EXPLORING THE EXPERIENCE OF AGING - AN OVERVIEW

This overview represented both psychological and sociological approach es to the study of the experience of ageing from four north western Eu ropean nations. The psychological presentations emphasised the importa nce of developing reliable and valid assessment instruments of the way people integrate their various states of awareness. The use of senten ce completion stems provided one method. Integrated stories were a fur ther important way in which persons represented their lives, and neede d to be studied in terms appropriate to the story. The sociological st udies considered both theory making and different uses of the term 'ex perience' in the gerontological literature. The hypotheses of an agele ss self underlying an ageing body were disputed from the findings of a large survey. The last presentation emphasised the concept of learnin g from experience, and the importance of precedence for gaining a sens e of being 'experienced'.