Psych Chapter 9: Lifespan Development

Normative approach

Across these three domains—physical, cognitive, and psychosocial—the normative approach to development is also discussed. This approach asks, "What is normal development?

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

Age 0-2: Sensorimotor World experienced through senses and actions Object permanence Stranger anxiety Age 2-6: Preoperational Use words and images to represent things, but lack logical reasoning Pretend play Egocentrism Language development Age 7-11: Concrete operational Understand concrete events and analogies logically; perform arithmetical operations Conservation Mathematical transformations Age 12-: Formal operational Formal operations Utilize abstract reasoning Abstract logic Moral reasoning

How Do Nature and Nurture Influence Development?

Are we who we are because of nature (biology and genetics), or are we who we are because of nurture (our environment and culture)? This longstanding question is known in psychology as the nature versus nurture debate.

Is Development Continuous or Discontinuous?

Continuous development views development as a cumulative process, gradually improving on existing skills (Figure 9.2). With this type of development, there is gradual change. Consider, for example, a child's physical growth: adding inches to her height year by year. In contrast, theorists who view development as discontinuous believe that development takes place in unique stages: It occurs at specific times or ages. With this type of development, the change is more sudden, such as an infant's ability to conceive object permanence.

Germinal Stage 1 to 2 weeks

Embryonic Stage 3-8 Weeks: Basic structures of the embryo start to develop into areas that will become the head, chest, and abdomen. During the embryonic stage, the heart begins to beat and organs form and begin to function. The neural tube forms along the back of the embryo, developing into the spinal cord and brain

Freud's stages are called the stages of psychosexual development. According to Freud, children's pleasure-seeking urges are focused on a different area of the body, called an erogenous zone, at each of the five stages of development: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.

Erikson's psychosocial development theory emphasizes the social nature of our development rather than its sexual nature. While Freud believed that personality is shaped only in childhood, Erikson proposed that personality development takes place all through the lifespan. Erikson suggested that how we interact with others is what affects our sense of self, or what he called the ego identity. Erikson proposed that we are motivated by a need to achieve competence in certain areas of our lives. According to psychosocial theory, we experience eight stages of development over our lifespan, from infancy through late adulthood. At each stage there is a conflict, or task, that we need to resolve.

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) is another stage theorist who studied childhood development (Figure 9.5). Instead of approaching development from a psychoanalytical or psychosocial perspective, Piaget focused on children's cognitive growth.

His theory of cognitive development holds that our cognitive abilities develop through specific stages, which exemplifies the discontinuity approach to development. As we progress to a new stage, there is a distinct shift in how we think and reason. Piaget said that children develop schemata to help them understand the world. Schemata are concepts (mental models) that are used to help us categorize and interpret information

Erikson's Psychosocial Stages of Development

Stage 1: 0-1 years. Trust vs mistrust. Trust (or mistrust) that basic needs, such as nourishment and affection, will be met Stage 2: 1-3 years. Autonomy vs shame/doubt. Develop a sense of independence in many tasks Stage 3: 3-6 years. Initiative vs guilt. Take initiative on some activities—may develop guilt when unsuccessful or boundaries overstepped. Stage 4: 7-11 years. Industry vs inferiority. Develop self-confidence in abilities when competent or sense of inferiority when not. Stage 5: 12-18 years. Identity vs confusion.Experiment with and develop identity and roles. Stage 6: 19-29 years. Intimacy vs isolation. Establish intimacy and relationships with others. Stage 7: 30-64 years. Generativity vs stagnation. Contribute to society and be part of a family. Stage 8: 65- years. Integrity vs despair. Assess and make sense of life and meaning of contributions

Physical development

involves growth and changes in the body and brain, the senses, motor skills, and health and wellness.

Cognitive development

involves learning, attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning, and creativity.

Psychological development

involves emotions, personality, and social relationships. We refer to these domains throughout the chapter.

Kohlberg: stages of moral reasoning

Level 1: Pre-conventional morality Stage 1: Obedience and punishment: behavior driven by avoiding punishment Stage 2: Individual interest: behavior driven by self-interest and rewards Level 2: Conventional morality Stage 3: Interpersonal: behavior driven by social approval Stage 4: Authority: behavior driven by obeying authority and conforming to social order Level 3: Post-conventional morality Stage 5: Social contract: behavior driven by balance of social order and individual rights Stage 6: Universal ethics: behavior driven by internal moral principles

Although children develop at slightly different rates, we can use these age-related averages as general guidelines to compare children with same-age peers to determine the approximate ages they should reach specific normative events called

developmental milestones (e.g., crawling, walking, writing, dressing, naming colors, speaking in sentences, and starting puberty).