Life Span Perspective
views development as lifelong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary, and contextual, and as a process that involves growth, maintenance, and regulation of loss.
lifelong
no age period dominates development
Multidimensional
development has biological, cognitive, and SES dimensions. Each dimension has many components.
Multidirectional
some dimensions expand, some shrink. For example - when developing romantic relationships - friendship decrease or wiser as we grow older but slower to process information.
Plasticity
capacity for change
Contextual
dependent on family, neighborhoods, schools, peer groups, work settings, churches, cities, countries, religion and so on.
Culture
encompasses the behavior patterns and beliefs of a particular group of people that are passed on from generation to generation.
Ethnicity
cultural heritage, nationality, race, religion, and language.
Social Policy
government's course of action designed to promote the welfare of its citizens. Values, economics and politics all shape a nations social policy.
Biological processes
produce changes in an individual's physical nature
Cognitive processes
changes in an individual's thought process, intelligence and language.
Socio-emotional processes
changes in an individual's relationships with other people, changes in emotions, and changes in personality. (Connecting example - a baby's smile)
developmental cognitive neuroscience
explores links between development, cognitive processes, and the brain.
developmental social neuroscience
examines which connections between socio-emotional processes, development, and the brain
Prenatal period
time from conception to birth
developmental period
time frame in a persons life that is characterized by certain features
Periods of development
prenatal, infancy, early childhood, middle to late childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood, late adulthood
emerging adulthood
18-25 - experimentation and exploration (recent consideration), identity exploration, instability, self focused, feeling in-between, age of possibilities.
infancy
18-24 months, extreme dependence on adults. Language, symbolic thought, sensorimotor coordination, and social learning beginning.
early childhood
infancy to 5 or 6 - "pre-school years" become more self-sufficient, develop school readiness skills, spend many hours on play with peers. FIRST GRADE TYPICALLY ENDS THIS PERIOD.
middle and late childhood
6-11 - fundamental skills of reading, writing and arithmetic are mastered, exposed to a larger world, achievement becomes central theme, self-control increases
early adulthood
late teens-early 20's lasts through 30's - establishing personal and economic independence, choosing a mate/family/children.
middle adulthood
40-60 - expanding personal and social involvement, assisting next generation, reaching satisfaction in career.
late adulthood
60-death - review, retirement, decreased strength and health. Longest span of any period in development, number of people in this age group has been increasing.
biological age
age in terms of biological health
psychological age
an individuals adaptive capacities compared with those of other individuals of the same chronological age.
social age
connectedness with others and the social roles individuals adopt.
nature
an organism's biological inheritance - an evolutionary and genetic foundation produced commonalities in growth and development
nurture
environmental experiences
Stability and change
the degree to which early traits and characteristics persist through life or change
Continuity/discontinuity
focuses on the degree to which development involves either gradual, cumulative change or distinct stages
Discontinuity
a QUALITATIVE, discontinuous change in development (caterpillar to a butterfly)
Continuity
a QUANTITATIVE, continuous change (gradual like puberty)
Qualitative
properties that are observed and can generally not be measured with a numerical result.
Quantitative
properties which have numerical characteristics.
Freud's stages of psychosexual development
oral, anal, phallic, latent, genital.
How many stages are in Eriksons life-span stages of development?
8
How many stages in Freud's stages of psychosexual development
5
Erik Erikson
revisionist of Freud's - said we develop in 8 psychological stages - each is a crisis that must be solved (versus). increased vulnerability or enhanced potential.
Erikson's life-span stages of development
integrity vs despair - last
generativity vs stagnation
intimacy vs isolation
identity vs identity confusion
industry vs inferiority
initiative vs guilt
autonomy vs shame and doubt
trust vs mistrust - first
integrity vs despair
last stage - reflects on the past
autonomy vs shame and doubt
second - 1-3 - independence or restraint that creates shame and doubt
trust vs mistrust
first - infancy - trust builds trust that the world is a pleasant and good place to live
initiative vs guilt
third - 3-5- social world, responsible behavior or guilt from irresponsible behavior.
industry vs inferiority
fourth - 6-11 - mastering knowledge and skill, if unable they may feel inferior
identity vs identity confusion
fifth - 10-20 - exploring roles in a healthy manner
intimacy vs isolation
sixth - form intimate relationships or isolate
generativity vs stagnation
seventh - 40s-50's - help the younger generation to develop useful lives over doing nothing.
sensorimotor
first - birth-2 - coordinates sensory experiences with physical motoric actions.
Piaget's cognitive developmental theory
4 stages of understanding the world - (organization and adaption)
pre-operational
second - 2-7 - represent the world with words images and drawings
concrete operational
third - 7-11 - can perform operations that involve objects, they can reason logically when it can be applied to specific or concrete examples.
formal operational
fourth - 11/15 - adulthood - think in abstract and more logical terms, ideals,systematic, testing hypothesis.
Vygotsky
sociocultural cognitive theory
Erikson
life-span stages of development
Piaget
cognitive developmental theory
Freud
stages of psychosexual development
Informative processing theory
emphasizes that individuals manipulate, monitor and strategize information. Central to this theory are the processes of memory and thinking (gradual and not in stages).
Robert Siegler
thinking is information processing
Skinner
operant conditioning - consequences produce change - reward and punishment
Bandura
social cognitive theory
social cognitive theory
holds that behavior environment, and cognition are the key factors in development
observational learning
(imitation or modeling) - learning by observing what others do.
Ethology
behavior is strongly influenced by biology, is tied to evolution. The presence or absence of certain experiences has long lasting influence. (Lorenz, Bowlby, Bronfenbrenner)
Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory
development reflects the influence of several environmental systems.
The 5 environmental systems of Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory
micro (family and peers), meso (experiences) , exo (outside influence), macro (culture) , chrono (events) - system
Eclectic Theoretical Orientation
selects from each theory whatever is considered it's best features.
laboratory
controlled setting from which many of the complex factors of the "real world" have been removed.
naturalistic observation
observing behavior in a real-world setting
standardized test
a test with uniform procedures for administration and scoring (allows a persons performance to be compared to others).
case-study
in depth look at a single individual, unique, personal history no one else shares
survey and interview
best way to get info, a standard set of questions used to obtain a peoples self-reported attitudes and beliefs about a particular topic. .
Problem with standardized tests
assumes a persons behavior is consistent and stable
Problem with survey/interview
people may answer what they think they want you want them to say.
Physiological measures
deals with the measurements made to assess how well the body functions. May be very simple, such as the measurement of body temperature, or they may be more complicated, like an MRI.
descriptive research
research that aims to observe and record behavior
correlation research
strives to describe the degree of association between two variables.
experiment
regulated procedure in which one or more factors are believed to influence the behavior being studied, are manipulated while all other factors are held constant.
independent variable
a manipulated, influential, experimental factor, a potential cause.
dependent variable
factor that may change as the result of the manipulation of the independent variable.
cross sectional approach
research strategy that simultaneously compares individuals of different ages.
longitudinal approach
strategy in which the same individuals are studied over a period of time, usually several years or more.
cohort effects
attributable to a persons time of birth, era, or generation but not to actual age.
cohort
group of people born at a similar point in history
debriefing
after the study, participants should be made aware of al the methods used
deception
telling participants before hand what the research study is about
ethnic gloss
use of an ethnic label that portrays an ethnic group as being more homogeneous (uniform, similar) that it really is
_____________________is NOT a form of bias that should concern researchers.
Socioeconomic status
At the airport, 4-year-old Kelly cries, "Let me get the suitcases, Mommy!" Her mom lets her drag the bags off the luggage carousel; even though Kelly takes much longer than her mom would have taken. According to Erikson's stage theory, Kelly's mom is help
initiative
Which method is being used when market researchers call consumers on the telephone to ask about certain products used in the home?
interview
Special consideration for social policy intervention is given to children who grow up in_______________________.
poverty
_________________________ is NOT a stage theory and thus supports the idea that development is continuous rather than discontinuous.
Information processing theory
Maria feels less pressure to achieve, has more time for leisure activities, and is highly adaptable to change. She is MOST likely in which period of development?
late adulthood
Devin plays in the sand for the first time. Instead of digging in it, he tries to scoop and throw it, just like he plays with water in his bathtub. This is an example of:
assimilation
According to the cephalocaudal growth pattern, which of the following is likely to show fast growth first?
brain
According to life-span development expert Paul Baltes, which age period dominates development?
none
Although the maximum life span of humans has not changed, during the twentieth century life expectancy in the United States has:
increased by 30 years
The period of early childhood ends when the child:
enters first grade
Psychoanalytic theories stress what in development?
early experience
In the United States, most individuals begin school around age 5, whereas in Australia they start at 3. This is an illustration of how development is:
contextual
The group of people who receive the placebo is the _____ group.
control
Development is____________________.
lifelong
Infants raised in orphanages may not develop a positive and secure attachment to a caregiver in their first year of life. According to John Bowlby, what might the consequences of this be?
Life-span development will likely not be optimal.
A child's first word seems like an abrupt event but is actually the result of weeks and months of practice." This statement reflects a predominantly _____ view.
continuity (gradual)
___________________ is NOT a concern related to children living in poverty.
Poorer performance in school
Mrs. B is a 66-year-old widow in remarkably good health. She is financially comfortable and will retire soon. However, she dreads retirement, saying that she has no hobbies and no ideas about how she will structure her new abundance of time. She is experi
psychological
The maximum life span of human beings is approximately __________ years.
120
What did Vygotsky believe about the development of thought and language?
Thought and language develop independently at first and merge later in development.
Brent talks himself through his math calculation homework. This is an example of:
private speech
_____________________is an example of the plasticity of development.
Someone who goes blind may develop better hearing
Adolescents are often characterized as impulsive and emotional. This behavior may be due to immature development in which area of the brain?
prefrontal cortex
Adam cries that the tree root tripped him. This is an example of:
animism
Becoming a grandmother is an example of _____ age.
social