1. Chapter 1
Introduction

4. Why Study Life-Span Development?
You can gain insight to your own life as a child, adolescent, and young adult.
You will learn about life through the adult years—middle age, and old age.
You may be a parent or a teacher some day.
Life-span development is linked with many different areas of psychology.

5. Definition of Development
The pattern of movement or change that begins at conception and continues through the human life span

6. The Historical Perspective
Original Sin - children were 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.

7. Traditional Approach vs. Life-Span Approach
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.

8. Characteristics of the Life-Span Perspective
Development is lifelong
Development is multidimensional
Development is multidirectional
Development is plastic
Development is contextual
Development is studied by a number of disciplines
Development involves growth, maintenance, and regulation

9. Development is Lifelong
No age period dominates development.
Researchers increasingly study the experiences and psychological orientations of adults at different points in their development.

10. Development is Multidimensional
There are biological dimensions.
There are cognitive dimensions.
There are socioemotional dimensions.

11. Development is Multidirectional
Some dimensions or components of a dimension increase in growth.
Some dimensions or components of a dimension decrease in growth.

12. Development is Plastic
Plasticity involves the degree to which characteristics change or remain stable.

13. Development is Contextual
Normative age-graded influences
Normative history-graded influences
Nonnormative life events

14. Development is Studied by a Number of Disciplines
Psychologists
Sociologists
Anthropologists
Neuroscientists
Medical Researchers

15. The Three Goals of Human Development
Maintenance
Growth
Regulation

16. Some Contemporary Concerns
Health and Well-Being
Parenting and Education
Sociocultural Contexts
Social Policy

17. Health and Well-Being Drug and alcohol use during pregnancy
Genetic counseling
Breast- versus bottle-feeding
Early intervention
School health programs
At-risk adolescents
Women’s health issues
Exercise
Addiction and recovery
Loneliness
Adaptive physical skills in aging adults
Coping with death

18. Parenting and Education
Day care
Working parents and latchkey children
Effects of divorce on children
The best way to parent
Child maltreatment
Support systems for families
Marital relationships
Intergenerational relationships
Aging parents
Variations in early childhood education
Ethnicity, social class, schools
Programs to improve thinking
School/family coordination
Cooperative learning
How to avoid stifling creativity
Bilingual education
The best schools for adolescents

19. Sociocultural Contexts
Culture
Ethnicity
Gender

20. Examples of Context Homes Schools Peer groups Churches Cities
Neighborhoods
University laboratories
Countries

21. Definition of Culture
The behavior 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 a culture with other cultures to provide information about the degree to which development is similar across cultures, or is instead, culture-specific.

22. Ethnicity
Based on cultural heritage, nationality characteristics, race, religion, and language

23. Gender
The sociocultural dimension of being male or female

24. 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.

26. Biological Processes
Involve changes in the individual’s physical nature such as:
Height and weight gains
The development of the brain
Changes in motor skills
Cardiovascular decline

27. Cognitive Processes
Involve changes in the individual’s thought, intelligence, and language such as:
Watching a mobile swing above a crib
Creating a two-word sentence
Memorizing a poem
Imagining being a movie star

28. Socioemotional Processes
Involve changes in the individual’s relationships with other people, changes in emotions, and changes in personality such as:
An infant smiling from her mother’s touch
A young boy hitting a playmate
A girl’s joy at her senior prom
The affection of an elderly couple

29. Periods of Development
The prenatal period
Infancy
Early childhood
Middle and late childhood
Adolescence
Early adulthood
Middle adulthood
Late adulthood

30. The Prenatal Period The time from conception to birth
From a single cell to an organism complete with a brain and behavioral capabilities
Approximately a 9-month period

31. Infancy The developmental period from birth to 18 or 24 months
A time of extreme dependency on adults
Many psychological activities are just beginning

32. Early Childhood
The developmental period extending from the end of infancy to about 5 or 6 years
Often called the “preschool years”
Children learn to become more self-sufficient
Children now develop school readiness skills
Children spend many hours playing with peers

33. Middle and Late Childhood
The developmental period extending from about 6 to 11 years of age
Approximately corresponds to the elementary school years
Fundamental skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic are mastered
Child is formally exposed to larger world and its culture

34. Adolescence
The developmental period of transition from childhood to early adulthood—entered at years, ending at years
Begins with rapid physical changes.
Pursuit of independence and identity are prominent
Thought is now more logical, abstract, and idealistic

35. Early Adulthood
The developmental period beginning in the late teens or early twenties and lasting through the thirties
A time of establishing personal and economic independence
Also a time of career development
Early adults select a mate, start a family, and rear children

36. Middle Adulthood
The developmental period beginning around 40 years of age and extending to about 60
A time of expanding personal and social involvement and responsibility
Also a time of assisting the next generation in becoming competent
Middle adults reach and maintain satisfaction in a career

37. Late Adulthood
The developmental period beginning in the sixties or seventies and lasting until death
A time of adjustment to decreasing strength and health
Also a time of life review, retirement, and new social roles

38. Age Groups in Late Adulthood
The Young Old, or Old Age (65-74 years of age)
The Old Old, or Late Old Age (75 years and older)
The Oldest Old (85 years and older)

39. Age and Happiness
No particular age group says they are happier or more satisfied than any other age group.

40. Conceptions of Age Chronological Age Biological Age Psychological Age
Social Age

41. Chronological Age
The number of years that have elapsed since a person’s birth

42. Biological Age
A person’s age in terms of biological health

43. Psychological Age
An individual’s adaptive capacities compared to those of other individuals of the same chronological age

44. Social Age
Refers to social roles and expectations related to a person’s age

45. Developmental Issues Nature and Nurture Continuity and Discontinuity
Stability and Change

46. The Nature-Nurture Issue
Involves the debate about whether development is primarily influenced by nature or nurture

47. Nature
An organism’s biological inheritance

48. Nurture
An organism’s environmental experiences

49. The Continuity-Discontinuity Issue
This issue focuses on the extent to which development involves gradual, cumulative change or distinct stages.

50. Continuity
Development results from a gradual process occurring over several weeks, months, and possibly years.

51. Discontinuity
Development occurs through a sequence of stages in which change is qualitatively rather than quantitatively different.

52. The Stability-Change Issue
This issue involves the degree to which we become older renditions of our early experience or whether we develop into someone different from who we were at an earlier point in development.
It considers the extent to which early experiences (especially in infancy) or later experiences are the key determinants of a person’s development.

53. The Early-Later Experience Issue
This issue has a long history of being hotly debated among developmental psychologists.

54. The Early-Experience View
Some believe that unless infants experience warm, nurturant caregiving in the first year or so of life, their development will never be optimal.

55. The Later-Experience View
Others believe that children are malleable throughout development and that later sensitive caregiving is just as important as earlier sensitive caregiving.

56. The Early-Later Experience
A number of life-span developmentalists stress that too little attention has been given to later experiences in development.
People in Western cultures tend to support the idea that early experiences are more important than later experiences.
By contrast, the majority of people in the world do not share this belief.

57. Evaluating the Developmental Issues
Most life-span developmentalists recognize that extreme positions are unwise.
The key to development is the interaction of nature and nurture rather than either factor alone.
There still exists strong debate regarding how strongly development is influenced by each of the factors.

59. Some Careers in Life-Span Development
Audiologist
Child psychologist/psychiatrist
Child welfare worker
College professor
Day-care supervisor
Early childhood educator
Elementary/Secondary school teacher
Geriatric nurse or physician
Geropsychologist
Home health aide

60. Some Careers in Life-Span Development (con’t)
Medical social worker
Pediatrician
Pediatric nurse
Physical therapist
Day-care supervisor
Preschool/Kindergarten teacher
Recreational therapist
Rehab counselor
School psychologist