CHAPTER 1 UNDERSTANDING LIFE-SPAN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT.

CHAPTER 1

UNDERSTANDING LIFE-SPAN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Learning Objectives

• How do developmental scientists define development?

• What does the typical path of development look like across the life span?

What is Development?

• Systematic changes and continuities

– In the individual

– Between conception and death

• “Womb to Tomb”

• Three broad domains

– Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial

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.

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)

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

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

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?

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.

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

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

Learning Objectives

• What are the features of the bioecological model?

• Why is this perspective important to our understanding of development?

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

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. 25-26.

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.


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.


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.


• 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.

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?

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

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

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

Learning Objectives

• What is the scientific “mindset”?

• How is the scientific method used to study development?

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

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


• 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



• 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



• Behavioral Observations (Experiments)

– Naturalistic

• Advantage: natural setting

• Disadvantage: conditions not controlled

– Structured (Lab)

• Advantage: conditions controlled

• Disadvantage: cannot generalize to natural settings

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?

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

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

• The scientific method in action

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?

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

– Age Effects

– Time of Measurement Effects

• Not Cohort Effects

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

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

• 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).

Learning Objective

• What special challenges do developmental scientists face?

• What challenges arise in studying development and how can scientists address these issues?

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

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

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

CHAPTER 1 UNDERSTANDING LIFE-SPAN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT.

Documents

age children

cognitive development

middle age

age norms

physical changes

psychosocial slide

age grades

expected age