Development Through the Lifespan - Chapter 1

Development Through the Lifespan - Chapter 1

• Developmental science is the study of constancy and change throughout the lifespan
• The field is scientific, applied, and interdisciplinary
• Theories of human development address basic issues like continuity vs. discontinuity, a singular or multiple developmental paths, and nature vs. nurture.
• Theories also examine stability and plasticity
• Development is lifelong, multidimensional and multidirectional, highly plastic, and influenced by multiple, interacting forces
• Influences on development include age-graded, history-graded, and nonnormative
• Developmental periods encompass prenatal, infancy/toddlerhood, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood.
• Domains of development include physical, cognitive, emotional, and social
• Resilience is the ability to adapt effectively in the face of threats to development, and is influenced by personal characteristics, warm parental relationships, social support outside the family, and community resources and opportunities.
• Scientific research uses hypotheses drawn from theories, participant activities, and overall study plans.
• Research methods involve naturalistic and structured observations, self-reports (clinical and structured interviews), clinical/case studies, and ethnography.
• Correlational research gathers information on individuals without altering their experiences.
• It examines relationships between characteristics and behavior/development, but cannot infer cause and effect.
• A correlation coefficient indicates the strength and direction of a relationship
• Experimental research designs use participant random assignment to conditions, providing grounds for cause-and-effect inferences. Findings from this type of research might not apply to every day situations.
• Designs for studying development include longitudinal (same participants studied repeatedly), cross-sectional (participants of differing ages studied at the same time), and sequential (combining cross-sectional and longitudinal studies).
• Research ethics include protection from harm, informed consent, privacy, knowledge of results, and beneficial treatments
• Researchers must avoid bias and ensure generalized findings apply to broader contexts

Early Scientific Theories

• Darwin's Principles of natural selection and survival of the fittest in the evolutionary theory
• Hall and Gesell established the normative approach, where age-related averages from large child studies represent typical development
• Binet and Simon developed early intelligence tests, highlighting individual differences in development

Mid-Twentieth-Century Theories

• Psychoanalytic perspective (Freud and Erikson) emphasized individual life histories and conflicts between biological drives and societal expectations
  • Freud's personality structure consists of the Id (largest portion, unconscious, source of biological needs), Ego (conscious, rational, redirects id impulses), and Superego (conscience, develops from caregiver interactions)
  • Erikson's Psychosocial stages outline developmental tasks and crises across the lifespan.
• Behaviorism and Social Learning Theory focused on observable behavior and environmental interactions.
  • Contributions include behavior modification and modeling/observational learning.
  • Limitations include a narrow view of environmental influences and underestimation of individual activity.
• Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory focused on cognitive stages (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational).
• Information Processing, viewed the mind as a symbol manipulating system, with researchers using flowcharts to map problem solving steps.
• Information Processing Strengths: rigorous research methods
• Information Processing Limitations: lacks insight into nonlinear cognition (imagination and creativity).

Recent Theoretical Perspectives

• Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience and Developmental Social Neuroscience examine brain activity's role in cognitive, emotional, and social development
• Ethology examines adaptive value and evolutionary history of behavior. Key aspects include imprinting, critical and sensitive periods.
• Evolutionary Developmental Psychology study the adaptive value of species-wide competencies considering cognitive, emotional, and social aspects of change in relation to human development.
• Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory highlights cultural transmission of skills, values, beliefs and customs through social interaction and cooperative dialogues.
• Ecological Systems Theory views individuals within complex systems of relationships embedded in surrounding environments (microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem). The chronosystem is the dynamic and evolving nature of a person's environment.