Psychology: Lifespan Development: Introduction to Lifespan Development | Chapter 1

Laboratory Observation

conducted in a setting created by the researcher. NOTE: - This permits the researcher to control more aspects of the situation. - One example of laboratory observation involves a systematic procedure known as the strange situation test, which you will learn about in chapter three. - Concerns regarding laboratory observations are that the participants are aware that they are being watched, and there is no guarantee that the behavior demonstrated in the laboratory will generalize to the real world.

Psychosocial Crises.

each period of life has a unique challenge or crisis that the person who reaches it must face

Sociocultural Theory

emphasizes the importance of culture and interaction in the development of cognitive abilities.

Teratogens

environmental factors that can lead to birth defects

Cognitive Theories

focus on how our mental processes or cognitions change over time.

Nature would argue that

heredity plays the most important role in bringing about that feature

Macrosystem

includes the cultural elements NOTE: - Such as global economic conditions, war, technological trends, values, philosophies, and a society's responses to the global community.

Microsystem

includes the individual's setting and those who have direct, significant contact with the person, such as parents or siblings. NOTE: - The input of those is modified by the cognitive and biological state of the individual as well. - These influence the person's actions, which in turn influence systems operating on him or her.

Exosystem

includes the larger contexts of community. NOTE: - A community's values, history, and economy can impact the organizational structures it houses. - Mesosystems both influence and are influenced by the exosystem.

Mesosystem

includes the larger organizational structures, such as school, the family, or religion. NOTE: - These institutions impact the microsystems just described. - The philosophy of the school system, daily routine, assessment methods, and other characteristics can affect the child's self-image, growth, sense of accomplishment, and schedule thereby impacting the child, physically, cognitively, and emotionally.

Cohort

is a group of people who are born at roughly the same period in a particular society.

Age-grade

is a specific age group, such as toddler, adolescent, or senior.

Socioeconomic status (SES)

is a way to identify families and households based on their shared levels of education, income, and occupation. It influences our lives. NOTE: - Social standing, socioeconomic status, or social class.

Plasticity

is all about our ability to change and that many of our characteristics are malleable.

Cultural relativity

is an appreciation for cultural differences and the understanding that cultural practices are best understood from the standpoint of that particular culture.

Poverty level

is an income amount established by the federal government that is based on a set of income thresholds that vary by family size. NOTE: - If a family's income is less than the government threshold, that family is considered in poverty. - Those living at or near the poverty level may find it extremely difficult to sustain a household with this amount of income. - Poverty is associated with poorer health and a lower life expectancy due to poorer diet, less healthcare, greater stress, working in more dangerous occupations, higher infant mortality rates, poorer prenatal care, greater iron deficiencies, greater difficulty in school, and many other problems. - Members of higher-income status may fear losing that status, but the poor may have greater concerns over losing housing.

Behaviorism

is based on the premise that it is not possible to objectively study the mind, and therefore psychologists should limit their attention to the study of behavior itself.

Social Age

is based on the social norms of our culture and the expectations our culture has for people of our age group.

Correlational Research

is research designed to discover relationships among variables and to allow the prediction of future events from present knowledge.

Experimental Research

is research in which a researcher manipulates one or more variables to see their effects.

Descriptive Research

is research that describes what is occurring at a particular point in time.

Chronosystem

is the historical context in which these experiences occur. NOTE: - This relates to the different generational time periods previously discussed, such as the baby boomers and millennials.

Life expectancy

is the predicted number of years a person born in a particular time period can reasonably expect to live.

Research Design

is the specific method a researcher uses to collect, analyze, and interpret data. NOTE: - Three Major Types of Research Design: Descriptive research; Correlation research; Experimental research.

Culture

is the totality of our shared language, knowledge, material objects, and behavior. NOTE: - It includes ideas about what is right and wrong, what to strive for, what to eat, how to speak, what is valued, as well as what kinds of emotions are called for in certain situations. - Culture teaches us how to live in a society and allows us to advance because each new generation can benefit from the solutions found and passed down from previous generations. - Culture is learned from parents, schools, houses of worship, media, friends and others throughout a lifetime. - The kinds of traditions and values that evolve in a particular culture serve to help members function and value their own society

Nurture would argue that

one's environment is most significant in shaping the way we are

Puberty

overall growth spurt and sexual maturation

Ecological Systems Theory

provides a framework for understanding and studying the many influences on human development.

Naturalistic Observation

psychologists observe and record behavior that occurs in everyday settings.

Lifespan (Longevity)

refers to the length of time a species can exist under the most optimal conditions.

Continuous Development

assume development is a more slow and gradual process known as

Stage Theories (Discontinuous development)

assume that developmental change often occurs in distinct stages that are qualitatively different from each other, and in a set, universal sequence.

Chronological Age

based on the number of years since your birth, or what is called your

Adolescence:

- Adolescence is a period of dramatic physical change marked by an overall growth spurt and sexual maturation, known as puberty. - It is also a time of cognitive change as the adolescent begins to think of new possibilities and to consider abstract concepts such as love, fear, and freedom. - Ironically, adolescents have a sense of invincibility that puts them at greater risk of dying from accidents or contracting sexually transmitted infections that can have lifelong consequences.

Learning Theory:

- Also known as Behaviorism, is based on the premise that it is not possible to objectively study the mind, and therefore psychologists should limit their attention to the study of behavior itself. - The most famous behaviorist was Burrhus Frederick (B. F.) Skinner (1904- 1990), who expanded the principles of behaviorism and also brought them to the attention of the public at large. - Skinner used the ideas of stimulus and response, along with the application of rewards or reinforcements, to train pigeons and other animals. - In addition, he used the general principles of behaviorism to develop theories about how best to teach children and how to create societies that were peaceful and productive.

Normative age-graded influences:

- An age-grade is a specific age group, such as toddler, adolescent, or senior. - Humans in a specific age-grade share particular experiences and developmental changes.

Observations:

- Another type of descriptive research is known as observation. - When using naturalistic observation, psychologists observe and record behavior that occurs in everyday settings. - For instance, a developmental psychologist might watch children on a playground and describe what they say to each other. - However, naturalistic observations do not allow the researcher to have any control over the environment.

Biological Age:

- Another way developmental researchers can think about the concept of age is to examine how quickly the body is aging, this is your biological age. - Several factors determine the rate at which our body ages. - Our nutrition, level of physical activity, sleeping habits, smoking, alcohol consumption, how we mentally handle stress, and the genetic history of our ancestors, to name but a few. NOTE: - Several factors determine the rate at which our body ages. - Our nutrition, level of physical activity, sleeping habits, smoking, alcohol consumption, how we mentally handle stress, and the genetic history of our ancestors, to name but a few.

Lifespan vs. Life expectancy:

- At this point you must be wondering what the difference between lifespan and life expectancy is, according to developmentalists. - Lifespan, or longevity, refers to the length of time a species can exist under the most optimal conditions. - For instance, the grey wolf can live up to 20 years in captivity, the bald eagle up to 50 years, and the Galapagos tortoise over 150 years. - Life expectancy is the predicted number of years a person born in a particular time period can reasonably expect to live.

Non-normative life influences:

- Despite sharing an age and history with our peers, each of us also has unique experiences that may shape our development. - A child who loses his/her parent at a young age has experienced a life event that is not typical of the age group.

Erikson (1902-1994) and Psychosocial Theory:

- Erik Erikson. Erikson presents eight developmental stages that encompass the entire lifespan. - For that reason, Erikson's psychosocial theory forms the foundation for much of our discussion of psychosocial development. - Erikson (1950) proposed a model of lifespan development that provides a useful guideline for thinking about the changes we experience throughout life. - Erikson broke with Freud's emphasis on sexuality as the cornerstone of social-emotional development and instead suggested that social relationships fostered development. - Erikson proposed that each period of life has a unique challenge or crisis that the person who reaches it must face, referred to as psychosocial crises. - According to Erikson, successful development involves dealing with and resolving the goals and demands of each of these psychosocial crises in a positive way. - These crises are usually called stages, although that is not the term Erikson used. - If a person does not resolve a stage successfully, it may hinder their ability to deal with later stages. - For example, the person who does not develop a sense of trust (Erikson's first stage) may find it challenging as an adult to form a positive intimate relationship (Erikson's sixth stage). - Or an individual who does not develop a clear sense of purpose and identity (Erikson's fifth stage) may become self-absorbed and stagnate rather than work toward the betterment of others (Erikson's seventh stage).

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939):

- Freud was a very influential figure in the area of development. - Freud emphasized the importance of early childhood experiences in shaping our personality and behavior. - In our natural state, we are biological beings and are driven primarily by instincts. - During childhood, however, we begin to become social beings as we learn how to manage our instincts and transform them into socially acceptable behaviors. - His assumptions were that personality formed during the first few years of life. - The ways in which parents or other caregivers interacted with children were assumed to have a long-lasting impact on children's emotional states. - His beliefs formed the psychodynamic perspective and his theories of psychosexual development and psychopathology dominated the field of psychiatry until the growth of behaviorism in the 1950s.

Arnold Gesell (1880-1961):

- Gesell spent 50 years at the Yale Clinic of Child Development, and with his colleagues he studied the neuromotor development of children. - Gesell believed that the child's development was activated by genes and he called this process maturation (Crain, 2005). - Further, he believed that development unfolded in fixed sequences, and he opposed efforts to teach children ahead of schedule as he believed they will engage in behaviors when their nervous systems had sufficiently matured.

Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)

- He was a Russian psychologist who wrote in the early 1900s, but whose work was not discovered by researchers in the United States until the 1960s and became more widely known in the 1980s. - His sociocultural theory emphasizes the importance of culture and interaction in the development of cognitive abilities. - Vygotsky differed with Piaget in that he believed that a person not only has a set of abilities, but also a set of potential abilities that can be realized if given the proper guidance from others. - Vygotsky developed theories on teaching that have been adopted by educators today.

Jean Piaget (1896-1980)

- He was one of the most influential cognitive theorists in development. - He was inspired to explore children's ability to think and reason by watching his own children's development. - He was one of the first to recognize and map out the ways in which children's intelligence differs from that of adults. - He became interested in this area when he was asked to test the IQ of children and began to notice that there was a pattern in their wrong answers. - He believed that children's intellectual skills change over time and that maturation, rather than training, brings about that change. - Children of differing ages interpret the world differently. - Piaget theorized that children progressed through four stages of cognitive development.

Active versus Passive:

- How much do you play a role in your own developmental path? - Are you at the whim of your genetic inheritance or the environment that surrounds you? - Some theorists see humans as playing a much more active role in their own development. - Piaget, for instance believed that children actively explore their world and construct new ways of thinking to explain the things they experience. - In contrast, many behaviorists view humans as being more passive in the developmental process.

Stability versus Change:

- How similar are you to how you were as a child? Were you always as out-going or reserved as you are now? - Some theorists argue that the personality traits of adults are rooted in the behavioral and emotional tendencies of the infant and young child. - Others disagree and believe that these initial tendencies are modified by social and cultural forces over time.

Development is multidirectional:

- Humans change in many directions. - We may show gains in some areas of development while showing losses in other areas. - Every change, whether it is finishing high school, getting married, or becoming a parent, entails both growth and loss.

Survey:

- In other cases, the data from descriptive research projects come in the form of a survey, which is a measure administered through either a verbal or written questionnaire to get a picture of the beliefs or behaviors of a sample of people of interest. - The people chosen to participate in the research, known as the sample, are selected to be representative of all the people that the researcher wishes to know about called the population. - A representative sample would include the same percentages of males, females, age groups, ethnic groups, and socio-economic groups as the larger population.

Continuity versus Discontinuity:

- Is human development best characterized as a slow, gradual process, or is it best viewed as one of more abrupt change? - The answer to that question often depends on which developmental theorist you ask and what topic is being studied. - The theories of Freud, Erikson, Piaget, and Kohlberg are called stage theories. Stage theories or discontinuous development assume that developmental change often occurs in distinct stages that are qualitatively different from each other, and in a set, universal sequence. - At each stage of development, children and adults have different qualities and characteristics. - Thus, stage theorists assume development is more discontinuous. - Others, such as the behaviorists, Vygotsky, and information processing theorists, assume development is a more slow and gradual process known as continuous development. - For instance, they would see the adult as not possessing new skills, but more advanced skills that were already present in some form in the child. - Brain development and environmental experiences contribute to the acquisition of more developed skills.

Late Adulthood:

- Late adulthood is sometimes subdivided into two categories: 1. The young-old who are from 65-84 years and 2. the oldest-old who are 85 years and older. - One of the primary differences between these groups is that the young-old are still relatively healthy, productive, active, and the majority continue to live independently. - With both age groups the risks of diseases such as, arteriosclerosis, cancer, and cerebral vascular disease increases substantially.

Development is lifelong:

- Lifespan theorists believe that development is life-long, and change is apparent across the lifespan. - No single age period is more crucial, characterizes, or dominates human development. - Consequently, the term lifespan development will be used throughout the textbook.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778):

- Like Locke, Rousseau also believed that children were not just little adults. - However, he did not believe they were blank slates, but instead developed according to a natural plan which unfolded in different stages. - He did not believe in teaching them the correct way to think, but believed children should be allowed to think by themselves according to their own ways and an inner, biological timetable. - This focus on biological maturation resulted in Rousseau being considered the father of developmental psychology. - Followers of Rousseau's developmental perspective include Gesell, Montessori, and Piaget.

John Locke (1632-1704):

- Locke, a British philosopher, refuted the idea of innate knowledge and instead proposed that children are largely shaped by their social environments, especially their education as adults teach them important knowledge. - He believed that through education a child learns socialization, or what is needed to be an appropriate member of society. - Locke advocated thinking of a child's mind as a tabula rasa or blank slate, and whatever comes into the child's mind comes from the environment. - Locke emphasized that the environment is especially powerful in the child's early life because he considered the mind the most pliable then. - Locke indicated that the environment exerts its effects through associations between thoughts and feelings, behavioral repetition, imitation, and rewards and punishments. - Locke's ideas laid the groundwork for the behavioral perspective and subsequent learning theories of Pavlov, Skinner and Bandura.

Psychological Age:

- Our psychologically adaptive capacity compared to others of our chronological age is our psychological age. - This includes our cognitive capacity along with our emotional beliefs about how old we are. - An individual who has cognitive impairments might be 20 years of age, yet has the mental capacity of an 8-year-old. - A 70- year-old might be traveling to new countries, taking courses at college, or starting a new business. - Compared to others of our age group, we may be more or less adaptive and excited to meet new challenges. Remember you are as young or old as you feel.

Social Age:

- Our social age is based on the social norms of our culture and the expectations our culture has for people of our age group. - Our culture often reminds us whether we are "on target" or "off target" for reaching certain social milestones, such as completing our education, moving away from home, having children, or retiring from work. - However, there have been arguments that social age is becoming less relevant in the 21st century. - If you look around at your fellow students in your courses at college you might notice more people who are older than the more traditional-aged college students, those 18 to 25. - Similarly, the age at which people are moving away from the home of their parents, starting their careers, getting married or having children, or even whether they get married or have children at all, is changing.

Development is characterized by plasticity:

- Plasticity is all about our ability to change and that many of our characteristics are malleable. - For instance, plasticity is illustrated in the brain's ability to learn from experience and how it can recover from injury.

Middle and Late Childhood:

- The ages of six to the onset of puberty comprise middle and late childhood, and much of what children experience at this age is connected to their involvement in the early grades of school. - Now the world becomes one of learning and testing new academic skills and by assessing one's abilities and accomplishments by making comparisons between self and others.

Infancy and Toddlerhood:

- The first two years of life are ones of dramatic growth and change. - A newborn, with a keen sense of hearing but very poor vision, is transformed into a walking, talking toddler within a relatively short period of time. - Caregivers are also transformed from someone who manages feeding and sleep schedules to a constantly moving guide and safety inspector for a mobile, energetic child.

Middle Adulthood:

- The forties through the mid-sixties is referred to as middle adulthood. - This is a period in which aging becomes more noticeable and when many people are at their peak of productivity in love and work.

Emerging Adulthood:

- The period of emerging adulthood is a transitional time between the end of adolescence and before individuals acquire all the benchmarks of adulthood. - Continued identity exploration and preparation for full independence from parents are demonstrated. - Although at one's physiological peak, emerging adults are most at risk for involvement in violent crimes and substance abuse.

Normative history-graded influences:

- The time period in which you are born shapes your experiences. - A cohort is a group of people who are born at roughly the same period in a particular society. - These people travel through life often experiencing similar circumstances.

Early Childhood:

- This period is also referred to as the preschool years and consists of the years which follow toddlerhood and precede formal schooling. - As a two to six-year-old, the child is busy learning language, is gaining a sense of self and greater independence, and is beginning to learn the workings of the physical world.

Development is multidimensional:

- We change across three general domains/dimensions; physical, cognitive, and psychosocial. - The physical domain includes changes in height and weight, sensory capabilities, the nervous system, as well as the propensity for disease and illness. - The cognitive domain encompasses the changes in intelligence, wisdom, perception, problem-solving, memory, and language. - The psychosocial domain focuses on changes in emotion, self-perception, and interpersonal relationships with families, peers, and friends. - All three domains influence each other. - It is also important to note that a change in one domain may cascade and prompt changes in the other domains. - For instance, an infant who has started to crawl or walk will encounter more objects and people, thus fostering developmental change in the child's understanding of the physical and social world.

Preformationist View:

- Well into the 18th century, children were merely thought of as little adults. - Preformationism, or the belief that a tiny, fully formed human is implanted in the sperm or egg at conception and then grows in size until birth, was the predominant early theory. - Children were believed to possess all their sensory capabilities, emotions, and mental aptitude at birth, and as they developed these abilities unfolded on a predetermined schedule. - The environment was thought to play no role in determining development.

Nature and Nurture:

- Why are you the way you are? - As you consider some of your features (height, weight, personality, being diabetic, etc.), ask yourself whether these features are a result of heredity or environmental factors, or both. - Chances are, you can see the ways in which both heredity and environmental factors (such as lifestyle, diet, and so on) have contributed to these features. - For decades, scholars have carried on the "nature/nurture" debate. - For any particular feature, those on the side of nature would argue that heredity plays the most important role in bringing about that feature. - Those on the side of nurture would argue that one's environment is most significant in shaping the way we are. - This debate continues in all aspects of human development, and most scholars agree that there is a constant interplay between the two forces. - It is difficult to isolate the root of any single behavior as a result solely of nature or nurture.

Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917-2005)

- developed the Ecological Systems Theory, which provides a framework for understanding and studying the many influences on human development. - Bronfenbrenner recognized that human interaction is influenced by larger social forces and that an understanding of these forces is essential for understanding an individual. - The individual is impacted by several systems including:

Survey

A measure administered through either a verbal or written questionnaire to get a picture of the beliefs or behaviors of a sample of people of interest.

Population

All the people that the researcher wishes to know about

Development is multidisciplinary:

As mentioned at the start of the chapter, human development is such a vast topic of study that it requires the theories, research methods, and knowledge base of many academic disciplines.

Tabula Rasa

Blank slate

Psychosocial Domain

Changes in emotion, self-perception, and interpersonal relationships with families, peers, and friends. NOTE: - Involves emotions, personality, self-esteem, and relationships. - Peers become more important for adolescents, who are exploring new roles and forming their own identities.

Physical Domain

Changes in height and weight, sensory capabilities, the nervous system, as well as the propensity for disease and illness. NOTE: - Senses (taste, touch, sight, smell, hearing, and proprioception — or bodily awareness of one's orientation in space), gross motor skills (major movements involving large muscles), and fine motor skills (involving small muscles, particularly of the fingers and hands).

Cognitive Domain

Changes in intelligence, wisdom, perception, problem solving, memory, and language. NOTE: - Involves knowledge and the development of intellectual skills. - This includes the recall or recognition of specific facts, procedural patterns, and concepts that serve in the development of intellectual abilities and skills.

Prenatal Development:

Conception occurs and development begins. All of the major structures of the body are forming, and the health of the mother is of primary concern. Understanding nutrition, teratogens, or environmental factors that can lead to birth defects, and labor and delivery are primary concerns.

Development is multicontextual:

Development occurs in many contexts. Baltes (1987) identified three specific contextual influences (Age-grade Influences; History-grade Influences; Life Influnces).

Biological Age

How quickly the body is aging.

Social Learning Theory:

Learning by watching others NOTE: - Was developed by Albert Bandura (1977). - His theory calls our attention to the ways in which many of our actions are not learned through conditioning, as suggested by Skinner. - Young children frequently learn behaviors through imitation. - Especially when children do not know what else to do, they learn by modeling or copying the behavior of others.

Psychological Age

Our psychologically adaptive capacity compared to others of our chronological age is our.

Case Study:

Sometimes the data in a descriptive research project are based on only a small set of individuals, often only one person or a single small group. NOTE: - Sometimes case studies involve ordinary individuals. - Developmental psychologist Jean Piaget observed his own children. - More frequently, case studies are conducted on individuals who have unusual or abnormal experiences. - The assumption is that by carefully studying these individuals, we can learn something about human nature. - Case studies have a distinct disadvantage in that, although it allows us to get an idea of what is currently happening, it is usually limited to static pictures. - Although descriptions of particular experiences may be interesting, they are not always transferable to other individuals in similar situations. - They are also time consuming and expensive as many professionals are involved in gathering the information.

Emerging Adulthood

Starts at 18 until 25

Early Adulthood

Starts at 25 until 40-45

Middle Adulthood

Starts at 40-45 until 65

Late Adulthood

Starts at 65 onward

Infancy and Toddlerhood

Starts at birth and continues to two years of age.

Prenatal

Starts at conception, continues through implantation in the uterine wall by the embryo, and ends at birth.

Middle and Late Childhood

Starts at six years of age and continues until the onset of puberty.

Adolescence

Starts at the onset of puberty until 18

Early Childhood

Starts at two years of age until six years of age.

Ethnocentrism

The belief that our own culture's practices and expectations are superior is called.

Cognitive Theory:

The cognitive theories focus on how our mental processes or cognitions change over time. Three important theories are Jean Piaget's, Lev Vygotsky's, and Information-processing.

Sample

The people chosen to participate in the research

Developmental Psychology (Human Development or Lifespan Development)

The scientific study of ways in which people change, as well as stay the same, from conception to death.

Early Adulthood:

The twenties and thirties are identified as early adulthood. Intimate relationships, establishing families, and work are primary concerns at this stage of life.

Reciprocal Determinism

There is interplay between our personality and the way we interpret events and how they influence us. NOTE: - Bandura (1986) suggests that there is interplay between the environment and the individual. - We are not just the product of our surroundings, rather we influence our surroundings. - An example of this might be the interplay between parents and children. Parents not only influence their child's environment, perhaps intentionally through the use of reinforcement, etc., but children influence parents as well. Parents may respond differently with their first child than with their fourth. - Perhaps they try to be the perfect parents with their firstborn, but by the time their last child comes along they have very different expectations, both of themselves and their child. - Our environment creates us and we create our environment. - Bandura & The Bobo Doll

Information Processing

studying how individuals perceive, analyze, manipulate, use, and remember information. NOTE: - is not the work of a single theorist, but based on the ideas and research of several cognitive scientists studying how individuals perceive, analyze, manipulate, use, and remember information. - This approach assumes that humans gradually improve in their processing skills; that is, cognitive development is continuous rather than stage-like. - The more complex mental skills of adults are built from the primitive abilities of children. - We are born with the ability to notice stimuli, store, and retrieve information. Brain maturation enables advancements in our information processing system. - At the same time, interactions with the environment also aid in our development of more effective strategies for processing information.

Preformationism

the belief that a tiny, fully formed human is implanted in the sperm or egg at conception and then grows in size until birth, was the predominant early theory. NOTE: - Children were believed to possess all their sensory capabilities, emotions, and mental aptitude at birth, and as they developed these abilities unfolded on a predetermined schedule. - The environment was thought to play no role in determining development.

Scientific Method

the set of assumptions, rules, and procedures scientists use to conduct research.

case studies

which are descriptive records of one or a small group of individuals' experiences and behavior.