OLD-AGE AND AGING FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE EXPERIMENTAL SYNTHESIS OF BEHAVIOR

Gerontology is a new area of science, and includes the study of biolog ical, psychological and social process associated with aging. Due to t he recent changes in society related to modernization and industrializ ation, the life and behavior of older people have suffered many transf ormations. The experimental synthesis of behavior is an appropriate fr ame of reference to study gerontology and the aging process, because i t takes into consideration the following factors: ecology, the cultura l system, the production system, patterns of child rearing, the indivi dual, and the interindividual system. The several conceptualizations o f age (biological, chronological, psychological, social, legal, and ph enomenological) are presented and considered in current perspective. T he way of investigating aging from the perspective of the experimental synthesis of behavior is analyzed in detail.