chapter 1 life span development
TRANSCRIPT
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DevelopmentalPsychology
Chapter 1
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The Importance of Studying Life-Span
Development
Development is thepattern of change that begins at the
conception and continues through the life span.
Life-Span Perspective is the perspective that:
1. Development is Lifelong
2. Multidimensional
3. Multidirectional
4. Plastic
5. Multidisciplinary
6. Contextual
7. Involves growth, maintenance and regulation
8. Constructed through biological, sociocultural and individualfactors
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The Importance of Studying Life-Span
Development
1. Development is Lifelong
No age period dominates development, early adulthood is not
the endpoint of development
2. Development is Multidimensional
Your relationships, your emotions and everything are changing
and affecting each other
Development consists of biological, cognitive and
socioemotional dimensions
3. Development is Multidrectional
Some components of a dimension shrink whilst others expand
Eg. During late adulthood, older adults might become wiser bybeing able to call on experiences to guide their intellectual
decision making, but they perform more poorly on tasks that
require speed in processing information
4. Development is Plastic
Plasticity means the capacity for change
Researches have found that the cognitive skills of older adults
can be improved through training and developing better
strategies, however, possibly, we possess less capacity for
change when we become old
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The Importance of Studying Life-Span
Development
5. Development Science is Multidisciplinary
Cut across fields
6. Development is Contextual
All developments occur within a context or setting and these
settings are influenced by historical, economic, social, and
cultural factors
Contexts exert three types of influences:
1) Normative Age-graded influences
Similar for individuals in particular age groups (puberty
and menopause)
They also influence sociocultural, environmental
processes (beginning formal education and retirement) 2) Normative History-graded influences
Common to people of particular generation because of
historical circumstances (baby boomers)
Other influences: economic, political and social
upheavals
Long term changes in the genetic and cultural makeup ofa population (due to immigration or changes in fertility
rates)
3) Nonnormative or highly individualized life events
Unusual occurrences that have a major impact on the
individuals life (natural disasters)
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The Importance of Studying Life-Span
Development
7. Development Involves Growth, Maintenance, and Regulation
of Loss
mastery of life often involves conflicts and competition
among 3 goals of human development: growth, maintenance
and regulation of loss (Baltes and his colleagues,2006)
Different goals take point at different point in life
8. Development is Co-Construction of Biology, Culture, and the
Individual
All three of those points work together
We can author a unique developmental path by actively
choosing from the environment the things that optimize our
lives (Rathunde & Csikszentmihalyi, 2006)
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Some Contemporary Concerns
1. Health and Well-Being
Power of life-styles and psychological states in health and well-being is
recognized
2. Parenting and Education
Child care, effects of divorce, parenting styles, child maltreatment,
intergenerational relationships, early childhood education, bilingualeducation
3. Sociocultural Contexts and Diversity
Culture: behavior patterns, beliefs and all other products of a
particular group of people that are passed on from generation to
generation.
Can result from interaction of people over many years
Cross-Cultural Studies: compare aspects of two or more cultures
Ethnicity: rooted in cultural heritage, nationality, race, religion, and
language
Socioeconomic Status (SES) refers to persons position within society
based on occupational, educational, and economic characteristics
Gender: research found that higher percentage of girls than boys
around the world have never had education
Social Policy: governments course of action designed to promote the
welfare of its citizens
The more years a child spent living in poverty, the more their
physiological indices of stress is elevated
Some children overcome this: RESILIENCE
Resilience (individual): good intellectual functioning, appealing,
sociable, easygoing, self confidence, high self-esteem, talents and
faith (p13)
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Some Contemporary Concerns1. Health and Well-Being
Power of life-styles and psychological states in health and well-being is
recognized
2. Parenting and Education
Child care, effects of divorce, parenting styles, child maltreatment,
intergenerational relationships, early childhood education, bilingual
education
3. Sociocultural Contexts and Diversity
Culture: behavior patterns, beliefs and all other products of a
particular group of people that are passed on from generation to
generation.
Can result from interaction of people over many years
Cross-Cultural Studies: compare aspects of two or more cultures
Ethnicity: rooted in cultural heritage, nationality, race, religion, and
language
Socioeconomic Status (SES) refers to persons position within society
based on occupational, educational, and economic characteristics
Gender: research found that higher percentage of girls than boys
around the world have never had education
Social Policy: governments course of action designed to promote the
welfare of its citizens
The more years a child spent living in poverty, the more their
physiological indices of stress is elevated
Some children overcome this: RESILIENCE
Resilience (individual): good intellectual functioning, appealing,
sociable, easygoing, self confidence, high self-esteem, talents and
faith (p13)
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Biological, Cognitive and Socioemotional
Processes
1. Biological Processes
Produce changes in an individuals physical nature
2. Cognitive Processes
Refers to changes in the individuals thought, intelligence, and
language
3. Socioemotional Processes
Changes in individuals relationships with other people, changes in
emotions, and changes in personality
Connecting Biological Cognitive and Socioemotional Processes
Baby smiling in response to parents tough
- Physical nature of touch and responsiveness to it (Biological)
- Ability to understand intentional acts (Cognitive)
- Act of smiling that often reflects a positive emotional feeling and helps
to connect us in positive ways with others (Socioemotional)
- Developmental cognitive neuroscience explores links between
development, cognitive processes, and the brain
- Developmental social neuroscience examines connection between
socioemotional processes, development, and the brain
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Periods of Development1. Prenatal Period
Conception to birth
involves tremendous growth
2. Infancy
18-24 months
Many psychological activities (language, symbolic thoughts, sensor motor
coordination, social learning)
3. Early Childhood
2-5 years old
Learn to become more self-sufficient and to care for themselves
Develop school readiness skills and spend many hors in play with peers
4. Middle and Late Childhood
6-11 years old
Fundamental skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic are mastered
Child formally exposed to larger world and its culture
Achievement becomes a more central theme of the childs world and self-
control increases
5. Adolescence
10-21 years old
Rapid physical changes
Pursuit of independence and an identity are prominent
Thought is more logical, abstract and idealistic
6. Early Adulthood
Early 20s to 30s
Establish personal and economic independence, career development and
selecting mate
7. Middle Adulthood
40s to 50s
Expand personal and social involvement and responsibility
8. Late Adulthood
60s to end
Time of review, retirement, and adjustment to new social roles involving
decreasing strength and health
Longest span of any other period
Oldest-Old: average 85, where major changes happen
Young-Old: 65-84, have substantial potential for physical and cognitive
fitness
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Periods of DevelopmentFour Ages
1. First Age: Childhood and Adolescence
2. Second Age: Prime Adulthood, 20s to 50s
3. Third Age: Approximately 60-79
Healthier and can lead more active, productive lives
4. Fourth Age: Approximately 80 years and older
Health and well-being declines
Connections Across Periods of Development
There are many connections between periods of human life span
How development in one period is connected to the development in another
period
Eg. If an adolescent girl becomes depressed, might her depression be linked to
development early in her life?
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Significance of AgeAge and Happiness
Studies found that level of happiness increases with age
Despite the physical problems and losses older adult experience, they are more
content with what they have
They have better relationships with the people who matter to the
Less pressured to achieve and have more time for leisurely pursuits
Have many years of experiences to help them adapt to their circumstances
Baby Boomers reported being less happy than individuals born earlier, possibly
because they are not lowering their aspirations and idealistic hopes as they age
Conceptions of Age
Chronological age may not be relevant to understanding a persons
psychological development
1. Biological Age: persons age in terms of biological health (functional capacities
of persons vital organs)
2. Psychological Age: individuals adaptive capacities compared with those of other
individuals of the same chronological age
3. Studies showed that personality trait of conscientiousness predicted lower
mortality risk
4. Social Age: social roles and expectations related to persons age. Consider the
role of mother and behaviors that accompany the role
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Developmental IssuesNature and Nuture
Whether development is primarily influenced by nature or nuture
Stability and Change
Involves the degree to which we become older renditions of our early
experience (stability) or whether we develop into someone difference from who
we are at an earlier point in development (change)
Increasing age and on average older adults often show less capcity for change in
sense of learning new things than younger adults
Continuity and Discontinuity
The degree which development involves either gradual, cumulative change
(continuity) or distinct stages (discontinuity)
Is the development gradual or abrupt>
Evaluating the Developmental Issues
- How strongly development is influenced by each of these factors?
Scientific Method:
1. Conceptualize process/problem to be studied
2. Collect Research information
3. Analyze Data
4. Draw Conclusion
Theory is an interrelated, coherent set of ideas that helps to explain phenomena and
make predictions
Hypotheses are specific assertions and predictions that can be tested
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Psychoanalytic TheoriesPsychoanalytic Theories describes development as primarily unconscious and heavily
colored by emotion. Behavior is merely a surface characteristic and that a true
understanding of development requires analyzing the symbolic meanings of
behavior and the deep inner workings of the mind.
Freuds Theory
Oral (infants pleasure centers on the mouth), birth to 1.5 years
Anal (childs pleasure focuses on anus), 1.5 to 3 years
Phallic (childs pleasure focuses on the genitals), 3 to 6 years
Latency (child represses sexual interest and develops social and intellectual
skills), 6 to puberty
Genital (time of sexual reawakening; source of sexual pleasure becomes
someone outside the family), puberty onward
*Freud may have overemphasized sexual instincts whilst other psychoanalytic
theorists place more emphasis on cultural experiences as determinant of
individuals development
Freud versus Erikson
Erikson Freud
We develop in psychosocial stages We develop in psychosexual stages
Primary motivation for human behavior is
social and reflects a desire to affiliate with
other people
Primary motivation for human behavior is
sexual in nature
Developmental change occurs throughout the
life span
Our basic personality is shaped in first 5 years
Emphasizes that both early and later
experiences are important
Views early experience as far more important
than later experiences
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Psychoanalytic TheoriesEriksons Theory
1. Trust vs. Mistrust
Experience in first year of life
Trust in infancy sets the stage of lifelong expectations
2. Autonomy vs. Shame
1-3 years old
Starts to assert their sense of independence or autonomy
Realizes their will and discover that they have their own behaviors
If restrained too much or punished too harshly, they will develop sense of shame
3. Initiative vs. Guilt
Preschool years
Faces new challenges that require active, purposeful, responsible behavior
Feelings of guilt may arise if child is irresponsible and made to feel too anxious
4. Industry vs. Inferiority
Elementary school years Direct their energy toward mastering knowledge and intellectual skills
Negative outcome is to feel inferior
5. Identity vs. Identity Confusion
Adolescent years
If they explore roles in healthy manners and arrive at positive path, they will achieve
positive identity, if not, confusions reigns
6. Intimacy vs. Isolation
Early adulthood
Form intimate relationships is healthy friendships and relationships are formed7. Generativity vs. Stagnation
Middle Adulthood
Generativity: primarily a concern for helping the younger generation to develop and
lead useful lives
Feeling of having nothing done to help next generation: stagnation
8. Integrity vs. Despair
Late Adulthood
Person reflects on the past
Advantages Disadvantages
Emphasis on developmental
framework
family relationships
unconscious aspects of the mind
Lack of scientific support
Too much emphasis on sexual
underpinnings
Image of people too negative
Evaluating Psychoanalytic Theories
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Cognitive TheoriesPiagets Cognitive Developmental Theory
Children go through four stages of cognitive development as they actively construct
their understanding of the world
1. Sensorimotor Stage
Birth to 2 years old
Constructs an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory
experiences with physical motoric actions
2. Preoperational Stage
2-7 years old
Begins to go beyond simply connecting sensory information with physical
action and represent the world with words
Still lack the ability to perform what he calls operations
3. Concrete Operational Stage
7-11 years
Can perform operations involving objects
Reason logically when the reasoning can be applied to specific or concrete
examples
4. Formal Operational Stage
11-15 years old +
Think in abstract and more logical terms
Adolescents develop images of ideal circumstances
Being to entertain possibilities for the future and are fascinated with what
they can be
Become more systematic in solving problems
Vygotskys Sociocultural Cognitive Theory
Emphasizes on how culture and social interaction guide cognitive development
Childs development is inseparable from social and cultural activities
Childrens social interaction with more-skilled adults and peers is indispensable
to their cognitive development
Learn to use the tools that will help them adapt and be successful in their
culture
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Cognitive TheoriesThe Information-Processing Theory
Individuals manipulate information, monitor it, and strategize about it
Like Piagets and Vygotskys theory, information-processing theory does not
describe development as stage-like
Develops a gradual increase in capacity for processing information which allows
them to acquire increasingly complex knowledge and skills
Advantages Disadvantages
Positive view of development
Emphasis on the active
construction of understanding
Skepticism about the pureness of
Piagets stages
Too little attention to individual
variations
Evaluating Cognitive Theories
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Behavioral and Social Cognitive TheoriesSkinners Operant Conditioning
Rewards and punishments shape development
Development consists of the pattern of behavioral changes that are brought
about by rewards an punishment
Eg. Shy people learned to be shy as a result of experiences that they had while
growing up and modification in environment can help shy person become more
socially oriented
Banduras Social Cognitive Theory
Behavior, environment, and cognition are the key factors in the development
People cognitively represent the behavior of others and then sometimes adopt
this behavior themselves
Social Cognitive Model: (1) Behavior, (2) Person/Cognition, (3) Environment
Advantages Disadvantages
Emphasis on scientific research
and environmental determinants
of behaviors
Too little emphasis on cognition
in Skinners view
Gives inadequate attention to
developmental changes
Evaluating Behavioral & Social Cognitive
Theories
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Ethological TheoryEthologystresses that behavior is strongly influenced by biology, is tied to evolution
and is characterized by critical or sensitive periods.
Famous European Zoologist: Konrad Lorenz helped bring ethology to prominence.
- Imprinting: the rapid, innate learning that involves attachment to the first
moving object seen.
John Bowlby illustrated the application of ethological theory to human development.
- Stressed that attachment to a caregiver over the first year of life has important
consequences throughout the life span
Advantages Disadvantages
Focus on the biological and
evolutionary basis of
development
Use of careful observations in
natural settings
Too much emphasis on biological
foundations
Belief that the critical and
sensitive period concepts might
be too rigid
Evaluating Ethological Theory
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Ecological TheoryBronfenbrenners Ecological Theory
Development reflects the influence of several environmental systems
1. Microsystem
Setting in which individual lives
Individual is not a passive recipient of experiences in these settings, but
someone who helps to construct the settings
Family, school, peers, health services
2. Mesosystem
Relations between microsystems or connection between contexts
Eg. Relation of family experiences to school experiences
3. Exsosystem
Links between a social setting in which the individual does not have an
active role and the individuals immediate context
Neighbors, friends of family, mass media, social welfare services
Eg. Mother might receive promotion that requires more travel increase
conflict with husband change patterns of interactions with child
4. Macrosystem
Culture in which individuals live
5. Chronosystem
Patterning of environmental events and transitions over the life course as
well as sociohistorical circumstances
Eg. Divorce: negative effects of divorce on children often peak in the first
year after the divorce
Advantages Disadvantages
Include systematic examination
of macro and micro dimensions
of environmental systems
Attention to connections
between environmental systems
Emphasis on range of social
contexts beyond the family
Inadequate attention to biological
factors
Too little emphasis on cognitive
factors
Evaluating Ecological Theory
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An Eclectic Theoretical Orientation
No single theory can describe the complexity of life-span
development by itself.
Psychoanalytic theory best explains the unconscious mind
Eriksons theory best describes the changes that occur in adult
development
Piagets, Vygotskys and Information-processing theory provides
the most complete description of cognitive development
Behavioral, social cognitive and ecological theories have been
the most adept at examining the environmental determinants of
development
Ethological theories have highlighted biologys role and the
importance of sensitive periods in development
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DevelopmentalPsychology
Chapter 1A: Research
Methods
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Methods for Data Collection
Observation:
Laboratory vs natural setting
Survey & Interview:
Obtain peoples self-reported attitudes and beliefs
Standardized Tests:
Uniformed procedures for administration and scoring
Case Study:
In-depth look at a single individual
Physiological Measure:
Neuroimaging, fMRI
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Research Designs
Descriptive Research
Aims to observe and record behavior
Cant prove what causes some phenomena, but it can reveal
important information about peoples behavior
Correlational Research
Provides information that will help us to predict how people will
behave
Describes the strength of the relationship between two or more
events or characteristics
Does not mean causation
Experimental Research
Studies causalityIndependent vs dependent variable
Independent (manipulated, influenced, experimental factor)
Dependent (resulting effect)
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Time Span of Research
Cross-Sectional Approach
Simultaneously compares individuals of different ages
Researches does not have to wait for individuals to grow upBut gives no information about how individuals change or about the stability of
their characteristics
Longitudinal Approach
Same individuals studied over a period of time
Provide wealth of information about vital issue
Cohort Effects
Cohort effects are due to a persons time of birth, era, or generation but not actual
age
Conducting Ethical Research
1. Informed Consent2. Confidentiality
3. Debriefing
4. Deception
Minimize:
- Gender Bias
- Cultural and Ethnic Bias