The Art and Science of Aging (310-0-20)

Instructors

Dan P McAdams

Meeting Info

Annenberg Hall 303: Tues, Thurs 3:30PM - 4:50PM

Overview of class

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