Michael Newman

Memory is the ability to register, retain and recall a wide range of information such as thoughts, sensations, experiences and knowledge. Some aspects of memory remain relatively intact with age while others decline.

Cognition refers to the mental process by which knowledge is acquired. It involves perception, reasoning, attention, memory and language. With age, some cognitive abilities remain intact or may even improve while others slowly decline. Overall, changes occur in a slow and gradual trajectory. Information on cognitive changes presented here is based on studies of averages from groups of elderly people.

Elderly couples may have inaccurate assumptions about aging and sex. Health care providers can sensitively present factual information to patients about the effects of aging, illness and medications on sexual functioning.

Developmental theorist Eric Erickson found that psychological growth and development can occur throughout the life span. He identified eight life stages, each with a specific psychosocial problem that, if successfully resolved, brings about growth and the potential to master the next stage.

Depression has physical and psychological aspects. Chronic depression can lead to the fact that the brain stops producing beneficial hormones. In such cases, to help people get stronger, you need medication. Then person will be able to overcome the crisis and eventually get rid of depression as well as the need for treatment.

The study of abnormal behaviour often leads to special investigations into the origins or causes of crime. This in turn will lead to the psychological study of criminals and also of the victims of crime.

Psychiatry is the realm in which medical science and psychology join to provide help for persons whose mind (as one says) is disturbed and whose behavior does not conform to accept social patterns. Psychopathology and clinical psychology are integral sub-fields of this branch of medical psychology which, of necessity, also includes neurology, mental deficiency or retardation, forensic psychology, certain aspects of abnormal psychology, social psychology and psychotherapy.

Developmental Psychology study of behavioral changes and continuity from infancy to old age. Much emphasis in psychology has been given to the child and to the deviant personality. Developmental psychology is particularly significant, then, in that it provides for formal study of children and adults at every stage of development through the life span.

Many fields of psychology use tests and measurement devices. The best-known psychological tool is intelligence testing. Since the early 1900s psychologists have been measuring intelligence—or, more accurately, the ability to succeed in schoolwork.

The literature of this school of psychology is still awaiting its bibliographer. Though this interpretation of human actions and reactions has been strongly criticized by other psychologists, the leading figures - B.F.Skinner, J.B.Watson and E.C.Tolman - have also been recognized and respected as great scholars.