Chapter 1: Introduction

to Lifespan Development

Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective

By Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French (Published 2017)
In this chapter:

◻ The lifespan perspective

� Periods of development
� Theories of development
What is developmental psychology?

◻ Scientific study of how people change

� Multiple areas (cognition, emotional control, etc.)
� Also concerned with what causes changes
� May focus on specific age group or entire lifespan
� May also look at how people don’t change
Key questions

◻ Qualitative or quantitative differences?

� Do children think differently than adults or just have less
knowledge?
◻ Continuous or discontinuous?
� Is change gradual or marked by distinct stages?
◻ Nature or nurture?
� Is development innate or affected by experience?
Learning objectives: The lifespan
perspective
◻ Explain the lifespan perspective and its assumptions
about development
◻ Differentiate periods of human development
◻ Explain the issues underlying lifespan development
◻ Identify the historical and contemporary theories
impacting lifespan development
The lifespan perspective (Baltes, 1987)

◻ Development is lifelong
� No one age period is more important than another
◻ Development is multidirectional
� Includes both gains and losses
◻ Development is multidimensional
� Physical – Body growth, immune function, motor skills
� Cognitive – Attention, memory, language, intelligence
� Psychosocial – Self-perception, relationships
The lifespan perspective (Baltes, 1987)
(continued)
◻ Development is multidisciplinary
� Involves fields such as biology, sociology, and medicine
◻ Development is characterized by plasticity
� Plasticity – Many of our characteristics are malleable and
can be changed
◻ Development is multicontextual
� Affected by circumstances such as time and socioeconomic
status
Contexts of development (Baltes,
1987)
◻ Normative age-graded influences
� Changes experienced by people in a certain age group (e.g.,
learning to talk, puberty, retirement)
◻ Normative history-graded influences
� Changes experienced by people alive at a certain time (e.g.,
war, epidemics, economic recession)
� Cohort - A group of people born at roughly the same
period in a particular society
◻ Non-normative life influences
� Individual experiences (e.g., illness, winning the lottery)
 Which generation (cohort) are you?
An overview of different generations based on birth years and
characteristics.
•The Greatest Generation – born 1901-1924.

•The Silent Generation – born 1925-1945.

•The Baby Boomer Generation – born 1946-1964.

•Generation X – born 1965-1979.

•Millennials – born 1980-1994.

•Generation Z – born 1995-2012.

•Gen Alpha – born 2013 – 2025.

The Greatest Generation
Born 1901-1924:
- Known for resilience during WWII and the Great Depression.
- Celebrated for duty, sacrifice, and strong work ethic.

The Silent Generation

Born 1925-1945:
- Grew up during the Great Depression and WWII.
- Known for traditional values, discipline, and conformity.
- Focused on stability.

The Baby Boomer Generation

Born 1946-1964:
- Post-WWII economic expansion.
- Cultural revolutions and civil rights movements.
- Expansion of consumerism.
Generation X
Born 1965-1979:
- Known as the 'latchkey generation'.
- Independent, resourceful, and skeptical.
- Witnessed the rise of technology.

Millennials
Born 1980-1994:
- Also known as Generation Y.
- Grew up with the internet.
- Adaptable, value work-life balance and experiences.

Generation Z
Born 1995-2012:
- First to grow up with smartphones and social media.
- Tech-savvy, socially aware, and diverse.

Gen Alpha
Born 2013-2025:
- Growing up with advanced technology and AI.
- Expected to be the most educated and tech-savvy generation.
Socioeconomic status

◻ Identifier based on shared levels of education, income,

and occupation
◻ People of similar SES are often similar in other ways
(e.g., parenting styles, where they live, stressors)
◻ Higher SES associated with more control and less stress
◻ Lower SES associated with poorer health and lower life
expectancy due to poor diet, dangerous jobs, lack of
medical care, etc.
Culture

◻ Totality of shared language, knowledge, material objects,

and behavior
� Ideas about right and wrong
� Social interaction behaviors
� Food, music, and activity preferences
� Beliefs about achievement and success
◻ Culture is learned from the people around us
◻ Helps members function in their society
Culture (continued)

◻ Ethnocentrism – Belief that one’s own culture is superior

to other cultures
◻ Cultural relativity
� Appreciation for cultural differences
� Understanding that cultural practices are best understood
from the standpoint of that particular culture
Lifespan vs. life expectancy

◻ Lifespan (longevity)
� The length of time a species can exist under the most
optimal conditions
� Species-specific
◻ Life expectancy
� Predicted number of years a person born in a particular time
period can reasonably expect to live
� Affected by behavior, experiences, individual genetic
factors
Conceptions of age

◻ Chronological age - The number of years since your birth

◻ Biological age – How quickly your body is aging
◻ Psychological age – Psychologically adaptive capacity
compared to others of our chronological age
◻ Social age - Based on the social norms of our culture and
the expectations our culture has for people of our age
group
Periods of development

◻ Prenatal – Conception to birth

◻ Infancy and toddlerhood – Birth to 2 years of age
◻ Early childhood – 2 to 6 years of age
◻ Middle childhood – 6 years of age to puberty
◻ Adolescence – From onset of puberty to age 18
◻ Emerging adulthood – 18 to 25 years of age
◻ Early adulthood – 25 to 40 or 45 years of age
◻ Middle adulthood – 40-45 to 60-65 years of age
◻ Late adulthood – Age 65 and older
Table 1.2
Age periods of development
Age Period Description
Prenatal Starts at conception, continues through implantation
in the uterine wall by the embryo, and ends at birth.
Infancy and Toddlerhood Starts at birth and continues to two years of age
Early Childhood Starts at two years of age until six years of age
Middle and Late Childhood Starts at six years of age and continues until the
onset of puberty
Adolescence Starts at the onset of puberty until 18
Emerging Adulthood Starts at 18 until 25
Early Adulthood Starts at 25 until 40-45
Middle Adulthood Starts at 40-45 until 60-65
Late Adulthood Starts at 65 onward
Issues in development: Nature and
nurture
◻ Question about causes of development – Why are we the
way we are?
� Nature perspective - Heredity plays the most important role
in causing a trait/behavior
� Nurture perspective – The environment is most significant
in shaping the way we are
◻ Many things are caused by interaction of nature and
nurture
Issues in development: Continuity vs.
discontinuity
◻ Question about the course of development – Gradual
process or abrupt change?
◻ Continuous
� Development is a slow and gradual process
◻ Discontinuous
� Developmental change often occurs in distinct stages
� Stages are qualitatively different from each other
� Stages occur in a set, universal sequence
Figure 1.6
Continuous and discontinuous
development

◻ The tree represents continuous development, while the

ladybug represents discontinuous/stage development
Issues in development: Active vs.
passive
◻ How much of a role do we play in our development?
◻ Active – We construct our experiences
◻ Passive – We are affected by the environment or our
genes with little control
Issues in development: Stability vs.
change
◻ How much do we change as we develop?
◻ In what ways do we change?
◻ Stability perspective – We change very little from
childhood to adulthood
◻ Change perspective – Initial tendencies modified by
experiences
Historical theories of development

◻ Preformationism - A tiny, fully formed

human is implanted in the sperm or egg
at conception and then grows in size
until birth
� Assumes infants are born with all
capabilities intact
� Environment plays no role in
development
Historical theories of development
(continued)
◻ Tabula rasa (blank slate) – John Locke
� Child’s mind entirely shaped by environment
� Early experiences important
◻ Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s theory
� Development occurs on biological timetable
� Children should be allowed to develop naturally
Historical theories of development
(continued)
◻ Maturational theory – Arnold Gesell
� Development activated by genes
� Development occurred in fixed sequences
◻ Freud’s psychosexual theory
� Must learn to transform biological instincts into socially
acceptable behaviors
� Early experiences important
Contemporary theories of development

◻ Erikson’s psychosocial theory

� Each period of life has a unique challenge (psychosocial
crisis) that must be managed
� Resolution of early crises may affect later crises
Table 1.3
Erikson’s psychosocial stages
Age range Psychosocial crisis Positive resolution of crisis
Birth to 12 to 18 Trust versus Mistrust The child develops a feeling of trust in his or her caregivers.
months
18 months to 3 years Autonomy versus The child learns what he or she can and cannot control and
shame/doubt develops a sense of free will.
3 to 6 years Initiative versus Guilt The child learns to become independent by exploring,
manipulating, and taking action.
6 to 12 years Industry versus The child learns to do things well or correctly according to
inferiority standards set by others, particularly in school.
12 to 18 years Identity versus role The adolescent develops a well-defined and positive sense of
confusion self in relationship to others.
19 to 40 years Intimacy versus The person develops the ability to give and receive love and
isolation to make long-term commitments.
40 to 65 years Generativity versus The person develops an interest in guiding the development
stagnation of the next generation, often by becoming a parent.
65 to death Ego integrity versus The person develops acceptance of his or her life as it was
despair lived.
Contemporary theories of development
(continued)
◻ Piaget’s cognitive theory
� Children of different ages interpret the world differently
� Changes caused by maturation, not training
Table 1.4
Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
Stage Approximate age Characteristics Stage attainments
range
Sensorimotor Birth to about 2 years The child experiences the world through Object permanence
the fundamental senses of seeing,
hearing, touching, and tasting.
Preoperational 2 to 7 years Children acquire the ability to internally Theory of mind; rapid
represent the world through language increase in language
and mental imagery. They also start to ability
see the world from other people’s
perspectives.
Concrete 7 to 11 years Children become able to think logically. Conservation
operational They can increasingly perform
operations on objects that are real.
Formal 11 years to adulthood Adolescents can think systematically, Abstract logic
operational can reason about abstract concepts, and
can understand ethics and scientific
reasoning.
Contemporary theories of development
(continued)
◻ Information processing theory
� Cognitive development is continuous
� We’re born with the ability to notice stimuli, store, and
retrieve information
� Brain maturation and experiences develop our information
processing system
Contemporary theories of development
(continued)
◻ Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory – Individuals
function in and are impacted by systems
� Microsystem – Immediate settings and people
� Mesosystem – Organizational structures (e.g., school,
religion) that affect microsystem
� Exosystem – Community’s values, history, and economy
� Macrosystem – Influence of culture
� Chronosystem – Influence of time
Figure 1.11
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory