psy 2510 - lifespan developmental...

PSY 2510 - LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGYCOURSE CONCLUSIONS BY MICHAEL CARUSO

TOPICAL VS. CHRONOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION

Most Lifespan courses and textbooks are organized chronologically, discussing all areas ofdevelopment age period by age period from prenatal though old age. This course and the text thatwe used (Santrock, 2002) were, as you know, organized by topic rather than age. The advantageof this topical organization is that the student hopefully gets a better understanding of theconnectedness of development. Tracing cognitive or social development f rom infancy through oldage should bring a clearer understanding of how cognition or social functioning at one period relatesto the that of the next period. The disadvantage of the topical organization is that the student maynot get as good a picture of the whole person at any given developmental stage. Overall, what is aninfant like, or an adolescent, or a person in middle adulthood? This perspective is probably less clearwhen studying development by topic, rather than by chronological age.

CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY AND DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS

So one purpose of the concluding section of our course is to provide you with a summary of themajor aspects of development within a chronological framework. I would also like to introduce youto the concept of developmental tasks. Robert Havinghurst has proposed that a combination ofsocial demands and individual needs creates “a task which arises at or about a certain period in thelife of an individual, successful achievement of which leads to his happiness and success with latertasks, while failure leads to unhappiness in the individual, disapproval by the society, and difficultywith later tasks” (Havinghurst, 1972, p.2). These tasks have a biological, psychological, andsocial/cultural basis, and each has an optimal time for expression. The tables will list thedevelopmental tasks for each of the seven chronological age phases according to Havinghurst ’ssuggestions along with the chronological summaries. I have patterned this article after theappendices in Sigelman and Rider (2003) and Hughes and Noppe (1985).

Infancy (birth - 2 years)

Cognitive Development Socio-Emotional & Personality Development Developmental Tasks

• Piaget’s sensorimotorperiod: Infant’s know theworld by sensing andacting on it; the objectconcept and symboliccapacity develop graduallyare fully in place by theend of this period

• Habituation demonstratesrecognition memory frombirth

• Language proceeds fromcrying, cooing, andbabbling to the use ofholophrases (one wordsentences) by the end ofthe first year; vocabularygrows slowing for first halfof second year then morerapidly in the second half

• Freud’s oral stage where the child’s id is dominantduring first year

• Erikson’s psychosocial conflict of trust vs. mistrustin first year

• Infants develop a sense of self and demonstrateself-recognition

• The infant’s inborn temperament provides a basiswhich is then shaped by the child’s interaction withhis or her social environment to form laterpersonality

• Form attachments to primary caregivers• Awareness of one’s gender identity (am I a boy or

a girl?) comes at the end of the infant period.• Infants are basically amoral (lacking in a moral

sense) although they demonstrate some empathy(shared emotions with others) and some altruism(helping behavior) during the second year

• Capacity for simple pretend play• Social life centers on family (parent-child

relationship)

• Learning to walk• Learning to take solid

foods• Learning to talk

M. Caruso - Lifespan Developmental Psychology - Course Conclusions

Early childhood (2-5 years)


• Piaget’s preoperationalstage: the chi ld’sthinking is egocentricand heavily influencedby the child’s perceptionrather than by theunderlying logic of thesituation

• Some gains in memoryability, but strategic andrecall abilities stilllim ited

• Great advances insymbolic capacity andlanguage; vocabularygrowth explodes duringthis period

• Freud’s anal stage when the ego begins todevelop, and the phallic stage when thesuperego develops with resolution of theOedipus and Electra com plexes

• Erikson’s psychosocial conflicts of autonomyvs. shame and doubt and initiative vs. guilt

• Rapid development of gender roles• Some internalization of moral standards near

the end of period, but morality is egocentric• Family (parent-child and sibling) relationships

tend to be central in child’s social life• Increased ability to cooperate with others and

engage in social play• Commonly first exposure to schooling by end

of this period

• Learning to control theelim inat ion of body wastes

• Learning sex differences andsexual modesty

• Forming concepts and learninglanguage to describe social andphysical reality

• Getting ready to read• Learning to distinguish right from

wrong and beginning to developa conscience

Middle and Late Childhood (6-11 years)


• Piaget’s concreteoperational stage: thechild can apply logic tophysical objects but notto abstract ideas

• Increased use ofrehearsal as a memorystrategy, recallperformance improves

• IQ scores stabil ize• Vocabulary continues to

grow, pronunciationimproves, reading andwriting abilities develop

• Freud’s latency period when the libido isdormant and children associate mainly withsame-sex peers

• Erikson’s psychosocial conflict of industry vs.inferiority

• Personality stab ilizes• Strong gender role behavior• Internalized moral standards, but moral

reasoning is usually focused onconsequences to the self (Kohlberg ’spreconventional morality)

• Increased involvement with same-sex peersand the formation of close friendships

• Play centers on organized games with rules• School and television are important

socialization agents

• Learning physical skillsnecessary for ordinary games

• Building wholesome attitudestoward the self as a growingorganism

• Learning to get along with age-mates

• Learning an appropriatemasculine or feminine social role

• Developing fundamental skills inreading, writing, and calculating

• Developing concepts necessaryfor everyday living

• Developing conscience, morality,and a scale of values

• Achieving personal independence• Developing attitudes toward

social groups and institutions


Adolescence (12-19 years)


• Piaget’s formaloperational stage: theadolescent can applylogic to abstract ideasas well as to physicalobjects; scientificreasoning develops

• Combine rehearsal withmeaning based memorystrategies likeorganization andelaboration, recallperformance improves

• Freud’s genital stage when the libidoreawakens and the ego functions according tothe reality principle, balancing the demands ofthe id and superego

• Erikson’s psychosocial conflict of identity vs.role confusion

• Identity formation process begins and willcontinue into early adulthood, includes sexual,political, ethnic, and religious identities

• Moral reasoning becomes focused on thejudgements of others and on social standards(Kohlberg’s conventional morality)

• Peak peer involvement and conformity• Dating begins• Autonomy from parents increases• School and career exploration

• Achieving new and more maturerelationships with age-mates ofboth sexes

• Achieving a masculine orfeminine social role

• Accepting one’s physique andusing the body effectively

• Achieving emotionalindependence from parents andother adults

• Preparing for marriage andfamily life

• Prepar ing for an economic career• Acquiring a set of values and an

ethical system as a guide tobehavior – developing anideology

• Desiring and achieving sociallyresponsible behavior

Early Adulthood (20-39 years)


• Sophisticated cognitiveskills, especially inareas of expertise

• Develop postformalthinking that isrelativistic andpragmatic

• Erikson’s psychosocial conflict of intimacy vs.isolation

• Continued work on identity achievement• Moral reasoning focused on social standards

and on the judgements of others (Kohlberg’sconventional morality)

• Personality fairly stable• Divergence of family roles by gender• Careers launched, job change common• Romantic relations form, marriage and family

formation comm on• Period of much life change, risk of divorce

and psychological problems fairly high

• Selecting a mate• Learning to live with a marriage

partner• Starting a family• Rearing children• Managing a house• Getting started in an occupation• Taking on civic responsibility• Finding a congenial social group

Middle Adulthood (40-64 years)


• Mostly stable intellectualfunctioning

• Peak expertise andcreativity

• Perceptual skills beginto decline

• Knowledge basedperformance maintainedwell

• Some increasedinterference in wordrecall

• Erikson’s psychosocial conflict of generativityvs. stagnation

• Continued personality stability• Midlife transition possible for some, but not

most• Gender roles become more similar for

spouses• Empty nest and grandparenting begins• High responsibil ity for younger and older

generations• Career stability and peak productivity

• Helping teenage children becomeresponsible and happy adults

• Achieving adult social and civicresponsibility

• Reaching and maintainingsatisfactory performance in anoccupation or career

• Developing adult leisure activities• Relating to spouse as a person• Accepting and adjusting to

physical changes of middle age• Adjusting to aging parents


Late Adulthood (65 years and older)


• Declines in cognitioncommon, but notinevitable

• Slower learning,declines in use ofmemory strategies andrecall memory

• Declines in attention andperceptual ab ili tiescommon

• Recognition memoryand language skills holdup well in normal aging

• Intellectual skills maydecline if not practiced

• Erikson’s psychosocial conflict of integrity vs.despair

• Most maintain core personality traits, self-esteem, and level of life satisfaction

• Maintain sense of self through selectiveoptimization with compensation

• Continued close ties to family and friends• Generally smooth transition to retirement• Marital sat isfaction high among mar ried

couples• Many, women especially, have to adjust to

death of spouse

• Adjusting to decreasing physicalstrength and health

• Adjustment to retirement andpossibly reduced income

• Adjusting to death of spouse• Establishing an explicit affiliation

with one’s age group• Adopting and adapting social

roles in a flexible way• Establishing satisfactory living

arrangements

“BIG IDEAS” – SOME MAJOR THEMES OF LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

In chapter one we talked about Paul Baltes’ (1987) characterization of the life-span perspective.This concluding section will incorporate many of Baltes’ ideas along with some of my own conclusionsconcerning the major themes of lifespan development that have been reflected in this course.

Development = change, change can take many directions, and change is life-longThe traditional developmental model considered development as equivalent to growth

(becoming bigger, better, faster, stronger) and as such was mainly associated with childhood andadolescence. So at one time, developmental psychology was considered basically to refer to childdevelopment. If adult development was studied, it was considered a period of decline. This “growth-and-decline” model considered the direction of development to be growth and development duringchildhood and adolescence, peak performance during young adulthood, and decline during middleand especially later adulthood. The lifespan perspective views development as change, whichincludes both growth and decline, both gains and losses, both positive and negative aspects. Assuch, development occurs during all phases of the lifespan. In addition, development ismultidirectional so that some declines and losses can occur during childhood, and some growth andgains can occur during middle and late adulthood. It depends on the specific traits involved and onthe individual.

One idea about developmental change that is very useful is the orthogenetic principle, put forthby Heinz Werner (1957). This principle states that development proceeds from a global,undifferentiated state to a more differentiated and integrated state. In some ways, from more simpleto more complex. So for example, at conception we are a single cell which rapidly divides and formsa ball of cells called a blastocyst. At this point the organism is very undifferentiated, with no specificorgans systems. Nine months later the organism is a baby with differentiated organ systems and adetailed anatomical structure specialized to perform the many integrated functions necessary tosustain life outside the womb. Another example is language development. Infants begin with one-word holophrases that can refer to a variety of things (global, undifferentiated). By six years old theaverage child knows between 8,000 and 14,000 words and can use different words to refer to manyspecific objects (differentiated). Piaget’s cognitive function of organization (creating more complexcognitive structure through the integration of simpler schemes) also illustrates this point.


Development is best studied using a variety of methods, multiple disciplines, and varioustheoretical perspectives

Different methods and research designs have different strengths and weaknesses. Combininginformation gathered from a variety of methods provides a clearer picture of development and helpsus converge on an accurate account of development. We have a variety of theoretical explanationsand perspectives because each contributes a part of the overall explanatory puzzle. Variousacademic disciplines like biology, physiology, anatomy, genetics, neuroscience, psychology,sociology, anthropology, history, economics, and others contribute different facets of understandinghuman development.

Multiple causation – there are a variety of influences on developmentWe no longer look for single causes or a single set of influences on behavior and it’s

development. As we have seen throughout the course, there are many influences on development.A good example is the traditional nature-nurture debate. As we saw in chapter two, this was afruitless debate, an unanswerable question. Psychologists realize that heredity and environmentalways interact to influence behavioral outcomes. What we develop into is a confluence of geneticpredisposition and environmental experience. We saw a good example of this in chapter 10 whenwe discussed how the “goodness of fit” between the baby’s inborn temperament and the demandsof his or her social environment is a major determinant of the child’s later personality.

Another instance that I hoped became clear is that while parents’ behavior is an importantinfluence on a child’s development, it is certainly not the only, nor necessarily the most important,influence. The child’s genetic make-up is a major factor influencing the child which may or may notbe modified by parental treatment. Peers probably have a bigger influence on the child’s personalityas an adult than previously realized. Children are also influenced by television, other media, and thebroader culture as well.

There is both continuity and discontinuity in development

In some ways we are the same person at age 70 that we were at age 7, in other ways we arevery different. How we fair in one phase of life certainly can influence how we fair in the next phase,but it does not completely determine it. The dif ficult child may very well become a difficult adolescent,or he or she might not. There is much plasticity, or potential for change in development.Development can potentially take many paths – some continuous with earlier development, somediscontinuous.

Also, the issue of continuity or discontinuity is often in the eye of the researcher or theorist. Itis sometimes a matter of how we choose to measure and describe something. Take the developmentof a caterpillar into a butterf ly. If you take few measurements and choose describe the overallorganism in general terms, then its development appears discontinuous, qualitative, and stage-like:caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly. If you take frequent measurements of each and every little changein the organism’s structure, then its development will look gradual, quantitative and continuous.

We are active participants in our own development and reciprocal causationSome earlier developmental and psychological models saw the human organism as fairly

passive, shaped by the environmental stimuli and people surrounding it. While stimulation andtreatment by others are important influences, we influence our own development as well. We explorethe environment, we interpret our experience, we construct memories, we make choices, and weinfluence those around us. For example, there is a reciprocal influence between parents andchildren. Parents react to as well as influence children and children influence parents as well as reactto them. We influence the things and people that influence us.


Development occurs in a social, historical, and cultural contextEarlier developmental theories like those of Freud and Piaget, assumed that the developmental

patterns and stages proposed applied to all people, everywhere. We now realize that context isimportant. We’ve seen the importance of historical influence in the form of cohort effects severaltimes in this course. The historical time period in which one lives influences most members of a birthcohort. The society and culture in which one lives also expands or contracts the choices anddevelopmental paths available to the individual.

There is much individual variation at any age periodAs scientists we emphasize generalizations. As developmentalists we are prone to emphasize

typical, average behavior at any age period. While these generalizations are valid we cannot losesight of the fact that there is much individual variation around those averages. For example, recallperformance on average declines with age in adulthood. So the average recall performance of agroup of 70-year-olds will be lower than the average recall performance of a group of 30-year-olds.On the other hand, there are some 70 -year-old individuals who have better recall ability than some30-year-old individuals.

REFERENCES

Baltes, P. (1987). Theoretical propositions of life-span developmental psychology: On the dynamicsbetween growth and decline. Developmental Psychology, 23, 611-626.

Havinghurst, R. J. (1972). Developmental tasks and education. New York: McCay.Hughes, F. P. & Noppe, D. D. (1985). Human development across the life span. St. Paul, MN: West

Publishing.Santrock, J. W. (2002). A topical approach to life-span development. Boston: McGraw-Hill.Sigelman, C. K. & Rider, E. A. (2003). Life-span human development (4th ed.). Belmont, CA:

Wadsworth/Thompson.Werner, H. (1957). The concept of development f rom a comparative and organismic point of view.

In D. B. Harris (ed.) The concept of development: An issue in the study of human behavior.Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Posted on web at http://homepages.utoledo.edu/mcaruso/lifespan/course_conclusions.pdf onDecember 8, 2002.

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