occur in old age?

7.When was Alsheimer’s disease first identified and what is it characterized by?

8.What stages does social development continue through?

9.What is Levinson’s theory of psychosocial development based on?

10.What does preliminary evidence indicate regarding Levinson’s theory?

III.Choose the facts to prove that:

1.Older adults do more poorly than adolescents and young adults on cognitive tasks because they have not been in school for many years.

2.The greater experience that older adults may have in perfor ming a particular task can prevent a decline in performance on a task.

3.Training programs in problem solving are beneficial.

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T e x t 15

WHAT IS THINKING?

The Search Inference Framework

Thinking about actions, beliefs, and personal goals can all be described in terms of a common framework, which asserts that thinking consists of search and inference. We search for certain objects and then we make inferences from and about them.

Let us take a simple example of a decision. Suppose you are a college student trying to decide which courses you will take next term. Most of the courses you have scheduled are required for your major, but you have room for one elective. The question that starts your thinking is simply this: Which course should I take?

You begin by saying to a friend, “I have a free course. Any ideas?” She says that she enjoyed Professor Smith’s course in Soviet American relations. You think that the subject sounds interesting, and you want to know more about modern history. You ask her about the work, and she says that there is a lot of reading and a twenty page paper. You think about all the computer science assignments you are going to have this term, and, realizing that you were hoping for an easy course, you resolve to look for something else. After thinking about it yourself, you recall hearing about a course in American history since World War II. That has the same advantages as the first course — it sounds interesting and it is about modern history — but you think the work might not be so hard. You try to find someone who has taken the course.

Clearly, we could go on with this imaginary example, but it already shows that main characteristics of thinking. It begins with doubt. It involves a search directed at removing the doubt. Thinking is, in a way, like exploration. In the course of the search, you have discovered two possible courses, some good features of both courses, some bad feature of one course, and some goals you are trying to achieve. You have also made an inference: You rejected the first course because the work was too hard.

We search for three kinds of objects: possibilities, evidence, and goals.

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Possibilities are possible answers to the original question, possible resolutions of the original doubt. (In the example just given, they are two possible courses.) Notice that possibilities can come from inside yourself or from outside. (This is also true of evidence and goals.) The first possibility in this example came from outside: It was suggested by someone else. The second came from inside: It came from your memory.

Goals are the criteria by which you evaluate the possibilities. Three goals have been mentioned in our example: your desire for an interesting course; your feeling that you ought to know something about recent history; and your desire to keep your work load manageable. Some goals are usually present at the time when thinking begins. In this case, only the goal of finding a course is present, and it is an insufficient goal, because it does not help you to distinguish among the possibilities, the various courses you could take. Additional goals must be sought.

I use the term “goal” throughout this book, but it is not entirely satisfactory. It evokes images of games like soccer and basketball, in which each team tries to get the ball into the “goal.” Such goals are all or none. You either get one or you don’t. Some of the goals I discuss here are of that type, but others are more like the rating scales used for scoring divers or gymnasts. This is, in a way, closer to the fundamental meaning, which is that the goals are criteria or standards of evaluation. Other words for the same idea are criteria, objectives, and values (in the sense of evaluation, not the more limited sense referring to morality). Because all these terms are misleading in different ways, I will stick with goals. At least this term conveys the sense that, for most of us, goals have motivational force. We try to achieve them.

Evidence consists of any belief or potential belief that helps you determine the extent to which a possibility achieves some goal. In this case, the evidence consists of your friend’s report that the course was interesting and her report that the work load was heavy. The example ended with your resolution to search for more evidence about the work load of the second possibility, the American history course. Such a search for evidence might initiate a whole other episode of thinking, the goal of which would be to determine where that evidence can be found.

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