The Life History Theory as a Theory of Human Development

The life history theory (LHT) is an evolutionary theory derived from evolutionary biology. According to it, species choose a reproductive strategy that maximizes adaptation (i.e., increases the chances of surviving and producing offspring) on the basis of influences contained in the environment which impacts development in the early stages of life. LHT, due to its connections with such psychological theories as psychosocial acceleration, the evolutionary theory of socialization, or the attachment theory, is also a developmental psychology theory which points to specific development paths within an evolutionary frame. The aim of this article is to shed light on LHT from the point of view of developmental psychology – a question as yet absent from the Polish literature of the subject.

Cognitive Functioning, Eyesight and Eye Movement Changes in the Course of Normal Aging and the Alzheimer’s Dementia Process – a Review of Research

Polish society is aging. Currently, people over 65 constitute 16.5% of the population. Along with changes in the population structure, the number of patients with dementia disorders increases. Every year, worldwide, there are nearly 4.6 million new patients diagnosed with dementia, including the Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The purpose of this article is to review research studies that analyze visual-spatial deficits, eyesight and eye movement changes in normally aging people and in patients with AD. With age, various cognitive deficits appear, including visualspatial deficits of perception of complex stimuli, copying figures and visual construction, coordination and visual-spatial processing. So far, a number of studies have been conducted which show that people with AD have a thinner retinal nerve fiber layer. Macular volume and thickness reduction is also observed, which correlates with the severity of cognitive impairment. Research also points to the association of AD with eye movement disorders. Patients in this group make a greater number of errors in anti-saccade tasks as compared to healthy people. Typical for AD are delayed saccades and slow vertical saccade movement, lower accuracy and longer latency time, as well as lower saccadic inhibition as compared to normally ageing people. Identification of eye movement disorders can not only provide information on the severity of the disease but also make it possible to track its progression, and thus, probably, evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment. Further studies will verify the diagnostic value of the retinal changes as an AD marker and the eye movement disorders in determining the severity of the disease, monitoring its course and assessing the effectiveness of the treatment.

Relations between Temperament and the Characteristics of Autobiographical Memories

The aim of the study was to examine whether there exists a relationship between temperamental traits and selected characteristics of autobiographical memories. 71 persons twice recalled and rated their holiday memories: in October and three months later. In addition, the participants filled in the Formal Characteristics of Behavior – Temperament Inventory, Revised Version. The results revealed that participants with high emotional reactivity recall few events and their recollections are mostly negative and non-specific. Participants with high activity recall many different events and their recollections contain strong emotions. Participants with high perseveration recall negative events first. The exploration of the relation between temperament and autobiographical memories may help discover mechanisms that contribute to the construction of given narrative schemas through which they may influence individual development.

This work was supported by the Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, from the funds awarded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in the form of a subsidy for the maintenance and development of research potential in 2021 (501-D125-01-1250000 zlec. 5011000212). 

Publikacja finansowana ze środków Wydziału Psychologii Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego przyznanych przez MNiSW w formie subwencji na utrzymanie i rozwój potencjału badawczego w roku 2021 (501-D125-01-1250000 zlec. 5011000212).

The COVID-19 Pandemic in the Experience of People in Late Adulthood

The article presents a qualitative study on the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic among people aged 60+, carried out in its initial stage, in Poland. Three individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted in May 2020, in order to explore how the pandemic is perceived in a cognitive, emotional and social context, and how it refers to study participants’ past experiences. Purposive sampling was used, taking into account criteria of the specific situation of people aged 60+: belonging to the group at increased risk of serious consequences of the disease and being subject to special preventive interventions. Based on the thematic analysis of the data corpus, six issues were identified: information about the coronavirus, changes in the current life, emotional and cognitive attitudes, references to the past, coping strategies and predictions. There was a large variation observed in the way of thinking about the reported events, experienced emotions and visions of the future. The pandemic phenomenon was presented on many levels, being evaluated as a difficult but perhaps valuable experience.

Praise and Criticism from the Teacher and Intellectual Helplessness in Mathematics and Polish Language among Girls and Boys in Early Adolescence

Learning a variety of school subjects may involve experiencing repeated inability to perform tasks effectively despite one’s efforts. The negative consequences of such experiences are called intellectual helplessness (Sędek, 1995). One of the factors relevant to its occurrence may be the feedback provided by the teacher. The main aim of the study was to determine whether there is a relationship between the frequency and type of praise and criticism formulated by Polish language teachers or mathematics teachers and intellectual helplessness in a given subject, as well as to examine gender differences in this respect. A total of 381 (193F and 188M) students aged 12–16 years participated in the study. Two methods were used: the School Communication Questionnaire (Bąk, 2016) and the Intellectual Helplessness Scale in versions for Polish language and mathematics (Sędek, 1995). The results indicate that girls and boys do not differ in the level of intellectual helplessness in both subjects. However, in the group of girls, the intensity of intellectual helplessness in mathematics increases with age. Boys experience a wider variety of ineffective feedback from the teacher than girls. The level of intellectual helplessness in students in both subjects decreases along with the increase in the praise and reduction of the often ineffective criticism.