Cognitive and Affective Theories of Adult Development 67
Extensive discussions of behavioral techniques with the aged can be found in
Hussian (1986) and Zeiss and Steffen (1996); they demonstrate that benefits can
be readily documented and measured. Behavior therapy can be readily carried
out and understood by staff if they are trained in its use (Zeiss & Steffen, 1996).
Relative to drug therapy and aversive behavioral interventions (e.g., time-out pro-
cedures), positive behavioral interventions, such as reinforcing the individual if
an inappropriate behavior has not occurred, are more acceptable to older persons
(Burgio & Sinnott, 1990). Behavior therapy can also be tailored to the individual
patient. Behavioral procedures are relatively brief and economical; however, they
require a great deal of expertise to use effectively, and their use can create some
ethical questions, particularly when used with impaired, institutionalized or iso-
lated older adults. Indeed, there is ample, well-designed research to support the
efficacy of behavioral techniques in dealing with a variety of behavior problems
(Smyer, Zarit, & Qualls, 1990; Zeiss & Steffen, 1996). For example, and as noted
earlier, overly dependent interactions with other elderly persons as well as with
nursing home staff, incontinence, assertive behavior, withdrawal, inappropriate
sexual behavior, wandering, anxiety, and poor self-care can all be treated behav-
iorally (Smyer et al., 1990). Many of these behaviors are a consequence of being
institutionalized; they have been termed excess disabilities (Kahn & Miller, 1978).
INFORMATION PROCESSING
The information processing (IP) perspective (Sternberg, 1985) views the older
person as an active processor of information contained in a problem or in the real
world. Individuals develop logical operations and strategies by which to under-
stand and analyze information presented to them. Those who support this ap-
proach focus on component processes that are a function of the interaction
between task influences and person influences (Salthouse, 1992). Examples of
component processes are encoding, storage, retrieval, rule formation, and pattern
analysis. In addition to specific component processes, IP approaches assume the
existence of an executive processor, which selects and supervises the use of these
processes, and processing resources, referring to the energy or space available
within the person to carry out cognitive operations or processes (Salthouse, 1992).
Impairments with age in terms of speed or accuracy of performance may exist in
each of these components required to process information. Generally speaking,
age declines in intelligence (see Schaie, 2005), viewed from an IP perspective, are
seen in terms of the speed, capacity, and efficiency of central processing re-
sources (e.g., working memory, attention, processing speed; Salthouse, 1998). Ide-
ally, by using an IP approach to intelligence, we may discover and foster the
component skills that individuals of all ages may use on an everyday basis.
Sternberg (1985) argues that three aspects of intellectual functioning underlie
our adaptive behavior, termed a triarchic theory of intelligence. The metacompo-
nents of intelligence, which are executive processes, enable persons to plan what
they are going to do, monitor while they are doing it, and evaluate it after it is
done. More specific to the task are performance components, which are the actual
mental operations (e.g., encoding, making inferences, making comparisons) peo-
ple use to solve specific problems. A last dimension of intelligence is the knowl-
edge acquisition component, which helps persons gain new knowledge. Separating
new from old and relevant from irrelevant information in solving a problem and