Developmental Psychology

Is development continuous or discontinuous?

(a) Some theorists believe that development is a smooth, gradual process. Individuals gradually add more of the same types of skills. (b) Other theorists think that development takes place in discontinuous stages. People change rapidly as they step up to a new level and then change very little for a while. With each new step, the person interprets and responds to the world in a reorganized, qualitatively different way. As we will see later, still other theorists believe that development is characterized by both continuous and discontinuous change. Today, some theorists believe that both continuous & discontinuous changes occur

example of contextual development

a shy individual who fears social encounters develops in very different contexts from those of an outgoing agemate who readily seeks out other ppl children & adults in non-Western village societies have experiences in their families & communities that differ sharply from those of ppl in large Western cities; these different circumstances foster different intellectual capacities, social skills, & feelings about the self & others

What are the influences on development?

multiple, interactive forces that are: age-graded, history-graded, nonnormative

new evidence is increasingly emphasizing what btwn individuals & their contexts?

new evidence is increasingly emphasizing mutually influential relations btwn individuals & their contexts: people not only are affected by but also contribute to the contexts in which they develop

What does it mean when a theorist emphasizes stability? What does it mean when they regard environment as important?

stability: that individuals who are high or low in a characteristic (e.g., verbal ability, anxiety, or sociability) will remain so at later stages theorists who emphasize stability, typically stress the importance of heredity if they regard environment as important, they usually point to early experiences as establishing a lifelong pattern of Bx -powerful negative events in the 1st few years, they argue, cannot be fully overcome by later, more positive ones (Bowlby)

major theories recognize 2 views of how we can best describe the differences in the capacities of infants, children, adolescents, & adults

1.) continuous 2.) discontinuous

Nature vs. Nurture: Questions to Consider

Is the developing person's ability to think in more complex ways largely the result of a built-in timetable of growth, or is it primarily influenced by stimulation from parents & teachers? Do children acquire language rapidly b/c they're genetically predisposed to do so or b/c parents teach them from an early age? & what accounts for the vast individual differences among people—in height, weight, physical coordination, intelligence, personality, & social skills?

one course of development or many?

Stage theorists believe that people everywhere follow the same sequence of development. Yet the field of human development is becoming increasingly aware that children & adults live in distinct contexts contexts: unique combinations of personal and environmental circumstances resulting in different paths of change

what do theories that accept the discontinuous perspective regard development as taking place in?

Stages: qualitative changes in thinking, feeling, & behaving that characterize specific periods of development

systems approach

View that biological, psychological, and social risk factors combine to produce psychological disorders. Also known as the biopsychosocial model of psychological disorders.

developmental science

a field of study devoted to understanding constancy and change throughout the lifespan the field is: 1.) scientific, 2.) applied, & 3.) interdisciplinary research on human development has been stimulated by both scientific curiosity & social pressures to improve people's lives

developmental systems perspective

a perpetually ongoing process, extending from conception to death, that is molded by a complex network of biological, psychological, and social influences

theory

an orderly, integrated set of statements that describes, explains, & predicts behavior

what are the 4 assumptions that make up the lifespan perspective of development

development is: 1.) lifelong, 2.) multidimensional & multidirectional, 3.) highly plastic, & 4.) affected by multiple interacting forces

Nature vs. Nurture Controversy

each development theory takes a stand on a major question about its underlying causes: Are genetic or environmental factors more important? Although all theories grant roles to both nature & nurture, they vary in emphasis Nature: hereditary info we receive from our parents at the moment of conception Nurture: the complex forces of the physical & social world that influence our biological makeup & psychological experiences before & after birth

what is the discontinuous view of differences in capacities of humans throughout the life stages? & example

holds that infants & children have unique ways of thinking, feeling, & behaving, ones quite different from those of adults. if so, then development is discontinuous e.g., from this perspective Sophie could not yet perceive, remember, & categorize experiences as a mature person can; rather, she moved thru a series of developmental steps, each w/ unique features, until she reached the highest level of functioning discontinuous: a process in which new ways of understanding & responding to the world emerge at specific times

analogy of developmental stage theories

in stage theories, development is like climbing a staircase, w/ each step corresponding to a more mature, reorganized way of functioning the stage concept also assumes that ppl undergo periods of rapid transformation as they step up from 1 stage to the next; in other words change is fairly sudden rather that gradual and ongoing

How do contemporary theorists regard the contexts that shape development as many-layered & complex in both the individual & environmental sides?

individual side: includes heredity & biological makeup environmental side: include both immediate settings (e.g., home, school, & neighborhood); and circumstances more remote from ppl's everyday lives (e.g., community resources, societal values, & historical time period)

the assumption that development is lifelong

no age period is supreme in its impact on the life course; rather, events occurring during each major period can have equally powerful effects on future change every age period has its own agenda, its unique demands & opportunities that yield certain similarities in development across many individuals; nevertheless, throughout life, the challenges people face & the adjustments they make are highly diverse in timing & pattern, as the remaining assumptions make clear

What does it mean when a theorist emphasizes plasticity?

plasticity: open to change in response to influential experiences theorists who take on a more optimistic view, see development as having substantial plasticity throughout life

lifespan perspective

this is the leading systems approach development has both universal features & features unique to each individual & their contexts; & a growing # of theorists regard heredity & environment as inseparably interwoven, each affecting the potential of the other to modify the child's traits & capacities

what is the continuous view of differences in capacities of humans throughout the life stages? & example

this view holds that infants & preschoolers respond to the world in much the same way as adults do; the difference btwn the immature & mature being is simply one of amount or complexity e.g., when Sofie was a baby, her perception of a piano melody, memory for past events, & ability to categorize objects may have been much like our own; perhaps her only limitation was that she could not perform theses skills w/ as much info * precision as we can. if this is so, then changes in her thinking must be continuous continuous: a process of gradually augmenting the same types of skills that were there to begin w/