Chapter 1 understanding life span human development

Development

Systematic changes and continuities in the individual that occur between conception and death

growth

Physical changes that occur from conception to maturity

biological aging

Deterioration of organisms that leads to death

aging

Physical, cognitive, and psychosocial changes, positive and negative, in the mature organism

Age grade

Socially defined age group in a society
− Assigned different roles, responsibilities, statuses, and privileges
▪ Separating children into grades in school based on age
▪ Adults granted voting privilege

rite of passage

A ritual that marks a person’s “passage” from one status to another
▪ Body painting
▪ Bar or bat mitzvahs (Jewish)
▪ Quinceañera (Hispanic American girls)

age norms

-Society’s way of telling people how to act their age
− Influence people’s decisions about how to lead their lives

social clock

Person’s sense of when things should be done and when they are ahead of or behind the schedule dictated by age norms

ethnicity

People’s classification or affiliation with a group based on common heritage or traditions

socioeconomic status

Standing in society based on occupational prestige, education, and income
• Individuals from lower-income families tend to reach milestones of
adulthood earlier.

adolescence

proximately 10–18 (or from puberty to when the individual becomes relatively independent)

emerging adulthood

Identity exploration, lead unstable lives, self focused, feel in between, belief in limitless possibilities
18–25 or even 29 (transitional period between adolescence and adulthood)

life expectancy

the number of years a newborn is expected to live

maturation

biological unfolding of the individual according to a blue print contained in GENES

genes

hereditary material passed from parent to child at conception

environment

transactions between individuals and their physical settings. In these transactions, individuals change the environment, and their behaviour and experiences are changed by the environment.

learning

The process through which experience brings about relatively permanent change in thoughts, feelings, or behaviors.

Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological model

The model explains how various environmental systems influence a person's development,

The model includes the microsystem (immediate environment like home or school), mesosystem (connections between microsystems), exosystem (indirect environments like parent workplaces), and macrosystem (broader culture)

microsystem

The immediate environments the person interacts with directly. Examples in the image include:

• Home (family)

• School

• Peer group

• Day care

mesosystem

This layer represents the connections or relationships between the different microsystems. For example, how a child's experiences at home might affect their performance at school.

exosystem

Social settings that affect the individual indirectly, even if they aren't an active participant in them.

• Examples: Parent's workplace, social networks, or local government.

macrosystem

The outermost layer of the circles, representing the broader culture and societal context.

• Examples: Cultural values, social conditions, laws, and economic systems.

chronosystem

Shown on the left as the "patterning of events over time." This encompasses environmental changes and transitions over the lifespan, as well as socio-historical circumstances (e.g., growing up during a war or a technological boom).

evidence-based practice

the integration of the best available research with clinical expertise in the context of patient characteristics, culture and preferences.

baby biographies

-Scholars observe the growth and development of their own children.
− Biographies were difficult to compare.
− Not generalizable to other children

storm and stress

Stanley Hall, came up with the term 'storm and stress' to describe adolescence in 1904. He referred to an adolescent's decreased level of self-control as the 'storm' and their increased sensitivity as the 'stress'.

gerontology

the scientific study of old age, the process of aging, and the particular problems of old people.

life-span perspective

Development:
− Is lifelong
− Is multidirectional
− Involves gains and losses
− Is plastic
− Is shaped by the historical-cultural context
− Is multiply influenced
− Is multidisciplinary

plasticity

The ability of the brain to change and adapt to new information. Synaptic plasticity is change that occurs at synapses, the junctions between neurons that allow them to communicate.

neuroplasticity

the ability of the brain to form and reorganize synaptic connections, especially in response to learning or experience or following injury.

scientific method

Belief that investigators should allow facts to determine the merits of their thinking

hypothesis

Specific predictions generated from theories

sample

Group of individuals studied

population

Well-defined group

random sample

Sample formed by identifying all members of the larger population and then by a random means selects a portion of the population to study

naturalistic observation

is a qualitative research method where you record the behaviors of your research subjects in real world settings. You avoid interfering or influencing anything in a naturalistic observation. You can think of naturalistic observation as “people watching” with a purpose

structured observation

a type of nonparticipant observation in that it involves direct observation. of a setting without interaction with participants. More quantitative in nature, it is also referred to as systematic. observation.

fMRI

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is a class of imaging methods developed in order to demonstrate regional, time-varying changes in brain metabolism. These metabolic changes can be consequent to task-induced cognitive state changes or the result of unregulated processes in the resting brain.

case study

-in-depth examination of an individual or a small number of individuals
− Can complement correlational and experimental research
− Can be a good source of hypotheses
− Can provide a rich picture of atypical development
− Results may not generalize to other individuals

experimental method

Investigator manipulates some aspect of the environment to see how this affects the behavior of the sample of individuals studied.

independent variable

Variable that is manipulated so that its causal effects can be assessed

dependent variable

Variable expected to be affected

random assignment

every participant having an equal chance of being in either the experimental group or the control group. Each group is presented with the independent variable, or the condition the researcher manipulates. The dependent variable, or outcome, is then measured for changes.

experimental control

changing one variable to see if it leads to changes in another. It uses controlled research techniques and random assignment of study participants to test a hypothesis.

quasi experiment

aims to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between an independent and dependent variable. However, unlike a true experiment, a quasi-experiment does not rely on random assignment. Instead, subjects are assigned to groups based on non-random criteria

correlation method

Determine whether two or more variables are related in a systematic way.
− No random assignment or manipulation of IV
− Calculate correlation coefficient.
▪ Index of the strength of the relationship between two variables of interest
▪ Ranges from +1.00 to −1.00

meta-analysis

Results of multiple studies addressing the same question are combined to produce overall conclusions

− Aids in the confidence of research findings

cross-sectional design

Age effects and cohort effects are confounded.
− Cohort differences can tell us about the influence of the sociocultural environment on development.
− Researchers learn nothing about how people change with age.
− Quicker and easier than longitudinal studies

cohort effects

variations over time, in one or more characteristics, among groups of individuals defined by some shared experience such as year or decade of birth, or years of a specific exposure. Any given population comprises multiple subcohorts with different rates of exposures and outcomes

baby boom generation

the cohort born 1945 to 1964, the baby bust from 1965 to 1984, and the echo boom from 1985 to 2004.

longitudinal design

− One cohort of individuals is assessed repeatedly over time.
− Provides information about age changes rather than age differences
− Can indicate whether the characteristics and behaviors measured remain consistent over time

time-of-measurement effects

Reflect influences of the specific historical time when one is obtaining information.

sequential design

− Combines cross-sectional approach and longitudinal approach in a single study
− Can reveal
▪ Which age-related trends are developmental in nature
▪ Which age trends differ from cohort to cohort
▪ Time-of-measurement effects
− Very complex and expensive

ethnocentrism

evaluation of other cultures according to preconceptions originating in the standards and customs of one's own culture.

research ethics

-Standards of conduct to protect research participants from physical or psychological harm

− Federal regulations require organizations that conduct research with humans to have institutional review boards

modern life-span perspective

defined as an approach that considers an individual's developmental trajectory throughout life, integrating past development, current status, and future challenges across biological, psychological, and social dimensions.

Prenatal period

Conception to birth

Infancy

First 2 years of life (the first month is the neonatal or newborn period)

Preschool period

2-5 (some prefer to describe as toddlers children who have begun to walk and are age 1-3)

Middle childhood

6 to about 10 (or until the onset of puberty)

Early adulthood

25–40 years (adult roles are established)

Middle adulthood

40-65 years

Late Adulthood

65 years and older (some break out subcategories such as the young-old, old-old, and very old based on differences in functioning)

Who was G. Stanley Hall

Founder of developmental psychology, and termed adolescence storm and stress

Theory

is a set of ideas to describe and explain a certain phenomena, is falsifiable and supported by data

Nature-Nurture

Development primarily the product of genes, biology, and maturation — or of experience, learning and social influences

Active-passivity

Do humans actively shape their own environments and contribute to their own development — or are they passively shaped by forces beyond their control?

Continuity-discontinuity

Do humans change gradually and in quantitative ways — or do they progress through qualitatively different stages and develop very different cometencies and characteristics?

Universality-Context Specific

Is development similar from person to person and from culture to culture, or do pathways development vary considerably depending on the social context?

Evolutionary theory

Looks at the evolution of the human species for explanations of why humans are as they are and develop as they do

Psychoanalytic theory focused on the development and dynamics of the personality.
• People are driven by motives and emotional conflicts.
• Shaped by their earliest experiencesa in the family

Social cognitive theory

Humans are cognitive beings whose active processing of information plays a critical role in their learning, behavior, and development

Systems theories

View changes over the life span arise from ongoing transactions in which a changing organism and a changing environment affect one another.

The individual in Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological model

At the center is the person with their specific biological and psychological characteristics (age, health, personality).

Informed consent

− Must be voluntary.
− Obtain at least the “assent” or agreement of the individual in vulnerable populations.
− Must not to pressure anyone to participate
− Must respect participants’ right to:
▪ Refuse to participate.
▪ Drop out during the study.
▪ Refuse to have their data used by the investigator.

What are the 3 Broad Domains?

Physical Development, cognitive development and psychosocial development

Physical Development

growth of the body and its organs, functioning of physiological systems including the brain, physical signs of aging, and changes in motor abilities.

Cognitive Development

Changes and continuities in perception, language, learning, memory, problem solving, and other mental processes.

psychosocial development

changes and carryover in personal/interpersonal aspects of development such as motives, emotions, personality traits, interpersonal skills, and relationships/roles in family and society. Erik Erickson

Gain- stability- loss model

biologically, development involves growth in early life, stability in early and middle adulthood, and decline associated with now accumulated effect of agin in later life.

Arguments against or challenging the gain-stability-loss model

Children may gain cognitive abilities as they get older, however they lose self confidence and are more prone to depression.

adults 60 and up score higher on vocabulary tests than age group 18-30

SES

Socioeconomic Status-- standing in society based on such indicators as occupational prestige, education, and income. Different SES typically means different developmental experience

Low SES

tend to reach milestones of adulthood (children, marriage etc. ) earlier

Poverty effect on development

regardless of race, ethnicity, age etc. poverty can be damaging to development. They experience higher stress owing to:

- noise

- overcrowding

- family disruption

- hunger

- exposure to violence etc.

Parents in poverty tend to provide less stable, stimulatiing, and supportive home environments. This leads to:

- lower academic performance,

- poor mental health & well being,

- poor physical health

Nature vs. Nurture issue

THE QUESTION ON HOW BIOLOGICAL FACTORS ACT OR INTERACT TO MAKE US WHAT WE ARE

Nature: our genes, the influence of heredity. Universal maturation processes guided by genes. Discontinuous belief in stages

Nurture: emphasize change in response to the environment. All of the external stimuli (social conditions) that can affect us