Introduction to Human Development

• Human development involves studying how individuals change with age as well as characteristics that remain stable over time.

An Introduction to Human Development

• Human development examines age-related changes in behavior, thinking, emotion, and personality.
• Philosophers historically proposed explanations for age differences, which early pioneers then applied scientific methods to in the 19th century.
• Initially confined to childhood, the field expanded in the late 20th century to include changes across the entire human lifespan.
• This expansion led to better ways to categorize important issues and revealed the complexity of human development.

Philosophical and Scientific Roots

• Early philosophers based their ideas about humans on spiritual authorities, philosophical orientations, and deductive logic
• The scientific approach emerged in the 19th century to understand what drives that development
• Rather than relying primarily on spiritual authorities

Original Sin, the Blank Slate, and Innate Goodness

• Philosophers historically analyzed how babies who appear similar develop into different people, especially focusing on moral dimension
• Augustine of Hippo's original sin states that humans possess a selfish nature and must seek spiritual rebirth and religious training and suppress the inborn tendency to act selfishly.
• John Locke conceived the mind of a child as a blank slate, suggesting adults can mold children as they wish because humans have no innate tendencies.
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau proposed that humans are naturally seeking experiences for growth, so nurturing and protection allows children to reach their full potential.
• Internal vs External drivers: Views of original sin and innate goodness suggest development includes an internal vs external forces balance.

Early Scientific Theories

• Darwin suggested that different life-forms on Earth evolved gradually via genetics and environmental factors interplay
• Darwin's theory suggested that studying children's development could inform the evolution of the human species, leading to baby biographies.
• G. Stanley Hall's study on children's minds was the first scientific study of child development.
• Hall's study identified norms or average ages when milestones are reached, for learning about tracking individual children's development
• Arnold Gesell suggested a genetically programmed sequential changes, and named it maturation
• Gesell pioneered the use of movie cameras and one-way observation to develop norms which became the basis for norm-referenced test
• Norm-referenced tests are used now to evaluate children's development compared to peers.

the Lifespan Perspective

• It has become more common for adults to experience significant life changes, like career shifts or divorce with increased life expectancy
• Adoption of the lifespan perspective is that important changes occur during every period of development, which includes culture and context
• Plasticity: Capacity for positive change throughout life in response to environmental demands
• Interdisciplinary research: Research from various disciplines is needed to understand lifespan development.
• Multicontextual nature of development: Development within interconnected contexts, like family, neighborhood, culture etc.
• Paul Baltes emphasized the maximization of gains and compensation for losses as humans age to develop a comprehensive lifespan theory

The Domains and Periods of Development

• Scientists categorize changes into:
  • Physical domain: body changes
  • Cognitive domain: Thinking, memory and problem solving changes
  • Social domain: Relationships with other changes
• Developmental stages include the prenatal period, infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, and early, middle, and late adulthood.
• Each period has certain milestones, whose timeframes can vary across individuals and cultures

Key Issues in the Study of Human Development

• Key issues cut across all development domains and periods.
• Includes relative contribution of biological and environmental and presence or absence of stages
• Debate is the degree to which development settings impact the results of developmental outcomes.
• Debate exists on a change specific to a person, whereas another may impose that the same condition is common to all

Nature versus Nurture

• Previously focused on change results in outside or inside sources
• Concept of inborn biases are based on that children are born with tendencies to respond certain way
• Includes sequence of language acquisition, with single words preceding two-word sentences which seems equipped with care taking behaviours.
• Inborn biases vary; some infants are easy to soother and others harder to manage

Continuity versus Discontinuity

• Asks if age related changes are degree or amount, or changes in type or kind
• Friendship can be fewer, but friendship different in childhood vs adulthood
• Quantitative Change: Change in amount (height)
• Qualitative Change: Change in characteristic (puberty)
• Whether development is reorganization, new strategy, then theory of stages will be useful

Three Kinds of Change

• Normative age-graded changes are universally linked with a specific age involving an individual's biological and genetically programmed maturation process with shared experiences
• Every culture has the social clock, or age norm with a sequence of timeline and retirement
• Historical forces affecting generations differently are normative history-graded changes
• Unique, unshared events are nonnormative changes with individual differences
• Child-development theories have a critical period when sensitivity to particular experiences, such as language acquisition varies amongst toddlers.

Contexts of Development

• Fully understanding human development, context is must by a child's neighborhood
• Vulnerability and resilience: Each is born with an emotional irritability
• Factors interact with child environment can change a child
• Double Whammy: negative outcomes for a vulnerable child in a poor environment

Research Methods and Designs

• Ways to understand research for questions from older adults that are able to recall names easier

The Goals of Developmental Science

• To state what happens: describe, explain, predict with human development
• Using theories that propose a theory that can have predictions or hypothesis

Descriptive Methods

• Researcher who wants memory must decide relationships between variable and person, with intelligence

Naturalistic Observation

• Psychologists observe natural environment

Case Studies

• In-depth examination of single individual

Laboratory Observation

• Researcher exerts control with environment

Surveys

• Questionnaire to collect data about attitudes, values and behaviours
• Dependent on representative sample of participants
• Influenced by social desirability with untruthful survey given

Correlations

• Correlation express from -1 to +1 range
• Two variable changes in opposite directions with negative correlation and near -1 more stronger connected

Designs for Studying Age-Related Changes

• Incorporate into research design with a cross-sectional design on different people, with a longitudinal design with a time period.

Cross-Sectional Designs

• Age differences in ability for facial expressions with cohort
• Limited ability of change with tested once with useful research.

Longitudinal Designs

• Researchers can look more efficiently, with tests easier
• Most healthy studies can cover a whole entire life Sequential Designs
• Shortcomings for cross sectional design will be used for sequential design