1 of 17 carol k. sigelman, elizabeth a. rider life-span human development, 4th edition chapter 1:...

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Carol K. Sigelman, Elizabeth A. Rider

Life-Span Human Development, 4th Edition

Chapter 1: Understanding Life-Span Human Development

Chapter 1

Understanding Development

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What is Development?

• Systematic changes and continuities

- In the individual

- Occur between conception and death

- Three interdependent domains of development

- Physical

- Cognitive

- Psychosocial

• Developmental change involves gains and losses throughout life

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Key Developmental Processes

• Maturation: The biological unfolding of the

individual genetic plan

• Learning: Relatively permanent changes

due to environmental experiences

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Age Grades, Age Norms, and the Social Clock

• Age Grade: Socially defined age groups

- Statuses, roles, privileges, and responsibilities

- Example: Adults can vote, children can’t

• Age Norms: Beh expectations according to age- Example: Children attend school

• Social Clock: When in life things should occur - Example: Early adulthood is the time for first

marriages

• “Off time” experiences are more difficult

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Goals of Studying Life-Span Development

• Description

- Normal development, individual differences

• Explanation

- Typical and differential human development

• Optimization

- Positive development, enhancing human capacities

- Prevention and overcoming difficulties

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Methods of Studying Life-Span Development

• Historical

- Baby Biographies: Charles Darwin (1877)

- Questionnaires: G. Stanley Hall (1891)

• Key Assumptions of Modern Life-Span Perspective: Paul Baltes (1987)

- Lifelong, multidirectional process

- Gain, loss and lifelong plasticity

- Historical/cultural contexts, multiple influences

- Multi-disciplinary studies

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Developmental Research: Data Collection

• Self-Reports: Interviews, Questionnaires, Tests- Advantage: easy, inexpensive

- Disadvantage: verbal & cognitive skills, R bias

• Behavioral Observations

- Naturalistic

- Advantage: Natural setting

- Disadvantage: Conditions not controlled

- Structured (Lab)

- Advantage: Conditions controlled

- Disadvantage: Cannot generalize to natural settings

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Research Methods: The Experiment

• Three Critical Features

- Manipulation of the independent variable

- Random assignment of individuals to

treatment condition

- Experimental control

- Advantage: Cause-effect established

- Disadvantage: artificial, may be impossible

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Research Methods: Correlational

• Determine if variables are systematically related

• Correlation: A measure of the relationship

between two variables

- Range from +1.0 to –1.0

- If positive, variables move in the same direction

- If negative, variables move in different direction

- No relationship if correlation is zero

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Figure 1.3

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Research Methods: Correlational

• Advantage: easy, study many Vs & those

not possible/ethical to manipulate

• Disadvantage: no control or cause-effect

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Developmental Research Designs

• Cross-Sectional Designs

- Multiple cohorts or age groups studied

- Collect data once

- Examine group differences at one time

- Advantage: age differences, inexpensive

- Disadvantage: cohort effects, change over

time

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Developmental Research Designs

• Longitudinal Designs

- 1 cohort or age group studied

- Collect data many times

- Examine changes across time (age)

- Advantage: change over time, developmental trends

- Disadvantage: expensive, attrition, time of

measurement

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Age, Cohort, and Time of Measurement Effects

• Age effects: Changes occur simply due to age

• Cohort effects: Being born in one historical context

- Changes which occur due to differences in society

for a given generation

- Disadvantage for the cross-sectional design

• Time effects: Historical events or trends

- Events taking place at the time data is collected

- Disadvantage for the longitudinal design

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Sequential Designs

• Combines cross-sectional and longitudinal designs

- Multiple groups assessed multiple times

- Advantages of both designs

- Give us information about

- Which age-related trends are truly age effects?

- Which age-related trends are truly cohort effects?

- Which trends are a result of historical events?

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