Aging and Older Adulthood - Softcover

The second edition of Aging and Older Adulthood reflects the most up-to-date scientific research and theoretical foundations that contribute to our understanding of the aging process and older adulthood. Erber organizes the book around complementary “big point-of-view” theories that focus on successful aging and adaptation, such as the “selective optimization with compensation model” as well as matching a person's competencies with demands of the environment (the “ecological model”). To ensure that students acquire a cohesive understanding of the theories, Erber closes each chapter with a discussion and application of these theoretical models. Integrated with examples of diversity and filled with real-world applications, this engaging text offers the most updated insights and theoretical underpinnings related to our understanding of the human aging process.

• Updated content and references include recent neurological findings on brain structure and functioning as well as factors that influence cognitive functioning, health care, decision making, and social relationships.
• Chapter opening vignettes engage students with real world illustrations of older adults, which relate to the concepts to come.
• Applying Research Boxes offer examples of current research findings that can be applied to the everyday lives of older adults.
• Understanding Aging Boxes highlight phenomena such as “sundown syndrome” and “end-of-life desires,” which provide a deeper insight into the aging process.
• Integrated themes of diversity, environmental influences on aging, and applications to everyday life relate the story of aging more directly to key concepts.
• New Chapter 13 explores what older adulthood may look like in the future and ties together the author’s theoretical framework with views on positive aging.
• New Questions to Consider at the end of each chapter stimulate readers to think about how the information in the chapter relates to them personally.
• Ancillaries: Instructor’s Manual with tests and Power Point slides for each chapter.

Joan T. Erber received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Saint Louis University, after which she completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Aging and Development at Washington University in St. Louis. She is presently Professor of Psychology at Florida International University, and has extensive experience teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in adult development and aging and conducting research on processes of aging. Her numerous publications focus on aging and memory and how stereotypes of aging influence our perceptions and evaluations of older adults. Her research findings, some of which were funded by grants from the National Institute on Aging, are published in scientific journals such as Psychology and Aging, Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, and Experimental Aging Research. She has served on editorial boards of journals that publish research on aging. Additionally, Erber is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), the Association for Psychological Science (APS), and the American Psychological Association (APA). She is a past president of the APA Division 20 (Adult Development and Aging).