Your responses to other learners are expected to be substantive in nature and to reference the assigned readings, as well as other theoretical, empirical, or professional literature to support your views and writings. Use the following critique guidelines:

The clarity and completeness of your peer’s post.

The demonstrated ability to apply theory to practice.

The credibility of the references.

The structure and style of the written post.

Unit 10, Discussion 1

COLLAPSE

Intelligence is made up of two different components; fluid and crystalized. Fluid intelligence is focused around the way an individual’s brain functions and how well the nervous system works. This aspect of intelligence includes an individual’s reasoning, understanding, and processing rate. Broderick and Blewitt (2012) discuss this function in detail and it has been determined that as adults approach later adulthood, fluid intelligence declines and individuals in this category require more time to process things they may have been able to process rather quickly in the past. It is also well known that older adults tend to have poor memory recall. This is explained by the decrease in fluid intelligence. Specifically, it is the working memory that seems to take a hit with age. This is shown by forgetting names of new co-workers, or being unable to recall longer strings of numbers than one once could. This loss does not seem to be critical to an individual’s functioning, rather an annoyance. However, the overall decline of fluid intelligence may be more impactful on quality of life, as reasoning and processing are much more influential to daily functioning.

            The other component is crystallized intelligence; or a storage area of everything we have learned in our lives. This includes languages, skills, and “all forms of declarative and procedural knowledge (Broderick & Blewitt, 2012). Crystallized intelligence is much more influential on an individual’s life, as it is the building blocks of one’s every day life. Forgetting certain aspects of language, or valuable information you utilize in the workplace can be detrimental. Fortunately, this aspect of intelligence has been found to be less likely to decline with age as compared to fluid intelligence.

            Professionals can utilize this information by tailoring their vocabulary and any reading material to that of a simpler understanding. By doing this, professionals are avoiding over-stimulating the aging adults and allowing them more time to process things. Simply allowing adults who are reaching late adulthood to take their time understanding new things, and rehearsing new material that may need memorized more frequently will benefit their quality of life. 

References:

Broderick, P. C., & Blewitt, P. (2015). The life span: Human development for helping professionals (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. ISBN: 9780132942881