Physiological and Social Needs Associated with the Aging Process - Term Paper Example

This paper will focus on physiological and social needs associated with the aging process pertaining to people who are 65 years old and older. It will discuss areas such as selective optimization, cognition and aging, socio-emotional selectivity, as well as personality and aging, and recommend how these areas could be improved to make the life of the elderly person better. Physiological and Social Needs of the Aging Process Introduction The aging process is, in essence, transforming from middle age to old age.

It is a time when humans shift away from their former periods of usefulness to dependability (Sharma & Rana, 2012). The aging process causes a broad variety of problems. When one is old, psychological and physical function declines (Nigam et al, 2012). It forces some decline in psychological and physical functions. The problems and needs of elderly people differ considerably in relation to their age, health, socioeconomic status and living status, as well as other such background traits. As individuals move away for the early days of their lives, they normally reflect on them.

A majority of them usually are regretful and seem to live in the present, choosing to ignore the future totally (Salthouse, 2009). From 60 to 65 years is when adults are normally regarded to be in the transition age from middle to old (Salthouse, 2009). . As someone ages, they might become more discerning with the individuals they opt to spend their final years with (Spicker, 2013). Psychological closeness might become more significant with other individuals. The notion to which people can selectively pick whom they wish to dedicate their time for becomes more vital as one grows.

The premise of cognition is the age-related drop in fluid cognitive performance (Salthouse, 2009). This is, in other words, the effectiveness or efficiency of carrying out tasks of thinking, learning, memory, as well as spatial skills. Nevertheless, crystallized skills are much more stable across the natural life and might even enhance with age, which signifies the cultural and social influences on the world knowledge. Cognitive transformations with the aging process for individuals of the age of 65 are well documented and influence a wide variety of tasks.

There are, in realty, three vital cognitive procedures that are affected as one ages; the working memory, perceptual and sensory abilities, and the rate in which information can be processed (Brossoie, 2012). As one ages, they face decrements in auditory and visual acuity. Some of the age-associated visual problems can be rectified by glasses, and, even though, hearing aids can assist in detecting low-frequency sounds, they normally amplify background noise (Nigam et al, 2012). Such changes raise the potential of processing overload in a situation, which might have once presented minute challenges.

Even general activities such as walking become less habitual (Spicker, 2013). The aging process of individuals over the age of 65 brings with it less feelings of shyness, depression or