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Welcome to Psychology 41

Lifespan Development

A pattern of change involving growth and deliine, from the womb to the tomb.

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Psychology 41Lifespan Development

• Be on time!

• Silence your cell phones and pagers.

• Ask questions.

• Have fun!

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Lifespan Development

Write three examples of each of the following:

1. Every person is like every other person.

2. Every person is like some other person.

3. Every person is like no other person.

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Lifespan Development

Lifespan Dev’t is:-Lifelong-Multidimensional-Multidirectional-Plastic, multidisciplinary-Contextual

Biology, culture, and individual factors all work together.

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Bronfenbrenner and the bioecological approach

Four major levels:

1) Microsystem

2) Mesosystem

3) Exosystem

4) Macrosystem and

5) Chronosystem

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Children Exposed to Six Stressors:

14

37

73

12

162124

32

45

49

Percentage

Middle-income children

Poor children

Exposure to violence

Crowding

Family turmoil

Child separation

Excessive noise

Poor housing quality

Bioecological Approach

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Developmentalists focus on different topics…

1. Physical Development

– Including the brain, nervous system, muscles, and senses, and the need for food, drink, and sleep

• Malnutrition, declining athletic performance

“How does malnutrition affect the growth of children?”

“How does an athlete’s physical performance decline during adulthood?”

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Topical areas studied by developmentalists

2. Cognitive Development– Growth and change in intellectual capabilities influence a

person’s behavior• Learning, memory, problem solving skills, and intelligence

across the lifespan“How do you explain academic successes and failures?”“Can people who experience a traumatic event as young

children remember it when they become adults?”

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Topical areas studied by developmentalists

3a. Personality Development (part of socioemotional)– Enduring characteristics that differentiate one person

from another; remain stable or change over the life span“Are there stable, enduring personality traits that persist

throughout the lifespan?”“Does personality change?

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Topical areas studied by developmentalists

3b. Social Development (part of socioemotional)

How does poverty, racism, and divorce affect development?How are one’s peers predictive of future successes and failures?

–Interactions and social relationships; how they grow, change, and remain stable

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Biological processes

Socioemotional processes

Cognitive processes

Developmental Changes Are a Result of the Interaction of, Cognitive, and Socioemotional

Processes

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Biological processes

Socioemotional processes

Cognitive processes

Developmental Changes Are a Result of the Interaction of, Cognitive, and Socioemotional

Processes

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The lifespan is usually divided into broad age ranges.

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QuickTime™ and aTIFF (LZW) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

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People mature at different rates and reach developmental milestones at different points

A 13-year-old boy waits to leave on patrol in Nicaragua

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Key Issues in Lifespan Development

• Continuous vs. Discontinuous Change• Ethological Theory and

Critical/Sensitive Periods• Nature vs. Nurture• Stability vs. Change

Discontinuity

Continuity andDiscontinuityin Development

Continuity

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Theoretical Perspectives

Psychodynamic• Freud – Psychoanalytic Theory• Erikson – Psychosocial Development

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Behavioral Perspective(Skinner)

We can only accurately study what can be observed.

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Social Learning Perspective(Bandura)

Person Behavior

Environment

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Cognitive Perspectives

Piaget

Information-Procesing• Behaviors can be broken down into steps

Vygotsky• Socio-cultural theory

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Research Methods

• Case study and interviews• Observation• Correlational research: tells whether the values of two

variables are related.

CORRELATION DOES NOT SHOW CAUSALITY!