What is aging and when does older adulthood begin? Later, we will look at the ways of defining age and determining when older adulthood starts. However, from the beginning of time, people have wondered about aging, and there have been numerous myths about how to slow down the aging process and prolong life (Birren, 1996; Birren & Schroots, 2001). One such myth involved speculation about the miraculous healing powers of various substances in certain parts of the world. The Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon (1460ā1521) discovered Florida while searching for a fountain of youth that supposedly would rejuvenate anyone who drank or bathed in its waters. People believed that waters or other magical substances would not only restore youth but perhaps guarantee immortality as well. Birren (1996) contends that the modern equivalent of the search for rejuvenation is evident in the pilgrimages people make to health spas and their willingness to follow dietary regimens touted as having special potency for insuring long and healthy lives. Being able to combat aging and extend life seems to have universal appeal, and many entrepreneurs have amassed great wealth by selling antiaging products of questionable value to naive consumers (Olshansky, Hayflick, & Carnes, 2002).
History of the Scientific Study of Aging
Although interest in aging goes back centuries, the scientific study of aging and older adulthood is more recent. Several well-known researchers (Birren, 1996; Birren & Schroots, 2001; Schroots, 1996) portray how the scientific study of aging got started, and in the following paragraphs are some of the highlights they recount.
In 1835, Belgian mathematician and astronomer Adolphe Quetelet published a book describing the physical and behavioral characteristics of people at various stages of life. In 1884, Francis Galton, an Englishman trained in medicine and mathematics, sponsored a health exhibition in London, where he measured the physical and mental functions of more than 9,000 people ranging from 5 to 80 years of age. Subsequently, Galtonās data were analyzed by several scientists. In 1922, G. S. Hall published a book entitled Senescence: The Second Half of Life, which summarized what was known about aging in fields such as physiology, medicine, anatomy, and philosophy. This book touched upon psychology as well.
In the latter part of the 19th century and early part of the 20th century, developmental psychologists focused mainly on children, perhaps because of the practical necessities of training teachers and providing child-rearing advice to parents (Birren & Schroots, 2001). However, in 1933, Charlotte Buhler published a book on biological and psychological processes throughout the entire course of human development. Written in German, Buhlerās book is considered by many to be the foundation of life-span developmental psychology.
The year 1927 saw the establishment of a scientific laboratory designed to study the psychology of aging systematically (Birren, 1996; Birren & Schroots, 2001; Schroots, 1996). This laboratory, based in the psychology department of Stanford University, was headed by Walter R. Miles, who initiated the Stanford Later Maturity Study. According to Birrenās (1996) account, the main reason for establishing this laboratory was that men in California were having difficulty finding work because they were considered too old (Chapter 10 discusses the older worker). For more than 5 years, Miles conducted research on age and psychomotor functioning.
In 1939, E. V. Cowdry, a cytologist at Washington University in St. Louis, edited a classic volume entitled Problems of Aging, which went beyond the biomedical aspects of aging to include social, psychological, and psychiatric information. In 1941, the United States Public Health Service organized a conference on mental health and aging. That same year, the Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service recruited Dr. Nathan W. Shock to head the newly established Section on Aging within the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is an agency of the U.S. government.
In sum, by the late 1930s and early 1940s, the scientific study of aging was beginning to take shape in the United States, although research efforts were temporarily halted when the United Stated entered World War II. But when the war ended, interest in aging research was revived, and several professional societies for the study of aging were established. In 1945, the Gerontological Society (subsequently renamed the Gerontological Society of America) was founded. The Gerontological Society and the newly established American Geriatric Society began publishing scientific journals on aging. The International Association of Gerontology, founded at about the same time, began to organize national and international conferences on the scientific study of aging.
In 1945, a small group of psychologists petitioned the American Psychological Association (APA) to approve a new division devoted to the study of development in the later years. Dr. Sidney L. Pressey of Ohio State University argued that a division on adulthood and later maturity would ābe a natural complement to the present division on childhood and adolescenceā and would ārecognize that human development and change continue throughout the adult years and ol...
