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THE PSYCHOLOGY of aging, the developmental psychology of the adult years, recently made a considerable advance in organization of information. As in the field of child psychology, a comprehensive handbook of the psychology of the adult years became available, Handbook of Aging and the Individual, edited by Birren (1959). Its primary objective was to integrate information and explain the manifest changes which occur in the aging individual. In 24 chapters, this collaborative volume reviewed such aspects of the aging individual as sensation and perception, emotions, learning, intelligence, interests and attitudes, and personality and adjustment. A related volume, Handbook of Social Gerontology, edited by Tibbitts (1960), took a sociological point of view toward aging, in recognition of the changing nature of a group or society as a function of the age distribution of its members. Quite different in purpose and scope was a significant volume edited by Kleemeier (1961) on research in the use of leisure. The years both before and after retirement were described and analyzed with insight, and the book held useful and interesting implications on the potential late-life consequences of education. It emphasized a long-range approach to the use of leisure time, either for mental activity or as an expressive outlet. The trend toward intellectual and expressive sophistication in free-time activity will undoubtedly involve more adult education as well as more attention on the part of educators to what happens to the young people they educate. In view of immediate problems in the education of the developing child, it is not easy to keep in mind that the fundamental criteria for judging developmental influences are the long-term outcomes in the adult. Further, the average person in America spends about 12 or 13 years as a student, or less than 20 percent of the average life span. If age 20 is taken as the end of growth, less than one-third of the life span is spent in growing up. Emphasis on the long-term outcomes of education and development is needed, therefore, if only because of the relatively long period of adult life. Teleologically, it might be said that the goal of growth and developmental processes is achievement of the full capacities of the adult state and maintenance of this state as long as possible. But there were few studies relating to characteristics of early and later life. Further, in such studies as there were, the effects of selection in survival pervaded studies of old age. How most people grow old is still a difficult question to answer. |
