Essay Example on Aging and Its Impact on Mental and Cognitive Development

Psychological and cognitive developments of an individual significantly relate to the aging, as a person gets older, some of the mental and cognitive development such as conceptual reasoning processing speed and memory abilities starts to decline. Many older adults, especially over 65 years, like some of the activities such as driving and socialize with people to receive a social attachment. However, as a person ages, they become more prone to psychological, social, and biological problems. Therefore, the primary purpose of this paper is to review the "Driving Miss Daisy" movie and relate it to the basic concept of psychology, quality of life, and aging.

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"Driving Miss Daisy" is one of the credible movies that address and focus on the developmental psychology of aging, social psychology, and Alzheimer's disease. The main reason why I found this movie interesting is that it addresses the degenerative nature and conditions related to cognitive development and examines some of the critical questions of personal interest in the fields of psychological development and social psychology. It also illustrates how prejudice develops and how the victims should address it to overcome the condition.

The lead characters in this movie are Mr. Morgan Freeman, Jessica Tandy (Miss Daisy), who is a wealthy Jewish woman from the southern part and Dan Akroyd, and the minor character, Hoke Colburn, the driver. The films began with Miss Daisy taking her car out of the garage so that she can visit the store. When she was backing up the vehicle, she crashed in the process, and this made her son, Boolie decide that her mother should stop the habit of driving based on herb old age. The son believes that her mother might experience problems related to old age, and thus allowing her to drive is much risky to personal health (Driving Miss Daisy,1989). The decision made her unhappy. To respond to this, Boolie hired Black American Chauffeur, Hoke Colburn as her driver based on his long-term experience and stability. The most interesting part of Miss Daisy and Hoke Colburn is the story of their friendship, which was unfolded over 25 years as they try to overcome their social differences and discomforts to establish a new chapter of friendship and love. For instance, when Miss Daisy paid a visit to her husband's grave, she realized that Hoke Colburn does not know how to read; she decided to set simple steps to enable her driver to learn reading and writing. Besides, Miss Daisy also had a housemaid; Idella who used to prepare her delicious dish every day; unfortunately, Idella died, leaving her with a lot of grief and decided not to hire another maid. Therefore, it was the turn for Hoke Colburn to help her in daily house chore, making their friendship to become more robust than ever.

The social-psychological aging theories, in most cases, explain the relationship, and the roles for the aged person should focus on the adjustment of physical, biological, and cognitive changes (Saxon et al.,2014). Similarly, the psychosocial and development theories learned in a class focused on the successful adaption to some of the gradual changes that occur as a result of old age. For instance, the developmental approach pays more attention to aging progression steps and incremental factors; therefore, "Driving Miss Daisy" movie is a perfect example of activity theory, which asserts that continued activities are some of the indicators of successful aging. In this case, Miss Daisy continuing with her usual daily activity such as driving, cooking, and gardening was a great idea which gave her successful aging. Losing her ability and stability was a developmental process that she needed to adjust and resolve by accepting to be driven, as suggested by her son, Boolie. After a long period of resistance, she finally admitted to being inspired and helped daily chores by Mr. Hoke, who was also getting old. These are the changes that Miss Daisy came to resolve and accept the conditions as usual, and the normal developmental part of aging. On the other, Miss Daisy was too afraid of death and did not want someone to talk about it since she lost famous people in her life, the husband and the maid; therefore, the primary thing that she to resolve is issues relating to death.

In the movie, aging is one of the inherent factors to Miss Daisy, of which she referred to it has "Highway Robbery." It comes gradually whether a person likes it, or not and it deprives a person of doing some of the activities used doing daily. According to Arnold, (2019), aging interferes with mental cognitive, memory, and practical communication ability if a person is an elderly faces stereotypes from the social system and family members. In the movie, Miss Daisy's son did not interfere with her mother's life unless if the issues jeopardize her life.

The most important lesson drawn from "Driving Miss Daisy" movie is that people age differently. For instance, as Miss Daisy gets older, her dementia condition incredibly worsens compared to Mr. Hoke, whose signs do not show up. The movie also brought up types of stereotypes and racist about aging, such as senile, stubborn, and possession of lots of money. Besides, older adults also discriminate against each other based on race, ethnicity, and social background. Secondly, the movie taught young people the importance of showing love and friendship to prevent them from suffering from traumatization. Functional associations support older people and enable them to age successfully.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the movie Driving Miss Daisy is a credible window into some psychosocial changes aged people experience daily after realizing they had lost the ability and stability of doing things they used to do. Pride and independence are some of the significant indicators for quality life among the aging population. Therefore, the theories of psychosocial and development enable people to stay with older adults to understand and insightful information on the complexity of successful aging. Besides, it is vital to refrain from stereotypes when dealing with older people.

References

Arnold, E. C. (2019). Communicating with Older Adults. Interpersonal Relationships E-Book: Professional Communication Skills for Nurses, 364. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=XC2GDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA364&dq=Communicating+with+older+adults.&ots=NpZm8Z0SOV&sig=WxECR08xUr5g-WqV_-qoPv_y7eI

Driving Miss Daisy (1989). Morgan Freeman Movie HD. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ3wXC5jqKE&list=PLoZl6VTf1Vr6CQffFHRYvYX-s8KNyEbhQ

Saxon, S. V., Etten, M. J., & Perkins, E. A. (2014). Physical change and aging: A guide for the helping professions. Springer Publishing Company. http://lghttp.48653.nexcesscdn.net/80223CF/springer-static/media/samplechapters/9780826198648/9780826198648_chapter.pdf