Life span chapter 1

Chapter 1
Introduction to Life-span
Development
Jenni Fauchier
Butchered by Professor Carney

Life-span Perspective


Development
– The pattern of movement or change
that begins at conception & continues
through the human life span.
– Each of us develops
 Partly like
–
–
–

All others
Some others
No other individuals

Each of us develops
Partly like:

Characteristics of LifeSpan Perspective


Development involves
– Growth
– Decline

Characteristics of Life-Span
Perspective
 Traditional

–
–
–

approach emphasizes

Extensive change birth to adolescence
Little or no change in adulthood
Decline in old age

Characteristics of LifeSpan Perspective

 Life-span

approach emphasizes

– Developmental change throughout
 Childhood
 Adulthood

Life Span vs Life Expectancy
 Human

Life Span

– Oldest age documented -- 122 yrs
 Maximum life span of humans

– Not changed since beginning of recorded history



Life Expectancy

– “ Average number of years that a
person born in a particular year can
expect to live.”

 Life expectancy increased 30 yrs in 20 th century

Characteristics of Life-Span
Perspective


Life-span perspective views
development as:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Lifelong
Multidimensional
Multidirectional
Plastic
Multidisciplinary
Contextual
Involves growth, maintenance & regulation
of loss
8. Construction of biology, culture & the
individual

Life-Span Perspective Views
Development as:
1. Lifelong
– No age period dominates

Development as:

Development as:
2. Multidimensional
– These change & affect each
other
 Biological
– Nature

 Cognitive
– Thinking

 Emotions
 Relationships

Development as:
3. Multidirectional
 Expansion & shrinkage
– Older
– Card game
 Skill increases
 Processing speed declines

development as:
4. Plastic
– Changeable
 Meth addiction changes someone's
life?
 Brain injury

development as:
5. Multidisciplinary
– Studied by:
 Psychologists
 Sociologists
 Anthropologists
 Neuroscientists
 Medical researchers

development as:

6. Contextual


3 Types of Influences: Normative (normal)

1. Normative Age -graded Influences

2. Normative History -graded Influences

3. Non-normative or Highly Individualized Life Events

development as:
7. Involves growth, maintenance &
regulation of loss

development as:
8.

Combination of biology, culture &
the individual
–

Example:
–

Shaped by experiences that individuals have
or pursue.

Culture Shapes our Brain
Example


American & Chinese students
– Placed in an MRI
– Shown images
 Example on previous slide



Americans primary attention
– On “object” in the picture



Chinese
– Context of picture—the lobby
– Greater level of anxiety regarding the
incongruence of a sheep standing in a lobby

The Nature Of
Development
Changes in:

The Nature Of
Development
1. Biological processes
– Changes in an individual’s physical
nature
 Hormonal
 Brain
 Height & weight gains

The Nature Of
Development
2. Cognitive processes
– Changes in the individual’s
 Thought
 Intelligence
 Language

The Nature Of
Development
3. Socioemotional processes
– Changes in individual’s:
 Relationships with others
 Emotions
 Personality

Periods of Development


Developmental period

– Time frame in a person’s life that is
characterized by certain features
 Prenatal period
– Conception to birth

 Infancy

– Birth to 18 or 24 months

 Early childhood

– End of infancy to age 5 or 6

 Middle and late childhood
– 6 to 11 years of age

Periods of Development Cont.
– Adolescence
 Transition from childhood to early
adulthood
 Approximately 10 - 12 to 18 - 22 years

– Early adulthood
 Late teens or early twenties through the
thirties

– Middle adulthood
 Approximately 40 - 60 years

– Late adulthood
 60’s or 70’s until death

Conceptualizing Age
 Chronological
 Biological

age

age
 Psychological age
 Social age

Conceptualizing Age
 Chronological

age

– # of years since birth

Conceptualizing Age
 Biological

age

– Age in terms of biological health
– People you know very healthy or
unhealthy for their age?

Conceptualizing Age
 Psychological

age

– Individual’s adaptive capacities
 Changes in technology

– Maturity

Conceptualizing Age
 Social

age

– Society’s age expectations
– Example:

 What are expectations for a 10 yr.
old
– In our culture?
– Another culture?

Nature-Nurture Issue


Nature
– Biological inheritance



Nurture
– Environmental experiences




Which has the greatest influence?
How do they interact?

Class Exercise
 Nature

versus Nurture in Your Life

Scientific Method
 4-step

process:
– 1. Conceptualize a process or
problem to be studied
– 2. Collect research information
(data)
– 3. Analyze data
– 4. Draw conclusions

Theories of Development
 Psychoanalytic

Theory
 Cognitive Theory
 Behavioral & Social Theory
 Ethological Theory
 Ecological Theory
 Eclectic

Theoretical Orientation

Psychoanalytic Theory
 Sigmund

Freud’s theory

– Behavior & problems result of
experiences early in life
 Mainly first 5 years
 Adult personality
– Resolution of conflicts between sources of
pleasure at each stage & the demands of reality

Psychosocial Theory


Erik Erikson

– Primary motivation for human behavior
 Social

– Developmental change

 Occurs throughout life span

Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages

1. Trust Versus Mistrust (Hope)

 1.

Trust Versus Mistrust (Hope)

–
–

Infancy - 1
Does child believe caregivers are
reliable?
– Successful
 Develops trust & security & a basic
optimism.

– Badly handled
 Becomes insecure & mistrustful.

2. Autonomy Versus Shame & Doubt (Will)

 2.

Autonomy Versus Shame &
Doubt (Will)
– Infancy: 1 – 3
– Early part of crisis
 Stormy self – will
 Tantrums
 Stubbornness
 Negativism

– "well - parented" child

 Confident
 Happy with new found control
 Proud

3. Initiative Versus Guilt (Purpose)



3. Initiative Versus Guilt (Purpose)
– 3 – 5 yrs.
– Child learns to:

– Imagine
 Broaden skills through active play, fantasy
 Cooperate
 Lead & follow

– Immobilized by guilt:





Fearful
Hangs on fringes of groups
Too dependent on adults
Restricted in development of play skills & imagination.

4. Industry Versus Inferiority (Competence)



4. Industry Versus Inferiority (Competence)
– 6- puberty
– Learns to master more formal skills of life:

 (1) Relating with peers according to rules
 (2) Progressing from free play - structured play
– Rules & teamwork

 (3) Mastering social studies, reading, arithmetic.

– Trusting

 Autonomous
 Full of initiative
 Easily learn to be industrious

– Mistrusting child

 Doubt future
 Shame & guilt, experiences defeat & inferiority.

5. Identity Versus Identity Confusion
(Fidelity)

 5.

Identity Versus Identity
Confusion (Fidelity)
– 10 – 20 yrs.
– "Who am I?“

 Learns answer satisfactorily &
happily
 Role identity confusion

– Most experiment with minor delinquency
– Rebellion
– Self - doubts



5. Identity Versus Identity Confusion
(Fidelity) cont.

– Successful early adolescence
 Mature time perspective developed
 Self-certainty
 Experiments with different usually constructive
roles
 Anticipates achievement & achieves
 Later adolescence
– Clear sexual identity

 Seeks leadership (someone to inspire him)
 Develops a set of ideals socially congruent &
desirable
 Can experiment
– Try various roles, & find one most suitable

6. Intimacy Vs Isolation (Love)

 6.

Intimacy Vs Isolation (Love)

 20’s,

30’s

– Successful young adult
 1 st time, can experience true intimacy
– Makes possible good marriage or a genuine &
enduring friendship.

7. Generativity Vs Stagnation (Care)

 7.

Generativity Vs Stagnation (Care)
 40’s, 50’s
– "Generativity"
 Term coined by Erikson
– Creativity between generations.
– Can be expressed in many ways
– Try to "make a difference" with your life, to "give back”
 From raising a child to stopping a tradition of abuse
 From writing a family history to starting a new
organization.

8. Integrity Versus Despair (Wisdom)




8. Integrity Versus Despair (Wisdom)
60’s onward

– If other 7 psychosocial crisis have been successfully resolved:







Develops peak of adjustment; integrity.
Trusts
Independent
Works hard
Well defined role in life
Happy with self-concept

– Can be intimate without strain, guilt, regret, or lack of realism
– Proud of what you create




Children
Work
Hobbies

– 1 or more earlier psychosocial crises unresolved
 May view self & his life with disgust & despair.

Cognitive Theory
 Emphasis

on conscious thoughts

– 3 important cognitive theories
 Piaget’s cognitive developmental
theory
 Vygotsky’s sociocultural cognitive
theory
 Information-processing theory

Piaget’s Cognitive
Developmental Theory



Child: 4 stages of cognitive development
Each stage
–
–
–

Age-related
Distinct way of thinking
Different way of understanding

Jean Piaget, Swiss Pychologist,
1896 - 1980

Cognitive Development
In Childhood
 Jean

Piaget

– 50 yrs observed children’s intellectual
functioning.
– Cognitive development progresses in
stages.
– All children progress through these
stages
 Same sequence.

Sensorimotor Stage
 Sensorimotor

stage

– Birth – 2
 Learn to coordinate senses & motor
behavior.

 Organize world into schemas:
– What
– What
– What

can I put in my mouth
is graspable
makes noise

Sensorimotor Stage
 Object

permanence

– Perception that objects continue to
exist even when out of sight.
– Baby’s favorite game?
 Why?

Sensorimotor Stage
 Self-recognition

–
–
–
–

Towards end of stage
Rouge test Lewis & Brooks 1979
Placed in front of mirror
Touched nose at 18 – 24 months

Preoperational Stage


Ages 2 to 7
– Able to use mental representations &
language to




Describe
Remember
Reason
– about the world, though only an egocentric fashion



Egocentrism
– Inability to see things from another person's
point of view.

Preoperational Stage


Animistic Thinking
– Imagining that inanimate objects have life &
mental processes.
 Child tripped over coffee table, what will they say?



Fantasy Play
– Believe they are Batman



Symbolic Gestures
– Stick becomes a gun

Cognitive Development
In Childhood
 Conservation

– Understanding
that a change
in the size or
shape of a
substance
does not
change the
amount of that
substance.

Concrete Operational








Ages 7 - 11
Can attend to more than 1 thing at a x.
Can understand another's point of view.
In the now
Understand conservation
Parent can be more than just your parent
Thought more logical
– Thinking limited to concert matters
 Mystery Garden

Thought
more logical
Thinking limited
to concert
matters

Mystery Garden

Formal Operational Stage
 Ages

11 & above
 Capable of abstract thought
 Formulate hypothesis & test it
 Beyond here & now
 Cause & effect
 Consider possibilities

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural
Cognitive Theory


Emphasizes how culture & social
interaction guide cognitive development

The Information-Processing
Theory
 Thinking

–
–
–
–
–

is information processing

Perceive
Encode
Represent
Store
Retrieve

The InformationProcessing Theory

 Emphasis

–
–
–

on ways individuals

Manipulate information
Monitor information
Strategize information

 Develop

a gradually increasing
capacity for processing information
– Allows for acquisition of increasingly
complex knowledge & skills

Behavioral & Social Cognitive
Theories
 Behaviorism

– Scientifically study only what can be
directly observed & measured
2

versions of behaviorism

– B.F. Skinner’s operant conditioning
– Albert Bandura’s social cognitive
theory

Mrs. Garrison’s Theory of Evolution

Behavioral Theories


Skinner’s Operant Conditioning
– Consequences of a behavior produce
changes in the probability of the
behavior’s occurrence
 Rewards & punishments shape
development

Behavioral Theories
 Rewards

& punishments shape
development
– What happens if you get in trouble with
your parents for shooting a someone
with your sling shot?

Social Cognitive Theories
 Bandura’s

Social Cognitive Theory
– Key factors in development
 Behavior
 Environment
 Cognition

– Observational learning (also
called imitation or modeling)
 Cognitively represent behavior of others
 Sometimes adopt behavior themselves

Ethological Theory


Ethology (Comparative Psychology)
– Examines:
 Origins or causes of behavior
 Evolutionary Psychologists use this information to
attempt to compare our behavior to other species

 Behavior strongly influenced by biology



– Tied to evolution
– Characterized by critical or sensitive periods
Noted ethologists
– Konrad Lorenz
– John Bowlby
– {Mrs. Garrison}

Eclectic Theoretical
Orientation


No single theory
– Explains complexity of life-span development



Each contributes to understanding
development

Research in Life-Span
Development



Application of scientific method
Methods for collecting data
– Observation
 Laboratory
 Naturalistic

–
–
–
–

Survey & interview
Standardized testing
Case study
Physiological measures

Research Designs
 Descriptive

research

– Observe & record behavior

 Correlational

research

– Describe strength of relationship
between 2 or more events or
characteristics

 Experiment

– 1 or more variables manipulated while
all other factors held constant

Experimental & Control
Groups
 Experimental

group

– Experience manipulated

 Control

group

– Comparison group

Time Span of Research
 Cross-sectional

approach

– Simultaneously compares individuals
of different ages



Longitudinal approach

– Same persons studied over a period of
x
 Usually several years

 Cohort

(PeerEffects

– How same event affects peers
 Holocaust

– Effect on teens

Research Ethics
 Addresses:

– Rights of participant
– Responsibilities of researchers
– APA’s guidelines address 4
important issues
 Informed consent
 Confidentiality
 Debriefing
 Deception

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