PYC2603/102/3/2020
Tutorial letter 102/3/2020
Adulthood and Maturity
PYC2603
Semester 1 and 2
Department of Psychology
,Dear Students,
Please note that the new prescribed book for the module PYC2603: Adulthood and
Maturity is Louw, D., and Louw, A. (2019). Adult Development and Ageing (2nd ed.). Haga
Haga: Psychology Publications (ISBN: 978-0-86886-857-8). It is essential that you buy or
order the prescribed book immediately. If you wait too long you may have difficulty obtaining
it and may be unable to keep up with the work programme.
In order to correspond with the updated prescribed book’s content, the PYC2603 Adulthood
and Maturity Study Guide for students registered for the first and second semesters for
2020 is replaced by this Tutorial Letter 102/2020. This tutorial letter has new study units (
sections of the prescribed book you have to study), questions and tasks that correspond with
the updated content in the 2019 edition of the prescribed book for the module. Please use
this Tutorial Letter 102/2020 when studying for PYC2603 Adulthood and Maturity to make the
most of your module resources.
We wish you all the best with your studies.
PYC2603 Tuition Team
, iii PYC2603/102
Contents
Chapter Pages
INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………………. iv
Basic concepts of adult development…………………………………………………. 1
Physical development and sexuality…………………………………………………… 10
Cognitive development…………………………………………………………………. 16
Personality development………………………………………………………………... 26
Social development……………………………………………………………………… 35
Successful ageing and mental health…………………………………………………. 40
Death and grief…………………………………………………………………………… 45
, iv
INTRODUCTION
In no other module in psychology will you learn more about your own growth and
development as an adult than in this module. We know that, as a student at university, you
are an adult. Your childhood and adolescent stages of development are something of the
past.
What growth and development are you aiming to achieve as an adult? This is the type of
question that you are going to examine and reflect on in this module. By examining this
question in every area of your development (e.g. your physical aging, how you think and fee,
how you interact with others, how you understand the fundamental issues of life ) you will
develop informed opinions, come up with new questions, and feel challenged in your own
growth and in the direction of greater psychological maturity.
Let us start by asking and confronting you with some very fundamental questions. (We
suggest that you use a workbook to answer all the questions, tasks and reflective activities
given in this study guide).
What does it mean to be an adult?
What do you mean when you say that you are an adult?
Think about this for a while.
List your ideas in your workbook.
Your ideas about adulthood may have included that you are grown-up, in other words, you
are no longer a child or adolescent. You may have thought about physical development or
emotional maturity. We usually associate being an adult with chronological age, that is, a
person’s age. At a certain age, usually the late teens and early twenties, a person no longer
has the physical appearance of a child.
But is chronological age the most important characteristic that distinguishes adults from
children? Why do we sometimes say that someone should start acting his or her age? What
do we mean when we say that a person is being childish or immature? When we do say this
sort of thing, we allude to certain characteristics of adulthood. Look at the characteristics you
have listed, and let’s think about some of them.
What does it mean to be mature?
Which characteristics have you listed that refer to your behaviour or how mature you
are as a person?
When you think about being an adult, are there certain characteristics that you still may
want to acquire? In your workbook, describe what you want to achieve with your life and
the kind of person you really want to be.
Tutorial letter 102/3/2020
Adulthood and Maturity
PYC2603
Semester 1 and 2
Department of Psychology
,Dear Students,
Please note that the new prescribed book for the module PYC2603: Adulthood and
Maturity is Louw, D., and Louw, A. (2019). Adult Development and Ageing (2nd ed.). Haga
Haga: Psychology Publications (ISBN: 978-0-86886-857-8). It is essential that you buy or
order the prescribed book immediately. If you wait too long you may have difficulty obtaining
it and may be unable to keep up with the work programme.
In order to correspond with the updated prescribed book’s content, the PYC2603 Adulthood
and Maturity Study Guide for students registered for the first and second semesters for
2020 is replaced by this Tutorial Letter 102/2020. This tutorial letter has new study units (
sections of the prescribed book you have to study), questions and tasks that correspond with
the updated content in the 2019 edition of the prescribed book for the module. Please use
this Tutorial Letter 102/2020 when studying for PYC2603 Adulthood and Maturity to make the
most of your module resources.
We wish you all the best with your studies.
PYC2603 Tuition Team
, iii PYC2603/102
Contents
Chapter Pages
INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………………. iv
Basic concepts of adult development…………………………………………………. 1
Physical development and sexuality…………………………………………………… 10
Cognitive development…………………………………………………………………. 16
Personality development………………………………………………………………... 26
Social development……………………………………………………………………… 35
Successful ageing and mental health…………………………………………………. 40
Death and grief…………………………………………………………………………… 45
, iv
INTRODUCTION
In no other module in psychology will you learn more about your own growth and
development as an adult than in this module. We know that, as a student at university, you
are an adult. Your childhood and adolescent stages of development are something of the
past.
What growth and development are you aiming to achieve as an adult? This is the type of
question that you are going to examine and reflect on in this module. By examining this
question in every area of your development (e.g. your physical aging, how you think and fee,
how you interact with others, how you understand the fundamental issues of life ) you will
develop informed opinions, come up with new questions, and feel challenged in your own
growth and in the direction of greater psychological maturity.
Let us start by asking and confronting you with some very fundamental questions. (We
suggest that you use a workbook to answer all the questions, tasks and reflective activities
given in this study guide).
What does it mean to be an adult?
What do you mean when you say that you are an adult?
Think about this for a while.
List your ideas in your workbook.
Your ideas about adulthood may have included that you are grown-up, in other words, you
are no longer a child or adolescent. You may have thought about physical development or
emotional maturity. We usually associate being an adult with chronological age, that is, a
person’s age. At a certain age, usually the late teens and early twenties, a person no longer
has the physical appearance of a child.
But is chronological age the most important characteristic that distinguishes adults from
children? Why do we sometimes say that someone should start acting his or her age? What
do we mean when we say that a person is being childish or immature? When we do say this
sort of thing, we allude to certain characteristics of adulthood. Look at the characteristics you
have listed, and let’s think about some of them.
What does it mean to be mature?
Which characteristics have you listed that refer to your behaviour or how mature you
are as a person?
When you think about being an adult, are there certain characteristics that you still may
want to acquire? In your workbook, describe what you want to achieve with your life and
the kind of person you really want to be.
