COUN 5000 pt 2

thru 2.3 so far

patterns of growth, change, and stability in behavior

birth until death

Lifespan development is the scientific study of __________________ — from __________________

• Biology

• Psychology

• Anthropology

• Sociology

• Education

Developmental science is an inherently interdisciplinary field, drawing insights and methodologies from: (5)

1. Biological Inheritance

2. Environment

Human growth and behavior are jointly shaped by 2 fundamental drivers:

Biological Inheritance

The genetic background inherited from parents determines physical appearance, sets potential or limitations, and influences enduring behavior patterns and personality traits.

Environment

The early and current environmental contexts shape what individuals encounter, influencing development in both discrete and major ways.

individual lives &

universal patterns of growth and stability

Developmental research examines both the unique aspects of:

which areas and time periods experience significant CHANGE/GROWTH vs. those that remain CONSISTENT over time. 

Developmental research examines _______________ vs. _______________

1. Physical Development

2. Cognitive Development

3. Personality Development

4. Social Development

4 main topical areas of developmental scientific research

Brain, nervous system, muscles, senses, and the fundamental needs for food, drink, and sleep.

Physical Development - Focus of Study

Growth and change in intellectual capabilities, including learning, memory, problem-solving skills, and intelligence.

Cognitive Development - Focus of Study

Stability and change in the enduring characteristics that differentiate one individual from another across the lifespan.

Personality Development - Focus of Study

How individuals' interactions with others and their social relationships grow, change, and remain stable across life.

Social Development - Focus of Study

• Effects of malnutrition on the pace of physical growth in children.

• Consequences of early vs. late sexual maturation.

• Benefits of breast milk.

• Causes of physical performance decline in athletes during adulthood.

Physical Development - Example

• How problem-solving skills change over the course of life.

• Cultural differences in how individuals explain academic successes and failures.

• Examination of ethnic and racial differences in intelligence.

Cognitive Development - Example

• How enduring traits emerge and maintain stability over time.

• How individual personality structure shifts across major life transitions.

Personality Development - Example

• Identifying the best strategies for disciplining children.

• When a sense of gender identity develops and how sex/gender provide a developmental context

• How individuals choose romantic partners.

Social Development - Example

1. Prenatal Period

2. Infancy and Toddlerhood

3. Preschool Period

4. Middle Childhood

5. Adolescence

6. Young Adulthood

7. Middle Adulthood

8. Late Adulthood

AGES IN DOCUMENT, LEARN THESE!!!

Developmentalists divided the human lifespan into 8 typical age ranges:

normative averages rather than strict boundaries. 

EX: developmental milestones are described in terms of what is typical.

Age ranges represent ____________________

social constructions

Age categories are _____________

social construction

shared notions widely accepted within a society that are functions of culture and historical era

EX: the appropriate or typical age for marriage varies vastly depending on the cultural context.

social times

Individuals are products of the __________ in which they live

1. Cohort Effects (History-Graded)

2. Age-Graded Influences

3. Sociocultural-Graded Influences

4. Non-Normative Life Events

Developmental paths are influenced by 4 distinct categories of influence / Developmental Influences (4)

cohort

A group of people born at around the same time in the same place.

cohort effects

Events affecting an entire cohort—such as wars, economic upturns, depressions, famines, and pandemics (e.g., COVID-19)—produce _______

history-graded influences

Biological and environmental influences associated with a specific historical moment (e.g., the September 11 terrorist attacks or the COVID-19 pandemic).

age graded influences

Biological and environmental influences that are similar for individuals in a particular age group, regardless of when or where they were raised.

puberty and menopause

age graded influences: biological example

children entering formal education around age 6 across most cultures

age graded influences: socio-cultural

sociocultural graded influences

Social and cultural factors present at a particular time for a specific individual, depending on variables such as race, ethnicity, social class, and subcultural membership.

ex: a child raised in a remote region of the African outback experiences a developmental environment markedly different from a child raised in Los Angeles.

non-normative life events

Specific, atypical events that occur in a person's life at a time when such events do not happen to most people

ex: a child whose parents die in an automobile accident when the child is 6 years old

1. collectivistic

2. individualistic

2 types of cultural orientations

Collectivistic Orientation

Prevalent in many Asian societies; emphasizes interdependence among members of society.

Individualistic Orientation

Prevalent in Western societies; focuses on the uniqueness, autonomy, self-sufficiency, and independence of the individual.

ethnicity

Refers to cultural background, nationality, religion, and language.

race

Classifications traditionally based on physical and structural biological characteristics. Historical systems classified between 3 and 300 races.

fluidity and social construction

Modern scientific consensus views both race and ethnic group classifications as _____________ defined by human societies and their prevailing beliefs. Terminology shifts across historical eras and social groups (e.g., choices between African American or Black, Native American or Indian, Hispanic, Latino, or Latinx).

Nature of Change

continuous vs. discontinuous change

Impact of Environmental Events

critical periods vs. sensitive periods

Scope of Inquiry

focus on particular periods vs. lifespan approach

Origins of Traits

nature / genetics vs. nurture / environmental factors

continuous change

Development is gradual and quantitative; achievements at one level build continuously on previous levels, and underlying developmental processes remain the same across the lifespan (e.g., changes in height).

discontinuous change

Development occurs in distinct, qualitative steps or stages. Behaviors and cognitive processes are qualitatively different at different stages (e.g., stage-based cognitive development).

critical periods

A specific time during development when a particular event has its greatest, irreversible consequences. Certain environmental stimuli are mandatory for normal development (e.g., exposure to rubella during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy causes severe defects like blindness, deafness, and heart defects, whereas exposure at week 30 causes minimal harm).

sensitive periods

People are susceptible to certain environmental stimuli, but the absence of those stimuli is reversible through later experiences. Emphasizes human plasticity

(e.g., overcoming early social deficits through later learning).

focus on particular periods

ex: Early developmentalists focused primarily on infancy and adolescence as the most critical periods of growth.

lifespan appraoch

Current theories emphasize growth, change, and interconnections across the entire life span.

Development depends on social context and the age of individuals in one's environment (e.g., an infant's development differs depending on whether the mother is 15 or 37 years old).

Capabilities refine with age, while others decline (e.g., gaining knowledge vs. experiencing reduced reaction time or sensory acuity).

nature

Focuses on inherited traits, abilities, and capacities from parents. Mediated by maturation (e.g., eye color, athletic potential, pattern baldness, brain maturation for reading).

nurture

Focuses on environmental influences shaping behavior, including biological factors

(e.g., maternal drug use or food supply during pregnancy)

& social factors

(e.g., parental discipline, peer pressure, socioeconomic status).

plasticity

the optimal period for capacities to emerge without causing permanent, unalterable damage

maturation

the predetermined unfolding of genetic information

• intelligence

• gene-environment interactions

nature vs. nature interplay examples

Genetics provides inherited capacity, while environmental factors (e.g., quality of schooling and cognitive stimulation) determine its expression. Improving social conditions can raise intellectual functioning.

nature vs. nature interplay examples: intelligence

A child genetically predisposed to cry frequently elicits specific soothing behaviors from parents, altering the immediate environment. Additionally, two individuals (including identical twins) may react differently to the exact same environment, whereas genetically distinct individuals may respond similarly.

nature vs. nature interplay examples: gene-environment interactions

1. psychodynamic

2. behavioral

3. cognitive

4. humanistic

5. contextual

6. evolutionary

6 major theoretical perspectives to explain patterns of human growth and behavior.

Freud

Erikson

Psychodynamic Theorists

Watson

Skinner

Bandura

Behavioral Theorists

Piaget

Information Processing

Neo-Piagetian

Cognitive Neuroscience

Cognitive Theorists (Theory)

Rogers

Maslow

Humanistic Theorists

Bronfenbrenner

Vygotsky

Contextual Theorists

Darwin

Lorenz

Behavioral Genetics

Evolutionary Theorists (Theory)

psychodynamic

The ____________ perspective posits that behavior is primarily motivated by inner forces, memories, and conflicts beyond conscious awareness and control, originating in childhood and continuously influencing behavior across the lifespan.

inner forces, memories, and conflicts beyond conscious awareness and control, originating in childhood and continuously influencing behavior across the lifespan.

The psychodynamic perspective posits that behavior is primarily motivated by:

Freud

Psychoanalytic Theory theorist

unconscious forces act to determine personality and behavior.

The unconscious contains hidden infantile wishes, desires, demands, and disturbing needs that are kept out of conscious awareness.

Freud (1856–1939) proposed that:

id

The raw, unorganized, inborn part of personality present at birth. It represents primitive drives and desires.

ego

The rational and reasonable part of personality. It acts as a buffer between the external world and the demanding id.

superego

The person's conscience, incorporating distinctions between right and wrong. Learned from parents, teachers, and significant figures.

around age 5 or 6

when does superego develop?

1. Oral

2. Anal

3. Phallic & Genital

what stages did Freud state that children pass through in which pleasure is focused on a specific biological function and body part:

focus on mouth

oral stage

focus on anus

anal stage

focus on genitals

phallic and genital stage

fixation

Freud’s Stages: If a child receives too little or too much gratification during a stage, ______ occurs

fixation

an arrest in development that manifests as specific adult behavioral patterns - Freud

Erik Erikson

Psychosocial Theory - who

Erikson

who provided an alternate psychodynamic view to Freud?

social and cultural interactions

(rather than psychosexual drives)

Erikson (1902–1994) provided an alternative psychodynamic view, emphasizing:

Psychosocial Development

Involves changes in our interactions with others, social relationships, and self-understanding as members of society.

8

Lifespan View has how many stages?

Lifespan View

Development proceeds across 8 distinct stages throughout the entire lifespan in a fixed pattern - Erikson

Crisis Resolution

Each stage presents a specific crisis or conflict that the individual must resolve. No crisis is ever fully resolved, and unresolved conflicts carry over to subsequent stages, making future development more complex. - Erikson

• psychosocial development

• lifespan view

• crisis resolution

Erikson’s 3 psychosocial parts

Behavioral Perspective

• emphasizes observable behavior and environmental stimuli.

• Development is personal and unique, reflecting an individual's specific environmental exposures.

• Nurture is held as significantly more influential than nature.

stage-based developmental models

The behavioral perspective rejects _____________, emphasizing observable behavior and environmental stimuli.

observable behavior & environmental stimuli.

The behavioral perspective emphasized __________ and _________

John B Watson

Classical Conditioning - who

B F Skinner

Operant Conditioning - who?

controlling an individual's environment makes it possible to produce virtually any behavior.

Watson argued that: Classical Conditioning

voluntary, purposeful behaviors operating on the environment.

Skinner focused on: Operant Condtitioning

Classical Conditioning

Occurs when an organism learns to respond in a particular way to a neutral stimulus that normally does not evoke that response

Classical Conditioning

Pavlov’s dogs learning to salivate at the sound of a bell paired with food is an example of what?

• operant conditioning

• reinforcement

• punishment

• extinction

• behavior modification

BF Skinner concepts

operant conditioning

A form of learning in which a voluntary response is strengthened or weakened by its association with positive or negative consequences.

reinforcement

The process of providing a stimulus that increases the probability that a preceding behavior will be repeated (e.g., working harder when offered financial reward).

punishment

The introduction of an unpleasant/painful stimulus or the removal of a desirable stimulus to decrease the probability of a behavior recurring.

extinction

Discontinuing reinforcement or punishment leads to the gradual cessation of the learned behavior.

behavior modification

A formal technique designed to increase desirable behaviors and decrease unwanted ones.

Albert Bandura

Social-Cognitive Learning Theory - who?

human behavior is learned largely through observation of others models

rather than solely through direct trial-and-error operant conditioning.

Bandura demonstrated that:

Social-Cognitive Learning Theory

Children afraid of dogs who observe a peer model interact happily with dogs become significantly more likely to approach dogs themselves compared to children who did not observe the model. - example of what?