1. Lifespan Development

Jen Smith

Today

• Introductions

• Syllabus

• Textbook

• E-mail

• What is Psychology of the Lifespan?

Learning Goals for Today

1. Understand guidelines and schedule of the course.

2. Describe the Lifespan Perspective of development.

3. Understand how different historical ideas about development affected children.

4. Describe the 3 basic key developmental issues.

Lifespan Development

• Pattern of change that begins at conceptions and continues through the life cycle.

• The BIG question:

“Why do people turn out the way that they do?”

Nick NolteParis Hilton

Jo the Nanny

Andre 3000old Japanese man

Meth addict

Do you believe that development is influenced by:

A. environment

B. biology

C. both

Historical Perspective

• Child Development– Middle ages…original sin view– End of the 17th Century….tabula rasa view

(John Locke)– 18th Century…innate goodness view

(Rousseau)

So What?

• Implications of each of these views on parenting?– Bad child– Blank tablet– Innate goodness

Implications

• Original sin, born bad…salvation, remove sin from the child’s life

• Tabula rasa….childhood experiences are important in determining adult characteristics…parents teach, spend time

• Innate goodness….children should be permitted to grow naturally with little parental monitoring or constraint

Today

• Childhood lays the foundation for the adult years

• Distinct periods…shared characteristics (e.g., we all walked at about 1 year)

Contemporary Concerns

• Health and well-being (e.g., exercise, loneliness)

• Parenting

• Education

• Sociocultural Contexts; context, culture, ethnicity and gender

• Political Policies…will they be good for our children?

3 Key Developmental Issues

1. Nature v. Nurture• Genetics vs. environment

2. Continuity v. Discontinuity• Gradual changes or distinct stages

3. One Course v. Many Possible Courses• One size fits all or many options for dev’t?

The Lifespan Perspective

Development is:

1. Lifelong

2. Multidimensional

biological cognitive socioemotional

3. Multidirectional (e.g., language)- maintenance and decline

The 3 Multidimensional Developmental Processes

• Biological….changes in individual physical nature

• Cognitive…changes in individuals thoughts, intelligence, and language

• Socioemotional ….changes in individual relationships with other people, changes in emotions, and changes in personality.

Development is also

• Contextual:– Normative age-graded influences….biological

and environmental influence of a particular age group (e.g., puberty, retirement)

– Normative history-graded influence…common to particular generation (e.g., Role of women, technology revolution)

– Non-normative life events…..major impacts that are unique to individuals (e.g., death of child, winning the lottery)

Healthy males experience puberty withn a certain age range

A. Normative age-graded influence

B. Normative history-graded influence

C. Non-normative life event influence

Losing a parent in childhood

A. Normative age-graded influence

B. Normative history-graded influence

C. Non-Normative life event influence

Challenger space shuttle explosion

A. Normative age-graded influence

B. Normative history-graded influence

C. Non-normative life event influence

Periods of development

• Prenatal period: conception to birth• Infancy: birth -2 years• Early childhood: 2 -6 years ( before school)• Middle and late childhood: 6 -11• Adolescent: 11 -18/20• Early Adulthood: 20 -40• Middle Adulthood: 40-65• Late Adulthood: 65 –death (retirement phase)

Question:

• What do you think is the best age to be?

• Why?

Good News

Age is not related to happiness!

• Different ways to conceptualize age:– Chronological age….years since birth– Biological age….biological health– Psychological age…adaptive capacities– Social age….social roles and expectations

Re-cap: Learning Goals for Today

1. Understand guidelines and schedule of the course.

2. Describe the Lifespan Perspective of development.

3. Understand how different historical ideas about development affected children.

4. Describe the 3 basic key developmental issues.