Developmental Pschology, Lecture notes of Developmental Psychology

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Middle Adulthood Robert Feldman Guilford Technical Community College PSY 241 General Psychology Ms. Knight, MSW November 10, 2022

For someone in their middle adulthood phase, according to Erikson it is either spent in generativity, making a contribution towards work, family, or making a contribution to society as a whole (Feldman, 2019). Generative people find a way to strive in guiding or encouraging future generations, many people find generativity in parenting, acting as mentors, and working directly with younger individuals (Feldman, 2019). From the measures of generative actions I think that my scores resemble more of the norm for my age bracket considering that my score was really low and generally midlife generations have higher generativity measure scores than younger and older generations (McAdams et al., 1998). From analyzing the demonstrations of scores from other measures of generativity, evaluations that can be made about generativity in middle adulthood would be that overall they have higher scores when it comes to generativity themes than the other age brackets. It is shown that they are more likely to show respect and concern for the next generation and generative behaviors (McAdams et al., 1998). The explanation for higher generativity scores for both early and middle students could be that they have more similarities than expected. During early adulthood many are becoming more independent, leaving home, and making their own decisions. During middle adulthood, adults are keeping the meaning of their lives, accepting their strengths and weaknesses as well as continuing to stay content (Feldman, 2019). It could just be that both age brackets have more in common and have more similarities and goals within each other. References Feldman, R. (2019). Development across the life span, 9th edition. Development Across the Life Span. Retrieved October 5, 2022, from