PSYC 235 Week 4 DB Forum 2 Example

Discussion Board Forum 2: Thread and Two Replies

PSYC 235 Psychology of Adulthood, Discussion Board Forum 2 (thread and two replies)

Thread by [Student Name]

The prompt, the writer's example and the classmates' posts are composites standing in for the course's own forum; the textbook, Scripture and published studies are real; the requirements follow Liberty's public course guide for PSYC 235.

Thread

My grandfather is 81. He can no longer recall the names of my cousins' children quickly, and he takes longer to learn a new phone. Yet he still beats every one of us at trivia and can explain the history of every town in our county. He is a living illustration of a distinction in our chapter, and of why the question in the prompt deserves a careful answer.

Bjorklund (2015) explains that fluid abilities, the speed and flexibility needed for unfamiliar problems, start a slow slide in the twenties and thirties, whereas crystallized abilities, the stored knowledge and word power a person builds over decades, hold steady or keep growing well past retirement age. So the answer to the prompt is partly yes: some decline is a normal part of aging. But normal aging is not the same as dementia, which involves impairment serious enough to interfere with daily life.

The more hopeful news is that dementia risk is not fixed. Livingston et al. (2024), writing for the Lancet standing Commission, identified 14 risks that can be changed, grouped by life stage: limited schooling in childhood; in midlife, problems such as hearing loss, high LDL cholesterol, depression, head injury, inactivity, diabetes, smoking, high blood pressure, obesity and heavy drinking; and in later life, isolation, polluted air and vision loss that goes untreated. The 2024 report added the last of these, along with cholesterol, to its earlier list. The commission's estimate that close to half of the world's dementia might be avoided or postponed by tackling these risks is a statement about populations, not a guarantee for any one person.

Scripture places high value on what my grandfather still has. Job 12:12 asks whether wisdom is not with the aged and understanding in length of days (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016). That concept reframes cognitive aging: the loss of speed can sit beside a gain in knowledge and judgment that younger people need. A church or family that treats older members only as forgetful misses what they offer, from historical memory to practical advice drawn from decades of experience.

Classmates: have you seen someone in your family whose crystallized abilities seemed to grow even as speed declined?

Reply to Brianna

Brianna, you mentioned that your grandmother refused hearing aids for years and seemed to withdraw from conversation. The Lancet Commission treats midlife hearing loss as a major risk worth addressing, and the ACHIEVE trial tested whether treating it helps people already in their seventies and early eighties. Lin et al. (2023) gave half of their participants, all with untreated hearing problems, audiologist visits and fitted hearing aids, and gave the other half sessions with a health educator. Across the full sample of nearly a thousand, three-year cognitive change came out the same in both arms. The picture changed for one subgroup: volunteers recruited from an existing cardiovascular study, an older and less healthy group, declined noticeably more slowly when their hearing was treated.

That mixed result suggests hearing treatment may matter most for those at greatest risk, which could include your grandmother. Proverbs speaks of gray hair as a crown of glory (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, Proverbs 16:31), and helping older adults stay in conversation is one way of honoring them. The trial's participants were mostly White, so we also need studies in more diverse groups. Did your grandmother's withdrawal change once she could hear better?

Reply to Cole

Cole, you wrote that you plan to do crossword puzzles every day so your brain will stay sharp as you age. It is a good habit, but our reading suggests some caution about what it can do. Bjorklund (2015) explains that cognitive training tends to improve the specific skills that are practiced, with limited transfer to other abilities or to everyday functioning. Getting better at crosswords mostly makes a person better at crosswords, even if it is enjoyable and keeps the mind engaged.

The Lancet Commission's list points in a broader direction: physical activity, social connection, treating hearing loss and controlling blood pressure all appear among the modifiable factors (Livingston et al., 2024). A daily walk with a friend might do more than a puzzle alone. Paul's reminder that bodily training is of some value, while godliness is of value in every way (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, 1 Timothy 4:8), suggests keeping such habits in proportion. Would you consider pairing your puzzles with something social or active, such as a weekly game night or a walking group?

References

Bjorklund, B. R. (2015). The journey of adulthood (8th ed.). Pearson.

English Standard Version Bible. (2016). Crossway. (Original work published 2001)

Lin, F. R., Pike, J. R., Albert, M. S., Arnold, M., Burgard, S., Chisolm, T., Couper, D., Deal, J. A., Goman, A. M., Glynn, N. W., Gmelin, T., Gravens-Mueller, L., Hayden, K. M., Huang, A. R., Knopman, D., Mitchell, C. M., Mosley, T., Pankow, J. S., Reed, N. S., ... Coresh, J. (2023). Hearing intervention versus health education control to reduce cognitive decline in older adults with hearing loss in the USA (ACHIEVE): A multicentre, randomised controlled trial. The Lancet, 402(10404), 786-797. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)01406-X

Livingston, G., Huntley, J., Liu, K. Y., Costafreda, S. G., Selbæk, G., Alladi, S., Ames, D., Banerjee, S., Burns, A., Brayne, C., Fox, N. C., Ferri, C. P., Gitlin, L. N., Howard, R., Kales, H. C., Kivimäki, M., Larson, E. B., Nakasujja, N., Rockwood, K., ... Mukadam, N. (2024). Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2024 report of the Lancet standing Commission. The Lancet, 404(10452), 572-628. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(24)01296-0