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Thirty years of psychological research on age and work *
Author(s) -
WELFORD A. T.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
journal of occupational psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.257
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 2044-8325
pISSN - 0305-8107
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8325.1976.tb00338.x
Subject(s) - slowness , psychology , psychological research , relation (database) , term (time) , work (physics) , social psychology , cognitive psychology , computer science , engineering , mechanical engineering , physics , quantum mechanics , database
The history is sketched of research on industrial gerontology in Britain from 1946 onwards, and viewed in relation to gerontological research in other countries and to the social needs current in the 1950s. The individual studies were closely integrated with fundamental gerontological research, and were both guided by and helped to formulate leading theoretical ideas. These are briefly discussed under six heads: the central locus of the most important age changes; the concept that signal‐to‐noise ratio in the brain is reduced in old age; the increasing failure by older people to transfer material from short‐term to long‐term storage and to recover it from long‐term store; compensatory relationships between fall of ability to manipulate data in the abstract, and increase of knowledge; slowness as a major cause of accidents among older people; and methodological problems of interpreting industrial statistics regarding age. It is suggested that future research should continue to keep close to developments of theory in general psychological studies not specifically concerned with age; that the basis exists for a substantial effort to apply existing knowledge on the shop floor; that research should go beyond the study of particular capacities and functions to systems; and that it should be constantly aware of the need for careful, direct observation.