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Syllabus
Winter 2017
HDPS 351: Special Topics – The Art and Science of Aging
M, W 2:00-3:20 PM
Annenberg Hall G-08
Professor Dan P. McAdams
Annenberg Hall 209
1-4174
Office hours: W, 4:00-6:00 pm (Annenberg 209)
THEMATIC OVERVIEW
For over 2000 years, poets and philosophers have commented on the universal human experience of “getting older.” In the past few hundred years, novelists and scientists have joined the effort, along with filmmakers, musicians, counselors, bloggers, motivational speakers, and a host of others. What does it feel like to move through the adult years and toward “old age”? How do people’s personalities, social relationships, and overall world view change as they grow older? What does psychological and social science have to say about general trends, as well as individual differences, in aging? This discussion-based and writing-intensive seminar is sequentially organized in terms of five cardinal themes: (1) the social/emotional world,(2) generations, (3) memory and the self, (4) loss, and (5) wisdom of the ages. Within these five themes, the seminar will consider a range of psychological and social issues as they apply to adult development and aging, sampling some of the most provocative sources from fiction, drama, poetry, music, and cinema – and from the scientific literature.
READINGS AND OTHER MATERIALS
Many of the readings for this course – articles, essays, short stories, and poems – are posted as pdfs on the Canvas course site. Sources from music and film will be made available in class. In addition, three short novels (all paperback) are required for purchase:
Barnes, J. (2011). The sense of an ending. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-307-94772-7.
Strout, E. (2008). Olive Kitteridge. Random House. ISBN 978-0-8129-8763-8.
Tolstoy, L. (1886/2013). The death of Ivan Ilych. Tribeca. (Also readily available as mass market paperback and edition for Kindle.)
WRITTEN REQUIREMENTS AND EVALUATION
The final grade for the course is based on 2 short papers (worth 10 points each), 1 midterm exam (worth 40 points), 1 final paper (worth 30 points), and class participation (worth up to 10 points). (The final point total, therefore, is 100.)
COURSE SCHEDULE
January 3-11 THEME #1: THE SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL WORLD
Strout, Olive Kitteridge. (first half).
Hu, W. (2016, July 12). Too old for sex? Not at this nursing home. The New York Times.
Angell, R. (2014, February 17, 24). This old man. The New Yorker, pp. 60-65.
Carstensen, L., & Mikels, J. A. (2005). At the intersection of emotion and cognition: Aging and the positivity effect. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 117-121.
St. Jacques, P. L., Dolcos, F., & Cabeza, R. (2009). Effects of aging on functional connectivity of the amygdala for subsequent memory of negative pictures. Psychological Science, 20, 74-84.
Luhmann, M., & Hawkley, L. C. (2016). Age differences in loneliness from late adolescence to oldest old age. Developmental Psychology, 52, 943-959.
Coall, D. A., & Hertwig, R. (2011). Grandparental investment: A relic of the past or a resource for the future? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20, 93-98.
Paper #1 due Sunday, January 15, 11:59 pm. (Submit through Canvas.)
Topic: Choose two different characters in Olive Kitteridgeand compare how they engage themselves in the social world. How do they approach interpersonal relationships, and what do they gain from their relationships? (3 pages).
No class on Monday, January 16 (MLK holiday.)
January 18-25 THEME #2: GENERATIONS
Strout, Olive Kitteridge. (second half).
The Book of Genesis – Chapters 15-22. The story of Abraham and Isaac.
McAdams, D. P. (2001). Generativity at midlife. In M. Lachman (Ed.), Handbook of midlife development (pp. 395-443). New York: Wiley.
Hofer, J., Bush, H., Au, A., Solcova, I. P., Tavel, P., & Wong, T. T. (2014). For the benefit of others: Generativity and meaning in life in the elderly in four cultures. Psychology and Aging, 29, 764-775.
Kessler, E., & Staudinger, U. M. (2007). Intergenerational potential: Effects of social interaction between older adults and adolescents. Psychology and Aging, 22, 690-704.
Paper #2 due Sunday, January 29, 11:59 pm. (Submit through Canvas).
Topic: How does the Olive Kitteridge herself experience aging? In what ways does she change as she moves across the adult life course? (4-5 pages).
January 30 - February 8. THEME #3: MEMORY AND THE SELF.
(No class on Wednesday, February 1).
Barnes. The sense of an ending.
White, E. B. (1941). Once more to the lake.
The life story interview. Foley Center for the Study of Lives.
Routledge, C., Arndt, J., Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., Hart, C. M., Juhl, J., Vingerhoets, A. J. J. M., & Schlotz, W. (2011). The past makes the present meaningful: Nostalgia as an existential resource. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101, 638-652.
McColgan, G., Valentine, J., & Downs, M. (2000). Concluding narratives of a career in dementia: Accounts of Iris Murdock at her death. Ageing and Society, 20, 97-109.
Monday, February 13: MIDTERM EXAM.
February 15-27. THEME #4: LOSS
Poetry:
Elliot, T. S. (1915). “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”
Bishop, E. (1979). “One Art.”
Cinema:
On Golden Pond (1981).
Tolstoy. The death of Ivan Ilych.
Freeman, M. (2011). Narrative foreclosure in later life: Possibilities and limits. In G. Kenyon, E. Bohlmeijer, and W. L. Randall (Eds.), Storying later life: Issues, investigations, and interventions in narrative gerontology (pp. 3-19). New York: Oxford University Press.
Baltes, P. B. (1997). On the incomplete architecture of human ontogeny: Selection, optimization, and compensation as foundation for developmental theory. American Psychologist, 52, 366-380.
Rodriguez, J. (2009). Attributions of agency and the construction of a moral order: Dementia, death, and dignity in nursing home care. Social Psychology Quarterly, 72, 165-179.
March 1-8. THEME #5: WISDOM OF THE AGES.
Godfrey-Smith, P. (2016, December 1). Octopuses and the puzzle of aging. New York Times.
Poetry: Star System, by Clive James.
The Book of Ecclesiastes – Chpts. 1-3, 7. On wisdom.
Aristotle. The Nicomachean ethics. A short selection.
Sacks, O. (2015, February 19). My own life: Oliver Sacks on learning he has terminal cancer. New York Times.
Simonton, D. K. (1989). The swan-song phenomenon: Last-work effects for 172 classical composers. Psychology and Aging, 4, 42-47.
Baltes, P. B., & Staudinger, U. M. (2000). Wisdom: A metaheuristic (pragmatic) to orchestrate mind and virtue toward excellence. American Psychologist, 55, 122-136.
Wink, P., & Dillon, M. (2002). Spiritual development across the life course: Findings from a longitudinal study. Journal of Adult Development, 9, 79-94.
Final paper is due on Monday, March 13, 11:59 pm. (Submit through Canvas.)
Topic: TBD. (10-12 pages).
Musical selections:
Adele. A million years ago.
Johann Sebastian Bach. Mass in B Minor (selections).
Harry Chapin. Cats in the cradle.
Mary Chapin Carpenter. Only a dream.
Elvis Costello. Veronica.
Gabriel Faure. Requiem (selections).
Gustav Mahler. Symphony #5 (selections).
John Lennon & Paul McCartney. When I’m sixty-four.
Lin-Manuel Miranda. Dear Theodosia (from Hamilton).
Lord, Thee I love with all my heart (1577).
Willie Nelson. September song.
Frank Sinatra. It was a very good year.
Steven Sondheim. Send in the clowns (from A Little Night Music).
Jay Z. 30 something.