disengagement theory

a theory proposing that old age involves a gradual withdrawal of the individual from society and of society from the individual. According to this theory, those happiest in old age have turned their attention inward toward the self and away from involvement in the outside world. Empirical research has shown, however, that this mutual withdrawal is not an inevitable component of old age. Compare activity theory; continuity theory. [developed by 20th-century U.S. psychologists Elaine Cumming and William E. Henry]

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Psychology term of the day

April 19th 2024

mistress

n. a woman with whom a married man has a continuing sexual relationship, usually without the knowledge of his wife.