Pysch: Exam 1

Chapter 1

Development

the pattern of change at conception continuing throughout life span

Life- span development

perspective that development is lifeong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary, contextual (life span perspective)

What does development involve ?

growth, maintenance, regulation and constructed through biological, sociocultural, and individual factors (life span perspective)

Life expectancy

upper bound of the human life span is 122

Why are people living long

due to sanitation, nutrition, medicine

Why was there a drop in life expectancy? and who?

Covid (mostly in black and latinos)

Negative effects of longer life expectancy

• Society reflects the needs of younger people:

  • parks/transportation built assuming they are able-bodied people

• planning/building does not consider the needs of low strength/ low stamina people

Development is lifelong

early adulthood is not the endpoint of development, no age period dominates development

Development is mulitdimensional

Development has biological, cognitive, socioemotional dimensions

Development is multidirectional

throughout life dimensions or components of a dimension expand and other shrink

Development has plasticity

How much plasticity (capacity for change) people have in various dimensions at different points in their development ( older people can improve through skill but possess less capacity for change)

Developmental science is multidisciplinary

unlocking the mysteries of development throughout life span- researchers have questions that cut across disciplines

Development is Contextual

all development occurs within a context , setting influenced by historical, economic, social, and cultural factors

Types of contextual influences

Normative age graded influences, Normative history graded influences, nonnormative life events

Normative age related influences

are similar for individuals in a particular ag group ( starting school, puberty, menopause)

Normative history graded influences

have common generational experiences due to historical events (great depression, civil rights and womens rights)

Nnormative life events

unusual occurrences that have major life impacts (early prego, losing a parent as a child)

Development involves growth, maintenance, and regulation of loss

baltes: life often involves conflicts and competition among three goals

Development is ..

a co-constructioin of biology, culture, and indivdua

Contemporary concerns

roles that health and well-being, parenting, education, socialcultural context, and technology play in the lifespan

Health and well being

lifestyles and psychological states have powerful influences on health and well being (exercise and cognitive development)

Parenting and education

there are many factors/ pressures on contemporary family and school conditions

Cluture

behavior patterns, beliefs, and all other products of a group passed on from generation to generation

Cross cultural studies

comparison of one culture with one or more other cultures to gain info about their developmental similarities

Ethnincity

a characteristic based on cultural heritage, nationality, race, religion, and language (pride in ethic id. has pos outcoomes)

Socioeconomic status (SES)

grouping of people with similar occupational, educational, and economic character.

Gender

character. of people as masculinity or femininity

Social Ploicy

a national gov’s. course of action designed to promote the welfare of its citizens

Social policy is shaped by

values, economics and politics

Social policy issues include

• increase # of kids living in poverty → stressors

• well being of older adults → increasing heath care cost/ need for adquate health care

Characteristics of resilient children

• Individual: good intellectual fuc, self-confidence

• Family: close relationship to caring parents, SES advan.

• Extrafamilial context: Bonds to caring adults, pos org connections

Technology

There is been a big increase in the use of technology at all points in human development. whtat does this mean for the future?

Processes involved in developmental changes

biological process, cognitive processes, and socialemotional processes (bidtiectional)

Biological proceses

Changes in an individual’s physical nature (physical traits that affect deveolpment)

Cognitive processes

change in a persons though, intelligence, and language

Socioemotional processes

change in a persons relationship, emotions, and personality

Developmental cognitive neuroscience

explore links between development, cognitive processes and the brain

Developmental social neuroscience

examines connections between socialemotional processes, development and brain

Periods of development

refers to a time frame in a persons life characterized by certain features

prenatal period

conception to birth

infancy

birth to 18/24 months

toddler

18 months to 3 years

early childhood

3-5 years

middle to late childhood

about 6 to 10-11 years

adolescence

10-12 years to 18-21 years

emerging adulthood

18-25 years

early adulthood

20s-30s

middle adulthood

40s-50s

late adulthood

60s-70s to death

Four ages - focus on adult development

• First age: childhood and adolescence

• Second age: prime adulthood (20-59 years)

• Third age: about 60 -79 years

• Fourth age: about 80 and older

Normal aging

describes most individuals, with psychological functioning peaking in early middle age and declining later in life (late 70-80)

Pathological aging

describes individuals w/ above average decline as they age, developing a condition a condition leading to mild cognitive impairment or chronic disease that impairs daily functioning

Successful aging

describes individuals maintaining positive physical, cognitive and socioemotional development longer in life

Age and happiness

Adults tend to be happier “paradox of aging”

• have stronger relationships

• feel less pressure to achieve/ more leisure time

• have more experience to help them adapt to change

Conceptions of age include

chronological biological psychological and social

Chronological age

the number of years that have elapsed since birth

Biological age

age in terms of biological health

Psychological age

the individuals adaptive capacities compared w/ people of the same chronological age

Social age

connectedness w/ other and the social roles people adopt

Nature-Nurture issue

the debate about whether development is primarily influenced by nature (orgs biological inheritance) or nurture (environmental experiences)

Stability and change

The debate about the degree to which early traits and characteristics persist through life or change

continuity - discontinuity issues

the debate about the extent to which development involves gradual, cumulative change (continuity) or distinct stages (dicontinuity) (growing/ qualitatively thinking)

Theories of development include:

psychoanalytical , cognitive, behavioral and social cognitive, ethological, ecological, eclectic orientation theories

Scientific method

a four step approach that can be used to obtain accurate info

• conceptualize a process or problem

• collect data

• analyze the data

• draw conclusions

Theory

an interrelated, coherent set of ideas that helps to explain phenomena and facilitate predictions

Hyptheses

specific assumption and prediction that can be tested to determine their accuracy

Psychoanalytical theories

describe development as primarily unconscious and heavily colored by emotion

• Behavior is merely a surface charat. and that the true understanding of development comes from symbolic meanings

Freud’s theory

adult personality is determined by the way we resolve conflicts between sources of pleasure at each stage and the demands of reality (5 stages of psychosexual development)

Oral stage

• Birth to 1 ½ years

• Infants pleasure centers on the mouth

Anal Stage

• 1 ½ to 3

• Childs pleasure focuses on the anuns

Phallic stage

• 3-6 years

• childs pleasure focuses on genitals

Latency stage

• 6 to puberty

• child represses sexual interest and develops social and intellectual skill

Genital stage

• puberty onward

• a time of sexul reawakening: source of sexual pleasure becomes someone outside of fam

Erikson’s theory

• the primary motivation for behavior is social in nature

• 8 stages of human development each representing a crisis that must be resolved (psychosocial)

Stage 1 (ET)

trust vs, mistrust: first year of infancy

Stage 2 (ET)

autonomy vs. shame/ doubt: 1-3

Stage 3 (ET)

initiative vs. guilt : 3-5

stage 4 (ET)

industry vs. inferiority: 6 - puberty

Stage 5(ET)

identity vs. identity confusion: 10-20

Stage 6

intimacy vs. isolation: 20s -30s

Srage 7 (ET)

generativity vs. stagnation: 40s-50s

Stage 8 (ET)

integrity vs despair: 60s til death

Criticisms of psychoanalytic theory

• lack of scientific support

• to much emphasis on sexual upbringing

• an image of people that is too neg

Cognitive theory

emphasize conscious thought

Piaget’s theory

children go through 4 stages of cognitive development as they actively construct their understanding of the world

sensorimotor steg

• birth to 2

• infant constructs an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experienced w/ physical actions

Preoperational stage

• 2-7

• child begins to represent the world w/ words and images

Concrete operational stage

• 7-11

• can reason logically about concrete events and classify objects into different sets

Formal operational stage

• 11- adulthood

• adolescent reason in more idealistic and logical ways

vygotsky sociocultural cognitive theory

emphasizes how culture and social interaction guide and are inseparable from cognitive development

information processing theory

Emphasizes that individuals manipulate information. monitor it, and strategize about it (individuals gradually develop the capacity to process info → complex knowledge /skills)

The microgenetic method

• obtain detailed info about processing mechs as they are occuring from moment to moment

• method seeks to discover not just what children know but the cognitive process involved in how they acquired the knowledge

Criticisms of cognitive theory

• Skepticism about the pureness of piagets stage

• inadequate attention to individual variation

behavioral cognitive theory (behaviorism)

we can study scientifically only what can be directly observed and measured- that development is observable behavior that can be learned through experience w/ the environment

Skinner’s operant conditioning

development consists if the pattern of behavioral changes brought about by rewards and punishments

Bandura’s social cognitive theory

that behavior, environment and cognition are key factors in development (tiangel model with arrows pointing both directios)

Criticisms on behavioral and social cognitive theories

• little emphasis on cognition in skinner’s

• inadequate attention paid to developmental changes

Ethological theory

stresses that behavior is strongly influenced by biology, tied to evolution, and is characterized by experiences during critical/sensitive periods

Konrad Lorenz -Ethology

showed the developmental importance of the imprinting behavior of geese

John Bowlby- Ethology

determined that attachment to a caregiver over the first year of life has important consequences for optimal social relationship development throughout life - baby attachment to mom