An

Orientation to
Lifespan
Development
What is the scope of the field of
lifespan development?

What are cohorts, and how do

they influence development?
 Lifespan development
• is the field of study that examines patterns of growth, change, and stability in behavior that occur throughout
the life span.
• lifespan development takes a scientific approach. Like members of other scientific disciplines, researchers in
lifespan development test their assumptions by applying scientific methods
• developmentalists assume that the process of development persists from the moment of conception to the day of
death, with people changing in some ways right up to the end of their lives and in other ways exhibiting
remarkable stability. They believe that no single period governs all development, but instead that people maintain
the capacity for substantial growth and change throughout their lives.
 Characterizing Lifespan Development:
The Scope of the Field
Topical Areas in Lifespan Development.
• physical development involving the body’s physical makeup, including the brain, nervous system, muscles, and senses,
and the need for food, drink, and sleep
• cognitive development involving the ways that growth and change in intellectual capabilities influence a person’s
behavior
• personality dev elopment involving the ways that the enduring characteristics that differentiate one person from
another change over the lifespan
• social development pertains to the way in which individuals’ interactions with others and their social relationships grow,
change, and remain stable over the course of life
 Age Ranges and Individual
Differences.
• The life span is usually divided into broad age ranges: the prenatal period (from conception to birth); infancy
and toddlerhood (birth to 3); the preschool period (3 to 6); middle childhood (6 to 12); adolescence (12 to
20); young adulthood (20 to 40); middle adulthood (40 to 60); and late adulthood (60 to death).
• A social construction is a shared notion of reality that is widely accepted but is a function of society and
culture at a given time.
• individual differences - People mature at different rates and reach developmental milestones at different
points. However, environmental factors also play a significant role; for example, the typical age of marriage
varies from one culture to another, depending in part on the functions that marriage plays.
 Issues in the field of
lifespan development
A theory is an orderly, integrated set
of statements that describes,
explains, and predicts.
Theories are vital tools for two reasons

. 1. they provide organizing frameworks for our observations of people, guiding

and giving meaning to what we see.

2. theories that are verified by research provide a sound basis for practical action.
issues in the field of lifespan
development
CONT INUITY Vs. DISCONTINUITY
• Continuous change - gradual development in which achievements at one level build on those of previous
levels
• Discontinuous change – development that occurs in distinct steps or stages, with each stage bringing
about behavior that is assumed to be qualitatively different from behavior at earlier stages
• The continuity–discontinuity issue concerns whether a particular developmental phenomenon represents a
smooth progression throughout the life span (continuity) or a series of abrupt shifts (discontinuity).
Universal vs. Context-Specific Development
(one course of development vs. many)

• concerns whether there is just one path of development or several. Some theorists argue that,
despite what look like differences in development, there is really only one fundamental
developmental process for everyone.
• The opposing view is that differences among people are not simply variations on a theme.
Advocates of this view argue that human development is inextricably intertwined with the
context within which it occurs. A person’s development is a product of complex interaction
with the environment, and that interaction is not fundamentally the same in all environments.
CRIT ICAL VS. SENSIT IVE PERIOD
• Critical period a specific time during development when a particular event has its greatest consequences
and the presence of certain kinds of environmental stimuli are necessary for development to proceed
normally
• Sensitive period a point in development when organisms are particularly susceptible to certain kinds of
stimuli in their environments, but the absence of those stimuli does not always produce irreversible
consequences
The Relative Influence of Nature and
Nurture on Development
• the degree to which genetic or hereditary influences (nature) and experiential or environmental influences
(nurture) determine the kind of person you are.
Nature refers to traits, abilities, and capacities that are inherited from one’s parents. It encompasses any factor that
is produced by the predetermined unfolding of genetic information—a process known as maturation.
Nurture refers to the environmental influences that shape behavior. Some influences may be biological, such as the
impact of a pregnant mother’s use of cocaine on her unborn child or the amount and kind of food available to
children. Other influences are more social, such as the ways parents discipline their children and the effects of peer
pressure on an adolescent. Finally, some influences are a result of societal factors, such as the socioeconomic
circumstances in which people find themselves.
 Lifespan Approaches versus a Focus on
Particular Periods
• Early developmentalists tended to focus their attention on infancy and adolescence, largely to the exclusion of other parts of the
life span.
• Today, however, developmentalists believe the entire life span is important, largely because developmental growth and change
continue during every part of life
• Furthermore, to fully understand the social influences on a person of a given age, we need to understand the person’s social
environment—the people who in large measure provide continuous change gradual development in which achievements at one
level build on those of previous levels
• Development across the life span involves both gains and losses. With age, certain capabilities become more refined and
sophisticated, while others decline.
Lifespan Approaches versus a Focus on
Particular Periods (2/2)
• Development across the life span involves both gains and losses. With age, certain capabilities become more refined and
sophisticated, while others decline.
• Because of improvements in nutrition, sanitation, and medical knowledge, the average life expectancy ( the number of
years an individual born in a particular year can expect to live)
• Increasingly, researchers are envisioning development as a dynamic system-a perpetually ongoing process extending from
conception to death that is molded by a complex network of biological psychological, and social influence
 Basic Forces in Human Development:
The Biopsychosocial Framework
•Biological forces include all genetic and health-related factors that affect development.
•Psychological forces include all internal perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and personality factors
that affect development.
•Sociocultural forces include interpersonal, societal, cultural, and ethnic factors that affect
development.
•Life-cycle forces reflect differences in how the same event affects people of different ages.
 A leading dynamic systems approach is the lifespan
perspective. Four assumptions make up this broader view:
that development is

• (l) lifelong, -There are physical, cognitive, and emotional/social changes in each of the major periods
• (2) multidimensional and multidirectional- Multidimensional-Development is affected by an intricate blend of
biological, psychological, social forces.
• Multidirectional -At every period, development is a joint expression of growth and decline.
• (3) highly plastic - Evidence on plasticity shows that aging is not an eventual "shipwreck," as has often been
assumed. Instead, the metaphor of a "butterfly"-of metamorphosis and continued potential
• (4) influenced by multiple interacting force
Development Is Influenced by Multiple,
Interacting Forces
• Age-Graded Influences. Events that are strongly related to age and therefore fairly predictable in when they occur and how
long they last are called age-graded influences.
• History-Graded Influences. Development is also profoundly affected by forces unique to a historical era.. History-graded
influences explain why people born around the same time-called a cohort-tend to be alike in ways that set them apart
from people born at other times.
• Nonnormative Influences. - Normative means typical, or average. Age-graded and history-graded influences are
normative because each affects large numbers of people. Nonnormative influences are events that are irregular-they
happen to just one person or a few people and do not follow a predictable timetable. Consequently, they enhance the
multidirectionality of development
Scientific Beginnings
Charles Darwin (1809-1882):
Forefather of Scientific Child Study
THEORY OF EVOLUTION. -emphasized two related principles: natural selection and survival of the fittest.
• natural selection - certain species survive in particular environments because they have characteristics
that fit with, or are adapted to, their surroundings.
• survival of the fittest. – Other species die off because they are not well-suited to their environments.
Individuals within a species who best meet the survival requirements of the environment live long
enough to reproduce and pass their more beneficial characteristics to future generations.
• ,human evolution prompted researchers to make careful observations of all aspects of children's behavior.
As a result, scientific child study was born
The Normative Period
G. Stanley Hall (1844-1924)
•normative approach, in which measures of behavior are taken on large
numbers of individuals, and age-related averages are computed to
represent typical development.
The Mental Testing Movement

• French psychologist Alfred Binet (1857-1911) was also taking a normative approach –
• Binet and his colleague Theodore Simon were asked to find a way to identify children with
learning problems for placement in special classes. To address this practical educational concern,
they constructed the first successful intelligence test.
• Besides providing a score that successfully predicted school achievement, the Binet test sparked
tremendous interest in individual differences in development. And intelligence tests moved
quickly to the forefront of the nature-nurture controversy.
Mid-Twentieth-Century Theories
The Psychoanalytic Perspective

•According to the psychoanalytic perspective, people move through a series of stages in

which they confront conflicts between biological drives and social expectations. The
way these conflicts are resolved determines the individual's ability to learn, to get
along with others, and to cope with anxiety.
psychosexual theory

•which emphasized that how parents manage their child's sexual and
aggressive drives in the first few years is crucial for healthy personality
development.
•three parts of the personality-id, ego, and superego-become integrated during
five stages
Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory

•In his psychosocial theory, Erikson ( 1950) emphasized that in addition to

mediating between id impulses and superego demands, the ego acquires
attitudes and skills that make the individual an active, contributing member of
society. A basic psychological conflict, which is resolved along a continuum
from positive to negative, determines healthy or maladaptive outcomes at each
stage
Behaviorism and Social Learning
Theory
• According to behaviorism, directly observable events-stimuli and responses-are the appropriate
focus of study.
• Traditional Behaviorism. Watson was inspired by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov's studies of
animal learning. (classical conditioning.)
• Another form of behaviorism is B. F. Skinner's ( 1904-1990) operant conditioning theory.
According to Skinner, the frequency of a behavior can be increased by following it with a wide
variety of reinforcers,. It can also be decreased through punishment, such as disapproval or
withdrawal of privileges
Social Learning Theory.

• Albert Bandura, emphasizes modeling, also known as imitation or observational learning, as a

powerful source of development.
• social-cognitive - children gradually become more selective in what they imitate. From
watching others engage in self-praise and self-blame and through feedback about the worth of
their own actions, children develop personal standards for behavior and a Sense of self-
efficacy-the belief that their own abilities and characteristics will help them succeed.
Contributions and Limitations of
Behaviorism and Social Learning Theory.
• Behavior modification consists of procedures that combine conditioning and modeling to
eliminate undesirable behaviors and increase desirable responses.
• behaviorism and social learning theory have been criticized for neglecting people's
contributions to their own development. In emphasizing cognition, Bandura is unique among
theorists whose work grew out of the behaviorist tradition in granting children and adults an
active role in their own learning.
Piaget's Cognitive-Developmental Theory

• According to his cognitive-developmental theory, children actively construct knowledge as

they manipulate and explore their world.
• biological concept of adaptation (Piaget, 1 971). Just as structures of the body are adapted to
fit with the environment, so structures of the mind develop to better fit with, or represent,
the external world.
• According to Piaget, children eventually revise these incorrect ideas in their ongoing efforts to
achieve an equilibrium, or balance, between internal structures and information they
encounter in their everyday worlds.
Recent Theoretical Perspectives
information processing
• From the time information is presented to the senses at input until it emerges as a behavioral response at output,
information is actively coded, transformed, and organized.
• Like Piaget's cognitive-developmental theory, the information-processing approach regards people as active, sense-
making beings ( Halford, 2002). But unlike Piaget's theory, it does not divide development into stages. Rather, the thought
processes studied-perception, attention, memory, planning, categorization of information, and comprehension of written
and spoken prose-are regarded as similar at all ages but present to a lesser or greater extent.
• A great strength of the information-processing approach is its commitment to rigorous research methods. Because it has
provided precise accounts of how children and adults tackle many cognitive tasks, its findings have important implications
for education.
• Over the past two decades, information-processing research has expanded to include a new area of investigation called
developmental cognitive neuroscience. It brings together researchers from psychology, biology, neuroscience, and medicine
to study the relationship between changes in the brain and the developing person's cognitive processing and behavior
patterns.
Ethology and Evolutionary
Developmental Psychology
Ethology
• is concerned with the adaptive, or survival, value of behavior and its evolutionary history
• Imprinting - the early following behavior of certain baby birds, such as geese, that ensures that
the young will stay close to the mother and be fed and protected from danger.
• Imprinting takes place during an early, restricted period of development. If the mother goose is
absent during this time but an object resembling her in important features is present, young
goslings may imprint on it instead (Lorenz, 1952).
the critical vs sensitive period
• . A critical period is a limited time span during which the individual is biologically prepared to acquire certain adaptive
behaviors but needs the support of an appropriately stimulating environment.
• A sensitive period is a time that is optimal for certain capacities to emerge and in which the individual is especially
responsive to environmental influences
 evolutionary developmental psychology

• It seeks to understand the adaptive value of species wide cognitive, emotional, and social competencies as those competencies change
with age.
• evolutionary psychologists are not concerned just with the biological basis of development.
• They realize that humans' large brain and extended childhood resulted from the need to master an increasingly complex environment,
so they are also interested in learning (Blasi & Bjorklund, 2003).
• The evolutionary selection benefits of behavior are believed to be strongest in the first half of life-to ensure survival, reproduction, and
effective parenting.
• As people age, social and cultural factors become increasingly important in promoting and maintaining high levels of functioning
(Staudinger & Lindenberger, 2003).
Lev Vygotsky ( 1 896-1934)
Sociocultural theory, focuses on how culture-the values, beliefs, customs, and skills of a social group-is transmitted to the
next generation.
According to Vygotsky, social interaction- in particular, cooperative dialogues with more knowledgeable members of society-
is necessary for children to acquire the ways of thinking and behaving that make up a community's culture ( Rowe &
Wertsch, 2002).