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HANDBOOK OF THE PSYCHOLOGY OF AGING
NINTH EDITION
THE HANDBOOKS OF
AGING
Consisting of Three Volumes
Critical Comprehensive Reviews of Research Knowledge,

Theories, Concepts, and Issues
Editors-in-Chief
Laura L. Carstensen and
Thomas A. Rando
Handbook of the Biology of Aging, 9th Edition

Edited by Nicolas Musi and Peter J. Hornsby
Handbook of the Psychology of Aging, 9th Edition

Edited by K. Warner Schaie and Sherry L. Willis
Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences, 9th Edition

Edited by Kenneth F. Ferraro and Deborah Carr
HANDBOOK OF THE
PSYCHOLOGY OF
AGING
NINTH EDITION
Edited by
K. WARNER SCHAIE
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle,
WA, United States
SHERRY L. WILLIS
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle,
WA, United States
Associate Editors
BOB G. KNIGHT
BECCA R. LEVY
SUSAN M. RESNICK
Academic Press is an imprint of Elsevier
125 London Wall, London EC2Y 5AS, United Kingdom
525 B Street, Suite 1650, San Diego, CA 92101, United States
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The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, United Kingdom
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Notices
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ISBN: 978-0-12-816094-7
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visit our website at https://www.elsevier.com/books-and-journals
Publisher: Nikki Levy

Editorial Project Manager: Barbara Makinster
Production Project Manager: Swapna Srinivasan
Cover Designer: Matthew Limbert
Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India
Contents
List of contributors xi Multi-timescale processes and research designs 24

About the editors xiii Measuring and modeling multiscale processes from
intensive time series 25
Foreword xv Dynamical systems and attractors 25
Preface xvii Dynamical systems models in aging 26
Challenges 28
I Planning for the long term
Privacy, linking, and data sharing
28
28
Concepts, theories, methods Incompleteness and attrition 29
Reliability versus sensitivity 30
Measurement invariance over time 30
1. History of adult cognitive aging research Emerging opportunities 30
Intrinsic capacity and functional ability 31
K. WARNER SCHAIE
Conclusion 31
References 31
Introduction 3
Adult stages of intellectual development 4
A stage model of adult cognitive development 4
Assessment of intellectual functions
A test of intelligence
6
6
II
The nature of intelligence 7 Bio-psychosocial factors in aging
Intelligence as multiple abilities 7
Practical or everyday intelligence 8
Intelligence and age 8 3. Functional connectivity in aging 37
Crystallized and fluid intelligence 9
FRANZISKUS LIEM, LINDA GEERLIGS, JESSICA S. DAMOISEAUX AND
Early cross-sectional studies 9 DANIEL S. MARGULIES
Longitudinal studies 10
Cohort differences 10 General introduction and outline of chapter 37
Magnitude of change 12 Functional connectivity 38
Frequency of decline 13 The default mode network 38
Personality and lifestyles 13 Functional connectivity in aging 38
Summary 14 Within-network connectivity 38
References 15 Between-network connectivity 40
Further reading 17 Whole-brain connectivity 41
Dynamics 42
2. Measurement and models for multi-timescale Cognition and functional connectivity 43
psychological processes in aging research 19 Functional connectivity in neurodegenerative disorders 44
STEVEN M. BOKER AND JOHN R. NESSELROADE
Functional connectivity as a biomarker 45
Functional connectivity as a general biomarker
Introduction 19 for brain health 45
Matching the research design to the question 20 Connectivity as an early marker for neurodegenerative
Modeling review 21 disorders 45
Cross-sectional models 21 Methodological considerations relevant to aging research 46
Autoregressive and crosslag models 22 Summary and future directions 47
Latent growth curves and multilevel models 22 Acknowledgments 47
The changing data landscape 24 References 47
v
vi Contents
4. Memory: behavior and neural basis 53 Consequences of pain in older adults 88

CINDY LUSTIG AND ZIYONG LIN
Pain management in older adults 88
Pain assessment 88
What is memory, and what is aging? 53 Pain management 90
Brain aging and memory: a complex and Summary 93
dynamic relationship 54 References 93
Control and association: major influences on age Further reading 98
differences in memory 55
The controlled processing paradox: important and impaired 55 7. Sleep, neurocognition, and aging, including
Associational memory may be especially impaired in aging 57 secular trends in older adult sleep 99
Default network dysregulation 57 CATHERINE A. MCCALL AND NATHANIEL F. WATSON
Modifying factors: qualitative and quantitative effects 58
Interventions: hope for improvement? 59 Introduction 99
Summary and conclusions 61 Sleep through the life span 100
References 62 Reductions in slow wave activity 101
Sleep spindle changes 101
5. Executive functions and neurocognitive aging 67 Alterations of sleep parameters 102
Circadian rhythm changes 102
PATRICIA A. REUTER-LORENZ, SARA B. FESTINI AND
Etiologies of sleep changes over the life span 103
TIFFANY K. JANTZ
Etiologies of sleep disturbances in older adults 103
Overview 67 Primary sleep disorders 104
Measuring executive functions 68 Medications, substances, sleep, and cognition 105
Executive deficit theories of cognitive aging 68 Neurocognitive disorders and sleep 107
Inhibitory deficit theory (Hasher & Zacks) 69 Benefits and challenges of treating sleep problems
Goal maintenance deficit (Braver & West) 69 in older adults 109
Production deficit hypothesis 69 Conclusions 110
Frontal lobe hypothesis of cognitive aging 70 References 110
A current perspective on executive deficit theories of
cognitive aging 70 8. The final challenge of aging: Death and dying 119
Do executive functions show the earliest and disproportionate MOLLY MAXFIELD, EVA-MARIA STELZER AND JEFF GREENBERG
decline? 70
Cross-sectional evidence for disproportionate executive Terror management theory 120
functions decline? 70 Implications of terror management theory for older adults
Longitudinal evidence for earlier executive functions approaching death 121
decline? 71 Aging and death-related anxiety 123
Do brain regions linked to executive functions show the The medical and lifestyle pragmatics of the dying process
earliest and disproportionate decline? 72 for older adults 125
Aging and the neural substrates of executive functions 72 Denial and avoidance in communicating
Relative degree and onset of prefrontal cortex decline 73 life-limiting diagnoses 127
Executive functions and prefrontal cortex processes as Preparation for end-of-life 128
compensatory and protective 74 The hospice and palliative care movement 129
Executive functions, the frontal lobes, and lifelong aging 75 Death with Dignity 130
References 76 Summary and future directions 130
References 131
6. Pain in older adults 83
ANN L. HORGAS AND AMANDA F. ELLIOTT
III
Overview of pain 83
Behavioral processes
Definitions of pain 83
Theories of pain 84
Pain and aging 85 9. Smartphones, robots, and social media:
Pain in older adults 85 aging with communication technologies 139
Epidemiology of pain in older adults 85 CHENG CHEN, MICHAEL L. KRIEGER AND S. SHYAM SUNDAR
Cross-national estimates of chronic pain 86
Age differences in pain 86 Introduction 139
Factors that contribute to pain in older adults 87 Aging with communication technology 140
Contents vii
Smartphones 140 12. Financial decision-making and capacity in

Social media 142 older adults 193
Video gaming 143
DANIEL C. MARSON, DEBORAH L. KERR AND DONALD G. MCLAREN
Virtual reality 145
Smart home technology 146 Introduction: what is financial capacity? Legal, clinical and
Robots 147 ethical perspectives 194
Concluding remarks 149 The financial capacity problem: cognitive aging and
References 150 disorders of aging 195
Clinical warning signs of diminished financial capacity 196
Challenges in modeling financial capacity 197
10. Self-perceptions and awareness of aging: Clinical model of financial capacity 198
past, present, and future 155 Approaches to assessing financial capacity 198
MANFRED DIEHL, ALLYSON F. BROTHERS AND HANS-WERNER WAHL Assessing premorbid financial capacity 200
Self and informant-based assessment 200
Introduction 155 Performance-based assessment 200
A conceptual framework for subjective aging research 156 Clinical interview assessment of financial capacity 201
Subjective age: strengths and limitations 157 Empirical studies of financial capacity 202
Self-perceptions and awareness of aging: the past 158 Financial capacity in patients with mild and moderate
Self-perceptions and awareness of aging: the present 158 Alzheimer’s disease 202
Self-perceptions of aging: conceptual and measurement Financial capacity in patients with mild cognitive impairment 203
considerations 159 Neuropsychological predictors of financial capacity 204
Awareness of age-related change: conceptual and Neuroimaging studies of financial capacity 205
measurement considerations 159 Neuroimaging approaches to studying financial capacity 205
Empirical findings on the role of self-perceptions and Neuroimaging studies of financial capacity in a mild cognitive
awareness of aging 161 impairment and Alzheimer’s disease 205
Secular trends/cohort differences in self-perceptions and Neuroimaging studies of financial decision making in
awareness of aging 167 cognitively normal older adults 206
Self-perceptions and awareness of aging: the future 169 Summary 206
Focus on pathways and mechanisms 169 Noncognitive contributions to financial capacity in aging 206
Elaborating developmental antecedents, correlates, Psychological and psychiatric contributions to financial
and trajectories 170 capacity 207
Examining the modifiability of self-perceptions of aging 171 Relationship of physical dependence/medical frailty to
Changing the societal context of self-perceptions of aging 172 financial capacity in aging 208
Conclusion 173 Noncognitive contributions to financial capacity in aging 208
Acknowledgment 174 Cultural and social contributions to financial capacity
References 174 in aging 208
Resilience and financial capacity in aging 209
Future research directions 210
11. Gender diversity in later life 181 Detecting very early financial declines in cognitively normal
elderly 210
JENNIFER L. O’ BRIEN AND SUSAN KRAUSS WHITBOURNE
Study of financial capacity in other older adult clinical
Introduction 181 populations 210
Gender identity 181 Study of noncognitive contributions to financial capacity in
Terms 182 aging 210
Redefining the gender binary 182 Evolution of financial capacity in a technological society 210
Gender identity throughout the life span 183 References 211
Research findings 183
Gender affirmation 184
Aging and gender identity 185 13. The older worker: gender and age discrimination
Unique challenges faced by gender diverse elders 186 in the workplace 215
Improving outcomes for gender diverse elders 187 STEPHANE P. FRANCIOLI AND MICHAEL S. NORTH
Focus on resilience 188
Policies and steps to promote inclusivity in healthcare practice 188 The what, where, and when of discrimination against older
Affirmative care 189 workers 216
Conclusion 190 Hiring discrimination 217
References 190 On-the-job discrimination 218
viii Contents
Discrimination at job separation 220 Cultural context 267

Why does discrimination against older workers occur? 220 Family factors 268
From stereotypes of, to discrimination toward older workers 221 Individual factors 269
The powerful prescriptive effects of age norms 223 Future directions and conclusions 270
At the intersection of age and gender: the case of female Implications of a life-span model of family care exchanges 270
older workers 225 Clinical and policy implications 270
Do older female workers have it worse? 225 References 271
Gendered ageism and “Lookism” 226
Conclusion and opportunities for future research 227
References 228 17. Stress, coping, and aging 275
CAROLYN M. ALDWIN, LORIENA YANCURA AND HYUNYUP LEE
14. Remembering the personal past across Stress 276

adulthood 237 Foundational concepts in the study of stress 276
NICOLE ALEA, SUSAN BLUCK AND SHUBAM SHARMA Trauma 276
Life events 277
Cognitive psychology tradition: ecological, everyday memory 238 Hassles 277
The personal past: empirical research in cognitive psychology 239 Chronic role strain 277
Gerontological tradition: reminiscence and life review 240 Does stress change with age? 278
The personal past: empirical research in gerontology 240 Coping 278
Personality psychology tradition: autobiographical Foundational concepts in the study of coping 278
reasoning and the life story 241 Changes in coping with age 279
The personal past: empirical research in personality Theoretical models of stress, coping, and aging 280
psychology 241 Age-related changes in motivation 280
Bridging traditions 242 Increase in coping efficiency 281
Functions of autobiographical memory 243 Summary 281
Conclusion 243 References 282
References 244 Further reading 286
IV 18. Resilience in midlife and aging 287

KAARIN J. ANSTEY AND ROGER A. DIXON
Complex processes
Introduction 287
Resilience and the life course 288
15. Psychological assessment of neurocognitive Concepts and definitions: distinguishing resilience from
disorders 251 related concepts 288
BRIAN P. YOCHIM AND BENJAMIN T. MAST
Measurement of resilience 291
Scale approaches to measuring resilience 292
Introduction 251 Trajectory approaches to defining and detecting resilience 292
Neurocognitive disorders 252 Epidemiological contributions 293
Assessment of neurocognitive disorders 252 Resilience in midlife 294
Cultural considerations in the assessment of late life Domain specific resilience in aging 294
neurocognitive disorders 253 Comparison of cognitive resilience to related concepts 295
Establishing etiologies 254 Physical, psychological, and general resilience 296
Capacity assessment 255 Conclusions and future directions 296
Emergence of positive psychology and person-centered care 256 Acknowledgments 297
Nontraditional, unobtrusive measures of cognition 257 References 297
Conclusion 258
References 258
Further reading 262
19. Successful aging: an obscure but
obvious construct 301
RACHEL PRUCHNO
16. Family care exchanges across the life span 263
CYNTHIA A. BERG, CAITLIN S. KELLY AND REBECCA L. UTZ Semantics regarding successful aging 302
The bedrocks of successful aging 303
The life-span model of family care exchanges 264 Early science 303
Common risk and protective factors for family care exchanges 266 The perspectives collide 304
Contents ix
Successful aging: a multidimensional concept or a fuzzy one? 305 Cohort and longitudinal findings from Seattle Longitudinal
Successful aging: a new paradigm 307 Study: Age-related change from 50 to 80 years in
Successful aging: a public health imperative 309 2 cohorts in old age (18861913; 191448) 326
Interventions promoting successful aging 310 Earlier born versus later born cohorts 327
Future directions 310 Cohort differences in rate of cognitive aging 327
Conclusions 312 Cohort differences in terminal cognitive decline:
References 312 Two cohorts in old age (18861913; 191448) 327
Assessing compression of morbidity: Time to death metric 329
Cohort differences 329
20. Cognitive functioning and dementia Recent changes in prevalence and incidence of dementia 330
prevalence in baby boomers and adjacent cohorts: Age specific versus cohort analyses of dementia prevalence 330
Longitudinal and cohort effects 319 Possible explanations 331
SHERRY L. WILLIS AND K. WARNER SCHAIE
Dementia prevalence and incidence in non-Hispanic
Black elderly 331
Increase in US aging population (2.22.2021) 320 Discussion 332
Changes in diversity: Race and ethnicity of older US Cohort differences in various cognitive abilities:
population 320 Mean level and variability 332
Significant contribution of boomers to increases in Cohort differences and cognitive change in from 50 to
US aging population 320 80 years in 2 cohorts in old age (18861913; 191448) 333
US Hispanic baby boomers 321 Cohort differences in terminal decline 333
Boomer generations world wide 322 Changes in prevalence of dementia and possible cohort
Cohort and longitudinal effects: Comparison of cognition differences 334
in cohorts in midlife with special focus on the Future directions 334
baby boomers 322 References 334
Study of cognition in boomers 322 Further reading 337
Memory: Cognitive change trajectory in midlife 325
Cohort differences in cognition in old age: Differential Author index 339
findings 326 Subject index 359
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List of contributors
Carolyn M. Aldwin Program in Human Development and Jeff Greenberg Department of Psychology, University of
Family Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States
United States
Ann L. Horgas Department of Biobehavioral Nursing
Nicole Alea Department of Psychological and Brain Science, University of Florida, College of Nursing,
Sciences, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Gainesville, FL, United States
Barbara, CA, United States
Tiffany K. Jantz Department of Psychology, University of
Kaarin J. Anstey UNSW Ageing Futures Institute, Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Caitlin S. Kelly Department of Psychology, Consortium for
Cynthia A. Berg Department of Psychology, Consortium Families and Health Research, University of Utah, Salt
for Families and Health Research, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
Lake City, UT, United States
Deborah L. Kerr Department of Neurology, University of
Susan Bluck Department of Psychology, University of
Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States;
Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology,
Steven M. Boker Department of Psychology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL,
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United States United States
Jennifer L. O’ Brien Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Michael L. Krieger Media Effects Research Laboratory,
(MIT), Medical Department, Cambridge, MA, United States
Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications,
Allyson F. Brothers Department of Human Development Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, United
and Family Studies, Colorado State University, Fort States
Collins, CO, United States
Hyunyup Lee Department of Psychology and
Cheng Chen Media Effects Research Laboratory, Donald P. Management, Korea Military Academy, Seoul, Republic of
Bellisario College of Communications, Pennsylvania State Korea
University, State College, PA, United States
Franziskus Liem University Research Priority Program
Jessica S. Damoiseaux Department of Psychology and “Dynamics of Healthy Aging”, University of Zurich,
Institute of Gerontology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Zürich, Switzerland
MI, United States
Ziyong Lin Department of Psychology, University of
Manfred Diehl Department of Human Development and
Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
Family Studies, Colorado State University, Fort Collins,
CO, United States Cindy Lustig Department of Psychology, University of
Roger A. Dixon Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada Daniel S. Margulies Integrative Neuroscience and
Amanda F. Elliott Department of Biobehavioral Nursing Cognition Center (UMR 8002), Centre National de la
Science, University of Florida, College of Nursing, Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and Université de Paris,
Gainesville, FL, United States Paris, France
Sara B. Festini Center for Vital Longevity, University of Daniel C. Marson Department of Neurology, University of
Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, United States Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States;
Stephane P. Francioli New York University, Stern School Alzheimer’s Disease Center, University of Alabama at
of Business, New York, NY, United States Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States
Linda Geerligs Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Benjamin T. Mast Department of Psychological & Brain
Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, United
Netherlands States
xi
xii List of contributors
Molly Maxfield Edson College of Nursing and Health Shubam Sharma Department of Psychology, University of
Innovation, Center for Innovation in Healthy and Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States
Resilient Aging, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, Eva-Maria Stelzer Department of Psychology, University of
United States Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States
Catherine A. McCall Department of Pulmonary, Critical S. Shyam Sundar Media Effects Research Laboratory, Donald
Care, and Sleep Medicine, VA Puget Sound Health Care P. Bellisario College of Communications, Pennsylvania State
System, Seattle, WA, United States; Department of University, State College, PA, United States
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of
Rebecca L. Utz Department of Sociology, Consortium for
Washington Sleep Medicine Center, Seattle, WA, United
Families and Health Research, University of Utah, Salt
States
Lake City, UT, United States
Donald G. McLaren Department of Neurology,
Nathaniel F. Watson Department of Neurology, University
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United
of Washington Sleep Medicine Center, Seattle, WA,
States; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United
United States
States
Hans-Werner Wahl Network Aging Research, Heidelberg
John R. Nesselroade Department of Psychology, The University, Heidelberg, Germany
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United States
Susan Krauss Whitbourne University of Massachusetts
Michael S. North New York University, Stern School of
Boston, Boston, MA, United States
Business, New York, NY, United States
Rachel Pruchno New Jersey Institute for Successful Aging, Sherry L. Willis Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral
Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine, Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington,
Stratford, NJ, United States DC, United States
Patricia A. Reuter-Lorenz Department of Psychology, Loriena Yancura Department of Family and Consumer
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States Sciences, University of Hawai’i, Manoa, Honolulu, HI,
K. Warner Schaie Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral United States
Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, Brian P. Yochim VA Saint Louis Health Care System,
DC, United States St. Louis, MO, United States
About the editors
K. Warner Schaie holds an appointment as affiliate elderly. She was a principal investigator on the
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the ACTIVE study, a randomized controlled trial to
University of Washington. He is also the Evan Pugh examine the effects of cognitive interventions in the
Professor Emeritus of Human Development and maintenance of everyday functioning in at-risk com-
Psychology at the Pennsylvania State University. He munity-dwelling elderly, funded by NIA. She has been
received his PhD in clinical and developmental psy- the codirector of the Seattle Longitudinal Study. In
chology from the University of Washington, a honor- addition to her cognitive intervention research, she has
ary DPhil. from the Friedrich-Schiller University of conducted programmatic research on changes in
Jena, Germany, and a honorary ScD degree from West everyday problem-solving competence in the elderly
Virginia University. He received the Kleemeier Award and cognitive predictors of competence. She and col-
for Distinguished Research Contributions and the leagues have developed several measures of Everyday
Distinguished Career Contribution to Gerontology Problem Solving. She is the coauthor of the textbook
Award from the Gerontological Society of America, the Adult Development and Aging (with K. Warner Schaie,
MENSA lifetime career award, and the Distinguished now in its 5th edition). She has edited more than 10
Scientific Contributions award from the American volumes on various aspects of adult development and
Psychological Association. He is a past president of the cognition and has authored over a hundred publica-
APA Division of Adult Development and Aging and tions in adult development. She has served as
currently represents that Division on the APA Council President of Division 20, Adult Development and
of Representatives. He is author or editor of more than Aging, American Psychological Association. She was a
60 books including the textbook Adult Development and Fulbright Fellow in Sweden. She received a Faculty
Aging (5th edition, with S.L. Willis) and of all previous Scholar Medal for Outstanding Achievement and the
editions of the Handbook of the Psychology of Aging Pauline Schmitt Russell Distinguished Research Career
(with J.E. Birren or S.L. Willis). He has directed the Award from the Pennsylvania State University, and
Seattle Longitudinal Study of cognitive aging since the Paul and Margret Baltes award from Division 20 of
1956 and is the author of more than 300 journal articles the American Psychological Association. She currently
and chapters on the psychology of aging. His current has funding from NIA for a 20-year follow-up of the
research interest is in the life course of adult intelli- ACTIVE randomized cognitive training trial and fund-
gence, its antecedents and modifiability, the impact of ing to archive the Seattle Longitudinal Study.
cognitive behavior in midlife upon the integrity of
brain structures in old age, the early detection of risk Bob G. Knight, PhD, is a professor of Psychology and
for dementia, as well as methodological issues in the Counseling at the University of Southern Queensland
developmental sciences. in Australia. Prior to that, for 28 years he was on the
faculty of the University of Southern California School
Sherry L. Willis is a research professor in the of Gerontology, a world leader in the study of aging.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Dr. Knight has published extensively in mental
the University of Washington. She previously held an health and aging, including Psychotherapy with older
appointment as Professor of Human Development at adults (Sage, 3rd ed. 2004, available in French, Dutch,
the Pennsylvania State University. Her research has Japanese, and Chinese translations). He coauthored
focused on age-related cognitive changes in later adult- with Nancy Pachana PhD (University of Queensland),
hood. In particular she is known for her work on Psychological assessment and therapy with older adults
behavioral interventions to remediate and enhance (Oxford University Press, 2015). His writing on psy-
cognitive performance in community-dwelling normal chotherapy with older adults includes development of
xiii
xiv About the editors
the Contextual Adult Life Span Theory for Adapting Research Foundation. Dr. Levy has given invited testi-
Psychotherapy (CALTAP), which applies life span mony before the United States Senate on the effects of
developmental principles to therapy with older adults. ageism and contributed to briefs submitted to the
United States Supreme Court in age-discrimination
Becca R. Levy is a professor of Epidemiology at Yale cases.
School of Public Health and Professor of Psychology at
Yale University. She received her PhD in psychology Susan M. Resnick, PhD, Senior Investigator, Chief,
from Harvard University. Her research explores psy- Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience.
chosocial factors that influence older individuals’ cog- Dr. Resnick received her PhD in Differential
nitive and physical functioning, as well as their Psychology and Behavioral Genetics from the
longevity. She is credited with creating a field of study University of Minnesota and completed a postdoctoral
that focuses on how positive and negative age stereo- fellowship in Neuropsychology and Neuroimaging at
types, which are assimilated from the culture, can the University of Pennsylvania. She was a research
have beneficial and adverse effects, respectively, on assistant professor of Psychology in Psychiatry at the
the health of older individuals. Her studies have been University of Pennsylvania prior to joining the
conducted by longitudinal, experimental, and cross- Intramural Research Program of the NIA in 1992. She
cultural methods. This research has led to receiving a is Chief of the Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience
number of awards including the Baltes Distinguished and the Brain Aging and Behavior Section at the NIA.
Research Achievement Award from the Adult Dr. Resnick initiated the neuroimaging substudy of the
Development and Aging Division of the American Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) in 1994
Psychological Association, the Richard Kalish and studies cognitive and brain aging in health and
Innovation Publication Award from Gerontological disease, with a focus on early markers of cognitive
Society of America, the Brookdale National Fellowship impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. She also serves
for Leadership in Aging and the Ewald W. Busse as NIA Project Officer for the Women’s Health
Research Award for Excellence in Social Behavioral Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS) Suite of Studies,
Sciences from the International Association of which assess cognitive decline and risk for dementia in
Gerontology and Geriatrics. Her research has been women previously randomized to postmenopausal
supported by the National Institute on Aging, the hormone therapy versus placebo through the WHI ran-
National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the National domized clinical trials.
Science Foundation, and the Donaghue Medical
Foreword
Since the inaugural publication of the Handbooks of smartphones, robots, and social media can modify the
Aging in 1976, the series has played a key role in pro- experience of aging. The handbooks also provide
moting and guiding gerontological science. By preserv- cutting-edge updates to the understanding of genetics,
ing foundational knowledge and illuminating built environments, and intergenerational commit-
emerging areas, the series has served as a core ments. The 9th edition of the Handbook of the Biology of
resource for established researchers and an inspiration Aging introduces geroscience, a discipline that did not
for students of gerontology. From its inception, geron- exist 10 years ago and is now among the most vibrant
tological science has been cross-disciplinary. The three- in all of science. This edition also provides updates on
volume series has played a key role in maintaining the exciting advances in the genetics and integrative
cohesion in a science that spans dozens of disciplines. genomics of aging and longevity as well as the biology
The need to understand aging only increases in and therapeutic opportunities afforded by the studies
importance over time. The global population has now of cellular senescence.
passed an important tipping point, moving from a What has not changed over the editions is the
world where children predominate to one in which superb synthesis of the field. The editors of the 9th edi-
there are more older people than youth. This reshap- tion extend a long tradition of giants in the field giving
ing of the age distribution in the population demands generously of their time and knowledge to produce
grand investments in the science of aging. consistently excellent volumes. Their thoughtful selec-
Thankfully, the science of aging is also growing fas- tion of topics and recruitment of deeply knowledge-
ter than ever across social and biological sciences. able authors is reflected throughout the series. We are
Along with phenomenal advances in the understand- most grateful to Nicolas Musi and Peter J. Hornsby,
ing of the biology of aging as well as genetic influences editors of the Handbook of the Biology of Aging, Kenneth
on aging trajectories, and susceptibility to age-related F. Ferraro and Deborah S. Carr, editors of the Handbook
diseases has come the awareness of the critical impor- of Aging and the Social Sciences, and K. Warner Schaie
tance of the physical and social environments in which and Sherry Lynn Willis, editors of the Handbook of the
people age and the psychological factors that modulate Psychology of Aging.
and sometimes alter genetic predispositions. We also express our deep appreciation to our pub-
The Handbooks of Aging series, comprised of the lishers at Elsevier, whose profound interest and dedi-
Handbook of the Biology of Aging, the Handbook of the cation to the topic has facilitated the publication of the
Psychology of Aging, and the Handbook of Aging and the Handbooks through many editions. We remain eternally
Social Sciences, is now in its ninth edition. The grateful to James Birren, for establishing the series and
Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences and the shepherding it through the first six editions that
Handbook of the Psychology of Aging have long provided played a profound role in establishing the tradition of
conceptual anchors and frameworks to the social and multidisciplinary science in the field of aging.
behavioral sciences while also addressing emerging
topics that did not exist decades ago, such as the fluid- Thomas A. Rando and Laura L. Carstensen
ity of race and gender, groundbreaking insights into Stanford Center on Longevity, Stanford University,
the role of sleep in cognitive aging, and the ways that Stanford, CA, United States
xv
Preface
The Handbook of the Psychology of Aging provides a the problems of studying change, allow us to explicate
basic reference source on the behavioral processes of in greater detail, patterns and subpatterns of behavior
aging for researchers, graduate students, and profes- over the life span. Facing the rapidly accelerating
sionals. It also provides perspectives on the behavioral growth of the relevant research literature, the editors
science of aging for personnel from other disciplines. once again have had to make choices about what new
The ninth edition of the Handbook continues to reflect topics should be included in the handbook. But the
both the continuing interest of the scientific commu- growth in research activity does not occur uniformly
nity as well as the needs and worldwide growth of the across all fields. Hence, some topics covered in earlier
older portion of the population as well as the increase editions of the Handbook are not included in the pres-
in active life expectancy. The growth of the research ent edition.
literature provides new opportunities to replace chro- The chapters are organized into four divisions:
nological age as the primary variable with other vari- Section I, Concepts, Theories, Methods; Section II,
ables that represent causal mechanisms and hence Biopsychosocial Factors in Aging; Section III,
present the potential for control or experimental modi- Behavioral Processes; and Section IV. Complex
fication. Both academic and public interests have been Processes. Section I covers understanding theoretical
contributing to the emergence of the psychology of perspectives of psychology of aging in a life span con-
aging as a major subject in universities and research text and methods in the study of adult development
institutions. Issues of interest to the psychology of and aging. Section II includes all new chapters on
aging touch upon many features of daily life, from the functional connectivity in aging, pain assessment and
workplace and family life to public policy matters cov- management in older patients, and a continued cover-
ering, health care, retirement, social security, and age of sleep, and death and dying. Section III includes
pensions. new chapters on the usage of smartphones, robots, and
The psychology of aging is complex and many new social media, self-perceptions of aging, age and gender
questions keep being raised about how behavior is identity, age and gender discrimination in the work-
organized and how it changes over the course of life. place, and autobiographical memory. Section IV
Results of the markedly increasing number of longitu- includes new coverage of clinical psychological testing,
dinal studies are providing new insights into the family caregiving across the life span, stressors in
casual factors in behavior changes associated with aging and coping, resilience in aging, successful/opti-
adult development and aging and to the differences in mal aging, and cognition, neural structure and pathol-
longitudinal trajectories for various factors and cohort ogy. The chapters for the ninth edition were underway
differences in longitudinal trajectories for the same fac- before the advent of the pandemic; future editions will
tor. They are contributing to our understanding of the need to examine the effect of this event on the psychol-
role of behavior changes in relation to biological, ogy of aging.
health, and social interactions. Parallel advances in Sherry L. Willis and
research methodology, particularly directed toward K. Warner Schaie
xvii
S E C T I O N I
Concepts, theories, methods

C H A P T E R
1
History of adult cognitive aging research
K. Warner Schaie
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, DC, United States
O U T L I N E
Introduction 3 Early cross-sectional studies 9

Adult stages of intellectual development 4 Longitudinal studies 10
Cohort differences 10
Magnitude of change 12
Assessment of intellectual functions 6 Frequency of decline 13
A test of intelligence 6 Personality and lifestyles 13
The nature of intelligence 7
Summary 14
Intelligence as multiple abilities 7
Practical or everyday intelligence 8 References 15
Intelligence and age 8 Further reading 17
Crystallized and fluid intelligence 9
Introduction Are they more successful in life? Can they repair a car
more efficiently? Can they run a business more effec-
Mental abilities have long been valued in Western tively? What other factors besides intelligence are
culture as the basis for learning, problem solving, and involved in personal competence? What is the relation-
adjustment. Thus intelligence and cognitive develop- ship between “academic” and “practical” intelligence? Is
ment quickly became one of the major concerns of the competence in the elderly the same as competence in
earliest psychologists. Great efforts were made to young adults? In the following sections, I discuss the dif-
define intelligence, to measure it, and even to try to ferent theories of intelligence and research on adult intel-
increase it. The study of cognition has had a long and lectual development. The questions that I seek to answer
often stormy history. Indeed, the controversies are no are fairly simple, such as “Does intelligence increase or
less stormy today, as perhaps should be expected decline with age?” The answers, however, are more com-
when dealing with an ability so highly esteemed (cf. plicated; they vary with age, the specific intellectual func-
Bengtson & Sattersten, 2016; Gerstrof et al., 2020) tion we are considering, and even the year in which the
Some of the current controversies have to do with the individual was born. This latter influence, which com-
role of intelligence in everyday life. Are intelligent people prises a number of “generational” or “cohort” factors, is
more successful in school than less intelligent people? considered in some detail.
Handbook of the Psychology of Aging.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-816094-7.00017-9 3 © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
4 1. History of adult cognitive aging research
Adult stages of intellectual development childhood stages describe increasing efficiency in the
acquisition of new information. It is doubtful that
What is the nature of intelligence in adults? How is adults progress beyond the powerful methods of sci-
it similar to the intelligence of young persons and how ence (formal operations) in their quest for knowledge.
does it change? If IQ tests are to be constructed that Therefore if one is to propose adult stages, they should
are fair to older people, we must know more about not be further stages of acquisition; instead they
adult cognition; and in particular we need to know in should reflect different uses of intellectual abilities.
what sense people might increase their competence as In young adulthood, for example, people typically
they grow older. switch their focus from the Acquisition stage to the
The famous Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (Flavell, application and integration of knowledge, as they use
1963). described the ways in which children’s intelli- what they know to pursue careers and develop their
gence increases as they develop. Infants are said to be families. This is called the Achieving stage. It repre-
at a relatively primitive, sensory-motor stage of intel- sents most prominently the application of intelligence
lectual development. They learn simple but basic ways in situations that have profound consequences for
of perceiving and reacting to the world. With the onset achieving long-term goals.
of speech, children enter a stage in which they grow These situations are not the hypothetical ones posed
primarily in the “conceptual-symbolic rather than on IQ tests or encountered in classroom studies, nor
purely sensory-motor arena.” This stage, called preop- are they the problems of childhood, whose solutions
erational, is succeeded around the age of 6 by the stage are closely monitored by parents and society. Instead,
of concrete operations. In Piaget’s theory, operations they are problems that the adult must solve for him-
are the mental routines that transform information in or herself, and the solutions must be integrated into a
some way, for example, adding two numbers to get a life plan that extends far into the future. The kind of
third or categorizing, as in placing all red objects intelligence exhibited in such situations is similar to
together. The stage of formal operations is entered that employed in educational tasks, except that it
around the age of 12 and is defined by the ability to requires more careful attention to the possible conse-
use mental operations on abstract material. quences of the problem-solving process.
Intellectual development, of course, is not complete Young adults who have mastered the cognitive
at the age of 12 when the average child enters the stage skills required for monitoring their own behavior and,
of formal operations, but Piaget does not provide us as a consequence, have attained a certain degree of
with much detail on later development. Although we personal independence, will next move into a stage
can assume that there are advances in the use of for- that requires the application of cognitive skills in situa-
mal operations, no new Piagetian stages were specified tions involving social responsibility.
for adulthood (Flavell, 1970; Piaget, 1972). Typically, this Responsible stage occurs when a
Psychologists who focus on adult development find family is established and the needs of spouse and off-
this child-centered approach restrictive and wish to spring must be met. Similar extensions of adult cogni-
expand it so as to delineate those changes in the qual- tive skills are required as responsibilities for others are
ity of intellectual function that they observe in adult required on the job and in the community (Hagestad
study participants. As Erik Erikson and Daniel & Neugarten, 1985).
Levinson expanded the psychoanalytic stages of ego Some individuals’ responsibilities become exceed-
development to the adult years, these psychologists ingly complex—the Executive stage. Such indivi-
have done the same for Piaget’s stages of intellectual duals—presidents of business firms, deans of
development (Commons, Sinnott, Richards, & Armon, academic institutions, officials of churches, and a num-
1989; Commons, Miller, & Giri, 2014; Commons & ber of other positions—need to understand the struc-
Ross, 2008; Sinnott, 1996) ture and the dynamic forces of organizations. They
must monitor organizational activities not only on a
temporal dimension (past, present, and future), but
also up and down the hierarchy that defines the
A stage model of adult cognitive development organization.
They need to know not only the future plans of the
I have used findings from research on adult intellec- organization, but also whether policy decisions are
tual development to formulate six adult stages (Schaie being adequately translated into action at lower levels
& Willis, 1999, 2000; Schaie, 1977-78). Piaget’s of responsibility. Attainment of the Executive stage, as
I. Concepts, theories, methods

an extension of the Responsibility stage, depends on These efforts include active planning for that time
exposure to opportunities that allow the development when dependence upon others may be required to
and practice of the relevant skills (Smith, Staudinger, maintain a high quality of life in the face of increasing
& Baltes, 1994). frailty. Such efforts may involve changes in one’s hous-
In the later years of life, beyond the age of 60 or 65, ing arrangements, as well as making certain of both
the need to acquire new knowledge declines even more familial and extrafamilial support systems. The activi-
and executive monitoring is less important because fre- ties include making or changing one’s will, drawing
quently the individual has retired from the position that up advanced medical directives, and durable powers
required such an application of intelligence. What, then, of attorney (Schaie & Willis, 2000).
is the nature of competence in an elderly adult? There is Although some of these activities involve the similar
a transition from the childhood question “What should I cognitive characteristics of the Responsible stage, we
know?” through the adult question “How should I use think that the objectives involved are generally far more
what I know?” to the question of later life “Why should centered to current and future needs of the individual
I know?” This Reintegration stage, corresponds in the rather than the needs of their family or of an organiza-
life course to Erikson’s stage of ego integrity. tion. Efforts must now be initiated to reorganize one’s
The information that elderly people acquire and the time and resources to substitute a meaningful environ-
knowledge they apply is, to a greater extent than earlier ment, often found in leisure activities, volunteerism, and
in life, a function of their interests, attitudes, values, involvement with a larger kinship network.
and physical health (Bowen & Staudinger, 2013; Eventually, however, these are activities that are
Westerhof et al., 2014; Heidemeier & Staudinger, 2015). also engaged in with the finitude of life in clear view,
It requires, in fact, the Reintegration of all of these. for the purpose of maximizing the quality of life dur-
The elderly are less likely to “waste time” on tasks that ing the final years. The unique objective of these
are meaningless to them (Berg & Klacynski, 1996; demands upon the individual represent an almost
Staudinger & Glueck, 2011). universal process occurring at least in the industrial-
This stage also frequently includes a selective reduc- ized societies, and designation of a separate
tion of interpersonal networks in the interest of reinte- Reorganizational stage is therefore warranted.
grating one’s concern in a more self-directed and The skills required for the Reorganizational stage
self-supportive manner (Carstensen, 1993; English & require the maintenance of high levels of cognitive
Carstensen, 2014; Scheibe, English, Tsai, & Carstensen, competence, which is increasingly exercised within the
2013). parsimonious principles of selection, optimization, and
Striving to feel good: ideal affect, actual affect, and compensation. In addition, maintenance of flexible
their correspondence across adulthood. Such efforts cognitive styles is required, in order to be able to
are likely to involve a reduction in information-seeking restructure the context and content of life after retire-
activities while increasing the importance of emotional ment, to relinquish control of resources to others, and
regulation (Carstensen, Gross, & Fung, 1997; Schaie & to accept the partial surrender of one’s independence
Carstensen, 2006). (Schaie, 1984, 1996).
The original stages were formulated some 30 years More and more older persons reach advanced old
ago. Since that time we have learned a lot about the age in relative comfort and often with a clear mind
differentiation of our older population into distinct life albeit they are coping with a frail body. Once the
stages. In the research literature distinctions are now Reintegrative efforts described above have been suc-
commonly made between the young-old, the old-old, cessfully completed, and perhaps temporally overlap-
and the oldest-old (or very-old). I have therefore ping with them, there is yet one last stage that is
added two further stages. frequently observed. This last phase, which I have des-
In the reintegrative stage, a major effort is now ignated as the Legacy creating stage is concerned with
required to Reorganize one’s life in order to replace cognitive activities of many, if not all of the very old,
the earlier engagement with family-raising and job that occur in anticipation of the end of their life. This
responsibilities to meaningful pursuits for the last part stage often begins with a life review. For the highly lit-
of life. In addition, efforts must be directed toward erate and those successful in public or professional life
planning how one’s resources will last for the remain- this will often include writing or revising an
ing 1530 years of postretirement life that are now autobiography.
characteristic for most individuals in industrialized An approximate time line for the Schaie stage model
societies. is provided in Fig. 1.1. But it should be stressed that the

FIGURE 1.1 Schaie’s stages of adult cognitive development. Source: From: Schaie, K.W. & Willis, S.L. (2000). A stage theory model of adult cog-
nitive development revisited. In R. Rubinstein, M. Moss & M. Kleban (Eds.), The many dimensions of aging: Essays in honor of M. Powell Lawton,
(pp. 175-193). New York: Springer Publishing Co.
precise chronological age at which these stages occur Almost 20 years later, a French psychologist by the
may be quite variable in different societies as well as name of Alfred Binet tried again to construct a test of
for individuals at different levels of intellectual compe- intelligence. He had been given a much more practical
tence and personal engagement. What is important is problem to solve by the French Ministry of Public
the sequential process of these developmental stages. Instruction. They needed a test to distinguish students
of low ability (mentally retarded) from those of ade-
quate ability but low motivation.
Assessment of intellectual functions Binet and Simon (1905) held a more traditional view of
intelligence than Galton, believing, for example, that play-
Psychological tests were originally developed to iden- ing chess was a better indicator of intelligence than smell-
tify intelligent people. Francis Galton believed that ing vinegar. He decided to assess “reasoning, judgment,
human intelligence is mostly inherited. But he wondered and imagination” by a series of cognitive problems.
how could the most intelligent people be identified? A Because Binet’s miniature tasks were quite similar to
test of intelligence would have to be created. Galton took those that children are expected to face in school, scores
on the job and in 1883 published the first intelligence test. on his test were highly correlated with scholastic perfor-
mance. First published in 1905, Binet’s test (Binet &
Simon, 1905) was quickly translated into other languages.
A test of intelligence In the United States, his test was translated and revised
Influenced by British philosophers who considered by Stanford psychologist Lewis Terman and became
intelligence to be based on the ability to process sen- known as the widely used StanfordBinet Intelligence
sory information, Galton (1883) devised a series of Scale.
tasks designed to measure how well a person could The background information on intelligence testing
see, hear, smell, taste, and feel. is relevant for our discussion of adult intelligence for
Galton’s “mental test” (as he called it) was not very two reasons. The first is to show that the testing move-
successful; it showed only trivial correlations with ment in psychology began in practical circumstances—
measures of intellectual competence in the real world, there was a need to predict the potential for scholastic
such as scholastic performance (Wissler, 1901). success.

Assessment of intellectual functions 7
IQ tests are age graded, that is, the average score Intelligence as multiple abilities
for each age level is given the score of 100. A ques-
tion such as “Who has the higher IQ, an average If one’s goal is to map the broad scope of intelli-
10-year-old or an average 70-year-old?” is meaning- gence and not simply that of the WAIS, many different
less. They both may have IQs of 100, the average for intellectual tasks must be administered to a large num-
each age group. However, as we will see other kinds ber of people. Factor analysis of a wide variety of intel-
of comparisons can be made that inform us as to lectual tasks has regularly turned up between 6 and
how intelligence changes from childhood into 12 primary mental abilities. These abilities have some-
advanced old age. times been described as the “building blocks” or basic
elements of intelligence. (Thurstone, 1962). The “pur-
est” tests of these factors are sometimes administered
as tests of the “primary mental abilities.” A more
The nature of intelligence recent adult version of these tests is called the
From the very beginning, there has been a great SchaieThurstone Adult Mental Abilities Test
deal of debate about the nature of intelligence and (STAMAT; Schaie, 1985, 1996, 2013).
whether there may be different kinds of intelligence. Is But what is the nature of the relationship between
intelligence a single, general ability or are there several such elementary building blocks of intelligence and
different intellectual abilities? Binet favored the idea of the tasks that people face in real life? To find out, per-
a “general ability” (sometimes called the “g” factor), formance on the different primary mental abilities was
but later researchers have favored the notion of several supplemented in a sample of over 1000 persons by
factors in intelligence. administering real-life tasks such as interpreting medi-
Some intelligence tests have a number of subtests cine bottle labels, reading street maps, filling out
covering different content. The Wechsler Adult forms, and comprehending newspaper and yellow
Intelligence Scale (WAIS-R) is the test most frequently page advertisements.
used by clinical psychologists for the individual assess- The researchers found a substantial correlation
ment of adult intelligence (Wechsler, 1997). between abilities and performance on tasks; correla-
The fact that there are slightly different subtests on tions varied, however, depending on the task.
an intelligence test is of course no guarantee that these Furthermore, it was found that the composite perfor-
subtests actually measure different intellectual abilities; mance on the real-life tasks could be predicted by sev-
they may simply be different ways of measuring a sin- eral abilities, particularly reasoning, but also by verbal
gle ability: “general intelligence.” Further exploration knowledge to a lesser extent. This also suggests a
has therefore taken the form of factor analysis, a statis- strong relationship between “building blocks” of intel-
tical procedure that identifies the number of basic ligence and perceived real-life competence.
dimensions or factors in a set of data. We have come, then, from the view of intelligence
Factor analysis will tell us if intelligence is a one- as primarily a single trait to the view of intelligence as
dimensional construct or whether it is a construct with a number of distinct abilities. As we shall see, the dis-
multiple dimensions. The answer to this question is tinctions of several different abilities are vital for the
both. In a factor analysis of the WAIS subtests, for study of intellectual development in adults.
example, the major dimension was found to be that of
general intelligence, a large factor that accounted for Relevance of test instruments to stages of
about half of the information contained in the intellectual development
test. Three other factors appear to be important for The simple tasks in the traditional IQ tests are well
some purposes. For example, an individual high in suited to measure progress in the performance of
perceptual-organizational abilities might do better on many basic skills through the stages of knowledge
the block design subtest than we would expect from acquisition described by Piaget (Humphreys &
his or her general intelligence alone (Cohen, 1957). Parsons, 1979). But they are decidedly less adequate
One finding of interest in this study is that the for the assessment of adult competence.
memory factor, a relatively weak factor among young Even a test that was constructed explicitly for
study participants, became a major factor for persons adults, the WAIS, is deficient in several respects. First,
over the age of 60. This means that specific memory the test was designed with the intent of measuring
abilities vary more among older people and affect cognitive dysfunctions in clinically suspect individuals,
scores on more of the subtests. and second, it was originally normed on young adult

samples, those who in our conceptual scheme would differences on the test can be predicted from knowl-
be classified as being in the achieving stage, although edge of scores on the basic abilities tests.
norms for midlife and older adults are now available. Another effort to measure everyday problem solv-
What we need, therefore is to construct adult tests of ing was a test constructed to assess the skills that old
intelligence relevant to competence at different points people are thought to need to function independently
in the life span, just as the traditional test is relevant to in the community. These skills, called the instrumental
the competencies of children in school settings. activities of daily living (IADL; Lawton & Brody,
1969), include the ability to engage independently in
food preparation, housekeeping, medication use, shop-
ping, telephone use, transportation, and financial man-
Practical or everyday intelligence agement activities. Obviously, each of these activities
Some would argue that intelligence in adults should requires the exercise of practical intelligence.
be studied by asking well-functioning people how they Marsiske and Willis (1995) collected written materi-
go about solving their everyday problems (Sternberg & als (e.g., medication labels, bus schedules, telephone
Lubart, 2001). This is what is known as a “naive” the- instructions, mail order forms, appliance instructions,
ory of intelligence; that is, it is not derived from objec- etc.) that are actually used for each of the seven types
tive analyses of experts, but rather from the collective of activities. These items were rated as to their rele-
perceptions of laypersons. Perhaps it is indeed the con- vance by professionals working with older people, and
ceptions of adults about their own competence that then a test was constructed that measured proficiency
ought to be the basis for defining intelligence. But with the information to carry out each activity of daily
there is the distinct danger that in this process living independently. The validity of these measures
we would confuse intelligence with socially desirable was validated further by observing individuals in their
behavior. Moreover, the attributes of intelligence homes actually using these materials to engage in
obtained in this manner may be characteristic only of activities such as measuring out medications, using a
the specific group of persons interviewed or may be microwave, and so forth. Again, individual differences
governed by time-specific and/or context-specific on this everyday problems test could be explained in
conceptions. large part by the performance of individuals on the
We would be remiss, then, if we were to discard the basic abilities.
objective knowledge of mental functioning that is now
in hand and is directly applicable to adult intelligence
(Schaie & Willis, 1999; Willis & Schaie, 2005). Instead, Intelligence and age
we may wish to consider how the basic intellectual
processes that are important at all life stages relate to What happens to intelligence with age? This is a key
everyday tasks (also see Diehl, Willis, & Schaie, 1995; question in this chapter. It is argued by some that intelli-
Marsiske & Margrett, 2006; Wettstein, Wahl, & Diehl, gence enters a process of irreversible decline in the adult
2014). years, because the brain becomes less and less efficient,
There have been a number of efforts to develop just like the heart and lungs and other physical organs.
objective measures of people’s abilities to engage in Others contend that intelligence is relatively
effective problem solving and to perform tasks stable through the adult years, with the human brain pro-
required for daily living (see Marsiske & Willis, 1995; viding more than enough capacity for anything that we
Willis, 1996, 1997). For example, the Educational would want to contemplate until serious disease, patholo-
Testing Service (1977) developed a test to assess gies, and declines in sensory functions set in late in life.
whether high school graduates had acquired the neces- Another view is that intelligence declines in some
sary information and skills to handle everyday pro- respects (in perceptual or mental speed, for example)
blems. This test includes tasks such as interpreting bus and increases in others (in knowledge about life, or wis-
schedules, tax forms, labels on medicine bottles, adver- dom, for example, see Staudinger & Glueck, 2011). Some
tisements, and understanding instructions for the use argue that individual differences can be explained by
of appliances, and the meaning of newspaper opinion/ compensatory experiences for those who age well, while
editorials. The test has been given to large samples of others place emphasis on the above-average maintenance
adults ranging in age from the 20s to the 80s (Schaie, of physiological and psychological resources for the
1996, 2013). The test correlates with a number of the more favored individuals (Salthouse, 1999, but see
primary mental abilities; in fact, most of the individual Schaie, 2009).

Intelligence and age 9
Crystallized and fluid intelligence for any age group has been set to 100. This automatic
adjustment disguises the fact that a 20-year-old must
One of the most prominent theories of “hold” and earn a higher raw (unadjusted) score to be assigned an
“don’t hold” tests was formulated by Raymond Cattell IQ of 100 than does a 50-year-old. On one test, a raw
and elaborated by John Horn. In factor analyses of score of 80 places a 50-year-old slightly above average
cross-sectional studies of several intellectual tasks (not for his age group, with an IQ of 101; but a 20-year-old
from the WAIS), Cattell and Horn repeatedly discov- with the same score would be decidedly below aver-
ered that the tests on which older adults do well com- age with an IQ of 87.
pared to younger adults show up as a factor that they If we compare raw scores across age groups, we
call crystallized intelligence (Gc). would find that average scores are highest in young
As represented by tests of general information and adulthood and early middle age and systematically
vocabulary, crystallized intelligence is said to reflect decline with advancing age. The interpretation of early
the mental abilities that depend on experience with the cross-sectional studies reporting such findings was
world—on education in the broad sense, including straightforward: an individual’s intellectual abilities
both formal schooling and informal learning experi- gradually but inexorably decline over the adult years.
ences in everyday life. The “don’t hold” tests show up David Wechsler, creator of the WAIS, believed that
as another factor, termed fluid intelligence (Gf). the “decline of mental ability with age is part of the
Fluid intelligence is more akin to what Wechsler called general senescent process of the organism as a whole.”
“native mental ability,” reflecting presumably the quality Wechsler believed that mental ability deteriorated in
of one’s brain: the speed of neural transmission, how ways similar to the decline of lung capacity, reproduc-
well organized are the neurons involved in associations, tive function, and other physical abilities (Wechsler,
pattern recognition, and memory (Horn & Hofer, 1992). 1972, p. 30). It was soon apparent, however, even from
Adult intellectual development, viewed in terms of cross-sectional studies, that intellectual decline was not
the GcGf theory, implies progressive deterioration in as pronounced on some tasks as on others.
the neural structures underlying intelligence and thus Researchers have noted that certain subtests on the
systematic decline in fluid intelligence. Crystallized WAIS declined less than others. Wechsler (1972) pro-
intelligence, as long as we do not require speedy posed to use the term “hold subtests” for those subt-
responses, should not be affected as much; it may even ests on which older adults do about as well as younger
increase as a result of adult educational experiences. adults in contrast to “don’t hold” subtests that showed
The theory is a popular one, for it more clearly speci- a greater decline; as discussed previously with regard
fies the intellectual tasks that can be used to represent to fluid and crystallized intelligence. In general, the
each type of intelligence. Indeed, it is a form of the verbal subtests “hold” and the performance subtests
general notion that in some respects older adults are “don’t hold”). It has been shown that there is improve-
not as sharp as they once were, but in other respects ment on the WAIS from 40 to 61 years on the informa-
they are as knowledgeable as ever, perhaps even tion, comprehension, and vocabulary subtests; mixed
wiser. change on picture completion (improvement on easy
Differential decline of intelligence that supports the items and decline on difficult items); but decline on
GcGf theory also comes from a variety of longitudinal the digit symbol and block design subtests Why
studies in various Western countries that show greater should some tasks show almost no decline, and others
decline for measures of fluid abilities. show the older persons doing much more poorly
However, as will be shown later, in the detailed dis- than the younger study participants? One possible
cussion of our longitudinal studies, this pattern may explanation is that the subtests in which older people
not hold for all abilities, and in addition may be atten- do poorly are all speeded tests; the scores reflect the
uated in advanced old age, when crystallized abilities time that it takes for the person to solve the problem,
also show substantial decline. or it reflects the number of responses in a given time
interval. One might conclude older people are just
slower, but not necessarily less able. This hypothesis,
Early cross-sectional studies however, has been partially discredited by research in
If we were to administer a typical IQ test such as which the participants were given unlimited time to
the WAIS to various groups representative of people solve problems and only the number correct was
their age, we would find that each group has an aver- counted. Older people still did less well on “don’t
age IQ of 100. By definition, because the average IQ hold” tasks, relative to younger persons.

This type of research, of course, changes the “prob- another follow-up of previously tested participants in
lem” from “How long does it take you to solve it?” to 2005. Thus the researchers had seven cross-sectional
“Can you solve it at all?” In fact, the slower average studies in addition to longitudinal data covering a
speed of solution among older persons may be contrib- period of up to 49 years.
uted to in large part by those who do not solve the The cross-sectional studies showed the typical pat-
problem at all. tern of intellectual decline in the adult years; the longi-
tudinal data, however, told a quite different story.
The cross-sectional data show a peak at age 39 for
Longitudinal studies most abilities, followed by a relatively sharp decline in
some abilities such as inductive reasoning and verbal
Widespread use of intelligence tests among college memory. In striking contrast, the longitudinal data
freshmen began in the United States in about 1920. By suggest increases in abilities such as verbal ability/
1950, therefore it was possible to find a sizable group comprehension until 53 or 60, with a small decline
of 50-year-olds who had taken an IQ test some 30 thereafter; even at age 74 the estimated performance is
years earlier. Several psychologists, seeing their chance better than at 25.
to run a relatively inexpensive longitudinal study, The data just described came from a single longitu-
seized the opportunity by retesting these middle-aged dinal study over the period from 1956 to 1963. More
individuals. recently, longitudinal data for five mental abilities
No one expected results different from those found have been reported from the expanded investigation
in cross-sectional studies, which suggested a marked covering 19562005, a period of 49 years.
decrease in IQ scores after the age of 25 or 30. Thus it Representative findings, shown in Fig. 1.2, suggest
came as somewhat of a surprise to find that not only little if any decline in these abilities until the age of 60;
did the longitudinal studies observe virtually no in several instances, increases occur during the adult
decline in IQ by middle age; instead they showed an years, with peaks in midlife. Even after age 60, average
increase! The average person seemed to have gotten decline is slight until age 74 or 81.
smarter with age, at least up to age 50 (Owens, 1953). Other investigators also have observed the fact that
Later follow-ups showed that the participants in the even in fairly advanced age, change in abilities pro-
Owens study actually maintained their intellectual ceeds quite slowly if no pathology, and in fact is diffi-
abilities into their 60s (Cunningham & Owens, 1983). cult to document in studies that extend only over 2 or
Most of the early longitudinal studies tested highly 3 years. Once the high 80s and 90s are reached, how-
educated people (college graduates), whose professional ever, declines become more rapid and extend across
careers required continuing use of academic skills— most abilities because of the increasing failures of sen-
mathematics, extensive reading, and formal reasoning. sory capacities and other physiological infrastructures,
Later studies of people at all levels of intelligence as well as pathology.
and education in all walks of life showed the increase However, no adjustments were made for the well-
in IQ scores to late midlife and beyond to be character- documented decline in perceptual speed that puts older
istic in large part for the highly educated part of the people at successively greater disadvantage. Nor were
population. But evidence for the absence of significant any of the participants removed who were later known
declines in young old age, except for slowing of to have been in the early stages of dementia, thus per-
response time, during midlife and into early old age haps underestimating mean levels for the normal elderly.
has been replicated again and again. In a study by Schaie, the contribution of perceptual
Our large-scale study combined features of both speed was removed statistically from the scores of 838
cross-sectional and longitudinal designs (Gerstorf adults ranging in age from their 20s to their 80s. This
et al., 2019; Gerstorf, Ram, Hoppmann, Willis, & adjustment removed most of the observed age decre-
Schaie, 2011; Schaie, 1994, 1996, 2005, 2013; Schaie & ment for highly practiced tasks and markedly reduced
Zuo, 2001; Willis & Schaie, 1986). In 1956 people rang- aging effects for novel tasks.
ing in age from 22 to 70 were tested in a cross-
sectional study. In 1963 as many of the original study
Cohort differences
participants as could be found and convinced to par-
ticipate once again were retested. This procedure was What accounts for the difference between the cross-
repeated a third time in 1970, a fourth in 1977, a fifth sectional and longitudinal results, with the latter not
in 1984, a sixth in 1991, a seventh time in 1998, and only showing relatively modest decline through midlife

55
Total sample
50
T-Score means
45
Inductive reasoning
40
Spatial orientation
Perceptual speed
35 Numeric facility
Verbal comprehension
Verbal memory
30
25 32 39 46 53 60 67 74 81 88 95
Age
FIGURE 1.2 Effects of age on six mental abilities in longitudinal studies. Source: From: Schaie, K.W. (2013). Developmental influences on
adult intellectual development: The Seattle longitudinal study (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
and early old age, but also, in some cases, clear increases majority of jobs requiring higher educational skills
in intellectual abilities? Why do the longitudinal studies (Schooler, Mulatu, & Oates, 1999). Nutrition has vastly
give us such a different picture from the earlier, cross- improved in the last 70 or 80 years, and so has medical
sectional investigations? The answer is largely “birth care; the physical condition of the brains of the more
cohort” differences—differences among generations. The recent older cohorts may also differ.
reason longitudinal studies give different results from The use of tests like those for IQ has burgeoned, and
cross-sectional studies is that cross-sectional studies com- thus later generations may be better than earlier genera-
pare people of different ages and of different cohorts. tions at performing well on such instruments because
Many of the differences that have been attributed to age of their added “test-taking” experience. Because many
must, for the most part, be relegated to differences different experiences may be relevant to differential per-
among groups of people differing in year of birth. Cross- formance across different cohorts, it is still uncertain
sectional studies make it appear that intelligence declines to know which of these experiences are involved in
steeply over the years, but much of this apparent decline every psychological mechanism. Laboratory studies
is an illusion. Longitudinal studies suggest generally that have employed popular recreational activities such as
each generation performs at a higher level than the pre- crossword puzzles or jigsaw puzzles to determine
vious one, on at least some abilities. whether regular performance on these activities is
Why is one cohort more advantaged on intelligence related to age differences on related abilities. Crossword
measures than another? Why is it that people born more puzzles have been related to verbal (crystallized) ability
recently earn higher scores on some intelligence mea- and jigsaw puzzles to spatial (fluid) ability (Allard
sures than their parents or grandparents? Various et al., 2014; Pilail et al., 2011). However, whether prac-
answers may be suggested. Over the last several genera- tice on crossword puzzles either reduced age difference
tions in most countries, years of education has increased on fluid abilities or enhanced age-related increases on
across generations. In the United States, among the mem- crystallized abilities is less clear.
bers of the oldest cohorts now living, the majority may Cohort differences in intelligence are not uniform
have achieved no more than a high school diploma and across different abilities. Fig. 1.3 shows the change in
relatively few have had college experience. The spectrum cohort level in percent of the performance of the earli-
of occupations has shifted from manual labor to a est cohort for 11 cohorts born from 1903 to 1973.

15 FIGURE 1.3 Cumulative cohort

Inductive reasoning Spatial orientation differences from oldest to youngest
cohort for five mental abilities. Source:
Perceptual speed Numeric facility Schaie, K.W. (2013). Developmental
Verbal comprehension Verbal memory influences on adult intellectual devel-
10 opment: The Seattle longitudinal
Cumulative mean T-score change
study (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford

University Press.
–5
–10
1903 1910 1917 1924 1931 1938 1945 1952 1959 1966 1973
Cohort
Almost continuous gain occurred for each successive For whatever reason, the youth of today are doing
cohort for the primary mental abilities of inductive rea- somewhat less well on some IQ measures than their
soning and spatial orientation. However, gain peaked elders did at the same age, and this fact will eventually
in 1952 for verbal meaning. Number ability peaked in show on cross-sectional studies of intelligence. It will
1924 and then went down below the level of the oldest then appear that people get smarter as they grow old-
cohort. These differential findings suggest that older er; a conclusion that will be no more justified than the
cohorts are at a particular disadvantage on the fluid one based on present cross-sectional studies that peo-
abilities, but may have an advantage with respect to ple decline in intelligence.
number skills (Schaie, 1996, 2013; Willis, 1989). These differential data suggest that older cohorts are
The cohort differences data described above come at a particular disadvantage on the fluid abilities, but
from the study of groups of unrelated individuals, but may have an advantage with respect to number skills.
generational differences of very similar magnitude
have been observed also in studies comparing parents
and their adult children when compared at the same
ages. This kind of data can, of course, be collected only
Magnitude of change
in studies carried on for long periods of time (Schaie, Psychologists often become absorbed in trying to
2005, 2008, 2013). demonstrate the presence or absence of change. They
There is some evidence that the differences between frequently ignore the question of whether or not a
generations have begun to turn in favor of the earlier- change “makes a difference,” that is, whether a change
born cohorts (e.g., numerical ability). Average test scores is substantial enough to be important in the everyday
on the Scholastic Aptitude Test have been declining since lives of the people who are being discussed. One way
1962; before 1962, averages were stable or increasing. to estimate the meaningfulness of change is to look for
The decline has been blamed on many factors, but the degree of overlap between a particular older age
chief among them are poorer educational standards group and a younger group if the overlap is large (say
in our schools, more students taking the SAT, and 80% or 90%), then the age difference does not affect a
“the passive pleasure, the thief of time”—television great many people and should not be of much practi-
(Hanford, 1991). cal significance.

Even an overlap of only 50% still means that many learning new things) do even better, often increas-
older people will perform as well as many younger ing their test scores over the years. The “spectators”
people. It is only when the overlap begins to shrink to (average social status, intact family, passive partici-
20% or less, that we can indeed argue that most older pation in social activities, declining interest in new
persons do significantly less well than younger com- learning situations) generally show a decline in abil-
parison groups. ities. Finally, the “isolated older women” (poor,
unhappy, likely to be divorced or widowed, isolated
either by choice or circumstances) show the greatest
Frequency of decline decline of all.
Favorable consequences for cognitive functioning
In addition to knowing the age at which the average
of higher education and favorable environments also
person declines, it is also important to know what pro-
have been found in a study of Canadian World War
portion of people are likely to decline at a given age.
II veterans over periods as long as 45 years. Equally
Such knowledge is useful in at least two ways. First, it
interesting is the finding that favorable lifestyles
alerts us to the fact that there may be more stability
seem to enhance the development of flexible atti-
than change in intellectual aging and that some per-
tudes. Such attitudes at midlife appear to be highly
sons may still grow even at an advanced age.
predictive of the maintenance of intellectual func-
Second, just as longevity tables permit life insurance
tioning into advanced old age. But do flexible atti-
companies to forecast the odds of someone’s dying, a
tudes maintain intellectual functioning, or do high
knowledge of the proportion of those declining at a
levels of intellectual functioning encourage flexible
given age permits us to determine the probability that
attitudes? The evidence indicates that flexible atti-
intellectual changes will have important consequences.
tudes affect intelligence. Correlational information
For example, such knowledge would permit us to deter-
on the relationship between intelligence and flexibil-
mine the odds that an elderly president might show
ity has been gathered from longitudinal studies over
mental decline before completing his term in office.
as long as 49 years. The data clearly show that corre-
Frequency distributions were prepared for several
lations between midlife flexibility and intelligence in
thousand participants in the Seattle Longitudinal Study
old age are much greater than those between intelli-
to determine what proportion had declined significantly
gence at midlife and flexibility in old age (Schaie,
over each 7-year age range from 25 to 32, 60 to 67, and
2013).
so on until age 8895 (Schaie, 1989, 2013). The research-
Similar evidence indicates that lack of environmen-
ers examined frequencies for the five primary mental
tal stimulation leads to cognitive loss. For example, we
abilities: verbal meaning, inductive reasoning, word flu-
know that the greatest risk of cognitive decline occurs
ency, numerical ability, and spatial orientation. The
among widowed women who have not pursued a
cumulative percent 7-year decrement is shown in
career and whose environmental stimulation has been
Fig. 1.4. Note that, although ability varied greatly in the
reduced by the death of their spouse.
various areas tested, at least 75% of those studied main-
By contrast, those who had marital partners with
tained their previous ability level to age 60.
high intellectual levels seem to benefit throughout
their marriage, and there have been several studies
that show demanding job environments tend to
Personality and lifestyles enhance intellectual function in adults.
The participants in our longitudinal study provide Certain personality dimensions have also been
evidence also that changes in lifestyles affect IQ scores. identified as influencing level of intellectual func-
On the basis of intensive interviews, four types of par- tioning in adults. The personality dimensions that
ticipants were identified. What might be called those were related to high intellectual functioning included
“average” (average social status, intact family, average high Untroubled Adequacy, low Conservatism, low
involvement with their environment) do quite well Group Dependency, and high Openness to new
intellectually as they age, maintaining most of their experiences,
abilities over the 14 years of testing (Schaie, 2013; High ratings on the personality trait of openness to
Gerstorf et al, 2019). new experience, and midrange ratings on the trait of
The “advantaged persons” (high social status, introversionextroversion have also been implicated
with lives that require or allow them to keep as predictors of wisdom-related performance (Fig. 1.4).

100 FIGURE 1.4 Cumulative hazard

rate of significant decrement in differ-
90 Verbal meaning ent abilities occurring to successive
ages from 32 to 95 year. Source:
Cumulation percent 7-year decrement
80 Spatial orientation Schaie, K.W. (2013). Developmental

Inductive resoning influences on adult intellectual devel-
70 opment: The Seattle longitudinal
Number study (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford
60 University Press.
Word fluency
50
40
30
20
10
0
32 39 46 53 60 67 74 81 88 95
Age
Summary show a major factor called “general intelligence” or

“g.” Slightly different analyses have turned up two
1. Intelligence is usually defined as the ability to learn or major factors called crystallized and fluid
manipulate symbols. Intelligence is an inference from intelligence, about 612 factors called primary
competence demonstrated in several situations, but mental abilities, and 120 factors in the most complex
competence involves more than simply intelligence— model of intelligence.
motivation, for example. The particular abilities and 4. Intelligence tests provide information on the basic
motivations necessary to do well on IQ tests, which mechanics of intellectual functioning. For the
were designed to predict scholastic performance, may appraisal of performance of adults on everyday
bias these tests in favor of young people. problems these tests may need to be supplemented
2. Adult stages of intellectual development include the by measures of practical intelligence. However,
Achieving stage, which involves planning and performance on such measures is highly correlated
periodic assessment of programs designed to with the basic ability measures. Practical
achieve major goals in career, family, and life in intelligence represents a combination of basic skills
general. In the Responsible stage, abilities are applied to specific problems of everyday
applied to both short- and long-term concerns for experience.
family units, coworkers, and community groups. 5. Early cross-sectional studies of the relationship
Some progress to the Executive stage, planning and between age and intelligence showed decline after
assessment abilities are applied to the organizations the age of 20 or 30. Some tests, usually of simple
for which one is at least partly responsible. In later information processing abilities that make up fluid
life, the Reorganizational stage requires making intelligence, showed sharper decline than others;
choices mandated by the transition from work to tests of general information, vocabulary, and the
retirement and planning the economic bases for the like (crystallized intelligence) sometimes even
rest of life. The Reintegrative stage requires a increased.
reintegration of abilities, interests, and values, 6. Longitudinal studies, the first of which were
and the Legacy-leaving stage involves disposing of published around 1950, showed that the results
ones assets and creating legacies for the next obtained in cross-sectional studies had been
generation. seriously misinterpreted. Although there is
3. IQ tests were first developed by Alfred Binet in the significant average decline on most abilities
early 1900s Factor analyses of such tests typically beginning in the mid-60s, many individuals

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Further reading 17
Wettstein, M., Wahl, H., & Diehl, M. (2014). A multidimen- Willis, S. L. (1989). Cohort differences in cognitive aging: A
sional view of out-of-home behaviors in cognitively unim- sample case. In K. W. Schaie, & C. Schooler (Eds.), Social
paired older adults: Examining differential effects of structure and aging: Psychological processes (pp. 94112).
socio-demographic, cognitive, and health related predic- Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
tors. European Journal of Ageing, 11, 141153. Willis, S. L., & Schaie, K. W. (2005). Cognitive trajectories in
Willis, S. L. (1996). Everyday problem solving. In J. E. Birren, midlife and cognitive functioning in old age. In S. L.
& K. W. Schaie (Eds.), Handbook of the psychology of aging. Willis, & M. Martin (Eds.), Middle adulthood: A lifespan per-
San Diego. CA: Academic Press. spective (pp. 243276). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Willis, S. L., & Schaie, K. W. (1986). Practical intelligence in Wissler, C. (1901). The correlation of mental and physical tests.
later adulthood. In R. J. Sternberg, & R. K. Wagner (Eds.), The Psychological Review: Monograph Supplements, 3(6), i62.
Practical intelligence: Origins of competence in the everyday
world (pp. 236268). Cambridge: Cambridge University Further reading
Press.
Willis, S. L. (1997). Everyday cognitive competence in the elderly: Sternberg, R. J., & Wagner, R. K. (Eds.), (1985). Practical
Conceptual issues and empirical findings. Gerontologist, 36, intelligence: Origins of competence in the everyday world.
595601. (pp. 236268). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

C H A P T E R
2
Measurement and models for multi-timescale
psychological processes in aging research
Steven M. Boker and John R. Nesselroade
Department of Psychology, The University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United States
O U T L I N E
Introduction 19 Challenges 28
Matching the research design to the question 20 Planning for the long term 28
Privacy, linking, and data sharing 28
Modeling review 21
Incompleteness and attrition 29
Cross-sectional models 21
Reliability versus sensitivity 30
Autoregressive and crosslag models 22
Measurement invariance over time 30
Latent growth curves and multilevel models 22
The changing data landscape 24 Emerging opportunities 30
Intrinsic capacity and functional ability 31
Multi-timescale processes and research designs 24
Measuring and modeling multiscale processes from Conclusion 31
intensive time series 25
References 31
Dynamical systems and attractors 25
Dynamical systems models in aging 26
Introduction Stawski, 2016) from previous editions of this hand-

book. Those chapters provide in-depth views of the
When Baltes (1987) explored the relations between most commonly used methods, models, and caveats
general developmental theory and the life span orien- that apply when longitudinal data are sparsely mea-
tation, the several propositions he advanced sured in time, for example, 410 occasions of measure-
highlighted a clear need for new analytic methods and ment per person. The current chapter extends that
procedures (and data) to support apt lines of inquiry. view by providing more detail about analyses that
Since then, much has been written about appropriate apply when the data are densely measured in time
methods for use in modeling and understanding pro- (Walls & Schafer, 2005), such as from burst measure-
cesses involved in aging. As background overview ment (Nesselroade, 1991a; Stawski, MacDonald, &
reading, we highly recommend starting with the meth- Sliwinski, 2015), ecological momentary assessment
ods chapters (Ferrer & Ghisletta, 2011; MacDonald & (Shiffman, Stone, & Hufford, 2008), smartphones
Handbook of the Psychology of Aging.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-816094-7.00011-8 19 © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
20 2. Measurement and models for multi-timescale psychological processes in aging research
(comScore, 2014), and wearable devices (Patel, Asch, & given each chosen age at wave one and also estimate
Volpp, 2015). how that risk is changing over the 5-year interval
The chapter will first provide a brief tutorial for between wave one and wave two. This analysis is
some of the fundamental concepts involved in match- well-suited to the policy maker’s question, since it
ing analyses and data to the type of question that one allows the prediction of total need for long-term care
wishes to understand. We will then provide some facilities at a future time.
pointers to sources for more detailed descriptions of However, the results of the first analysis are close to
well-known methods that have been usefully applied useless when the clinician wishes to predict the risk of
in the context of aging research. We will end the first a particular client developing dementia within some
section with a look at how the landscape of available chosen interval of time. The best one can say is that
data has changed since the previous edition of this given the age of the client there is a risk of dementia at
handbook—a shift towards intensive longitudinal time the current moment. This provides less information
series measurement and individual-specific models. than simply giving the client the diagnostic battery at
The second section will address multi-timescale mod- the current moment. In order to answer the clinician’s
els and analyses. This section will review terminology question about the development of dementia in a par-
and concepts that distinguish dynamical systems mod- ticular client, the clinician needs to know the history of
els from models for intraindividual variability and this client’s scores on the diagnostic battery and how
change that rely on the concept of a trait-state distinc- they compare to the history of scores of a representa-
tion. Model fitting methods for fitting dynamical sys- tive sample of individuals who eventually did and did
tems models will be reviewed and two example multi- not develop dementia. To provide an answer to the
timescale models discussed. The third section will dis- clinician’s question, one needs longitudinally linked
cuss a variety of challenges that arise when planning data from a large sample of individuals, including the
and analyzing longitudinal studies. The final section client in question. One then needs to use the trajectory
discusses an emerging opportunity that is amenable to of diagnostic scores from the client to select those in
multi-timescale dynamical systems modeling and that the study with similar trajectories and then calculate
would be difficult to instantiate without the newly the risk of onset of dementia at multiple time lags for
emerging analysis techniques discussed in the present those individuals. Then, one can ask: “Given the cur-
chapter. rent client’s trajectory, what is the expected risk of
dementia at, for example, 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, and
20 years?” The reasoning behind this analysis is that
different trajectories of diagnostic scores may exhibit
Matching the research design to the question different risks of dementia and this risk may not neces-
Consider three research questions which illustrate sarily vary parametrically with parametric changes in
important differences in research designs: (1) a policy trajectories.
maker wants to know how the incidence of dementia The third question is even more difficult to answer.
is changing in the population in order to plan for con- In order to understand the effectiveness of an interven-
struction of long-term care facilities; (2) a clinician tion, one must take into account the possibility that the
wants to be able to diagnose the likelihood of the intervention is differentially effective for each individ-
development of the onset of dementia for each client ual. Random assignment of the intervention to a sub-
that walks into her clinic; and (3) a psychologist wants sample of people who were in the study that was used
to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention for indi- to answer the clinician’s question and then estimating
viduals with mild cognitive impairment. Each of these the average effect of the intervention will not provide
questions requires a different experimental design in a definitive answer to the psychologist’s question. The
order to obtain meaningful answers. intervention and placebo may be differentially effective
The first question can be answered using a multi- for individuals. Ideally, the psychologist would want
wave cross-sectional design. At wave one, a diagnostic each individual to be her or his own control so that the
battery is given to a large representative sample of intervention could be given, then withdrawn, then
individuals who are within a wide age range. Five given again. But in this case, as is common in aging
years later at wave two, the same diagnostic battery is research, an ABA research design is not possible.
given to a new large representative sample of indivi- The fallback analysis is to parameterize individuals’
duals within the same age range. From these data, one trajectories into two parts—pre and post interven-
can estimate the risk of dementia in the population tion—so that a few coefficients allow for individual

Modeling review 21
differences in trajectories with a boundary at the time 5. Intensive burst designs where each individual burst of
of intervention. Then, one may estimate the effect of data comprises an intensive longitudinal sample.
an intervention using a mixed effects model or multi-
The first three of these research designs have been
part latent growth curve (LGC) (see the section below)
covered extensively in previous editions of this hand-
so that each individual’s trajectory can be summarized
book and so we will cover models that are restricted to
as a few random variables and the presence of the
these designs only in brief overview. The last two
intervention moderates these variables. This analysis
research designs will be introduced in the next main
can help understand the mean intervention effect and
section entitled “The Changing Data Landscape” and
the variance in individuals’ response to the
models especially appropriate for these two designs
intervention.
will be introduced in the subsequent section entitled
These three illustrative examples are given in the
“Measuring and Modeling Multiscale Processes from
hope of helping researchers avoid mistakes in experi-
Intensive Time Series.”
mental designs and to avoid fallacies in meta-analyses.
All too often, a naive meta-analysis is undertaken with
the thought that more data is always better. Large har-
monized longitudinal data sets [e.g., Integrative
Cross-sectional models
Analysis of Longitudinal Studies of Aging (IALSA) Cross-sectional models take on two forms: (1) youn-
and Gateway to Global Aging] are promising opportu- ger versus older group designs and (2) age-as-
nities, but come with their own risks. Selecting a moderator designs. Models for younger versus older
research design that fits the question one wishes to group data are popular, but have severe restrictions
answer is the most important and influential analytic when it comes to interpreting the results. Most often,
decision that one can make. The next most important ANOVA-style general linear models (see Maxwell &
decision is selecting a method of aggregation that fits Delaney, 2003, for a comprehensive treatment) are fit
the question one wishes to answer. Only once these to these data to determine if there are age-related dif-
two decisions have correctly been made does more ferences between the groups. However, individuals are
data imply more precision in answering the desired not randomly assigned to age groups and so attrition
question. A very precise answer to the wrong question and other selection effects cannot be ruled out when
must be recognized and avoided. using this type of analysis.
Selection is a serious problem that cannot be
ignored since there is at least one selection that is
baked into these data: The participants in the older
Modeling review group can only include those who have lived to that
age. Thus if the experiment had been run as a longitu-
This section will present some of the main catego- dinal study, some of those in the younger group
ries of methods that are currently being used to model would not be alive to participate in the older group.
age-related processes. Each method will be briefly To the extent that the variable of interest is related to
described along with its assumptions, strengths, weak- longevity, the analysis will be biased by this selection
nesses, and types of questions for which the model is effect.
appropriate. The models will be presented in relation Age-as-moderator designs include individuals in a
to the following five categories of data to which they range of ages and then use age as a predictor of the
can be applied: variable or variables of interest. While this may pro-
vide a more nuanced view of age-related differences, it
1. Cross-sectional designs in which each individual suffers from the same problems due to selection effects
belongs to an age category. as do the younger versus older group designs. When
2. Longitudinal designs where each individual has data estimating between-group differences, random assign-
from between 3 and 20 occasions of measurement. ment helps prevent selection effects. But age is never
3. Burst designs where several short bursts of randomly assigned and so to the extent that participa-
longitudinal samples are separated by longer tion is related to age and age is related to the variable
intervals of time. of interest, the results of cross-sectional studies pro-
4. Intensive longitudinal designs where each individual vide inherently biased results.
contributes between 20 and thousands of In order to interpret results from cross-sectional
observation occasions. designs as being due to age-related processes, one

Another random document with
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“There,” said my companion, “comes the storm-breeder. He
always leaves a Scotch mist behind him. By many a wet jacket do I
remember him. I suppose the poor fellow suffers much himself,—
much more than is known to the world.”
Presently a man with a child beside him, with a large black
horse, and a weather-beaten chair, once built for a chaise-body,
passed in great haste, apparently at the rate of twelve miles an hour.
He seemed to grasp the reins of his horse with firmness, and
appeared to anticipate his speed. He seemed dejected, and looked
anxiously at the passengers, particularly at the stage-driver and
myself. In a moment after he passed us, the horses’ ears were up,
and bent themselves forward so that they nearly met.
“Who is that man?” said I; “he seems in great trouble.”
“Nobody knows who he is, but his person and the child are
familiar to me. I have met him more than a hundred times, and have
been so often asked the way to Boston by that man, even when he
was travelling directly from that town, that of late I have refused any
communication with him; and that is the reason he gave me such a
fixed look.”
“But does he never stop anywhere?”
“I have never known him to stop anywhere longer than to inquire
the way to Boston; and let him be where he may, he will tell you he
cannot stay a moment, for he must reach Boston that night.”
We were now ascending a high hill in Walpole; and as we had a
fair view of the heavens, I was rather disposed to jeer the driver for
thinking of his surtout, as not a cloud as big as a marble could be
discerned.
“Do you look,” said he, “in the direction whence the man came;
that is the place to look. The storm never meets him; it follows him.”
We presently approached another hill; and when at the height,
the driver pointed out in an eastern direction a little black speck
about as big as a hat. “There,” said he, “is the seed-storm. We may
possibly reach Polley’s before it reaches us, but the wanderer and
his child will go to Providence through rain, thunder, and lightning.”
And now the horses, as though taught by instinct, hastened with
increased speed. The little black cloud came on rolling over the
turnpike, and doubled and trebled itself in all directions. The
appearance of this cloud attracted the notice of all the passengers,
for after it had spread itself to a great bulk it suddenly became more
limited in circumference, grew more compact, dark, and
consolidated. And now the successive flashes of chain lightning
caused the whole cloud to appear like a sort of irregular net-work,
and displayed a thousand fantastic images. The driver bespoke my
attention to a remarkable configuration in the cloud. He said every
flash of lightning near its centre discovered to him, distinctly, the form
of a man sitting in an open carriage drawn by a black horse. But in
truth I saw no such thing; the man’s fancy was doubtless at fault. It is
a very common thing for the imagination to paint for the senses, both
in the visible and invisible world.
In the mean time the distant thunder gave notice of a shower at
hand; and just as we reached Polley’s tavern the rain poured down
in torrents. It was soon over, the cloud passing in the direction of the
turnpike toward Providence. In a few moments after, a respectable-
looking man in a chaise stopped at the door. The man and child in
the chair having excited some little sympathy among the
passengers, the gentleman was asked if he had observed them. He
said he had met them; that the man seemed bewildered, and
inquired the way to Boston; that he was driving at great speed, as
though he expected to outstrip the tempest; that the moment he had
passed him, a thunder-clap broke directly over the man’s head, and
seemed to envelop both man and child, horse and carriage. “I
stopped,” said the gentleman, “supposing the lightning had struck
him, but the horse only seemed to loom up and increase his speed;
and as well as I could judge, he travelled just as fast as the thunder-
cloud.”
While this man was speaking, a pedler with a cart of tin
merchandise came up, all dripping; and on being questioned, he said
he had met that man and carriage, within a fortnight, in four different
States; that at each time he had inquired the way to Boston; and that
a thunder-shower like the present had each time deluged his wagon
and his wares, setting his tin pots, etc. afloat, so that he had
determined to get a marine insurance for the future. But that which
excited his surprise most was the strange conduct of his horse, for
long before he could distinguish the man in the chair, his own horse
stood still in the road, and flung back his ears. “In short,” said the
pedler, “I wish never to see that man and horse again; they do not
look to me as though they belonged to this world.”
This was all I could learn at that time; and the occurrence soon
after would have become with me, “like one of those things which
had never happened,” had I not, as I stood recently on the door-step
of Bennett’s hotel in Hartford, heard a man say, “There goes Peter
Rugg and his child! he looks wet and weary, and farther from Boston
than ever.” I was satisfied it was the same man I had seen more than
three years before; for whoever has once seen Peter Rugg can
never after be deceived as to his identity.
“Peter Rugg!” said I; “and who is Peter Rugg?”
“That,” said the stranger, “is more than any one can tell exactly.
He is a famous traveller, held in light esteem by all innholders, for he
never stops to eat, drink, or sleep. I wonder why the government
does not employ him to carry the mail.”
“Ay,” said a by-stander, “that is a thought bright only on one side;
how long would it take in that case to send a letter to Boston, for
Peter has already, to my knowledge, been more than twenty years
travelling to that place.”
“But,” said I, “does the man never stop anywhere; does he never
converse with any one? I saw the same man more than three years
since, near Providence, and I heard a strange story about him. Pray,
sir, give me some account of this man.”
“Sir,” said the stranger, “those who know the most respecting
that man, say the least. I have heard it asserted that Heaven
sometimes sets a mark on a man, either for judgment or a trial.
Under which Peter Rugg now labors, I cannot say; therefore I am
rather inclined to pity than to judge.”
“You speak like a humane man,” said I; “and if you have known
him so long, I pray you will give me some account of him. Has his
appearance much altered in that time?”
“Why, yes. He looks as though he never ate, drank, or slept; and
his child looks older than himself, and he looks like time broken off
from eternity, and anxious to gain a resting-place.”
“And how does his horse look?” said I.
“As for his horse, he looks fatter and gayer, and shows more
animation and courage than he did twenty years ago. The last time
Rugg spoke to me he inquired how far it was to Boston. I told him
just one hundred miles.”
“‘Why,’ said he, ‘how can you deceive me so? It is cruel to
mislead a traveller. I have lost my way; pray direct me the nearest
way to Boston.’
“I repeated, it was one hundred miles.
“‘How can you say so?’ said he; ‘I was told last evening it was
but fifty, and I have travelled all night.’
“‘But,’ said I, ‘you are now travelling from Boston. You must turn
back.’
“‘Alas,’ said he, ‘it is all turn back! Boston shifts with the wind,
and plays all around the compass. One man tells me it is to the east,
another to the west; and the guide-posts too, they all point the wrong
way.’
“‘But will you not stop and rest?’ said I; ‘you seem wet and
weary.’
“‘Yes,’ said he, ‘it has been foul weather since I left home.’
“‘Stop, then, and refresh yourself.’
“‘I must not stop; I must reach home to-night, if possible: though I
think you must be mistaken in the distance to Boston.’
“He then gave the reins to his horse, which he restrained with
difficulty, and disappeared in a moment. A few days afterward I met
38
the man a little this side of Claremont, winding around the hills in
Unity, at the rate, I believe, of twelve miles an hour.”
“Is Peter Rugg his real name, or has he accidentally gained that
name?”
“I know not, but presume he will not deny his name; you can ask
him,—for see, he has turned his horse, and is passing this way.”
In a moment a dark-colored, high-spirited horse approached,
and would have passed without stopping, but I had resolved to
speak to Peter Rugg, or whoever the man might be. Accordingly I
stepped into the street; and as the horse approached, I made a feint
of stopping him. The man immediately reined in his horse. “Sir,” said
I, “may I be so bold as to inquire if you are not Mr. Rugg? for I think I
have seen you before.”
“My name is Peter Rugg,” said he. “I have unfortunately lost my
way; I am wet and weary, and will take it kindly of you to direct me to
Boston.”
“You live in Boston, do you; and in what street?”
“In Middle Street.”
“When did you leave Boston?”
“I cannot tell precisely; it seems a considerable time.”
“But how did you and your child become so wet? It has not
rained here to-day.”
“It has just rained a heavy shower up the river. But I shall not
reach Boston to-night if I tarry. Would you advise me to take the old
road or the turnpike?”
“Why, the old road is one hundred and seventeen miles, and the
turnpike is ninety-seven.”
“How can you say so? You impose on me; it is wrong to trifle with
a traveller; you know it is but forty miles from Newburyport to
Boston.”
“But this is not Newburyport; this is Hartford.”
“Do not deceive me, sir. Is not this town Newburyport, and the
river that I have been following the Merrimack?”
“No, sir; this is Hartford, and the river the Connecticut.”
He wrung his hands and looked incredulous. “Have the rivers,
too, changed their courses, as the cities have changed places? But
see! the clouds are gathering in the south, and we shall have a rainy
night. Ah, that fatal oath!”
He would tarry no longer; his impatient horse leaped off, his hind
flanks rising like wings; he seemed to devour all before him, and to
scorn all behind.
I had now, as I thought, discovered a clew to the history of Peter
Rugg; and I determined, the next time my business called me to
Boston, to make a further inquiry. Soon after, I was enabled to collect
the following particulars from Mrs. Croft, an aged lady in Middle
Street, who has resided in Boston during the last twenty years. Her
narration is this:
Just at twilight last summer a person stopped at the door of the
late Mrs. Rugg. Mrs. Croft on coming to the door perceived a
stranger, with a child by his side, in an old weather-beaten carriage,
with a black horse. The stranger asked for Mrs. Rugg, and was
informed that Mrs. Rugg had died at a good old age, more than
twenty years before that time.
The stranger replied, “How can you deceive me so? Do ask Mrs.
Rugg to step to the door.”
“Sir, I assure you Mrs. Rugg has not lived here these twenty
years; no one lives here but myself, and my name is Betsy Croft.”
The stranger paused, looked up and down the street, and said,
“Though the paint is rather faded, this looks like my house.”
“Yes,” said the child, “that is the stone before the door that I used
to sit on to eat my bread and milk.”
“But,” said the stranger, “it seems to be on the wrong side of the
street. Indeed, everything here seems to be misplaced. The streets
are all changed, the people are all changed, the town seems
changed, and what is strangest of all, Catherine Rugg has deserted
her husband and child. Pray,” continued the stranger, “has John Foy
come home from sea? He went a long voyage; he is my kinsman. If I
could see him, he could give me some account of Mrs. Rugg.”
“Sir,” said Mrs. Croft, “I never heard of John Foy. Where did he
live?”
“Just above here, in Orange-tree Lane.”
“There is no such place in this neighborhood.”
“What do you tell me! Are the streets gone? Orange-tree Lane is
at the head of Hanover Street, near Pemberton’s Hill.”
“There is no such lane now.”
“Madam, you cannot be serious! But you doubtless know my
brother, William Rugg. He lives in Royal Exchange Lane, near King
Street.”
“I know of no such lane; and I am sure there is no such street as
King Street in this town.”
“No such street as King Street! Why, woman, you mock me! You
may as well tell me there is no King George. However, madam, you
see I am wet and weary, I must find a resting-place. I will go to Hart’s
tavern, near the market.”
“Which market, sir? for you seem perplexed; we have several
markets.”
“You know there is but one market near the town dock.”
“Oh, the old market; but no such person has kept there these
twenty years.”
Here the stranger seemed disconcerted, and uttered to himself
quite audibly: “Strange mistake; how much this looks like the town of
Boston! It certainly has a great resemblance to it; but I perceive my
mistake now. Some other Mrs. Rugg, some other Middle Street.—
Then,” said he, “madam, can you direct me to Boston?”
“Why, this is Boston, the city of Boston; I know of no other
Boston.”
“City of Boston it may be; but it is not the Boston where I live. I
recollect now, I came over a bridge instead of a ferry. Pray, what
bridge is that I just came over?”
“It is Charles River bridge.”
“I perceive my mistake: there is a ferry between Boston and
Charlestown; there is no bridge. Ah, I perceive my mistake. If I were
in Boston my horse would carry me directly to my own door. But my
horse shows by his impatience that he is in a strange place. Absurd,
that I should have mistaken this place for the old town of Boston! It is
a much finer city than the town of Boston. It has been built long since
Boston. I fancy Boston must lie at a distance from this city, as the
good woman seems ignorant of it.”
At these words his horse began to chafe, and strike the
pavement with his forefeet. The stranger seemed a little bewildered,
and said, “No home to-night;” and giving the reins to his horse,
passed up the street, and I saw no more of him.
It was evident that the generation to which Peter Rugg belonged
had passed away.
This was all the account of Peter Rugg I could obtain from Mrs.
Croft; but she directed me to an elderly man, Mr. James Felt, who
lived near her, and who had kept a record of the principal
occurrences for the last fifty years. At my request she sent for him;
and after I had related to him the object of my inquiry, Mr. Felt told
me he had known Rugg in his youth, and that his disappearance had
caused some surprise; but as it sometimes happens that men run
away,—sometimes to be rid of others, and sometimes to be rid of
themselves,—and Rugg took his child with him, and his own horse
and chair, and as it did not appear that any creditors made a stir, the
occurrence soon mingled itself in the stream of oblivion; and Rugg
and his child, horse, and chair were soon forgotten.
“It is true,” said Mr. Felt, “sundry stories grew out of Rugg’s affair,
whether true or false I cannot tell; but stranger things have happened
in my day, without even a newspaper notice.”
“Sir,” said I, “Peter Rugg is now living. I have lately seen Peter
Rugg and his child, horse, and chair; therefore I pray you to relate to
me all you know or ever heard of him.”
“Why, my friend,” said James Felt, “that Peter Rugg is now a
living man, I will not deny; but that you have seen Peter Rugg and
his child, is impossible, if you mean a small child; for Jenny Rugg, if
living, must be at least—let me see—Boston massacre, 1770—
Jenny Rugg was about ten years old. Why, sir, Jenny Rugg, if living,
must be more than sixty years of age. That Peter Rugg is living, is
highly probable, as he was only ten years older than myself, and I
was only eighty last March; and I am as likely to live twenty years
longer as any man.”
Here I perceived that Mr. Felt was in his dotage, and I despaired
of gaining any intelligence from him on which I could depend.
I took my leave of Mrs. Croft, and proceeded to my lodgings at
the Marlborough Hotel.
“If Peter Rugg,” thought I, “has been travelling since the Boston
massacre, there is no reason why he should not travel to the end of
time. If the present generation know little of him, the next will know
less, and Peter and his child will have no hold on this world.”
In the course of the evening, I related my adventure in Middle
Street.
“Ha!” said one of the company, smiling, “do you really think you
have seen Peter Rugg? I have heard my grandfather speak of him,
as though he seriously believed his own story.”
“Sir,” said I, “pray let us compare your grandfather’s story of Mr.
Rugg with my own.”
“Peter Rugg, sir,—if my grandfather was worthy of credit,—once
lived in Middle Street, in this city. He was a man in comfortable
circumstances, had a wife and one daughter, and was generally
esteemed for his sober life and manners. But unhappily, his temper,
at times, was altogether ungovernable, and then his language was
terrible. In these fits of passion, if a door stood in his way, he would
never do less than kick a panel through. He would sometimes throw
his heels over his head, and come down on his feet, uttering oaths in
a circle; and thus in a rage, he was the first who performed a
somerset, and did what others have since learned to do for
merriment and money. Once Rugg was seen to bite a tenpenny nail
in halves. In those days everybody, both men and boys, wore wigs;
and Peter, at these moments of violent passion, would become so
profane that his wig would rise up from his head. Some said it was
on account of his terrible language; others accounted for it in a more
philosophical way, and said it was caused by the expansion of his
scalp, as violent passion, we know, will swell the veins and expand
the head. While these fits were on him, Rugg had no respect for
heaven or earth. Except this infirmity, all agreed that Rugg was a
good sort of a man; for when his fits were over, nobody was so ready
to commend a placid temper as Peter.
“One morning, late in autumn, Rugg, in his own chair, with a fine
large bay horse, took his daughter and proceeded to Concord. On
his return a violent storm overtook him. At dark he stopped in
Menotomy, now West Cambridge, at the door of a Mr. Cutter, a friend
of his, who urged him to tarry the night. On Rugg’s declining to stop,
Mr. Cutter urged him vehemently. ‘Why, Mr. Rugg,’ said Cutter, ‘the
storm is overwhelming you. The night is exceedingly dark. Your little
daughter will perish. You are in an open chair, and the tempest is
increasing.’ ‘Let the storm increase,’ said Rugg, with a fearful oath, ‘I
will see home to-night, in spite of the last tempest, or may I never
see home!’ At these words he gave his whip to his high-spirited
horse and disappeared in a moment. But Peter Rugg did not reach
home that night, nor the next; nor, when he became a missing man,
could he ever be traced beyond Mr. Cutter’s, in Menotomy.
“For a long time after, on every dark and stormy night the wife of
Peter Rugg would fancy she heard the crack of a whip, and the fleet
tread of a horse, and the rattling of a carriage passing her door. The
neighbors, too, heard the same noises, and some said they knew it
was Rugg’s horse; the tread on the pavement was perfectly familiar
to them. This occurred so repeatedly that at length the neighbors
watched with lanterns, and saw the real Peter Rugg, with his own
horse and chair and the child sitting beside him, pass directly before
his own door, his head turned toward his house, and himself making
every effort to stop his horse, but in vain.
“The next day the friends of Mrs. Rugg exerted themselves to
find her husband and child. They inquired at every public house and
stable in town; but it did not appear that Rugg made any stay in
Boston. No one, after Rugg had passed his own door, could give any
account of him, though it was asserted by some that the clatter of
Rugg’s horse and carriage over the pavements shook the houses on
both sides of the streets. And this is credible, if indeed Rugg’s horse
and carriage did pass on that night; for at this day, in many of the
streets, a loaded truck or team in passing will shake the houses like
an earthquake. However, Rugg’s neighbors never afterward
watched. Some of them treated it all as a delusion, and thought no
more of it. Others of a different opinion shook their heads and said
nothing.
“Thus Rugg and his child, horse, and chair were soon forgotten;
and probably many in the neighborhood never heard a word on the
subject.
“There was indeed a rumor that Rugg was seen afterward in
Connecticut, between Suffield and Hartford, passing through the
country at headlong speed. This gave occasion to Rugg’s friends to
make further inquiry; but the more they inquired, the more they were
baffled. If they heard of Rugg one day in Connecticut, the next they
heard of him winding round the hills in New Hampshire; and soon
after a man in a chair, with a small child, exactly answering the
description of Peter Rugg, would be seen in Rhode Island inquiring
the way to Boston.
“But that which chiefly gave a color of mystery to the story of
Peter Rugg was the affair at Charleston bridge. The toll-gatherer
asserted that sometimes, on the darkest and most stormy nights,
when no object could be discerned, about the time Rugg was
missing, a horse and wheel-carriage, with a noise equal to a troop,
would at midnight, in utter contempt of the rates of toll, pass over the
bridge. This occurred so frequently that the toll-gatherer resolved to
attempt a discovery. Soon after, at the usual time, apparently the
same horse and carriage approached the bridge from Charlestown
square. The toll-gatherer, prepared, took his stand as near the
middle of the bridge as he dared, with a large three-legged stool in
his hand; as the appearance passed, he threw the stool at the horse,
but heard nothing except the noise of the stool skipping across the
bridge. The toll-gatherer on the next day asserted that the stool went
directly through the body of the horse, and he persisted in that belief
ever after. Whether Rugg, or whoever the person was, ever passed
the bridge again, the toll-gatherer would never tell; and when
questioned, seemed anxious to waive the subject. And thus Peter
Rugg and his child, horse, and carriage, remain a mystery to this
day.”
This, sir, is all that I could learn of Peter Rugg in Boston.
FURTHER ACCOUNT OF PETER RUGG
By JONATHAN DUNWELL
In the autumn of 1825 I attended the races at Richmond in
Virginia. As two new horses of great promise were run, the race-
ground was never better attended, nor was expectation ever more
deeply excited. The partisans of Dart and Lightning, the two race-
horses, were equally anxious and equally dubious of the result. To
an indifferent spectator, it was impossible to perceive any difference.
They were equally beautiful to behold, alike in color and height, and
as they stood side by side they measured from heel to forefeet within
half an inch of each other. The eyes of each were full, prominent,
and resolute; and when at times they regarded each other, they
assumed a lofty demeanor, seemed to shorten their necks, project
their eyes, and rest their bodies equally on their four hoofs. They
certainly showed signs of intelligence, and displayed a courtesy to
each other unusual even with statesmen.
It was now nearly twelve o’clock, the hour of expectation, doubt,
and anxiety. The riders mounted their horses; and so trim, light, and
airy they sat on the animals as to seem a part of them. The
spectators, many deep in a solid column, had taken their places, and
as many thousand breathing statues were there as spectators. All
eyes were turned to Dart and Lightning and their two fairy riders.
There was nothing to disturb this calm except a busy woodpecker on
a neighboring tree. The signal was given, and Dart and Lightning
answered it with ready intelligence. At first they proceed at a slow
trot, then they quicken to a canter, and then a gallop; presently they
sweep the plain. Both horses lay themselves flat on the ground, their
riders bending forward and resting their chins between their horses’
ears. Had not the ground been perfectly level, had there been any
undulation, the least rise and fall, the spectator would now and then
have lost sight of both horses and riders.
While these horses, side by side, thus appeared, flying without
wings, flat as a hare, and neither gaining on the other, all eyes were
diverted to a new spectacle. Directly in the rear of Dart and
Lightning, a majestic black horse of unusual size, drawing an old
weather-beaten chair, strode over the plain; and although he
appeared to make no effort, for he maintained a steady trot, before
Dart and Lightning approached the goal the black horse and chair
had overtaken the racers, who, on perceiving this new competitor
pass them, threw back their ears, and suddenly stopped in their
course. Thus neither Dart nor Lightning carried away the purse.
The spectators now were exceedingly curious to learn whence
came the black horse and chair. With many it was the opinion that
nobody was in the vehicle. Indeed, this began to be the prevalent
opinion; for those at a short distance, so fleet was the black horse,
could not easily discern who, if anybody, was in the carriage. But
both the riders, very near to whom the black horse passed, agreed in
this particular,—that a sad-looking man and a little girl were in the
chair. When they stated this I was satisfied that the man was Peter
Rugg. But what caused no little surprise, John Spring, one of the
riders (he who rode Lightning) asserted that no earthly horse without
breaking his trot could, in a carriage, outstrip his race-horse; and he
persisted, with some passion, that it was not a horse,—or, he was
sure it was not a horse, but a large black ox. “What a great black ox
can do,” said John, “I cannot pretend to say; but no race-horse, not
even flying Childers, could out-trot Lightning in a fair race.”
This opinion of John Spring excited no little merriment, for it was
obvious to every one that it was a powerful black horse that
interrupted the race; but John Spring, jealous of Lightning’s
reputation as a horse, would rather have it thought that any other
beast, even an ox, had been the victor. However, the “horse-laugh”
at John Spring’s expense was soon suppressed; for as soon as Dart
and Lightning began to breathe more freely, it was observed that
both of them walked deliberately to the track of the race-ground, and
putting their heads to the earth, suddenly raised them again and
began to snort. They repeated this till John Spring said,—“These
horses have discovered something strange; they suspect foul play.
Let me go and talk with Lightning.”
He went up to Lightning and took hold of his mane; and
Lightning put his nose toward the ground and smelt of the earth
without touching it, then reared his head very high, and snorted so
loudly that the sound echoed from the next hill. Dart did the same.
John Spring stooped down to examine the spot where Lightning had
smelled. In a moment he raised himself up, and the countenance of
the man was changed. His strength failed him, and he sidled against
Lightning.
At length John Spring recovered from his stupor and exclaimed,
“It was an ox! I told you it was an ox. No real horse ever yet beat
Lightning.”
And now, on a close inspection of the black horse’s tracks in the
path, it was evident to every one that the forefeet of the black horse
were cloven. Notwithstanding these appearances, to me it was
evident that the strange horse was in reality a horse. Yet when the
people left the race-ground, I presume one half of all those present
would have testified that a large black ox had distanced two of the
fleetest coursers that ever trod the Virginia turf. So uncertain are all
things called historical facts.
While I was proceeding to my lodgings, pondering on the events
of the day, a stranger rode up to me, and accosted me thus,—“I think
your name is Dunwell, sir.”
“Yes, sir,” I replied.
“Did I not see you a year or two since in Boston, at the
Marlborough Hotel?”
“Very likely, sir, for I was there.”
“And you heard a story about one Peter Rugg?”
“I recollect it all,” said I.
“The account you heard in Boston must be true, for here he was
to-day. The man has found his way to Virginia, and for aught that
appears, has been to Cape Horn. I have seen him before to-day, but
never saw him travel with such fearful velocity. Pray, sir, where does
Peter Rugg spend his winters, for I have seen him only in summer,
and always in foul weather, except this time?”
I replied, “No one knows where Peter Rugg spends his winters;
where or when he eats, drinks, sleeps, or lodges. He seems to have
an indistinct idea of day and night, time and space, storm and
sunshine. His only object is Boston. It appears to me that Rugg’s
horse has some control of the chair; and that Rugg himself is, in
some sort, under the control of his horse.”
I then inquired of the stranger where he first saw the man and
horse.
“Why, sir,” said he, “in the summer of 1824, I travelled to the
North for my health; and soon after I saw you at the Marlborough
Hotel I returned homeward to Virginia, and, if my memory is correct, I
saw this man and horse in every State between here and
Massachusetts. Sometimes he would meet me, but oftener overtake
me. He never spoke but once, and that once was in Delaware. On
his approach he checked his horse with some difficulty. A more
beautiful horse I never saw; his hide was as fair and rotund and
glossy as the skin of a Congo beauty. When Rugg’s horse
approached mine he reined in his neck, bent his ears forward until
they met, and looked my horse full in the face. My horse immediately
withered into half a horse, his hide curling up like a piece of burnt
leather; spell-bound, he was fixed to the earth as though a nail had
been driven through each hoof.
“‘Sir,’ said Rugg, ‘perhaps you are travelling to Boston; and if so,
I should be happy to accompany you, for I have lost my way, and I
must reach home to-night. See how sleepy this little girl looks; poor
thing, she is a picture of patience.’
“‘Sir,’ said I, ‘it is impossible for you to reach home to-night, for
you are in Concord, in the county of Sussex, in the State of
Delaware.’
“‘What do you mean,’ said he, ‘by State of Delaware? If I were in
Concord, that is only twenty miles from Boston, and my horse
Lightfoot could carry me to Charlestown ferry in less than two hours.
You mistake, sir; you are a stranger here; this town is nothing like
Concord. I am well acquainted with Concord. I went to Concord
when I left Boston.’
“‘But,’ said I, ‘you are in Concord, in the State of Delaware.’
“‘What do you mean by State?’ said Rugg.
“‘Why, one of the United States.’
“‘States!’ said he, in a low voice; ‘the man is a wag, and would
persuade me I am in Holland.’ Then, raising his voice, he said, ‘You
seem, sir, to be a gentleman, and I entreat you to mislead me not:
tell me, quickly, for pity’s sake, the right road to Boston, for you see
my horse will swallow his bits; he has eaten nothing since I left
Concord.’
“‘Sir,’ said I, ‘this town is Concord,—Concord in Delaware, not
Concord in Massachusetts; and you are now five hundred miles from
Boston.’
“Rugg looked at me for a moment, more in sorrow than
resentment, and then repeated, ‘Five hundred miles! Unhappy man,
who would have thought him deranged; but nothing in this world is
so deceitful as appearances. Five hundred miles! This beats
Connecticut River.’
“What he meant by Connecticut River, I know not; his horse
broke away, and Rugg disappeared in a moment.”
I explained to the stranger the meaning of Rugg’s expression,
“Connecticut River,” and the incident respecting him that occurred at
Hartford, as I stood on the door-stone of Mr. Bennett’s excellent
hotel. We both agreed that the man we had seen that day was the
true Peter Rugg.
Soon after, I saw Rugg again, at the toll-gate on the turnpike
between Alexandria and Middleburgh. While I was paying the toll, I
observed to the toll-gatherer that the drought was more severe in his
vicinity than farther south.
“Yes,” said he, “the drought is excessive; but if I had not heard
yesterday, by a traveller, that the man with the black horse was seen
in Kentucky a day or two since, I should be sure of a shower in a few
minutes.”
I looked all around the horizon, and could not discern a cloud
that could hold a pint of water.
“Look, sir,” said the toll-gatherer, “you perceive to the eastward,
just above that hill, a small black cloud not bigger than a blackberry,
and while I am speaking it is doubling and trebling itself, and rolling
up the turnpike steadily, as if its sole design was to deluge some
object.”
“True,” said I, “I do perceive it; but what connection is there
between a thunder-cloud and a man and horse?”
“More than you imagine, or I can tell you; but stop a moment, sir,
I may need your assistance. I know that cloud; I have seen it several
times before, and can testify to its identity. You will soon see a man
and black horse under it.”
While he was speaking, true enough, we began to hear the
distant thunder, and soon the chain-lightning performed all the
figures of a country-dance. About a mile distant we saw the man and
black horse under the cloud; but before he arrived at the toll-gate,
the thunder-cloud had spent itself, and not even a sprinkle fell near
us.
As the man, whom I instantly knew to be Rugg, attempted to
pass, the toll-gatherer swung the gate across the road, seized
Rugg’s horse by the reins, and demanded two dollars.
Feeling some little regard for Rugg, I interfered, and began to
question the toll-gatherer, and requested him not to be wroth with the
man. The toll-gatherer replied that he had just cause, for the man
had run his toll ten times, and moreover that the horse had
discharged a cannon-ball at him, to the great danger of his life; that
the man had always before approached so rapidly that he was too
quick for the rusty hinges of the toll-gate; “but now I will have full
satisfaction.”
Rugg looked wistfully at me, and said, “I entreat you, sir, to delay
me not; I have found at length the direct road to Boston, and shall
not reach home before night if you detain me. You see I am dripping
wet, and ought to change my clothes.”
The toll-gatherer then demanded why he had run his toll so
many times.
“Toll! Why,” said Rugg, “do you demand toll? There is no toll to
pay on the king’s highway.”
“King’s highway! Do you not perceive this is a turnpike?”
“Turnpike! there are no turnpikes in Massachusetts.”
“That may be, but we have several in Virginia.”
“Virginia! Do you pretend I am in Virginia?”
Rugg then, appealing to me, asked how far it was to Boston.
Said I, “Mr. Rugg, I perceive you are bewildered, and am sorry to
see you so far from home; you are, indeed, in Virginia.”
“You know me, then, sir, it seems; and you say I am in Virginia.
Give me leave to tell you, sir, you are the most impudent man alive;
for I was never forty miles from Boston, and I never saw a Virginian
in my life. This beats Delaware!”
“Your toll, sir, your toll!”
“I will not pay you a penny,” said Rugg; “you are both of you
highway robbers. There are no turnpikes in this country. Take toll on
the king’s highway! Robbers take toll on the king’s highway!” Then in
a low tone, he said, “Here is evidently a conspiracy against me; alas,
I shall never see Boston! The highways refuse me a passage, the
rivers change their courses, and there is no faith in the compass.”
But Rugg’s horse had no idea of stopping more than one minute;
for in the midst of this altercation, the horse, whose nose was resting
on the upper bar of the turnpike-gate, seized it between his teeth,
lifted it gently off its staples, and trotted off with it. The toll-gatherer,
confounded, strained his eyes after his gate.
“Let him go,” said I, “the horse will soon drop your gate, and you
will get it again.”
I then questioned the toll-gatherer respecting his knowledge of
this man; and he related the following particulars:—
“The first time,” said he, “that man ever passed this toll-gate was
in the year 1806, at the moment of the great eclipse. I thought the
horse was frightened at the sudden darkness, and concluded he had
run away with the man. But within a few days after, the same man
and horse repassed with equal speed, without the least respect to
the toll-gate or to me, except by a vacant stare. Some few years
afterward, during the late war, I saw the same man approaching
again, and I resolved to check his career. Accordingly I stepped into
the middle of the road, and stretched wide both my arms, and cried,
‘Stop, sir, on your peril!’ At this the man said, ‘Now, Lightfoot,
confound the robber!’ at the same time he gave the whip liberally to
the flank of his horse, which bounded off with such force that it
appeared to me two such horses, give them a place to stand, would
overcome any check man could devise. An ammunition wagon which
had just passed on to Baltimore had dropped an eighteen pounder in
the road; this unlucky ball lay in the way of the horse’s heels, and the
beast, with the sagacity of a demon, clinched it with one of his heels
and hurled it behind him. I feel dizzy in relating the fact, but so nearly
did the ball pass my head, that the wind thereof blew off my hat; and
the ball embedded itself in that gate-post, as you may see if you will
cast your eye on the post. I have permitted it to remain there in
memory of the occurrence,—as the people of Boston, I am told,
preserve the eighteen-pounder which is now to be seen half
imbedded in Brattle Street church.”
I then took leave of the toll-gatherer, and promised him if I saw or
heard of his gate I would send him notice.
A strong inclination had possessed me to arrest Rugg and
search his pockets, thinking great discoveries might be made in the
examination; but what I saw and heard that day convinced me that
no human force could detain Peter Rugg against his consent. I
therefore determined if I ever saw Rugg again to treat him in the
gentlest manner.
In pursuing my way to New York, I entered on the turnpike in
Trenton; and when I arrived at New Brunswick, I perceived the road
was newly macadamized. The small stones had just been laid
thereon. As I passed this piece of road, I observed that, at regular
distances of about eight feet, the stones were entirely displaced from
spots as large as the circumference of a half-bushel measure. This
singular appearance induced me to inquire the cause of it at the
turnpike-gate.
“Sir,” said the toll-gatherer, “I wonder not at the question, but I
am unable to give you a satisfactory answer. Indeed, sir, I believe I
am bewitched, and that the turnpike is under a spell of enchantment;
for what appeared to me last night cannot be a real transaction,
otherwise a turnpike-gate is a useless thing.”
“I do not believe in witchcraft or enchantment,” said I; “and if you
will relate circumstantially what happened last night, I will endeavor
to account for it by natural means.”
“You may recollect the night was uncommonly dark. Well, sir, just
after I had closed the gate for the night, down the turnpike, as far as
my eye could reach, I beheld what at first appeared to be two armies
engaged. The report of the musketry, and the flashes of their
firelocks, were incessant and continuous. As this strange spectacle
approached me with the fury of a tornado, the noise increased; and
the appearance rolled on in one compact body over the surface of
the ground. The most splendid fireworks rose out of the earth and

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