WEEK 1 Lifespan Development PDF

lOMoARcPSD|26301137 QUESTIONS FROM LECTURE MATERIAL WEEK 1-13 WEEK 1 Why should you study development? - Provide you with realisDc expectaDons about children, adolescents and adults o Normal development - Help you to respond appropriately to a person’s actual behaviour o Evidence base professional...

lOMoARcPSD|26301137 QUESTIONS FROM LECTURE MATERIAL WEEK 1-13 WEEK 1 Why should you study development? - Provide you with realisDc expectaDons about children, adolescents and adults o Normal development - Help you to respond appropriately to a person’s actual behaviour o Evidence base professional judgement - Help you recognise when departures from normal behaviours are signiPcant o Atypical development - Help you to understand yourself - Make you a professional advocate for the needs and rights of people of all ages What are the CharacterisGcs of Lifespan Development? - Lifelong development - ConDnuity and Change - Culture and the lifespan o Nature vs Nurture - NormaDve lifespan transiDons o Milestone events - MulDdirecDonal/MulDdimensional o InteracDon of diTerent factors - Not always linear - PlasDc o Never too late to grow True or False. Change in lifespan development can be both QuanGtaGve and QualitaGve. - True. Can change in number or amount (QuanDtaDve) or change in kind, structure or organisaDon (QualitaDve) What are the stages of lifespan? - Prenatal period (ConcepDon to birth) - Infancy & Toddlerhood (First 2-3 years) - Early childhood (3-6 years) - Middle childhood (6-11 years) - Adolescence (11-20 years) - Young adulthood (20-40 years) - Middle adulthood (40-65 years) - Late adulthood (65 years />) Why is age important in lifespan development? - Founded in psychology o InvesDgaDng & understanding behaviour o ObjecDve scienDPc methodology - Age as a guide - Bio-behavioural process - Age group membership What is the personal meaning of age? - Expressed through people’s aatudes to their age o Asset or liability o Future plan may be aTected - Media inbuence - ATect feelings and thoughts Do cultural inMuences impact on our percepGons? Yes. There are aatudinal and insDtuDonal (e.g. school) factors. Downloaded by Sting Ray ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|26301137 What is Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological systems theory? Bronfenbrenner believed that a person’s development was aTected by everything in their surrounding environment. He divided a person’s environment into 5 diTerent levels; the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, the macro system and the chronosystem. Explain Bronfenbrenner’s Microsystem: This is the system closest to the person and the one in which they have direct contact. Some examples would be home, school, day-care, or work. A microsystem typically includes family, peers, or caregivers. RelaDonships in a microsystem are bi-direcDonal. In other words, your reacDons to the people in your microsystem will aTect how they treat you in return. This is the most inbuenDal level of the ecological systems theory. Explain Bronfenbrenner’s Mesosystem: - The mesosystem consists of the interacDons between the diTerent parts of a person’s mircrosystem. - The mesosystem is where a person’s individual microsystems do not funcDon independently, but are interconnected and assert inbuence upon one another. These interacDons have an indirect impact on the individual. o An individual could be negaDvely aTected if an aspect of their microsystem were working against one another. i.e, parents not taking an acDve role in school stuT/with teacher in discipline Explain Bronfenbrenner’s Exosystem: The exosystem refers to a seang that does not involve the person as an acDve parDcipant, but sDll aTects them. This includes decisions that have bearing on the person, but in which they have no parDcipaDon in the decision-making process. An example: A child being aTected by a parent receiving a promoDon at work or losing their job. Downloaded by Sting Ray ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|26301137 Explain Bronfenbrenner’s Macrosystem: The macrosystem encompasses the cultural environment in which the person lives and all other systems that aTect them. Examples could include the economy, cultural values, and poliDcal systems. The macrosystem can have either a posiDve or negaDve eTect on s person’s development. For example, the diTerent eTects on the development of a child growing up in a 3 rd world economy vs. the USA. True of False. We are products and producers of our environment. True What are the domains of human development? - Physical o Biological; growth of body, sensory, motor skills etc - CogniDve o Thought/intellectual funcDoning; Learning, memory, decision making, aeenDon span etc - Psychosocial o Personality, social relaDonships, feelings, idenDty etc What are some research/scienGSc methods that have variaGons in Gme frames? - Cross secDonal study o Compares persons of diTerent ages at a single point in Dme - Longitudinal study o Observes same group of persons (cohort) at diTerent points in Dme - SequenDal study o Combine elements of above two; at least 2 cohorts observed longitudinally and comparisons made both within each cohort across Dme and between cohorts at parDcular points in Dme. - Ethnography o ObservaDon of a culture or a parDcular social group over a period of years. What are some research/scienGSc methods that have variaGons in control? - NaturalisDc studies o Observes persons in naturally occurring situaDons or circumstances - Experimental studies o Observes person where circumstances are carefully controlled What are some research/scienGSc methods that have variaGons in sample size? - Surveys o Large-scale, speciPc, focused interviews of large numbers of people - Interviews o Smaller numbers, more in-depth and/or complex informaDon - Case studies o One or few individuals, gather wide range of informaDon using diTerent methods and brings this together What is the usefulness of theory in pracGce? Theories can provide: - Meaningful explanaDons of developmental change - Plagorm for research and learning (form hypotheses which are then tested) - Guidance - sound basis for pracDcal acDon Downloaded by Sting Ray ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|26301137 What are the major theoreGcal perspecGves? - PsychoanalyDcal o Freud, Erikson - Learning o Skinner, Bandura - CogniDve o Piaget, InformaDon-processing - Contextual o Bronfenbrenner, Vygotsky - Adult speciPc o NormaDve-crisis, Dming-of-events What is Erik Erikson’s theory? - A theory of psychosocial development; describes the impact of social experience across the lifespan - Believed that personality develops in a series of stages - One of the main elements of Erikson's psychosocial stage theory is the development of ego idenGty. - Ego idenDty is the conscious sense of self that we develop through social interacDon. According to Erikson, our ego idenDty is constantly changing due to new experiences and informaDon we acquire in our daily interacDons with others. As we face each new stage of development, we face a new challenge that can help further develop or hinder the development of idenDty. - When psychologists talk about idenDty, they are referring to all of the beliefs, ideals, and values that help shape and guide a person's behaviour. The formaDon of idenDty is something that begins in childhood and becomes parDcularly important during adolescence, but Erikson believed that it is a process that conDnues throughout life. Our personal idenDty gives each of us an integrated and cohesive sense of self that endures and conDnues to grow as we age. - In addiDon to ego idenDty, Erikson also believed that a sense of competence moDvates behaviours and acDons. Each stage in Erikson's theory is concerned with becoming competent in an area of life. - If the stage is handled well, the person will feel a sense of mastery, which is someDmes referred to as ego strength or ego quality. If the stage is managed poorly, the person will emerge with a sense of inadequacy. - In each stage, Erikson believed people experience a conbict that serves as a turning point in development. In Erikson's view, these conbicts are centred on either developing a psychological quality or failing to develop that quality. During these Dmes, the potenDal for personal growth is high, but so is the potenDal for failure. If people successfully deal with the conbict, they emerge from the stage with psychological strengths that will serve them well for the rest of their life. If they fail to deal eTecDvely with these conbict, they may not develop the essenDal skills needed for a strong sense of idenDty and self. How many stages of development are there in Erikson’s theory? 8 Psychosocial Stages and Developmental Processes: - Trust vs Mistrust (Hope): Birth to 1 year - Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt (Will): 1-3 years - IniDaDve vs Guilt (Purpose): 3-6 years - Industry vs Inferiority (Competence): 6-12 years - IndenDty vs Role Confusion (Fidelity): 12-19 years - InDmacy vs IsolaDon (Love): 19-25 years Downloaded by Sting Ray ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|26301137 - GeneraDvity vs StagnaDon (Care): 5-50 years Integrity vs Despair (Wisdom): 50 years and older What is the 1st psychosocial stage of Erikson’s theory? Explain this stage. - Trust vs. Mistrust - Birth to 1 year - Because an infant is ueerly dependent, the development of trust is based on the dependability and quality of the child's caregivers o If a caregiver fails to provide adequate care and love, the child will come to feel that he or she cannot trust or depend upon the adults in his or her life o If a child successfully develops trust, he or she will feel safe and secure in the world. - No child is going to develop a sense of 100 percent trust or 100 percent doubt. Erikson believed that successful development was all about striking a balance between the two opposing sides. When this happens, children acquire hope, which Erikson described as an openness to experience tempered by some wariness that danger may be present. What is the 2nd psychosocial stage of Erikson’s theory? Explain this stage. - Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt (Will) - 1-3 years - Focused on children developing a greater sense of personal control o At this point in development, children are just starDng to gain a liele bit of independence o They are starDng to perform basic acDons on their own and making simple decisions about what they prefer. By allowing kids to make choices and gain control, parents and caregivers can help children develop a sense of autonomy. o Erikson believed that toilet training was a vital part of this process...learning to control one's bodily funcDons leads to a feeling of control and a sense of independence. o Other important events include gaining more control over food choices, toy preferences, and clothing selecDon. - Children who successfully complete this stage feel secure and conPdent, while those who do not are lem with a sense of inadequacy and self-doubt. - Erikson believed that achieving a balance between autonomy and shame and doubt would lead to will, which is the belief that children can act with intenDon, within reason and limits. What is 3rd psychosocial stage of Erikson’s theory? Explain this stage. - IniDaDve vs Guilt (Purpose) - 3-6 years - During the preschool years, children begin to assert their power and control over the world through direcDng play and other social interacDons o Children who are successful at this stage feel capable and able to lead others o Those who fail to acquire these skills are lem with a sense of guilt, self-doubt, and lack of iniDaDve - When an ideal balance of individual iniDaDve and a willingness to work with others is achieved, the ego quality known as purpose emerges What is 4th psychosocial stage of Erikson’s theory? Explain this stage. - Industry vs Inferiority (Competence) - 6-12 years - Through social interacDons, children begin to develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments and abiliDes. o Children who are encouraged and commended by parents and teachers develop a feeling of competence and belief in their skills. o Those who receive liele or no encouragement from parents, teachers, or peers will doubt their abiliDes to be successful. - Successfully Pnding a balance at this stage of psychosocial development leads to the strength known as competence or a belief our own abiliDes to handle the tasks set before us. Downloaded by Sting Ray ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|26301137 What is 5th psychosocial stage of Erikson’s theory? Explain this stage. - IndenDty vs Role Confusion (Fidelity) - 12-19 years - During adolescence, children explore their independence and develop a sense of self. o Those who receive proper encouragement and reinforcement through personal exploraDon will emerge from this stage with a strong sense of self and a feeling of independence and control. o Those who remain unsure of their beliefs and desires will feel insecure and confused about themselves and the future. - CompleDng this stage successfully leads to Pdelity, which Erikson described as an ability to live by society's standards and expectaDons. What is 6th psychosocial stage of Erikson’s theory? Explain this stage. - InDmacy vs IsolaDon (Love) - 19-25 years - This stage covers the period of early adulthood when people are exploring personal relaDonships. - Vital that people develop close, commieed relaDonships with other people. o Those who are successful at this step will form relaDonships that are commieed and secure. - Remember that each step builds on skills learned in previous steps. Erikson believed that a strong sense of personal idenDty was important for developing inDmate relaDonships. Studies have demonstrated that those with a poor sense of self tend to have less commieed relaDonships and are more likely to suTer emoDonal isolaDon, loneliness, and depression. - Successful resoluDon of this stage results in the virtue known as love. It is marked by the ability to form lasDng, meaningful relaDonships with other people. What is 7th psychosocial stage of Erikson’s theory? Explain this stage. - GeneraDvity vs StagnaDon (Care) - 5-50 years - During adulthood, we conDnue to build our lives, focusing on our career and family o Those who are successful during this phase will feel that they are contribuDng to the world by being acDve in their home and community o Those who fail to aeain this skill will feel unproducDve and uninvolved in the world. - Care is the virtue achieved when this stage is handled successfully. Being proud of your accomplishments, watching your children grow into adults, and developing a sense of unity with your life partner are important accomplishments of this stage What is 8th psychosocial stage of Erikson’s theory? Explain this stage. - Integrity vs Despair (Wisdom) - 50 years and older - This phase occurs during old age and is focused on rebecDng back on life o Those who are unsuccessful during this stage will feel that their life has been wasted and will experience many regrets. The individual will be lem with feelings of bieerness and despair o Those who feel proud of their accomplishments will feel a sense of integrity. - Successfully compleDng this phase means looking back with few regrets and a general feeling of saDsfacDon. These individuals will aeain wisdom, even when confronDng death. What are the strengths of Erikson's theory? - It provides a broad framework from which to view development throughout the enDre lifespan - Allows us to emphasize the important inbuence that social relaDonships have on development - Researchers have found evidence supporDng Erikson's ideas about idenDty Downloaded by Sting Ray ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|26301137 What are the limitaGons of Erikson’s psychosocial theory? - The exact mechanisms for resolving conbicts and moving from one stage to the next are not well described or developed - The theory fails to detail exactly what type of experiences are necessary at each stage in order to successfully resolve the conbicts and move to the next stage. True or False. With the Erikson theory, conMicts are never fully resolved. Therefore conMicts from earlier stage may abect later development. True What are the 2 Behavioural Learning Theories? - Classical condiDoning (Pavlov) o Change a behaviour based on what happens before the behaviour happens. Use a sDmulus to elicit a behaviour - Operant condiDoning (Skinner) o Change a behaviour based on what happens a'er the behaviour. Once a behaviour happens use a reinforcer or punishment o Behaviour which is reinforced tends to be repeated True or False. Classical condiGoning (Pavlov) uses a sGmulus to elicit a behaviour before the behaviour happens. True True or False. Operant condiGoning (Skinner) uses a reinforcer or punishment to elicit a behaviour a(er the behaviour happens. True Explain Bandura’s Social CogniGve Learning theory: - Albert Bandura (1977) states behaviour is learned from the environment through the process of observaDonal learning - Behaviours are learned primarily through observing, imitaDng models, reward & punishment o ImitaDng: Child is directly repeaDng or copying the acDons of others o Modelling: Child learns through vicarious (indirect) reinforcement the behaviours and personality traits of a parent or other model. o Individuals observe parents, TV/Plm characters, friends, peers, teachers etc. - Bandura believes that humans think about the relaDonship between their behaviour and its consequences. ObservaDonal learning could not take place unless cogniDve processes were at work. What are the limitaGons to Bandura’s Social CogniGve Learning theory? - Narrow focus - Unable to explain complex behaviour What are Piaget’s CogniGve Stages? There are 4 major stages - Sensory Motor Stage: Birth - 2yrs - Pre-OperaDons Stage: 2yrs-7yrs - Concrete OperaDons Stage: 7yrs-11yrs - Formal OperaDons Stage: 11yrs-16yrs What are Piaget’s processes of development? - Direct Learning - Social Transmission (Social contact) - MaturaDon (Biologically determined changes) Downloaded by Sting Ray ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|26301137 Explain Piaget’s Sensory Motor Stage of development: - Birth - 2yrs - Much of a baby's behaviour is triggered by certain sDmuli, in that they are rebexive o A few weeks amer birth, the baby begins to understand some of the informaDon it is receiving from its senses, and learns to use some muscles and limbs for movement. These developments are known as 'acDon schemas'. - Babies are unable to consider anyone else's needs, wants or interests, and are therefore considered to be 'ego centric'. - Knowledge about objects and the ways that they can be manipulated is acquired. Through the acquisiDon of informaDon about self and the world, and the people in it, the baby begins to understand how one thing can cause or aTect another, and begins to develop simple ideas about Dme and space. - Large amounts of an infant's experience is surrounding objects. What the objects are is irrelevant, more importance is placed on the baby being able to explore the object to see what can be done with it. At around the age of eight or nine months, infants are more interested in an object for the object's own sake. - A discovery by Piaget surrounding this stage of development, was that when an object is taken from their sight, babies act as though the object has ceased to exist. By around eight to twelve months, infants begin to look for objects hidden, this is what is dePned as 'Object Permanence'. Explain Piaget’s Pre-OperaGons Stage of development: - 2yrs-7yrs - Children's thought processes & vocabulary are developing - Pre-operaDonal children are usually 'ego centric', meaning that they are only able to consider things from their own point of view, and imagine that everyone shares this view, because it is the only one possible. o Gradually during this stage, they are more able to imagine that something or someone else could be the centre of aeenDon. - 'Animism' is also a characterisDc of the Pre-operaDonal stage o A person has the belief that everything that exists has some kind of consciousness. An example of this is that children omen believe that a car won't start because it is Dred or sick, or they punish a piece of furniture when they run into it, because it must have been naughty to hurt them. A reason for this characterisDc of the stage, is that the PreoperaDonal child omen assumes that everyone and everything is like them. Therefore since the child can feel pain, and has emoDons, so must everything else. - They use symbolism o When something is allowed to stand for or symbolise something else - They use 'Moral realism' o The belief that the child's way of thinking about the diTerence between right and wrong, is shared by everyone else around them. One aspect of a situaDon, at one Dme, is all that they are able to focus on, and it is beyond them to consider that anything else could be possible. Due to this aspect of the stage, children begin to respect and insist on obedience of rules at all Dmes, and they are not able to take anything such as moDves into account. Explain Piaget’s Concrete OperaGons Stage of development: - 7yrs-11yrs - The thought process becomes more raDonal, mature and 'adult like', or more 'operaDonal', although this process most omen conDnues well into the teenage years. - The child has the ability to develop logical thought about an object, if they are able to manipulate it. - Belief in animism and ego centric thought tends to decline, although, remnants of this way of thinking are omen found in adults. Downloaded by Sting Ray ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|26301137 - - During the Concrete OperaDonal Stage, children gradually develop the ability to 'conserve', or learn that objects are not always the way that they appear to be. o This occurs when children are able to take in many diTerent aspects of an object, simply through looking at it. Children are able to begin to imagine diTerent scenarios, or 'what if' something were to happen. This is because they now have more 'operaDonal' thought. Children are generally Prst able to conserve ideas about objects with which they are most comfortable. Once children have learnt to conserve, they learn about 'reversibility'. This means that they learn that if things are changed, they will sDll be the same as they used to be. For example, they learn that if they spread out the pile of blocks, there are sDll as many there as before, even though it looks diTerent! Explain Piaget’s Formal OperaGons Stage of development: - 11yrs-16yrs - Finally, in the formal operaDonal stage of adolescence, the structures of development become the abstract, logically organized system of adult intelligence. When faced with a complex problem, the adolescent speculates about all possible soluDons before trying them out in the real world. - Thoughts are able to be manipulated and the presence of the object is not necessary for the thought to take place - The capacity for abstracDon. This permits adolescents to reason beyond a world of concrete reality to a world of possibiliDes and to operate logically on symbols and informaDon that do not necessarily refer to objects and events in the real world. - There are 2 major characterisDcs of formal operaDonal thought. o The Prst is 'hypotheDc-deducDve reasoning'. When faced with a problem, adolescents come up with a general theory of all possible factors that might aTect the outcome and deduce from it speciPc hypothesis that might occur. They then systemaDcally treat these hypotheses to see which ones do in fact occur in the real world. Thus, adolescent problem solving begins with possibility and proceeds to reality. o The second important characterisDc of this stage is that it is 'proposiDonal' in nature. Adolescents can focus on verbal asserDons and evaluate their logical validity without making reference to real-world circumstances. In contrast, concrete operaDonal children can evaluate the logic of statements by considering them against concrete evidence only. What is InformaGon-processing theory? - The informaDon processing theory is a cogniDve approach to understanding how the human mind transforms sensory informaDon. o The model assumes that informaDon that comes from the environment is subject to mental processes beyond a simple sDmulus-response paeern. - This theory considers the human mind as a symbol-manipulaDng system - AcDve learners but not in stages o Accumulated knowledge - Age-related development in cogniDon - Control processes o Increased erciency and comprehension - MetacogniDon o Thinking about thinking o Knowing thinking strategies - Development of experDse knowledge o Knowledge base development Who are the 2 primary Contextual Development theorists? - Bronfenbrenner & Vygotsky What are the contribuGons of Contextual Developmental theories? - They let us explore people’s social context Downloaded by Sting Ray ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|26301137 - Complex issues can be systemaDcally organised Useful for preventaDve programs True or False. No one theory of human development is universally accepted. True What is Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory? - Emphasis on social interacDon in development. Higher mental funcDons. - Zone of proximal development: has been dePned as the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving & the level of potenDal development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboraDon with more capable peers - Vygotsky views interacDon with peers as an eTecDve way of developing skills & strategies - He suggests that teachers use cooperaDve learning exercises where less competent children develop with help from more skilful peers - ScaTolding, guided learning, cooperaDve learning WEEK 2 True or False. Simple physical characterisGcs, such as height, are almost totally determined by geneGcs. False True or False. GeneGc inMuences start from the point of concepGon, and environmental inMuences start from the point of birth. False True or False. If a mother conGnues drink moderately during pregnancy there will be a deSnite impact on the development of her baby. False What is meant by ‘nature versus nurture’? This debate within psychology is concerned with the extent to which parDcular aspects of behaviour are a product of either inherited (i.e. geneDc) or acquired (i.e. learned) characterisDcs. - Nature is what we think of as pre-wiring and is inbuenced by geneDc inheritance and other biological factors. o It has long been known that certain physical characterisDcs are biologically determined by geneDc inheritance. Colour of eyes, straight or curly hair, pigmentaDon of the skin and certain diseases (such as HunDngdon’s chorea) are all a funcDon of the genes we inherit. Other physical characterisDcs, if not determined, appear to be at least strongly inbuenced by the geneDc make-up of our biological parents. o Height, weight, hair loss (in men), life expectancy and vulnerability to speciPc illnesses (e.g. breast cancer in women) are posiDvely correlated between geneDcally related individuals. These facts have led many to speculate as to whether psychological characterisDcs such as behavioural tendencies, personality aeributes and mental abiliDes are also “wired in” before we are even born. o Those who adopt an extreme heredity posiDon are known as naGvists. Their basic assumpDon is that the characterisDcs of the human species as a whole are a product of evoluDon and that individual diTerences are due to each person’s unique geneDc code. In general, the earlier a parDcular ability appears, the more likely it is to be under the inbuence of geneDc factors. o CharacterisDcs and diTerences that are not observable at birth, but which emerge later in life, are regarded as the product of maturaDon. That is to say we all have an inner “biological clock” which switches on (or oT) types of behaviour in a preprogrammed way. The classic example of the way this aTects our physical development are the bodily changes that occur in early adolescence at puberty. Downloaded by Sting Ray ([email protected])