Middle adulthood

• Middle-Aged people


  In their prime
• Individuals who scored the highest in the study of Schaie


  • High educational levels
  • Flexible personalities
  • Intact families
  • Pursue cognitively complex occupations and other activities
  • Married to someone more cognitively advanced
  • Satisfied with their accomplishments
• Crystallized Intelligence


  Increases through middle age and often until the end of life
• Mature adults


  Show increasing competence in solving problems in their chosen field
• Specialized Knowledge or Expertise

  Form of crystallized intelligence that is related to the process of encapsulation
• Adults


  Do not usually depend on the brain's information-processing-machinery because some adult's fluid intelligence becomes encapsulated (dedicated in handling specific kinds of knowledge)
• Expert thinking


  Often seems automatic and intuitive
• Postformal Thought


  Characteristic of intuitive, experience-based thinking
• Postformal thought


  Integrative nature – adults interpret what they read, see, or hear in terms of its meaning for them
• Conscientiousness


  Highest maybe due to result of work experiences