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Introduction

The Life-Span Perspective

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The Life-SpanPerspective

What Is Life-SpanDevelopment?

Historical Perspectives onLife-Span Development

Characteristics of the Life-Span Perspective

Some ContemporaryConcerns

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The Life-Span Perspective

What is Life-Span Development?

Historical Perspectives on Life-Span Development

Characteristics of the Life-Span Perspective

Some Contemporary Concerns

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What is Life-Span Development?

• The pattern of change that begins at conception and continues through the life cycle.

• It allows you to gain insight into your own life as a child, adolescent, and young adult.

• Life-span development is linked with many different areas of psychology.

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Historical Perspectives on Life-Span Development

• Child Development

• Traditional and Life-Span Approaches

• Life Expectancy

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Child Development

• Original Sin – children are perceived as being basically bad, born into the world as evil beings.

• Tabula Rasa – children are like a “blank tablet,” and acquire their characteristics through experience.

• Innate Goodness – children are inherently good.

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Traditional and Life-Span Approaches

• The traditional approach emphasizes extensive change from birth to adolescence, little or no change in adulthood, and decline in late old age.

• The life-span approach emphasizes developmental change during adulthood as well as childhood.

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Life Expectancy

• Improvements in sanitation, nutrition, and medical knowledge has extended life expectancy by 25 years since before the 20th century.

• The average life expectancy in Canada is 79 years of age.

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Characteristics of the Life-Span Perspective

• Development is lifelong

• Development is multidimensional

• Development is multidirectional

• Development is plastic

• Development is multidisciplinary

• Development is contextual• Development involves growth,

maintenance, and regulation

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Development if Lifelong

• No age period dominates development.

• Researchers increasingly study the experiences and psychological orientations of adults at different points in their development.

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Development is Multidimensional

• There are biological dimensions.

• There are cognitive dimensions.

• There are socio-emotional dimensions.

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Development is Multidirectional

• Some dimensions or components of a dimension increase in growth.

• Some dimensions or components of a dimension decrease in growth.

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Development is Plastic

• Plasticity involves the degree to which characteristics change or remain stable.

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Development is Multidisciplinary

• Psychologists

• Sociologists

• Anthropologists

• Neuroscientists

• Medical Researchers

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Development is Contextual

• Normative age-graded influences

• Normative history-graded influences

• Non-normative life events

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Development Involves Growth, Maintenance, and Regulation

• The mastery of life involves conflict and competition among three goals of human development:– Growth – Maintenance– Regulation

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Some Contemporary Concerns

• Health and Well-being

• Research on Premature Infants

• Parenting

• Socio-cultural Contexts

• Social Policy

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Health and Well-Being

-drug and alcohol use during pregnancy-genetic counselling -women’s health

issues-ambiguous gender -nutrition and fitness-breast vs. bottle feeding -addiction and

recovery-Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and effects-loneliness -school health programs-at-risk adolescents-adaptive physical skills in aging adults-coping with death

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Research on Premature Infants

• Research focuses on how massage therapy can facilitate weight gain in premature infants.

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Parenting

• Daycare• Working parents and latchkey

children• Effects of divorce on children• Blended families• The best way to parent• Child maltreatment• Support systems for families• Marital relationships• Intergenerational relations• Aging parents

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Socio-cultural Contexts

• Context

• Culture

• Ethnicity

• Gender

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Context

• Homes• Schools• Peer groups• Churches• Cities• Neighbourhoods• University

laboratories• Countries

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Culture

• The behaviour patterns, beliefs, and all other products of a particular group of people that are passed on from generation to generation.

• Cross-cultural studies involve a comparison of one culture with others to provide information about the degree to which development is similar across cultures or is culture-specific.

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Ethnicity

• Based on cultural heritage, nationality characteristics, race, religion, and language

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Gender

• The socio-cultural dimension of being male or female

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Social Policy

• A national government’s course of action designed to influence the welfare of its citizens.

• The shape and scope of social policy is strongly tied to our political system.

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Generational Inequity

• An aging society’s unfairness to its younger members due to older adults’ piling up advantages by receiving inequitably large allocations of resources.