Chapter 1: An Introduction to Lifespan Development

Cognitive Perspective

focuses on the processes that allow people to know, understand, and think about the world.

Assessing the Humanistic Perspective

(1) The humanistic perspective has not had a major impact on the field of lifespan development. (2) It has not identified any sort of broad developmental change that is the result of age or experience. (3) Some criticize the theory's assumption that people are basically good, which is unverifiable.

3 Aspects of Personality

ID, EGO, and SUPEREGO

Treatment Group

The group receiving the treatment

Assessing the Behavioral Perspective

a) According to classical and operant conditioning, people and organisms are black boxes in which nothing that occurs inside is understood or even cared about. b) Social-cognitive learning theory argues that what makes people different from rats and pigeons is mental activity which must be taken into account. c) Social-cognitive learning theory has come to predominate over classical and operant conditioning.

Assessing the Psychodynamic Perspective

a) Contemporary psychological research supports the idea that unconscious memories have an influence on our behavior. b) The notion that people pass through stages in childhood that determine their adult personalities has little research support. c) Because Freud based his theory on a small sample of upper-middle-class Austrians living during a strict, puritanical era, it is questionable how applicable the theory is to muticultural populations. d) Because his theory focuses on men, it has been criticized as sexist and devaluing women. e) Erikson's view that development continues throughout the lifespan is highly important and has received considerable support. f) Erikson also focused more on men than women. g) Much of Erikson's theory is too vague to test rigorously. h) In sum, the psychodynamic perspective provides a good description of past behavior, but imprecise predictions of future behavior.

Advantages of Ecological Approach

a) It emphasizes the interconnectedness of the influences on development. b) It illustrates that influences are multidirectional. c) It stresses the importance of broad cultural factors that affect development.

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

a) Jean Piaget (1896 - 1980) proposed that all people pass in a fixed sequence through a series of universal stages of cognitive development. b) In each stage, the quantity of information increases; the quality of knowledge and understanding changes as well. c) Piaget suggested that human thinking is arranged into schemes, organized mental patterns that represent behaviors and actions. d) Piaget suggested that the growth of children's understanding of the world can be explained by two principles:

The lifespan is usually divided into broad age ranges.

a) Prenatal period (conception to birth) b) Infancy and toddlerhood (birth to age 3) c) Preschool period (ages 3 to 6) d) Middle childhood (ages 6 to 12) e) Adolescence (ages 12 to 20) f) Young adulthood (ages 20 to 40) g) Middle adulthood (ages 40 to 60) h) Late adulthood (age 60 to death)

Classical Conditioning

is a type of learning in which an organism responds in a particular way to a neutral stimulus that normally does not bring about that type of response.

Treatment

procedures applied by an investigator based on two different experiences devised for participants.

Cross-sequential Studies

researchers examine a number of different age groups over several points in time.

Independent Variable

the variable that researchers manipulate in an experiment.

Choosing a Research Setting

(1) First, researchers choose a SAMPLE, a group of participants chosen for the experiment. (2) FIELD STUDY is a research investigation carried out in a naturally occurring setting. (3) LABORATORY STUDY is a research investigation conducted in a controlled setting explicitly designed to hold events constant.

Psychosexual Development (stages)

(1) Oral (birth to 12-18 months) (2) Anal (12 - 18 months to 3 years) (3) Phallic (3 to 5 - 6 years) (4) Latency (5 - 6 years to adolescence) (5) Genital (adolescence to adulthood)

Erikson's Psychosocial Theory

(1) Trust vs. Mistrust (birth to 12 - 18 months) (2) Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (12 - 18 months to 3 years) (3) Initiative vs. Guilt (3 to 5 - 6 years) (4) Industry vs. Inferiority (5 - 6 years to adolescence) (5) Identity vs. Role diffusion (adolescence to adulthood) (6) Intimacy vs. Isolation (early adulthood) (7) Generativity vs. Stagnation (middle adulthood) (8) Ego Integrity vs. Despair (late adulthood)

Assessing Piaget's Theory

(1) thousands of investigations have shown it to be largely accurate. (2) Some cognitive skills emerge earlier than Piaget suggested. (3) Some cognitive skills emerge according to a different timetable in non-Western countries. (a) In every culture, some adults never reach Piaget's highest level of cognitive thought - formal, logical thought. f) Some developmentalists believe cognitive thought does not develop discontinuously but slowly and steadily and continuously.

Developmental Diversity

-- How Culture, Ethnicity, and Race Influence Development. -- Members of the research community have sometimes used terms such as race and ethnic group in inappropriate ways. (1) Race is a biological concept referring to classifications based on physical and structural characteristics. (2) Ethnic group and ethnicity are broader terms, referring to cultural background, nationality, religion, and language.

Lifespan Development

-- is the field of study that examines patterns of growth, change, and stability in behavior that occur throughout the entire lifespan.

Continuous VS Discontinuous Change

--Continuous Change: involves gradual development in which achievements at one level build on those of previous levels. --Discontinuous Change: is development that occurs in distinct steps or stages, with each stage bringing about behavior that is assumed to be qualitatively different from behavior at earlier stages.

Critical Period VS Sensitive Period

--Critical Period: is a specific time during development when a particular event has its greatest consequences. --Sensitive Period: as a point in development when organisms are particularly susceptible to certain kinds of stimuli in their environments, but the absence of those stimuli does not always produce irreversible consequences.

Nature VS Nurture

--Nature: refers to traits, abilities, and capacities that are inherited from one's parents. It encompasses MATURATION, any factor that is produced by the predetermined unfolding of genetic information. --Nurture: refers to the environmental influences that shape behavior.

Vygotsky (Russian) Sociocultural Theory

--an approach that emphasizes how cognitive development proceeds as a result of social interactions between members of a culture. a) Vygotsky argued that children's understanding of the world is acquired through their problem-solving interactions with adults and other children. b) He also argued that to understand the course of development we must consider what is meaningful to members of a given culture.

Information-Processing Approach

--are the model that seeks to identify the ways individuals take in, use, and store information. --They assume that even complex behaviors such as learning, remembering, categorizing, and thinking can be broken down into a series of individual steps. --They suggest that as people age, they are better able to control their mental processing and change the strategies they choose to process information.

Humanistic Perspective

--contends that people have a natural capacity to make decisions about their lives and control their behavior. c) According to this approach, each individual has the ability and motivation to reach more advanced levels of maturity, and people naturally seek to reach their full potential. d) This perspective emphasizes free will, the ability of humans to make choices and come to decisions about their lives. e) Carl Rogers suggests that all people have a need for positive regard that results from an underlying wish to be loved and respected. f) Abraham Maslow suggests that self-actualization, a state of self-fulfillment in which people achieve their highest potential in their own unique way, is a primary goal in life.

Operant Conditioning

--is a form of learning in which a voluntary response is strengthened or weakened, depending on its association with positive or negative consequences. a) B. F. Skinner (1904 - 1990) claimed that people operate on their environments to bring about a desired state of affairs. b) Reinforcement is the process by which a stimulus is provided that increases the probability that a preceding behavior will be repeated. c) Punishment, the introduction of an unpleasant or painful stimulus or the removal of a desirable stimulus, will decrease the probability that a behavior will occur in the future. d) When behavior receives no reinforcement it is likely to be discontinued or extinguished. e) Principles of operant conditioning are used in BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION, a formal technique for promoting the frequency of desirable behaviors and decreasing the incidence of unwanted ones.

Scientific Method

--is the process of posing and answering questions using careful, controlled techniques that include systematic, orderly observation and the collection of data. --Theories are used to develop HYPOTHESES, predictions stated in a way that permits testing.

Evolutionary Perspective

--seek to identify behavior in today's humans that is the result of our genetic inheritance from our ancestors. a) Evolutionary perspectives grew out of the work of Charles Darwin who argued in The Origin of Species that a process of natural selection creates traits in a species that are adaptive to their environment. b) The evolutionary perspectives argue that our genetic inheritance determines not only such physical traits as skin and eye color, but certain personality traits and social behaviors. c) The evolutionary perspective draws on the field of ethology (Konrad Lorenz 1903 - 1989), which examines the ways in which our biological makeup influences our behavior. d) The evolutionary perspective encompasses one of the fastest growing areas within the field of lifespan development: behavioral genetics, which studies the effects of heredity on behavior. e) Assessing the evolutionary perspectives (1) Some developmentalists criticize the evolutionary perspective for paying insufficient attention to the environment and social factors. (2) Others argue that there is no good way to support experimentally theories derived from evolution.

Correlational Research

--seeks to identify whether an association or relationship between two factors exists. --The strength and direction of a relationship between two factors is represented by a mathematical score, called a correlational coefficient, which ranges from +1.0 (positive) to -1.0 (negative). (1) A positive correlation indicates that as the value of one factor increases, it can be predicted that the value of the other will also increase. (2) A negative correlation informs us that as the value of one factor increases, the value of the other factor declines. *Finding that two variables are correlated with one another proves nothing about causality*

SUPEREGO

--the aspect of personality that represents a person's conscience, incorporating distinctions between right and wrong. --Develops about age 5 or 6. Learned from parents, teachers, and other significant figures.

EGO

--the part of personality that is rational and reasonable. --Acts as a buffer between the outside world and the primitive id. --Operates on the reality principle, in which instinctual energy is restrained in order to maintain the safety of the individual and help integrate the person into society.

ID

--the raw, unorganized, inborn part of personality that is present at birth that represents primitive drives related to hunger, sex, aggression, and irrational impulses. --Operates according to the pleasure principle, in which the goal is to maximize satisfaction and reduce tension.

Albert's Bandura Social-Cognitive Learning Theory

--which is learning by observing the behavior of another person, called a model. a) Observer must pay attention to model's behavior. b) Observer must successfully recall the behavior. c) Behavior must be reproduced accurately. d) Observer must be motivated to learn and carry out behavior

Orientation to Lifespan Development

1. Developmental psychologists test their assumptions about the nature and course of human development by applying scientific methods. 2. Lifespan development focuses on human development. a) universal principles of development b) cultural, racial, ethnic differences c) individual traits and characteristics 3. Lifespan developmentalists view development as a lifelong, continuing process. 4. Lifespan developmentalists focus on change and growth in addition to stability, consistency, and continuity in people's lives. 5. Lifespan developmentalists are interested in people's lives from the moment of conception until death.

Which Approach is Right? The Wrong Question

1. Each emphasizes different aspects of development. 2. Psychodynamic approach emphasizes emotions, motivational conflicts, and unconscious determinants of behavior. 3. Behavioral approaches emphasize overt behavior. 4. Cognitive and humanist approaches look more at what people think than what they do. 5. The evolutionary perspective focuses on how inherited biological factors underlie development.

Ethics and Research

Society for Research in Child Development and the American Psychological Association have developed ethical guidelines for researchers. (1) Freedom from harm (2) Informed consent (3) Use of deception (4) Maintenance of privacy

Bioecological Approach (different levels)

a) The microsystem is the everyday, immediate environment such as homes, caregivers, friends, teachers. b) The mesosystem connects various aspects of the microsystem, linking children to parents, students to teachers, employees to bosses, friends to friends. c) The exosystem represents such broad influences as local government, the community, schools, places of worship, and the local media. d)The macrosystem represents larger cultural influences such as society in general, types of government, religious systems, and political thought. e)Promixal-interactions between active organism and persons, objects, and symbols in immediate environment--Development f)Distal-indirect effect between immediate environment and person's interactions g)Demand Charaterics-behavioral tendencies that encourage and discourage certain kinds of reactions from others

3 Theories

a.Stage Models-similar qualities within stages but different stages i.Freud, Erickson, Pigat b.Incremental Models-Slow and steady i.Classical, Operant, Social Learning ii.Information Processing Theory-change in cognition c.Multidimensional-All Domains i.Bioecological Model

Normative age-graded influence

are biological and environmental influences that are similar for individuals in a particular age group, regardless of when or where they are raised.

Theories

are explanations and predictions concerning phenomena of interest, providing a framework for understanding the relationships among an organized set of facts or principles.

Nonnormative life event

are specific, atypical events that occur in a particular person's life at a time when they do not happen to most people.

Normative History-graded influence

are the biological and environmental influences associated with a particular historical moment.

Fixation

behavior reflecting an earlier stage of development, may occur.

Normative sociocultural-graded influence

include the impact of social and cultural factors present at a particular time for a particular individual, depending on such variables as ethnicity, social class, and subcultural membership.

Case Studies

involve extensive, in-depth interviews with a particular individual or a small group of individuals.

Physical Development

involves the body's physical makeup, including the brain, nervous system, muscles, and senses, and the need for food, drink, and sleep.

Cognitive Development

involves the ways that growth and change in intellectual capabilities influence a person's behavior.

Personality Development

involves the ways that the enduring characteristics that differentiate one person from another change over the lifespan.

Experiment

is a process in which an investigator, called an experimenter, devises two different experiences for subjects or participants.

Psychosexual Development

is a series of stages that children pass through in which pleasure, or gratification is focused on a particular biological function and body part.

Theoretical Research

is research designed specifically to test some developmental explanation and expand scientific knowledge.

Applied Research

is research meant to provide practical solutions to immediate problems

Psychosocial Development

is the approach that encompasses changes in the understanding individuals have of both their interactions with others, and others' behavior, and of themselves as members of society.

Psychodynamic Perspective

is the approach that states behavior is motivated by inner forces, memories, and conflicts of which a person has little awareness or control.

Cohort

is the group of people born at around the same time and same place.

Control Group

is the group that receives either no treatment or alternative treatment.

Naturalistic Observation

is the observation of a naturally occurring behavior without intervention in the situation.

Bioecological Approach (definition)

is the perspective suggesting that different levels of environment simultaneously influence individuals.

Assimilation

is the process in which people understand an experience in terms of their current stage of cognitive development and way of thinking

Accommodation

is the process that changes existing ways of thinking in response to encounters with new stimuli or events.

Dependent Variable

is the variable that researchers measure in an experiment and expect to change as a result of the experimental manipulation.

Social Development

is the way in which individual's interactions with others and their social relationships grow, change, and remain stable over the course of life.

Cross-sectional Research

people of different ages are compared at the same point in time.

Behavioral Perspective

suggests that the keys to understanding development are observable behavior and outside stimuli in the environment.

Frued's Psychodynamic theory

suggests that unconscious forces act to determine personality and behavior. The unconscious is a part of the personality about which a person is unaware and is responsible for much of our everyday behavior

Longitudinal Research

the behavior of one or more individuals is measured as the subjects age.

Survey Research

where people are chosen to represent some larger population and are asked questions about their attitudes, behavior, or thinking on a given topic.