Development Across the Lifespan

Chapter in Perspective

• Lifespan Developmental Psychology– The branch of psychology concerned

with the changes in psychological functioning that occur, from conception across the entire life span.

• From conception until death, we change– Physically– Cognitively – Psychosocially

Basic Issues In Developmental Psychology• Which is more important to human

development?

• Nature– Genetics

• Nurture– Environment in which we are raised.

Basic Issues In Developmental Psychology• Behavior Genetics

– Relatively new field– Combines

• Psychology• Biology

– Researchers work on the nature-or-nurture question.

Nature vs Nurture

• Why does a child misbehave?– Inherited tendency to be active?

• Nature

– The way the parents raised him?• Nurture

• Most psychologists believe both nature & nurture shape our behavior.– Critical question

• How much does nature or nurture determine behavior?

Psychosocial Development In Childhood• 3 temperament types in young

children have been identified: 1. Easy

2. Slow-to-warm-up

3. Difficult

Temperament

• Heredity– Important in

determining temperament

• Environment– Mother’s child-

rearing attitudes can influence adolescent temperament.

• MOM’S FAULT

Psychosocial Development In Childhood• Sigmund Freud

– Personality develops as a child deals with conflicts between

• Biological urges• Demands of society

• Erik Erikson – Psychosocial crises, or conflicts between

• Psychological needs• Societal demands

– Main determinants of personality

Psychosocial Development In Childhood• Erikson's psychosocial crises for

childhood include:– Basic trust versus basic mistrust (birth

to age 1.5 years), – Autonomy versus shame and doubt

(1.5 to 3 years), – Initiative versus quilt (3 to 7 years), and– Industry versus inferiority (7 to 10

years).

• Attachment 359– Intense reciprocal relationship occurring

between two people, usually a child and an adult.

• Studies of young monkeys conducted by Harry and Marguerite Harlow – Attachment was determined by contact

comfort, rather than by the presence of food.

Harry & Marguerite Harlow

• Determined raising baby monkeys in isolation in the laboratory– Detrimental effect on social behavior

• A major conclusion of the Harlows’ research – Attachment was important

• Did not ensure normal social development.

– Environmental contact (nurture)• With members of one’s own species is needed for

this kind of development.

Harry & Marguerite Harlow

Cognitive Development In Childhood• Cognitive development refers to

the changes that occur in our thought processes as we pass through life.

• Cognitive development and intelligence go hand in hand.

Cognitive Development In Childhood• Jean Piaget proposed that cognitive

development progresses through a series of qualitative stages.

• Through his research Piaget identified the processes by which children gain new knowledge.

Jean Piaget, Swiss Pychologist, 1896 - 1980

Cognitive Development In Childhood• Jean Piaget

– 50 years observing children’s intellectual functioning.

– Cognitive development progresses through a series of stages.

– All children progress through these stages in same sequence.

Sensorimotor Stage

• Sensorimotor stage– Birth to age 2

• Infants learn to coordinate their senses and their motor behavior.

• Organize world into:– What can I put in my mouth– What is graspable– What makes noise

Sensorimotor Stage

• Object permanence– Perception that objects continue to

exist even when out of sight.– Baby’s favorite game?

• Why?

Sensorimotor Stage

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

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.

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

Cognitive Development In Childhood• Piaget demonstrated

that preoperational children do not grasp the principle of conservation, the understanding that a change in the size or shape of a substance does not change the amount of that substance.

Concrete Operational

• Ages 7 - 11

• Able to:– Represent objects mentally– Begin to use logical reasoning about

the world

• Not able to:– Think abstractly

• What would happen if we had no thumbs?

Formal Operational

• Adolescence to adulthood

• Able to think abstractly– Think in terms of possibilities as

opposed to concrete reality.

Adolescence

• In U.S. society, no single event marks the passage from childhood to adulthood.

• Children experience an extended period of adolescence, which lasts roughly from age 12 to age 20.– Not expected to work

Adolescence

• Thought & behavior continues to be somewhat childish &contradictory.

• Personal fable– One is not subject to the same rules as

other people.– Unique– Invulnerable

Adolescence

• Imaginary audience– Assumption that everyone else is

concerned with his or her appearance and behavior.