Introduction to Life-Span Development

Chapter Structural Outline

  • THE LIFE-SPAN PERSPECTIVE

    • The Importance of Studying Life-Span Development
    • Characteristics of the Life-Span Perspective
    • Contemporary Concerns in Life-Span Development

  • THE NATURE OF DEVELOPMENT

    • Biological, Cognitive, and Socioemotional Processes
    • Periods of Development
    • Conceptions of Age
    • Developmental Issues

  • THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT

    • Psychoanalytic Theories
    • Cognitive Theories
    • Behavioral and Social Cognitive Theories
    • Ethological Theory
    • Ecological Theory
    • An Eclectic Theoretical Orientation

  • RESEARCH IN LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT

    • Methods for Collecting Data
    • Research Designs
    • Time Span of Research
    • Conducting Ethical Research
    • Cultural and Ethnic Bias

Stories of Life-Span Development: Contrast in Human Trajectories

  • The Central Question of Human Development:

    • Examines what leads one individual, full of promise, to commit brutal acts of violence while leading another to turn extreme poverty and childhood trauma into a rich literary harvest.
    • Essentials of Life-Span Development serves as a window into the journey of human development, illustrating that every human life is distinct and represents a unique biography.

  • Case Study: Ted Kaczynski

    • Early Academic and Social Life:
      • Sprinted through high school without bothering to complete his junior year, making minimal effort toward social contact.
      • Entered Harvard University at age 16, where he remained a complete loner; roommates recalled him avoiding human contact by shuffling past people and slamming his door behind him.
      • Earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Michigan.
      • Became a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, where colleagues remembered him actively hiding from social interaction with no friends, no allies, and no networking.
    • Isolation and Criminal Activity:
      • Resigned from UC Berkeley after several years and moved to a rural area of Montana, living as a hermit in a crude shack for 25 years as a bearded eccentric.
      • Attributed his personal difficulties to growing up as a "genius in a kid's body" and sticking out like a sore thumb during childhood.
      • Over a period of 17 years, sent 16 mail bombs that resulted in 23 people being wounded or maimed, and 3 deaths.
      • Arrested in 1996 as the Unabomber, referred to as America's most wanted killer.
      • Pleaded guilty in 1998 and was sentenced to life in prison.

Ted Kaczynski as an adult and as a young child

  • Case Study: Alice Walker
    • Background and Early Trauma:
      • Born in 1944 as the eighth child of Georgia sharecroppers who earned an annual income of $300.
      • At age 8, her brother accidentally shot her in the left eye with a BB gun.
      • Because her parents did not own a car, it took a full week before she could be transported to a hospital.
      • The delay in medical care left her permanently blind in her left eye, which developed a disfiguring layer of scar tissue.
    • Civil Rights Activism and Career:
      • A decade before Kaczynski mailed his first bomb, Walker spent her time battling racism in Mississippi.
      • Upon winning her first writing fellowship, she sacrificed her dream of moving to Senegal, Africa, to dedicate herself to the heart of the civil rights movement.
      • Overcame severe pain, trauma, and anger to celebrate the human spirit through literature and activism.
      • Became an acclaimed novelist, essayist, poet, short-story writer, and social activist.
      • Won the Pulitzer Prize for her landmark novel The Color Purple.

Alice Walker as an adult and as a child

The Concept and Nature of the Life-Span Perspective

  • Individual Variations and Common Patterns:

    • Every human being develops partly like all other individuals, partly like some other individuals, and partly like no other individual.
    • While uniqueness is often the most noticeable attribute, all human beings share fundamental developmental pathways.
    • Historic figures such as Leonardo da Vinci, Joan of Arc, George Washington, and Martin Luther King, Jr. shared universal developmental steps with every person:
      • Walking at approximately 1 year of age.
      • Engaging in fantasy play during early childhood.
      • Gaining increased independence during youth.
      • Experiencing hearing decline and the loss of family members and friends in older age, provided they live long enough.

  • Definition of Development:

    • Development is defined as the pattern of movement or change that begins at conception and continues through the human life span.

The Importance of Studying Life-Span Development

  • Practical Benefits and Personal Insights:
    • Parenting and Education: For current or prospective parents and teachers, understanding developmental processes provides critical insight into raising and educating children effectively.
    • Self-Understanding: Studying development offers perspective on an individual's personal history across infancy, childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood, clarifying how past years shaped current identity.
    • Future Preparation: Gives insight into what to expect during later adult stages, including middle age and old age.
    • Lifespan Continuum: Examines human life from the precise moment of conception through to the end of life.