Introduction to Human Development: Lifespan Approach and Course Overview

Introduction to Human Development and Course Overview

Lecturer's Background and Research Interests

• Lecturer: Jeong Suk Lee, Associate Professor in the School of Social Sciences.

• Acknowledgement: Paid respect to the Bidigal people, traditional custodians of the land, and to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander elders and people.

• Origin and Education: Originally from South Korea, completed PhD in the United States, joined UNSW in 02/2008.

• Primary Research Interests:

  • Breaking cycles of intergenerational disadvantages.

  • Well-being of vulnerable children and their families.

  • Homeschool partnerships.

  • Multicultural practice.

• Teaching Experience: Taught research methods for over $10$ years (SOUCE $1001$), now teaches master's level research methods. Also teaches "Culture Identity Diversity" (Term One, next year).

• Communication Note: Despite a mix of Korean, American, and Australian accents, the lecturer tends to speak fast. Students are encouraged to ask for repetition or clarification for better understanding.

Today's Lecture Schedule and Course Focus

• Course Theme: Human development.

• Today's Topic: Lifespan approach to development (overview).

• Next Week: Major developmental theories.

• Subsequent Weeks: Focus on different life stages.

• Harry Potter Example: Used to illustrate continuity and change in an individual over time, prompting discussion on what remains the same and what transforms.

Key Learning Objectives for Today

• Understand the term "development."

• Explain why human development is studied.

• Identify general issues in studying development.

• Explain biopsychosocial elements/determinants of development.

• Discuss how societal views on infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood have changed.

Defining Human Development

• Definition: The process of continuity and change in humans across the entire lifespan.

  • Emphasizes both continuity (what remains the same, ensuring one is the "same person") and change (transformations).

• Involves: Changes and consistencies in physical, cognitive, and psychosocial domains.

• Distinction: Not every change is developmental.

  • Non-Developmental Changes: Changes without lasting impact, e.g., temporary weight gain/loss due to diet, or recovering from a sports injury.

  • Developmental Changes: Changes that have a long-lasting impact on physical, psychosocial, and other elements.

Domains of Development

• Three major interrelated domains:

  1. Physical Development:

     • Biological elements.

     • Changes in the body itself (height, weight).

     • How a person uses their body (senses, motor skills).

  2. Cognitive Development:

     • Changes in thinking methods and styles.

     • Memory strategies (remembering, recalling information).

     • Thinking capacity.

     • Language ability and use.

  3. Psychosocial Development:

     • Changes in feelings and emotions.

     • Relations with others.

     • Sense of self and identity.

• Interconnections: These domains influence each other significantly.

  • Example: Walking capacity (physical) influences a child's sense of autonomy (psychosocial).

  • Example: Understanding conservation (cognitive, e.g., a person is the same regardless of clothing) influences a child's sense of identity (psychosocial).

• Future lectures will explore these connections in detail for each developmental stage.

Why Study Human Development?

• Realistic Expectations: Helps in forming appropriate expectations for children, adolescents, and adults (e.g., a $3$ or $5$-year-old's understanding of others' perspectives).

• Recognize Departures from Norms: Enables identification of when an individual's development deviates significantly from typical ranges (e.g., a child not speaking by age $5$ or $6$).

• Appropriate Responses: Guides in responding effectively to a person's behavior (e.g., understanding separation anxiety in children at certain ages, or physical ailments in the elderly).

• Self and Others Understanding: Provides insight into one's own developmental changes (e.g., relational shifts with parents during adolescence) and those of people around us.

• Professional Advocacy: Equips individuals to advocate for the needs and rights of people across all ages.

  • Shift in View: Historically, development was often seen as ending in adulthood, followed by decline. Modern understanding recognizes continuous growth and change throughout the entire lifespan (middle age, late adulthood).

  • Examples: Advocating for adolescent independence or addressing sexual desires in older age.

Nature of Lifespan Development

• Continuity with Change: Development involves both gradual accumulation and distinct stage-like changes.

  • Continuous Development: Gradual, quantitative changes.

    • Examples: Increases in height, weight, vocabulary (e.g., knowing $1000$ words to $10000$ words).

  • Discontinuous Development: Occurs in distinctive stages, involving qualitative changes.

    • Examples: Transition from non-vocal to verbal communication; acquiring object permanence (understanding a toy still exists even when unseen).

• Lifelong Growth: Development is not limited to childhood or adolescence, but continues throughout the entire lifespan, including later adulthood (e.g., moral development, learning new roles like grandparenting).

• Changing Meaning and Vantage Point: The significance of certain life events or concepts can change across different life stages.

  • Example: Marriage may be seen as a burden in youth but a source of security and fulfillment in middle adulthood.

• Developmental Diversity: Differences in developmental patterns due to individual variations and diverse environmental (social, physical) influences.

Nature vs. Nurture Debate

• The Question: How much of a person's development is determined by nature (genetics, biology) versus nurture (environment, experience)?

• Resolution: Generally understood as an interaction rather than an either/or: "nature and nurture."

• Implications: This debate has significant implications for policies, social support (e.g., assistance for disadvantaged families), and understanding individual potential.

Multiplicity of Lifespan Development

• Multidimensional: Encompasses biological, cognitive, emotional, and social dimensions.

• Multidirectional: Throughout the lifespan, some dimensions expand while others may shrink. Plasticity (the capacity for change) varies at different points in time.

• Multidisciplinary: Developmental science integrates insights from various fields, including psychology, sociology, anthropology, and neuroscience.

Paul Baltes's Model of Lifespan Development

• Emphasizes the nature of development and influential historical factors.

• Identifies three major influences, shaped by biological and environmental factor interactions:

  1. Normative Age-Graded Influences:

     • Strong relationship with chronological age.

     • Experienced by most people in the same age group.

     • Can be biological (e.g., onset of puberty) or environmental/social (e.g., school starting age, though less rigid).

     • Some are more flexible (e.g., age of marriage, parenthood).

  2. Normative History-Graded Influences:

     • Associated with a particular historical time.

     • Shape experiences of a historical generation (includes several cohorts, e.g., people born in the same year).

     • Examples: The COVID-19 pandemic's impact on children (social isolation, remote learning); technological advances like AI (cognitive development, learning); experiencing war (e.g., in Gaza, Ukraine).

  3. Non-Normative Influences:

     • Do not follow normative age-graded or history-graded patterns.

     • Not shared by everyone within a particular group.

     • Atypical events occurring at typical times: e.g., pregnancy in teenage years (typical event, atypical timing).

     • Atypical events: e.g., a car accident resulting in brain damage, effect of divorce, winning a lottery, homelessness.

Key Concepts in Human Development

• Critical Period: A specific time frame during which a particular skill or capacity is most readily acquired (e.g., critical period for language development).

• Sensitive Period: A period when individuals are highly responsive to certain influences, making it optimal for developing specific skills, though development can still occur later.

• These concepts are integral to many developmental theories (e.g., Erikson's theory).

Factors Influencing Human Development (Biopsychosocial Determinants)

• 1. Biological Factors:

  • Genetic Makeup: Inherited from parents, sets a potential range of development.

  • Example: Optimal nutrition allows a person to reach their genetically determined maximum height, but not exceed it.

  • Genes provide potential, but actual outcomes depend on physical and social environments.

• 2. Physical Environmental Factors:

  • Context: Clean water, clean air, living conditions (e.g., impoverished vs. affluent neighborhoods with parks).

  • Impact: Influences health, physical growth, and even behavior (e.g., well-maintained vs. neglected public spaces).

• 3. Social Environmental Factors:

  • Family: Dominant influence on most aspects of development (gender roles, intellectual development, self-concept, social skills).

    • Definition of Family: Varies by context and time (e.g., nuclear family vs. extended family, blended families, single-parent, adopted families). Its definition is important for social work professionals.

  • Peer Groups: Influence values, rules, and behaviors.

  • Neighborhood: Influences through demographic composition and social cohesion (e.g., friendly vs. isolated communities).

  • Schools: Formal education context.

  • Media: Traditional and social media heavily influence development, with discussions on issues like social media's impact on mental health (e.g., upcoming social media ban for children).

  • Culture: Broader societal norms and values.

  • Socioeconomic Status (SES):

    • Significantly influences potential development outcomes.

    • Poverty can limit potential, leading to poorer cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and health outcomes for children.

    • Interaction with Genetics: While genetic makeup determines a possible range, the actual achievement (maximum, minimum, or in between) is heavily influenced by the physical and social environment (e.g., nutrition).

Social Construction of Lifespan Periods

• Periods of the lifespan are social constructions, based on subjective perceptions, varying by culture, and changing over time.

  • Example: "Adolescence" as a distinct period is a relatively recent concept.

• Concept of Childhood:

  • Medieval Times: Children (around $7$ or $8$) were expected to take on adult roles (caring for siblings, farm work, apprenticeships), receiving modest respect.

  • Industrial Transition: Harsh realities for child factory workers (injuries, exploitation) highlighted differences between children and adults and their unique needs.

  • Modern View: Childhood is recognized as a unique, protected period. Laws against child labor, compulsory education, and norms of development (cognitive, socio-emotional) are established to prepare children for adulthood.

• Concept of Adolescence:

  • Previously: Not a distinct stage; teenagers often assumed adult roles (marriage, raising children).

  • Modern Recognition: Society began to support adolescents with educational, institutional, and economic resources, while also imposing limitations on behaviors deemed inappropriate for their age.

• Concept of Adulthood:

  • Previously: Viewed as a period where developmental tasks were complete, followed by decline.

  • Modern View: Development continues throughout life, with new tasks and challenges in adulthood (e.g., moral development, taking on different roles). Adulthood is further divided into early, middle, and late adulthood.

• Periods of Lifespan (Rough Distinctions; age ranges may vary by textbook):

  • Prenatal Period

  • Infancy

  • Toddlerhood

  • Early Childhood

  • Middle Childhood

  • Adolescence

  • Early Adulthood

  • Middle Adulthood

  • Late Adulthood ($60$ years and over, potentially extending further with increased longevity).

Course Logistics and Assessments

• Course Format:

  • Lectures: $9$ to $11$ AM.

  • Flexibility Week: Week $6$ (no lectures or tutorials).

  • Tutorials: After lunch in various locations (Law Building with lecturer, Engineering Building with other tutors).

  • Online Activities: Optional, non-mandatory, for better understanding course materials.

• Assessments:

  1. Tutorial Presentation and Paper ($40\%$ total):

     • Tutorial Presentation ($20\%$):

       • Individual Work: Each student presents for $5$ minutes, regardless of group size (topics may be divided within a group).

       • Topic Selection: Students must choose a topic from Moodle site (under "Assessment") before today's tutorial. $3$ to $4$ students per topic.

       • Preparation: Prepare PowerPoint slides.

       • Submission: Slides must be submitted before the presentation.

     • Tutorial Paper ($20\%$):

       • Word Count: $1000$ words.

       • Submission: Due one week after the presentation via Turnitin.

       • Week $2$ Presenters: Given two weeks for their paper submission due to early presentation, allowing integration of feedback.

     • Extensions: No short extensions due to scheduled presentation nature.

  2. Major Assignment ($60\%$):

     • Due Date: Week $9$ (TBC).

     • Task: An essay/biography focusing on the developmental aspects of an adult (age $18$ or over).

       • Interview: Conduct an interview with a chosen adult (friend, family). Interview recording of the first $2$ minutes is required as proof.

       • Information Sources: Can utilize existing knowledge (e.g., from interviewing a grandparent) in addition to the interview.

       • Confidentiality: Interview information is read only by the tutor/marker.

       • Focus: Can focus on specific developmental periods (adolescence, childhood, middle adulthood, etc.) or multiple stages.

       • Mandatory Component: Apply at least $2$ developmental theories from the course.

       • Optional Expansion (If Applicable): Research and discuss the impact of specific challenges (divorce, disaster, unemployment); diversity elements (gender, disability); or theories from other courses (e.g., economics, sociology).

       • Word Count: Not specified in transcript, but assumed to be substantial given $60\%$ weighting.

• Submission Details:

  • PowerPoint slides: Moodle, before presentation.

  • Tutorial paper and Major assignment: Turnitin in Moodle.

  • Late Penalty: $5\%$ per day, capped at $5$ days. After $5$ days, a zero mark is given.

  • Short Extension: $2$ days for major assignment (no documentation needed).

  • Longer Extension: Requires special consideration application with evidence.

• Level of AI Assistance:

  • Allowed: Planning and design assistance (e.g., learning about topics, gathering resources, finding research evidence).

  • Cautions: Students must be critical of AI output; use AI as a "research assistant," not a master. AI output can be generic or incorrect.

  • Acknowledgement: If AI is used, its application must be acknowledged in the assignment.

Course Expectations and Requirements

• Student Responsibilities:

  • Attend lectures and tutorials.

  • Complete essential readings.

  • Participate in lectures and tutorials.

  • Complete assessment tasks.

  • Respect others.

  • Avoid plagiarism (cite all sources, including AI assistance).

• Attendance Requirement (Social Work Program):

  • Critical: Mandatory for all social work courses to ensure students are well-trained to support vulnerable clients.

  • Lectures: Listen to recordings if unable to attend.

  • Tutorials: Attendance is checked and not recorded.

  • Missed Tutorials: Missing more than two tutorials may lead to referral to the program coordinator, discussion, additional work, or a zero grade for the final assignment.

  • Support: Students with concerns about attendance should contact the lecturer.

Administrative Matters and Communication

• Disability Support: Contact the lecturer for any required adjustments.

• Course Communication:

  • Moodle: General FAQ and specific assessment FAQs are available.

  • Q&A Forum: Students can post course and assignment related questions for the lecturer to answer.

  • UNSW Email: Official communication channel; students must check their UNSW email account.

  • Personal Questions: Send direct emails to the lecturer for private matters.

Summary of Today and Look Ahead

• Today's Topics: Definition of development, importance of studying it, influencing factors, and evolution of views on life stages.

• Next Week: Crucial lecture on major developmental theories, essential for both presentation and major assignments. Students are highly recommended to attend or listen to recordings.