1. CHAPTER 1 UNDERSTANDING LIFE-SPAN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

2. Learning Objectives
How do developmental scientists define development?
What does the typical path of development look like across the life span?

3. What is Development?
Systematic changes and continuities
In the individual
Between conception and death
“Womb to Tomb”
Three broad domains
Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial

4. Broad Domains of Development
Physical development
The growth of the body and its organs, the functioning of physiological systems, physical signs of aging, changes in motor abilities, and so on.
Cognitive development
Changes and continuities in perception, language, learning, memory, problem solving, and other mental processes.
Psychosocial development
Changes and carryover in personal and interpersonal aspects of development, such as motives, emotions, personality traits, interpersonal skills, and relationships, and roles played in the family and in the larger society.

5. Belief Challenge
Tremendous change from conception to young adulthood, with little change during early adulthood and middle age and loss of capacities in the later years is largely false.
Developmental changes at any age involves both gains and losses
Children gain many cognitive abilities as they grow older but they lose self-esteem and are more prone to depression (Gotlib & Hammen, 2002; Robins et al., 2002)
Aging in adults is not all loss, expertise and wisdom often increase from early adulthood through middle and even into later adulthood (Baltes, Lindenberger, & Staudinger, 1998)
Adults age 60 and older score higher on vocabulary tests than adults ages 18 to 30 (Verhaeghen, 2003)

6. Other Developmental Definitions
Growth: Physical changes that occur from birth to maturity
Aging: Positive and negative changes in the mature organism
Maturation: The biological unfolding of the individual genetic plan
Learning: Relatively permanent changes due to environmental experiences

7. Age Grades, Age Norms, and the Social Clock
Age Grade: Socially defined age groups
Statuses, roles, privileges, responsibilities
Adults can vote, children can’t
Age Norms: Behavioral expectations by age
Children attend school
Social Clock: When things should be done
Early adulthood – time for 1st marriages
“On time” Life tasks are completed within an expected age and “Off time” experiences are more difficult

9. Learning Objective
How has our understanding of different periods of the life span changed historically?
How has the view of children changed since the 16th century?
How has the life expectancy changed?
What impact have these changes had on society?

10. Phases of the Life Span
Before 1600: Children viewed as miniature adults
Modern View: Children innocent, need protection
Average life expectancy in 1900 was 47 year
In 2000 it was 77.5 years
Females: White=80, Black=76
Males: White=75, Black=69
Increasing population - age 65 and older
Centenarian must be at least 100 year old.

11. What are the main components of the nature-nurture issue?
Learning Objective
What are the main components of the nature-nurture issue?
Nature
Nurture
Heredity
Environment
Maturation
Learning
Genes
Experience
Biologically based predispositions
Cultural influences

12. Framing the Nature/Nurture Issue
Nature: heredity
Maturational processes guided by genes
Biologically based predispositions
Biological unfolding of genes
Nurture: environment
Learning: experiences cause changes is thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
Interactionist view: nature & nurture interact

13. Learning Objectives
What are the features of the bioecological model?
Why is this perspective important to our understanding of development?

14. The Bioecological Model
Microsystem: Immediate environment
Mesosystem: Relationships
Exosystem: Social Systems
Macrosystem Culture
Additional Concept Formaton:
Chronosystem: Changes occur in a time frame
This is an interactionist model

15. Microsystem
The innermost level of the environment is the microsystem, which refers to activities and interaction patterns in the person's immediate surroundings Bronfenbrenner emphasizes that to understand development at this level, we must keep in mind that all relationships are bidirectional. For example, adults affect children's behavior, but children's biologically and socially influenced characteristics—their physical attributes, personalities, and capacities—also influence the behavior of adults. For example, a friendly, attentive child is likely to evoke positive and patient reactions from parents, whereas an active, distractible youngster is more likely to be responded to with restriction and punishment.
Berk, L. (2001). Development Through the Lifespan, Boston: Allyn & Bacon, p

16. Mesosystem
The second level of Bronfenbrenner's model is the mesosystem. It refers to connections between microsystems that foster development. For example, a child's academic progress depends not just on activities that take place in classrooms. It is also promoted by parent involvement in school life and the extent to which academic learning is carried over into the home.
Berk, L. (2001). Development Through the Lifespan, Boston: Allyn & Bacon, p

17. Exosystem
The exosystem refers to social settings that do not contain the developing person but nevertheless affect experience in immediate settings. These can be formal organizations, such as the board of directors in the individual's workplace or health and welfare services in the community. Exosystem supports can also be informal, such as social networks—friends and extended family members who provide advice, companionship, and even financial assistance.
Berk, L. (2001). Development Through the Lifespan, Boston: Allyn & Bacon, p

18. Macrosystem
The outermost level of Bronfenbrenner's model, the macrosystem, is not a specific context. Instead, it consists of the values, laws, customs, and resources of a particular culture. The priority that the macrosystem gives to the needs of children and adults affects the support they receive at inner levels of the environment. For example, in countries that require high-quality standards for child care and workplace benefits for employed parents, children are more likely to have favorable experiences in their immediate settings. And when the government provides a generous pension plan for retirees, it supports the well-being of the elderly.
Berk, L. (2001). Development Through the Lifespan, Boston: Allyn & Bacon, p

19. Urie Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model of development pictures environment as a series of nested structures. The microsystem refers to relations between the developing person and her immediate environment, the mesosystem to connections among microsystems, the exosystem to settings that affect but do not contain the individual, the macrosystem to the broader cultural context of development, and the chronosystem to the patterning over time of historical and life events. Researchers face many challenges in studying the developing person in context.

20. Learning Objectives
What is the science of life-span development?
What are the three goals of developmental psychology?
What are the seven assumptions of the modern life-span perspective on human development?

21. Goals of Studying Life-Span Development
Description
Normal development, individual differences
Explanation
Typical and individually different development
Optimization
Positive development, enhancing human capacities
Prevention and overcoming difficulties

22. Methods of Studying Life-Span Development
Historical
Baby Biographies: Charles Darwin
Questionnaires: G. Stanley Hall
Key Assumptions of Modern Life-Span Perspectives
Lifelong,
Multidirectional process
Gain and loss
Lifelong plasticity
Historical/cultural contexts,
multiple influences
Multi-disciplinary studies

23. Key Assumptions of Life-Span Perspective
Key Assumptions of Modern Life-Span Perspectives
Lifelong,
Multidirectional process,
Gain and loss,
Lifelong plasticity,
Historical/cultural contexts,
Multiple influences,
Multi-disciplinary studies

24. Learning Objectives
What is the scientific “mindset”?
How is the scientific method used to study development?

25. Unique Challenges in Developmental Research
Infants and young children
Attention, instruction, answering questions may be difficult
Elderly Adults
Possible sensory impairments
Discomfort being studied, tested

26. Conducting Developmental Research
Self-reports:
Interview
Advantage: Quick, easy and inexpesnsive
Disadvantage:
Can not be used with infants, young children and cognitively impaired elders
Questions may have to be worded differently at different ages
Respondents tend to put themselves in a more favorable light
May be influenced by current events

27. Conducting Developmental Research
Self-reports:
Questionnaires,
Advantage: Quick, easy and inexpensive
Disadvantage:
Reading level of subject has to be considered
Can not be used with visually impaired
Respondents tend to put themselves in a more favorable light
May be influenced by current events

28. Conducting Developmental Research
Self-reports:
Tests
Advantage: Quick, easy and inexpensive
Disadvantage:
Reading level of subject has to be considered
Can not be used with visually impaired
Motivation level of test taker has to be considered
May be influenced by current events

29. Conducting Developmental Research
Behavioral Observations (Experiments)
Naturalistic
Advantage: natural setting
Disadvantage: conditions not controlled
Structured (Lab)
Advantage: conditions controlled
Disadvantage: cannot generalize to natural settings

30. Learning Objective
What are the essential features of the experimental method?
What sorts of information can be gathered from this type of study?
What are its strengths and weaknesses?

31. The Scientific (Experimental) Method
Three Critical Features
1. Manipulation of independent variable and Measurement of dependent variable
2. Random assignment of individuals to treatment conditions
Treatment groups equal from start
Error falls out with replication
3. Experimental control
Note: Quasi-Experiment: No random assignment

32. The Scientific (Experimental) Method
Advantages and Disadvantages of Experimental Method
Advantages
Control of independent variable
Specification of dependent variable
Cause and effect conclusion
Disadvantages
Experimental control often not the same as real world findings
Limitations posed by ethics

33. The scientific method in action

34. Learning Objective
What are the important features of the correlational method?
What sorts of information can be gathered from this type of study?
What are its strengths and weaknesses?

35. The Correlational Method
Determine if 2 or more variables are related
Correlation: A measure of the relationship
Can range from +1.0 to –1.0
Positive: variables move in same direction
Negative: variables move in opposite direction
No relationship if correlation is 0
Cannot establish a causal relationship

36. The Correlational Method
Advantage:
Can be used when ethical issues limit experimentation
Easier and less expensive than experimental method
Disadvantage:
Cannot establish a causal relationship
The direction of the cause & effect implication may be reversed
The relationship may be cause by a third variable

38. Learning Objective
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the cross-sectional and longitudinal designs?
How does the sequential design resolve the weaknesses of these designs?

39. Developmental Research Designs
Cross-Sectional Designs
>1 cohorts or age-groups studied
1 time of testing
Studying age differences at any one time
Longitudinal Designs
<1 cohort
+1 time of testing
Study changes across time in one cohort

40. Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of development from age 30 to age 70.

41. Age, Cohort, and Time of Measurement Effects
Age effects: Changes which occur due to age
Cohort Effects: Born in one historical context
Changes due to differences in society
Disadvantage of cross-sectional design
Time of measurement effects: Historical
Take place at time of data collection
Disadvantage of longitudinal design

42. Age, Cohort, and Time of Measurement Effects
Cross-sectional Designs have confounded
Age Effects
Cohort Effects
Not Time of Measurement Effects
Longitudinal Designs have confounded
Time of Measurement Effects
Not Cohort Effects

43. Conflicting findings of hypothetical cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of gender-role attitudes. How could the two studies produce different age trends?

44. Sequential Designs
A combination of cross-sectional and longitudinal designs
Advantages of both designs
Gives information about
Which age-related trends are age effects
Which age-related trends are truly cohort effects
Which age-related trends are a result of historical events

45. A sequential study. This study begins in 1970 with a group of 30-year-olds studied longitudinally every 10 years thereafter. In 1980, a second longitudinal study is launched, in 1990 a third, and so on. Notice that at a point in time such as 2000 (blue shading) age groups can be compared in a cross sectional study. Notice too that 30-year-olds from different cohorts can be compared (orange shading).

47. Learning Objective
What special challenges do developmental scientists face?
What challenges arise in studying development and how can scientists address these issues?

48. Issues in Developmental Studies
Random sampling
Increases likelihood that sample is representative of population
Distributes error randomly so it disappears with replication
Protecting rights of research participants
Must assess the benefit to risk balance
Researcher responsibilities
Informed consent, debriefing, protection from harm, confidentiality

49. Cultural and Subcultural Sensitivity in Research
Culturally sensitive methods & measurements
Social Economic Status (SES)
Occupational Prestiage
Education
Income
Ethnocentrism
The belief that one’s own group and culture is superior

50. Historical Changes in Periods of Lifespan
Childhood
Pressure to grow up
Early exposure to adult issues
Adolescence: A transition & delayed adulthood
Emerging Adulthood
Identity exploration in preparation for adulthood
Adulthood
By 2030, >20% will be over age 65