Domains of Development

Chapter 1: Developmental Psychology

• Developmental psychology, also known as human development or lifespan development, scientifically studies how people change and remain the same from conception to death.
• Paul Baltes identified key principles of the lifespan perspective.

Lifespan Principles

• Development is lifelong, with changes apparent throughout life and no single age period dominating.
• Development is multidirectional, showing gains in some areas and losses in others.
• Development is multidimensional, occurring across physical, cognitive, and psychosocial domains that influence each other.
• Physical domain includes changes in height, weight, sensory capabilities, nervous system, and propensity for disease/illness.
• Cognitive domain encompasses changes in intelligence, wisdom, perception, problem-solving, memory, and language.
• Psychosocial domain focuses on changes in emotion, self-perception, and interpersonal relationships.
• Development is multidisciplinary, requiring knowledge from various academic disciplines.
• Development shows plasticity, our ability to change and adapt throughout life.
• Development is multicontextual, occurring within normative age-graded, normative history-graded, and non-normative life influences.
• Normative age-graded influences are shared experiences within a specific age group, like toddlers or adolescents.
• Normative history-graded influences are shaped by the time period in which you are born.
• A cohort is a group of people born around the same time in a particular society.
• Non-normative life influences are unique experiences that shape individual development.
• Socioeconomic status (SES) identifies families/households based on education, income, and occupation.
• Poverty level, set by the government, determines poverty status based on family income relative to thresholds that vary by family size.
• Poverty is linked to poorer health, lower life expectancy, poorer diet, less healthcare, greater stress, and other problems.
• Culture encompasses shared language, knowledge, material objects, and behavior that dictate societal living.
• Ethnocentrism is the belief that one's own culture is superior and practices/expectations are the correct ones.
• Cultural relativity appreciates cultural differences and understands that cultural practices are best understood from their own context.

Lifespan and Age

• Lifespan, or longevity, is the length of time a species can exist under optimal conditions. Examples include grey wolves (up to 20 years), bald eagles (up to 50 years), and Galapagos tortoises (over 150 years).
• Life expectancy is the predicted number of years a person born in a specific time period can expect to live.
• Chronological age is the number of years since birth.
• Biological age is how quickly the body is aging.
• Psychological age is one's adaptive capacity compared to others of the same chronological age.
• Social age is based on cultural norms and expectations for people in a certain age group.
• Our culture indicates if we are progressing as normal for certain social milestones.

Periods of Development

• Prenatal period: from conception to birth.
• Infancy and toddlerhood: from birth to 2 years old.
• Early childhood: from 2 to 6 years old.
• Middle and late childhood: from 6 to the onset of puberty.
• Adolescence: from the onset of puberty to 18.
• Emerging adulthood: from 18 to 25.
• Early adulthood: from 25 to 40-45.
• Middle adulthood: from 40-45 to 65.
• Late adulthood: from 65 onward.

Development Stages

• Prenatal development involves conception and the formation of major body structures, emphasizing maternal health and labor/delivery concerns.
• Infancy and toddlerhood feature dramatic growth, transforming newborns into walking, talking toddlers.
• Early childhood entails language acquisition, self-awareness, independence, and understanding the physical world.
• Middle and late childhood focuses on learning academic skills and comparing oneself to others.
• Adolescence involves physical changes, cognitive development, and the exploration of identity.
• Emerging adulthood is a transitional period characterized by continued identity exploration and independence preparation.
• Early adulthood involves intimate relationships, families, and work.
• Middle adulthood is marked by noticeable aging and peak productivity.
• Late adulthood includes the young-old (65-84 years) and the oldest-old (85+ years), with increasing risks of diseases.

Issues in Lifespan Development

• Nature versus nurture: debates the roles of heredity versus environment in development.
• Continuity versus discontinuity: examines whether development occurs in distinct stages (discontinuous) or as a slow, gradual process (continuous).
• Active versus Passive: Explores whether children actively explore their world or are more passive in the developmental process.
• Stability versus Change: Argues whether adult personality traits are rooted in infant/young child tendencies, or are modified by social/cultural forces over time.

Historical Theories of Development

• Preformationist view (18th century): children were seen as miniature adults.
• John Locke (1632-1704): believed in learning socialization through education and the mind as a tabula rasa influenced by the environment.
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778): emphasized biological maturation and a natural plan of development.
• Arnold Gesell (1880-1961): believed genes activated development through a process called maturation.
• Sigmund Freud (1856-1939): emphasized the significance of early childhood experiences and psychosexual development.

Contemporary Theories of Development

• Erik Erikson (1902-1994) and Psychosocial Theory: presents 8 stages encompassing the entire lifespan with unique challenges/crises in each stage.
• Learning Theory (Behaviorism): focuses on studying behavior objectively, using stimulus, response, and reinforcements.
• B.F. Skinner: Developed general principles of behaviorism to teach children and create productive/peaceful societies.
• Social Learning Theory emphasizes learning through observation, modelling, and reciprocal determinism (the interplay between personality/interpretation of events) where young children learn by frequently imitating.
• Cognitive Theory examines how mental processes/cognition changes over time following theories by Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky and Information Processing
• Jean Piget was one of the most influential cogntive theorists, mapping out how childrens intelligence differs from that of adults (1929)

Urie Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory

• framework for understanding the influences on human development, it recognized that human interaction is influenced by larger social forces and it impacts several systems:
• microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem and chronosystem
• The microsystem includes the individual's setting and those who have contact like parents or siblings where the states of mind can have impact
• The mesosystem includes the larger organizational structure like the church or school that has affects
• The exosystem includes the values and community where it houses the other systems
• The macrosystems includes cultural elements as global economy or technological trends
• The chronosystems includeshistorical context of these experiences

Research Methods in Developmental Psychology

• Scientific method: uses scientific methods to conduct research.

1. Research design (descriptive, correlational, and experimental).
2. Descriptive research (records a set of observations of behavior)
3. Correlational research (discovers relations between two or more variables)
4. Experimental research (provides definitive decisions on relationships between variables).

Research Techniques

• Descriptive;
• Case study;
• Observation (naturalistic and laboratory);
• Survey: Verbal or written questionnaires of sample group of people
• Interviews: Participants are directly questioned by a researcher
• Psychophysiological assessment: Data is recorded like heart rate etc.
• Secondary/content analysis: Already available information to uncover practices/data
• Correlational research: the measurement of two or more relevant variables and the measurement of relationships between the variables
• Pearson correlations
• Experimental research The ethics of any research is to cause no harm, gain informed consent (to the greatest extent possible), confidentiality, freedom of deception, offer debriefing.

Main Points from Papalia and Martorell’s “The Study of Human Development”

• Scientific study of processes of change and stability throughout the human life span
• Concept of human development as a lifelong proccess
• Heredity is the major influence of inborn traits that comes from biological parents while environment is nonhereditary (experiential effects)
• The unfolding of a sequence (martial influence) of bodily behavior
• A common basic style of life that occurs at various steps in children's processes
• A concept that is made naturally and obviously
• Can often cause stress during child birth

CHAPTER 2: PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT

Gene- nature building perspective Protein- responsibility cell functions and structures Autosome pairs- are 22 same length cell pairs and inheritance from parents Phenotype and genotypes- sum total of inherited genes a person may process Homo/Heterozygous- versions of genes from mother and father

• Dominan/recessive and alleles genes express when expressed when paired with the similar version gene and different versions of those versions
• Mono/dizygotic identical inheritance as the origin one and non identitcal one Genetic disorder (less common) recessive gene Autosomal disorders : individual needs inherit that gene from one of the parents Recessive gene disorders- both parents Albinism, Sex linked, X and Y chromosomes, Fragile X, hemophilia and muscular distrophy related issues Testing during pregnancy Behvaioural Genetics: interplay of environmental factors, genes

PERIODS

• Zygotes after release due normal fertilisation
• Implantation, occurs and proceeds to outer cellular form called a Trophoblast
• Development of the embroyotic phase, from around the third week to eighth week and impliment in uterus wall Multilayer function of cells
• Blood vessel groth via placement
• Cell differentiation
• Cell from head to tail Fetal: 9th week to birth Development of the fetal stage, organ developtment and continued brain development Neural Plate: Location of stem cells in the embryo Neural migration, and further development of the fetal phase Teragton: Negative effecters of mother such as drugs, illnesses or environment

Alcohol

Is harmful to the development in a number of ways such as;

• Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders
• Problems with behavior Smoking:
• Reduction of oxygen
• Low weights during birth and other issues such as birth defect. Mercury, taxoplasmosis: Heavy negative issues with mental impairment Maternal- and paternal
• Genetic conditions
• Age of mother effecting eggs
• Previous family history and test need

PREPARATION FOR CHILDBIRTH

• Helping individuals to prepare to accept their new roles as parents
• Parents can receive information and training that will assist them for delivery and life with the baby

The Lamaze Method

• most common methods for preparing for childbirth
• originated in Russia and was brought to the United States in the 1950s by Fernand Lamaze
• teaching the woman to be in control in the process of delivery
• learning muscle relaxation, breathing though contractions, having a focal point (usually a picture to look at) during contractions and having a support person who goes through the training process with the mother and serves as a coach during delivery Choosing Where to Have the Baby and Who Will Deliver
• vast majority of births occur in a hospital setting
• one percent of women choose to deliver at home (2015)
• Midwives are trained and licensed to assist in delivery and are far less expensive than the cost of a hospital delivery

THE INFANT DEVELOPMENT AND TODDLERHOOD

Reflex and voluntary movements

• reflexes that can turn into intentional actions Overall body changes
• physical weight changes and differences in physical abilities Bodily proportional change from the start
• body proportions change, and other physical proportions Brain physical difference
• formation of brain cells Senory differences
• taste, touch, smell and inter modaility of the sensory #Testing Sensory:
• Haibituation

EARLY CHILDHOOD AND DEVELOPMENT

Socioemotional relationship and personality style set, as well as;

• gender development
• relationships which other and play styles as an end goal. #Parenting: Authorative : clear direction Authoritarian styles : clear direction Permissive: Less clear direction A sense of attachment, styles of attachment, the ethics of an environment.

CHAPTER 4 EARLY CHILDHOOD

physical growth, cognitive differences, cognitive play theories Motor coordination, childhood activity 2 to 5 age etc Piagets theory of the mind Sarted information and Vygotsky view Language development with its different process

Explores the interconnectedness of physical, cognitive, and psychosocial domains in human development. Examines how changes in one area can influence and trigger changes in others. Also includes impacts of socioeconomic factors.