ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses psychological aspects of functional age including development across the life course, adaptive processes of older adults, the sensory processes of aging, and the major mental illnesses. It emphasizes the life-cycle approach to understanding psychological development and mental health status in old age. The chapter suggests that adaptiveness in later life, as in all stages of the life cycle, requires that people feel in control over their environment. Despite the ever-growing body of scientific knowledge associated with the processes of growing old, there are still myths about the psychological aspects of aging. Although there is no evidence that the normal processes of aging produce substantial changes in personality, a common notion about age-related personality change is that as individuals grow older, they become more rigid, irritable, demanding, and set in their ways. Depending on a person's living arrangements and quality of his or her surroundings, demands of environmental press can range from weak to strong.
