1. Chapter 1
Introduction to Life-span
Development
Jenni Fauchier
Butchered by Professor Carney

2. Life-span Perspective

Development
– The pattern of movement or change
that begins at conception & continues
through the human life span.
– Each of us develops
 Partly like
–
–
–
All others
Some others
No other individuals

3. Each of us develops
Partly like:

4. Characteristics of LifeSpan Perspective

Development involves
– Growth
– Decline

5. Characteristics of Life-Span
Perspective
 Traditional
–
–
–
approach emphasizes
Extensive change birth to adolescence
Little or no change in adulthood
Decline in old age

6. Characteristics of LifeSpan Perspective
 Life-span
approach emphasizes
– Developmental change throughout
 Childhood
 Adulthood

7. Life Span vs Life Expectancy
 Human
Life Span
– Oldest age documented -- 122 yrs
 Maximum life span of humans
– Not changed since beginning of recorded history

Life Expectancy
– “ Average number of years that a
person born in a particular year can
expect to live.”
 Life expectancy increased 30 yrs in 20 th century

9. Characteristics of Life-Span
Perspective

Life-span perspective views
development as:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Lifelong
Multidimensional
Multidirectional
Plastic
Multidisciplinary
Contextual
Involves growth, maintenance & regulation
of loss
8. Construction of biology, culture & the
individual

10. Life-Span Perspective Views
Development as:
1. Lifelong
– No age period dominates

11. Life-Span Perspective Views
Development as:

12. Life-Span Perspective Views
Development as:
2. Multidimensional
– These change & affect each
other
 Biological
– Nature
 Cognitive
– Thinking
 Emotions
 Relationships

13. Life-Span Perspective Views
Development as:
3. Multidirectional
 Expansion & shrinkage
– Older
– Card game
 Skill increases
 Processing speed declines

14. Life-span perspective views
development as:
4. Plastic
– Changeable
 Meth addiction changes someone's
life?
 Brain injury

15. Life-span perspective views
development as:
5. Multidisciplinary
– Studied by:
 Psychologists
 Sociologists
 Anthropologists
 Neuroscientists
 Medical researchers

16. Life-span perspective views
development as:
6. Contextual

3 Types of Influences: Normative (normal)
1. Normative Age -graded Influences
2. Normative History -graded Influences
3. Non-normative or Highly Individualized Life Events

17. Life-span perspective views
development as:
7. Involves growth, maintenance &
regulation of loss

18. Life-span perspective views
development as:
8.
Combination of biology, culture &
the individual
–
Example:
–
Shaped by experiences that individuals have
or pursue.

19. We are shaped by:

20. Culture Shapes our Brain
Example

American & Chinese students
– Placed in an MRI
– Shown images
 Example on previous slide

Americans primary attention
– On “object” in the picture

Chinese
– Context of picture—the lobby
– Greater level of anxiety regarding the
incongruence of a sheep standing in a lobby

21. The Nature Of
Development
Changes in:

22. The Nature Of
Development
1. Biological processes
– Changes in an individual’s physical
nature
 Hormonal
 Brain
 Height & weight gains

23. The Nature Of
Development
2. Cognitive processes
– Changes in the individual’s
 Thought
 Intelligence
 Language

24. The Nature Of
Development
3. Socioemotional processes
– Changes in individual’s:
 Relationships with others
 Emotions
 Personality

25. Periods of Development

Developmental period
– Time frame in a person’s life that is
characterized by certain features
 Prenatal period
– Conception to birth
 Infancy
– Birth to 18 or 24 months
 Early childhood
– End of infancy to age 5 or 6
 Middle and late childhood
– 6 to 11 years of age

26. Periods of Development Cont.
– Adolescence
 Transition from childhood to early
adulthood
 Approximately 10 - 12 to 18 - 22 years
– Early adulthood
 Late teens or early twenties through the
thirties
– Middle adulthood
 Approximately 40 - 60 years
– Late adulthood
 60’s or 70’s until death

27. Conceptualizing Age
 Chronological
 Biological
age
age
 Psychological age
 Social age

28. Conceptualizing Age
 Chronological
age
– # of years since birth

29. Conceptualizing Age
 Biological
age
– Age in terms of biological health
– People you know very healthy or
unhealthy for their age?

30. Conceptualizing Age
 Psychological
age
– Individual’s adaptive capacities
 Changes in technology
– Maturity

31. Conceptualizing Age
 Social
age
– Society’s age expectations
– Example:
 What are expectations for a 10 yr.
old
– In our culture?
– Another culture?

32. Nature-Nurture Issue

Nature
– Biological inheritance

Nurture
– Environmental experiences


Which has the greatest influence?
How do they interact?

33. Class Exercise
 Nature
versus Nurture in Your Life

34. Scientific Method
 4-step
process:
– 1. Conceptualize a process or
problem to be studied
– 2. Collect research information
(data)
– 3. Analyze data
– 4. Draw conclusions

35. Theories of Development
 Psychoanalytic
Theory
 Cognitive Theory
 Behavioral & Social Theory
 Ethological Theory
 Ecological Theory
 Eclectic
Theoretical Orientation

36. Psychoanalytic Theory
 Sigmund
Freud’s theory
– Behavior & problems result of
experiences early in life
 Mainly first 5 years
 Adult personality
– Resolution of conflicts between sources of
pleasure at each stage & the demands of reality

37. Freud’s Psychosexual Stages

38. Psychosocial Theory

Erik Erikson
– Primary motivation for human behavior
 Social
– Developmental change
 Occurs throughout life span

39. Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages

40. Erikson & Freud

41. Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages
1. Trust Versus Mistrust (Hope)

42. Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages
 1.
Trust Versus Mistrust (Hope)
–
–
Infancy - 1
Does child believe caregivers are
reliable?
– Successful
 Develops trust & security & a basic
optimism.
– Badly handled
 Becomes insecure & mistrustful.

43. Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages
2. Autonomy Versus Shame & Doubt (Will)

44. Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages
 2.
Autonomy Versus Shame &
Doubt (Will)
– Infancy: 1 – 3
– Early part of crisis
 Stormy self – will
 Tantrums
 Stubbornness
 Negativism
– "well - parented" child
 Confident
 Happy with new found control
 Proud

45. Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages
3. Initiative Versus Guilt (Purpose)

46. Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages

3. Initiative Versus Guilt (Purpose)
– 3 – 5 yrs.
– Child learns to:
– Imagine
 Broaden skills through active play, fantasy
 Cooperate
 Lead & follow
– Immobilized by guilt:




Fearful
Hangs on fringes of groups
Too dependent on adults
Restricted in development of play skills & imagination.

47. Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages
4. Industry Versus Inferiority (Competence)

48. Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages

4. Industry Versus Inferiority (Competence)
– 6- puberty
– Learns to master more formal skills of life:
 (1) Relating with peers according to rules
 (2) Progressing from free play - structured play
– Rules & teamwork
 (3) Mastering social studies, reading, arithmetic.
– Trusting
 Autonomous
 Full of initiative
 Easily learn to be industrious
– Mistrusting child
 Doubt future
 Shame & guilt, experiences defeat & inferiority.

49. Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages
5. Identity Versus Identity Confusion
(Fidelity)

50. Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages
 5.
Identity Versus Identity
Confusion (Fidelity)
– 10 – 20 yrs.
– "Who am I?“
 Learns answer satisfactorily &
happily
 Role identity confusion
– Most experiment with minor delinquency
– Rebellion
– Self - doubts

51. Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages

5. Identity Versus Identity Confusion
(Fidelity) cont.
– Successful early adolescence
 Mature time perspective developed
 Self-certainty
 Experiments with different usually constructive
roles
 Anticipates achievement & achieves
 Later adolescence
– Clear sexual identity
 Seeks leadership (someone to inspire him)
 Develops a set of ideals socially congruent &
desirable
 Can experiment
– Try various roles, & find one most suitable

52. Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages
6. Intimacy Vs Isolation (Love)

53. Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages
 6.
Intimacy Vs Isolation (Love)
 20’s,
30’s
– Successful young adult
 1 st time, can experience true intimacy
– Makes possible good marriage or a genuine &
enduring friendship.

54. Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages
7. Generativity Vs Stagnation (Care)

55. Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages
 7.
Generativity Vs Stagnation (Care)
 40’s, 50’s
– "Generativity"
 Term coined by Erikson
– Creativity between generations.
– Can be expressed in many ways
– Try to "make a difference" with your life, to "give back”
 From raising a child to stopping a tradition of abuse
 From writing a family history to starting a new
organization.

56. Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages
8. Integrity Versus Despair (Wisdom)

57. Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages


8. Integrity Versus Despair (Wisdom)
60’s onward
– If other 7 psychosocial crisis have been successfully resolved:






Develops peak of adjustment; integrity.
Trusts
Independent
Works hard
Well defined role in life
Happy with self-concept
– Can be intimate without strain, guilt, regret, or lack of realism
– Proud of what you create



Children
Work
Hobbies
– 1 or more earlier psychosocial crises unresolved
 May view self & his life with disgust & despair.

58. Cognitive Theory
 Emphasis
on conscious thoughts
– 3 important cognitive theories
 Piaget’s cognitive developmental
theory
 Vygotsky’s sociocultural cognitive
theory
 Information-processing theory

59. Piaget’s Cognitive
Developmental Theory


Child: 4 stages of cognitive development
Each stage
–
–
–
Age-related
Distinct way of thinking
Different way of understanding

60. Jean Piaget, Swiss Pychologist,
1896 - 1980

61. Cognitive Development
In Childhood
 Jean
Piaget
– 50 yrs observed children’s intellectual
functioning.
– Cognitive development progresses in
stages.
– All children progress through these
stages
 Same sequence.

62. Sensorimotor Stage
 Sensorimotor
stage
– Birth – 2
 Learn to coordinate senses & motor
behavior.
 Organize world into schemas:
– What
– What
– What
can I put in my mouth
is graspable
makes noise

63. Sensorimotor Stage
 Object
permanence
– Perception that objects continue to
exist even when out of sight.
– Baby’s favorite game?
 Why?

64. Sensorimotor Stage
 Self-recognition
–
–
–
–
Towards end of stage
Rouge test Lewis & Brooks 1979
Placed in front of mirror
Touched nose at 18 – 24 months

65. Preoperational Stage

Ages 2 to 7
– Able to use mental representations &
language to



Describe
Remember
Reason
– about the world, though only an egocentric fashion

Egocentrism
– Inability to see things from another person's
point of view.

66. Preoperational Stage

Animistic Thinking
– Imagining that inanimate objects have life &
mental processes.
 Child tripped over coffee table, what will they say?

Fantasy Play
– Believe they are Batman

Symbolic Gestures
– Stick becomes a gun

67. Cognitive Development
In Childhood
 Conservation
– Understanding
that a change
in the size or
shape of a
substance
does not
change the
amount of that
substance.

68. Concrete Operational







Ages 7 - 11
Can attend to more than 1 thing at a x.
Can understand another's point of view.
In the now
Understand conservation
Parent can be more than just your parent
Thought more logical
– Thinking limited to concert matters
 Mystery Garden

69. Thought
more logical
Thinking limited
to concert
matters
Mystery Garden

70. Formal Operational Stage
 Ages
11 & above
 Capable of abstract thought
 Formulate hypothesis & test it
 Beyond here & now
 Cause & effect
 Consider possibilities

71. Vygotsky’s Sociocultural
Cognitive Theory

Emphasizes how culture & social
interaction guide cognitive development

72. The Information-Processing
Theory
 Thinking
–
–
–
–
–
is information processing
Perceive
Encode
Represent
Store
Retrieve

73. The InformationProcessing Theory
 Emphasis
–
–
–
on ways individuals
Manipulate information
Monitor information
Strategize information
 Develop
a gradually increasing
capacity for processing information
– Allows for acquisition of increasingly
complex knowledge & skills

74. Behavioral & Social Cognitive
Theories
 Behaviorism
– Scientifically study only what can be
directly observed & measured
2
versions of behaviorism
– B.F. Skinner’s operant conditioning
– Albert Bandura’s social cognitive
theory

75. Mrs. Garrison’s Theory of Evolution

76. Behavioral Theories

Skinner’s Operant Conditioning
– Consequences of a behavior produce
changes in the probability of the
behavior’s occurrence
 Rewards & punishments shape
development

77. Behavioral Theories
 Rewards
& punishments shape
development
– What happens if you get in trouble with
your parents for shooting a someone
with your sling shot?

78. Social Cognitive Theories
 Bandura’s
Social Cognitive Theory
– Key factors in development
 Behavior
 Environment
 Cognition
– Observational learning (also
called imitation or modeling)
 Cognitively represent behavior of others
 Sometimes adopt behavior themselves

79. Ethological Theory

Ethology (Comparative Psychology)
– Examines:
 Origins or causes of behavior
 Evolutionary Psychologists use this information to
attempt to compare our behavior to other species
 Behavior strongly influenced by biology

– Tied to evolution
– Characterized by critical or sensitive periods
Noted ethologists
– Konrad Lorenz
– John Bowlby
– {Mrs. Garrison}

80. Eclectic Theoretical
Orientation

No single theory
– Explains complexity of life-span development

Each contributes to understanding
development

81. Research in Life-Span
Development


Application of scientific method
Methods for collecting data
– Observation
 Laboratory
 Naturalistic
–
–
–
–
Survey & interview
Standardized testing
Case study
Physiological measures

82. Research Designs
 Descriptive
research
– Observe & record behavior
 Correlational
research
– Describe strength of relationship
between 2 or more events or
characteristics
 Experiment
– 1 or more variables manipulated while
all other factors held constant

83. Experimental & Control
Groups
 Experimental
group
– Experience manipulated
 Control
group
– Comparison group

84. Time Span of Research
 Cross-sectional
approach
– Simultaneously compares individuals
of different ages

Longitudinal approach
– Same persons studied over a period of
x
 Usually several years
 Cohort
(PeerEffects
– How same event affects peers
 Holocaust
– Effect on teens

85. Research Ethics
 Addresses:
– Rights of participant
– Responsibilities of researchers
– APA’s guidelines address 4
important issues
 Informed consent
 Confidentiality
 Debriefing
 Deception