analytic intelligence: Intelligence that involves logic, planning, strategy selection, focused attention, and information processing.

problem-focused coping: A strategy to deal with stress by tackling a stressful situation directly.

emotion-focused coping: A strategy to deal with stress by changing feelings and interpretations about the stressor rather than changing the stressor itself.

general intelligence: The idea that intelligence is one basic trait, underlying all cognitive abilities. According to this concept, people have varying levels of this general ability.

practical intelligence: The intellectual skills used in everyday problem solving. (Sometimes called tacit intelligence.)

senescence: The process of aging.

Seattle Longitudinal Study: A major cross-sequential study of adult intelligence. This study began in 1956 and has been repeated every 7 years.

menopause: The time in middle age, usually around age 50, when a woman’s menstrual periods cease and the production of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone drops. Strictly speaking, menopause begins one year after a woman’s last menstrual period.

fluid intelligence: Those aspects of basic intelligence that make learning of all sorts quick and thorough. Short-term memory, abstract thought, and speed of thinking are usually considered part of fluid intelligence.

selective optimization with compensation: The theory that people specialize in some abilities and to ameliorate any physical and cognitive losses they may experience.

crystallized intelligence: Those aspects of intellectual ability that reflect accumulated learning. Vocabulary and general information are examples

cognitive artifacts: Intellectual tools, such as writing, invented by one generation and then passed down from generation to generation to foster learning within societies.

weathering: The gradual accumulation of stressors over a long period of time, wearing down a person’s resilience and resistance.

avoidant coping: Responding to a stressor by ignoring, forgetting, or hiding it.

andropause: A term coined to signify a drop in testosterone levels in older men, which normally results in reduced sexual desire, erections, and muscle mass. (Also called male menopause.)

creative intelligence: Intelligence that involves the capacity to be flexible and innovative, thinking unusual ideas.

automatic processing: Thinking that occurs without deliberate, conscious thought. Experts process most tasks automatically, saving conscious thought for unfamiliar challenges.

infertility: The failure to conceive a child after trying for at least a year.

stressor: Any situation, event, experience, or other stimulus that causes a person to feel stressed. Many circumstances become stressors for some people but not for others.