The Chapters in Your Life Story If youthink of your life as an unfolding story,then the major stages of the human lifespanrepresent the different “chapters” ofyour life. Each chapter is characterized byfundamentally different physical, cognitive,and social transitions, challenges andopportunities, demands and adjustments.Comparing different life stories revealsmany striking similarities in the developmentalthemes of any given stage. Butbeyond those similarities, every life storyis also characterized by considerable variationsin the timing of life events and thepathways that are ultimately followed. Inthat sense, every life story is unique.

Mary D. Salter Ainsworth (1913–1999)Although best known for her developmentof the “Strange Situation” techniqueto measure attachment, Mary D. SalterAinsworth made many other contributionsto developmental psychology. She originatedthe concept of the secure base andwas the first researcher in the UnitedStates to make extensive, systematic, naturalisticobservations of mother-infant interactionsin their own homes. Her findingsoften surprised contemporary psychologists.For example, Ainsworth provided thefirst evidence demonstrating the importanceof the caregiver’s responsiveness to theinfant’s needs (Bretherton & Main, 2000).

The Importance of Attachment Secure attachment in infancy forms the basis for emotional bonds in later childhood. At one time, attachment researchers focused only on the relationship between mothers and infants. Today, the importance of the attachment relationship between fathers and children is also recognized (Grossman & others, 2002).

Jean Piaget Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (1896–1980) viewed the child as a little scientist, actively exploring his or her world. Much of Piaget’s theory was based on his careful observation of individual children, especially his own children.

Fuzzy Tastes Different! During the sensorimotorstage, infants and toddlers rely ontheir basic sensory and motor skills to exploreand make sense of the world aroundthem. Piaget believed that infants andtoddlers were acquiring very practicalunderstandings about the world as theytouch, feel, taste, push, pull, twist, turn,and manipulate the objects they encounter.

Preoperational Thinking: Manipulating Mental Symbols With a hodgepodge of toys, some fake fruit, a couple of scarves, and a firefighter’s helmet, these two are having great fun. The preschool child’s increasing capacity for symbolic thought is delightfully reflected in symbolic play and deferred imitation. In symbolic play, one object stands for another: a scarf can become a magic cape, a coat, a mask, or a tablecloth. Deferred imitation is the capacity to repeat an action observed earlier, such as the action of a checker in a store.

Piaget’s Conservation Task Five-year-old Laura compares the liquid in the two short beakers, then watches as Sandy pours the liquid into a tall, narrow beaker. When asked which has more, Laura insists that there is more liquid in the tall beaker. As Piaget’s classic task demonstrates, the average 5-year-old doesn’t grasp this principle of conservation. Even though Laura repeated this demonstration several times for the photographer, she persisted in her belief that the tall beaker had more liquid. We tried the demonstration again when Laura was almost 7. Now in the concrete operational stage, Laura immediately understood that both beakers held the same amount of liquid—just as Piaget’s theory predicts.

From Concrete Operations to Formal Operations Logical thinking is evident during the concrete operational stage but develops more fully during the formal operational stage. At about the age of 12, the young person becomes capable of applying logical thinking to hypothetical situations and abstract concepts, such as the principles of molecular bonds in this chemistry class. But as is true of each of Piaget’s stages, new cognitive abilities emerge gradually. Having a tangible model to manipulate helps these students grasp abstract chemistry concepts.

Girls Get a Head Start These two eighth graders are the same age! In terms of theprogress of sexual and physical maturation,girls are usually about two years ahead of boys.

Effects of Early versus Late Maturation As any adult who remembers 7th grade gym class can attest, the timing of puberty varies widely. Early maturation can have different effects for boys and girls. Early maturing boys tend to be successful in athletics and popular with their peers, but they are more susceptible to risky behaviors, such as drug, alcohol, or steroid use (McCabe & Ricciardelli, 2004). Early maturing girls tend to have more negative feelings about the arrival of puberty and body changes, have higher rates of teenage pregnancy, and may be embarrassed or harassed by unwanted attention from older males (Ge & others, 2003; Adar & Gordon-Larsen, 2001).

Zits cartoon, © Zits Partnership. Reprinted with special permission of King Features Syndicate.

Peer Relationships in Adolescence Although parents often worry about the negative impact of peers, peers can also have a positive influence on one another. These teenage volunteers are attending a leadership conference for Drug Free Youth in Town, a national community based organization that works to prevent substance abuse in children and teens.

Psychoanalyst Erik Erikson Erikson (1902–1994) is shown here with his wife, Joan, in 1988. Erikson’s landmark theory of psychosocial development stressed the importance of social and cultural influences on personality throughout the stages of life.

“This next one is a hard-rockin’, kick-ass, take-no-prisonerstune we wrote about turning sixty.”

©The New Yorker Collection 2004 David Sipressfrom cartoonbank.com. All Rights Reserved.

Japan’s Super-Seniors Born in 1906,Japanese educator Dr. Saburo Shochi hascompleted four international speakingtours over past 4 years, lecturing on theimportance of early childhood education,especially for developmentally disabledchildren. He has traveled to countries asfar-flung as Senegal, Finland, China, Brazil,and the United States. Shochi was a pioneerin the field of special education inJapan, founding the first school for thedisabled in 1954. At the age of 97, Shochiopened a toy-making classroom for childrenand their parents. Shochi, whoturned 102 while on his last world tour,also lectures on healthy aging and the importance of remaining socially engagedand active, whatever your age. There aremore than 36,000 centenarians in Japan,which has one of the world’s highest lifeexpectancy rates.

A Lifetime of Experience to Share Like many other senior adults, Edna Warf of Asheville, North Carolina, derives great personal satisfaction from her work as a volunteer helping grade school students. Contributing to their communities, taking care of others, and helping people both younger and older than themselves are important to many older adults.