Development
the pattern of movement or change that begins at conception and continues through the human life span
Change
Development is not possible without change. Change is not always a bad thing. different rates/ focus of development in different eras. Not all periods of life are equal in change. Not all change is considered development.
Before change can be considered development it has to be what?
1) Functionally significant
2) Relatively permanent
When does development stop?
Development is something that carries on throughout your entire life. This is called life span perspective. A life span perspective emphasizes developmental change throughout adulthood as well as childhood.
Life Span Perspective
(Paul Baltes) life span perspective views development as a life long, multidimensional, multi directional, plastic, multidisciplinary, and contextual process that includes growth, maintenance, and regulation of loss
Systems Perspective
system within a system within a system (family, church). life span perspective focuses mainly on an individual
What is Development constructed through?
biological, sociocultural, and individual factors all working together.
Multidimensional/ Cognitive dimension
attention, memory, abstract thinking, speed of processing information and social intelligence are all part of the cognitive dimension
Plasticity
the capacity for change
Development is Contextual
All development occurs within a context or setting. Contexts include: families, neighborhoods, schools, peer groups, work settings, churches ect.. each of these settings is influenced bu historical, economical, social, and cultural factors.
3 types of Contextual influences
1) normative age-graded influences
2) normative history- graded influences
3) non-normative or highly individualized life events
Normative age-graded influences
these influences include processes such as puberty and menopause. they also include sociocultural or environmental processes such as beginning formal education and retirement.
Normative History-Graded Influences
are common to people of a particular generation because of historical circumstances. they include economic, political, and social upheavals (examples: 9/11 , WWII, great Depression, as well as cell phones ipods and computers.)
Nonnormative life events
unusual occurrences that have major impacts on an individual factors working together (examples: death of a parent when young, getting pregnant early, wining the lottery)
Culture
encompasses the behavior patterns, beliefs, and all other products of a particular group of people that are passed on from generation to generation
Ethnicity
is rooted in cultural heritage, nationality, race, religion, and language
Socioeconomic Status
refers to a person's position within society based on occupational, educational, and economic characteristics.
Gender
refers to the characteristics of people as males or females. Few aspects of our development are more central to our identity and social relationships than gender.
Social Policy
is a governments course of action designed to promote the welfare of citizens
Biological Processes
Produce changes in an individuals physical nature
Cognitive Processes
refer to changes in the individuals thought process, intelligence, and language
Socioemotional Processes
involve changes in the individuals relationship with other people, changes in emotions, and changes in personality
Connecting all 3 processes
Biological, Cognitive, and Socioemotional processes are all intertwined. Consider a baby smiling in response to a parents touch. this is biological ( the physical nature of a touch) cognitive (the ability to understand intentional acts) socioemtional (act
Developmental period
refers to a time frame in a persons life that is characterized by certain features
Prenatal Period
the time from conception to birth. it involves tremendous growth, from a single call to a complete organism within a 9 month period
Infancy
is the developmental period from birth to 18 or 24 months during this period many physiological activities- language symbolic thought , social learning are just beginning
Early Childhood
the developmental period from the end of infancy too age 5 to 6 during this time children become more self-sufficient and start to care for themselves.
Middle and Late Childhood
the developmental period between 6 to 11 During this time the fundamental skills of writing and reading are mastered
Adolescence
the developmental period of transition from childhood to early adulthood. entered at 10-12 years and ends at 18-21 years. Adolescence begins with rapid physical changes dramatic gains in height and weight development of sexual characteristics ans deepenin
Emerging Adulthood
Identity exploration
Self-focused
Instability
Feeling in-between
The age of possibilities, a time where individuals have an opportunity to transform their lives
Early Adulthood
the developmental period that begins in the late teens and or early twenties and lasts through 30s. time of establishing personal and economical independence, persuing career development and for many selecting a mate learning to live with someone in an in
Middle Adulthood
is the developmental period from aprox 40-60 expanding personal and social involvement and responsibility satisfaction with a career
Late Adulthood
developmental period that starts at the 60s and lasts until death. Late adulthood has the longest span of any developmental period the number of people in this age group is expanding greatly. decreasing strength and health, retirement
Chronological age
number of years that have elapsed since birth
Biological age
a persons age in terms of health
Psychological age
reflects an individuals adaptive capacities compared with those of other individuals of the same chronological age
Social Age
refers to contentedness with others and the social roles individuals adopt
Nature vs Nurture Issue
involves the extent to which development is influenced by nature and by nurture. Nature refers to an organisms biological inheritance and nurture is its environmental experiences
Stability-Change Issue
involves the degree in which early traits and characteristics persist or change as a person matures. many develop-mentalists who emphasize stability in development argue that stability is the result of heredity and possibly early experiences in life. Deve
Continuity and discontinuity issue
focuses on the degree to which development involves either gradual, cumulative change (continuity) , or distinct stages (discontinuity)
Continuity- first word, puberty
Discontinuity- caterpillar to butterfly, not being able to think abstractly to abstract
Scientific method
four step process
1) conceptualize a process or problem to be studied
2) collect research information
3) analyze data
4) draw conclusions
Theory
a set of concepts and propositions designed to organize and describe and explain a set of observations. an interrelated, coherent set of ideas that helps explain phenomena and make predictions. Observations or facts do not organize or explain themselves.
What do developmental theories do?
developmental theories organize knowledge (facts) in order to provide:
1) focused descriptions of the ways that behaviors change over time
2) Testable explanations of human behavior
3) ways to intervene in the developmental trajectory
Developmental theory
Internally consistent (no contradictions)
Empirically valid (supported by research findings)
Testable/ falsifiable (generates research/ parsimonious)
Capable of integrating previous research (communicates/ explains)
Practically applicable
* you can evalua
Hypotheses
Specific assumptions and predictions that can be tested to determine their accuracy
Freud's theory
he though that as children grow up their focus of pleasure and sexual impulses shifts from mouth to the anus and eventually the genitals. As a result we go through 5 stages of psychosexual development: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. Our adult
Erikson's theory
at each stage a different developmental task confronts individuals with a crisis that must be resolved according to Erikson this crisis is not a catastrophe but a turning point marked by both increasing vulnerability and enhanced potential. the more succe
Piaget's Theory
states that children go through four stages of cognitive development as they actively construct their understanding of the world. two processes underlie this cognitive construction of the world: organization and adaption
the sensorimotor stage (birth-2) c
Vygotsky's Sociocultural Cognitive Theory
is a sociocultural cognitive theory that emphasizes how culture and social interaction guide cognitive development. Vygotsky portrayed the child's development as inseparable from social and cultural activities.
Information processing theory
emphasizing that individuals manipulate information, monitor it, and strategize about it. this theory does not development as stage like, instead individuals gradually increase capacity for processing information which allows them to acquire increasingly
Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory
social cognitive theory- behavior along with environment and cognition are all key factors in development.
observational learning- learning that occurs through observing what others do.
bandura believes you develop through the environment. he believes tha
Skinner's Operant Conditioning
operant conditioning is where the consequences of a behavior changes the behavior occurrence. Skinner believes such rewards and punishments shape development. the key aspect of development is behavior.
Systems perspective
human beings are developing systems in the context of other developing systems. we are developing while everything around is us too. one change can effect all parts of a system ( stone in your shoe)
Growth
the physical change that occurs from conception to maturity (physical)
Biological Aging
the deterioration of organisms that leads to death
Maturation
developmental changes that are programmed primarily by genes rather than caused primarily by learning, injury, illness, or some other life experience
Learning
a relatively permanent change in behavior that results from a persons experiences
Quantitative
easily counted or #s ex) age, height, weight, grade
Qualitative
having to do with quality of functioning ex) state of mind, communication, relationships
Variation
there is a huge variation among all individuals. There are significant differences between what is POSSIBLE what is NORMAL and what is DESIRABLE. Only you know what is desirable, while normal is set by the standards of society.
Developmental Research
in our culture we rely heavily on the scientific method. research is not the only way to know something.
developmental research- studies how people change across time and what age related variables are associated with those changes. Chronological age is o
Age Effects
Differences between individuals due to biological, psychological, or socio-cultural processes across the time. *age is correlated but does not cause development
Cohort
can be defined as a group of people born at the same general time. Cohort effects are differences between individuals that are the result of experiences and circumstances
Time of Measurement
effects differences due to social, environmental, historical, or other events that have occurred at the same time that the data are collected
Cross-Sectional Research
most frequently used observation of people of all different ages at the same time
Longitudinal Research
Follow the same group of people across time
study of age changes. This is the only way to study age changes. Links earlier behavior or developmental status to later outcomes
Advantages- studies age changes, early to late linkages, truly developmental
disa
Time Lag Designs
study people at the same age born at different time periods. Answers the question "do they make them like they use too". Studies the effect of cohort and history
Sequential Designs
Combine cross-sectional longitudinal and time lag components in a single research design. Complex, expensive, and rare.
Life Course Perspective
considers the interaction of the individual development and collective family development in the context of changing historical conditions
emphasizes that both individual and family development are affected by sociohistorical context
Transition
life changes which involve shifts in role involvements and social identity. often marked by events and associated rituals BUT. the event itself is not the transition
Create functional relationships that did not exist before
unhook functional relationships
Trajectory
longer views of life course
commonly identified with the study of careers in the classic sociological sense
each life course contains multiple, interlocking trajectories
their scheduling and managing is one aspect of life course development
Time/Timing
time:
individual time
family time
historical time
and their intersections
timing:
"social clock" a cultural or sub-cultural sense of whether it is the right time for something to happen or not
highly influenced by age norms
vary by cohort
timing can be co
Social Support
1) informational
2) physical
3) ideological
4) relational
everyone needs all 4 kinds of support,
ethology
stresses that behavior is strongly influenced by biology, is tied to evolution, and is characterized by critical or sensitive periods
Bronfenbrenner's Ecological theory
holds that development reflects the influence of several environmental systems
microsystem-the setting in which the individual lives
mesosystem-involves relations between microsystems or connections between contexts
exosystem- consists of links between th
laboratory or Naturalistic observation
real world settings vrs. controlled setting where real world factors are not present
Ways of observation
Survey and interview
standardized test
case study
physiological measures
Research Methods
Descriptive research
Correlation Research
Experimental Research
Cross-sectional
Longitudinal Approach
Cohort effects-due to a persons time of birth, era, or generation, but not actual age
Make sure all research is ethical.