Question

For this activity, find someone who is older than age 60 (ideally, older than 70 or even 80) and who remembers his or her life well enough to tell stories about it. If you do not know anyone aged 60 or older, you may be able to ask at a local library, hospital, or school if they have any volunteers or staff over age 60 whom you can interview.
If you have access to a recorder, a video camera, or a digital voice recorder, or if your computer has a microphone, think about making an audio or video recording of the interview so you do not have to write as you listen. Otherwise, taking notes on paper will be fine.
Ask the questions below about development, but you may want to continue the interview beyond those questions.
Summarize the person's answers below. (There's no need to write the answers down word for word.) Use complete sentences.
Who did you interview, and how did you find them?
Do you remember a time when you suddenly changed? For instance, this might be a time when you suddenly felt grown up or when you passed a big milestone.
Do you remember any things about yourself that changed so slowly that you didn't notice, but when you looked back, you noticed that you had changed a lot?
What was adolescence like for you? Did you have a job, date, etc.?
Tell me about something that has influenced your life.
How are you different now than you were in your twenties?
What makes you happy?

Write about your interview.



What did you learn?
Then write about one or more of the themes of development you have been studying, and how it relates to your interview.
Use complete sentences and write in paragraph form.

Answer 1

I interviewed Mrs. Eleanor Martin, an 82-year-old woman who volunteers at the town senior center. I found her after asking the center’s volunteer coordinator whether anyone would be willing to be interviewed for a class project. Mrs. Martin agreed and allowed me to record our conversation on my phone so I could focus on listening rather than taking notes.

When I asked whether she remembered a time when she suddenly changed, she described two clear moments. The first was when she became a mother at age 25; she said the shift to being responsible for another person’s life felt instantaneous and made her feel “grown up overnight.” The second was when her husband died suddenly at age 59. She explained that widowhood forced immediate changes: she had to learn to manage finances, make medical decisions alone, and rework her daily routine. Both events produced abrupt role changes and new responsibilities that she felt she adapted to over time.

Mrs. Martin also talked about changes that occurred so slowly she barely noticed them until she looked back. She said her patience and tolerance increased gradually over decades. When she revisited old letters and photos she noticed how much calmer she had become; small frustrations that once seemed overwhelming no longer bothered her. She also described a slow decline in physical stamina and some hearing loss that crept up over many years and only registered as a “big change” when she compared herself to friends who were still more active.

Her adolescence was typical for her generation. She finished high school, worked part-time in a department store, and dated but did not move in with a partner before marriage. She married at 22 and focused on family and community activities in her twenties. She didn’t have a long career outside the home during her early adulthood but later worked part-time and volunteered as her children grew older.

When I asked about influences on her life, she mentioned two things repeatedly: her mother’s example of service to others and a high school teacher who encouraged her love of reading. She also cited the experience of volunteering at the senior center and church communities as shaping her sense of purpose in later life.

Comparing herself now to her twenties, Mrs. Martin said her priorities have shifted dramatically. In her twenties, her world was focused on marriage, childrearing, and keeping a household. Now she values relationships, conversation, and small pleasures like gardening and reading. She reported fewer worries about social status or material success and greater attention to emotional well-being and maintaining close family ties. She also noted cognitive changes: she relies more on accumulated knowledge (recipes, household management) and less on quick recall for unfamiliar tasks, which she attributes to normal aging.

What makes her happy now is simple: time with family and grandchildren, a tidy garden, good conversation, and feeling useful through volunteer work. She emphasized the importance of routine and meaningful small tasks as sources of daily satisfaction.

What I learned
From this interview I learned how both sudden, large events (marriage, widowhood) and gradual processes (increasing patience, physical aging) shape a person across the life span. Mrs. Martin’s stories illustrated that older adults often reinterpret earlier experiences and that a sense of purpose can continue or even grow into later decades. I also appreciated how social ties and small daily activities contribute to emotional well-being in old age.

Connection to developmental themes
Several themes from the course are illustrated by Mrs. Martin’s life. First, the life-span perspective and continuity-versus-change theme are visible in the way her core values (service, family) persisted even as specific roles and behaviors changed. Her sudden role transitions (becoming a parent, becoming widowed) show how discontinuities can reorganize responsibilities and identity, consistent with life-course theory’s emphasis on timing and transitions.

Erikson’s psychosocial stages are relevant: much of Mrs. Martin’s adult life centered on generativity (raising children, community involvement) and, in later life, moved toward the stage of integrity versus despair. She expressed acceptance and coherence about her life choices, suggesting movement toward integrity. Socioemotional selectivity theory also applies—Mrs. Martin’s accounts of valuing close family and meaningful conversations more than broad social networks reflect the idea that older adults prioritize emotionally meaningful relationships.

Cognitive aging themes are present as well: Mrs. Martin described preserved crystallized intelligence (skills, knowledge, wisdom built over time) alongside declines in fluid abilities (quick recall, processing novel tasks). Finally, cohort and historical/contextual influences shaped her options and identity: norms about marrying young and focusing on family were typical for her generation and influenced her life trajectory.

Overall, the interview reinforced that development is multi-dimensional (physical, cognitive, socioemotional), lifelong, and shaped by both individual choices and historical context. If you would like, I can help you adapt this example to match details from your own interview or format it for submission.