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(Arlington, TX) - Dr. K. Warner Schaie, professor of psychology and director of the Gerontology Center at Penn State University, has been awarded the Mensa Education and Research Foundation (MERF) Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Research.
Dr. Schaie has spent his career studying psychological development from young adulthood to advanced old age. His research in the field of geropsychology has resulted in changes in public policy including the raising of mandatory retirement ages from 65 to 70 in many fields. He received the MERF Lifetime Achievement Award for his body of scientific inquiry, his influence in shaping the field of geropsychology, and the success of his students in their own careers.
In addition to founding the field of geropsychology, Dr. Schaie is a pioneer in longitudinal studies, those studies which follow a large group of people over a long period of time. In 1956, he began the Seattle Longitudinal Study, in which more than 5,000 people ages 20 to 90+ have been tested to discover what happens to the intellectual abilities of people as they age. Participants in the study have included members of an HMO in the Seattle metropolitan area.
Dr. Schaie began the study to determine why some people maintain intellectual powers in their old age and others decline at early adult stages. Through the Seattle study, he has identified several common factors of those who are mentally sharp in old age. These include a high standard of living, a flexible personality style at midlife, an intelligent spouse, and involvement in a complex and intellectually stimulating environment. Dr. Schaie also found that even if mental acuity is lost through inactivity, it easily can be reclaimed through retraining.
Dr. Schaie, born in Germany, emigrated to this country after World War II. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1952 and completed graduate work at the University of Washington.
Mensa is an organization for anyone who scores in the top two percent on a supervised, standardized intelligence test. MERF is the affiliate of Mensa that aims to foster human intelligence and encourages research in intelligence and giftedness. MERF is a philanthropic, non-profit, tax-exempt organization funded by gifts from members of American Mensa, Ltd. and other donors. For more information or to donate to MERF, call (817) 607-0060 or visit www.merf.us.mensa.org.
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