Human development: focuses on the scientific study of the systematic process of change and stability in people.Life-span development: concept of human development as a lifelong process which can be studied scientificallyDomains of DevelopmentThree major domainsPhysicalCognitivePsychosocialPhysical development: growth of body and brain, including motor skills and healthCognitive development: pattern of change in mental abilities, such as learning, memoryClosely related to physical, emotional, and social factorsPsychosocial development: pattern of change in emotionsSocial construction: there is no defined moment when a child becomes an adult or young person becomes oldThe concept of childhood itself is a social constructionDuring early childhood, children gain more self-control and become interested in other childrenDuring middle childhood, control over behavior shifts from parent to child, and the peer group becomes importantTypical Major DevelopmentsPrenatal period(conception to birth): physical growth is the most rapid in the life spanInfancy and Toddlerhood(birth to age 3): abilities to learn and remember are present in early weeks, shift from dependence toward autonomyEarly childhood(3-6): thinking is ego-centric, gender identity developsMiddle Childhood(6-11): growth slows, common respiratory illnesses, egocentrism diminishesAdolescence(11-20): physical growth and other changes are rapid and profound, search for identity/sexual identity becomes centralEmerging and Young Adulthood(20-40): everything is pretty stable but changes in personality may be influenced by events, lifestyle choices influence health.Middle Adulthood(40-65): Mental abilities peakLate Adulthood(65 and over): Search for meaning in life assumes central importance, health and physical abilities declineInfluences on DevelopmentIndividual differences: differences in characteristics, influences, and developmental outcomesPeople differ in gender, height, weight, body build, health/energy level, ect.Heredity, Environment, and MaturationInfluences on development…Heredity: inborn traits or characteristics inherited from the biological parentsEnvironment: totality of non-heredity or experientialNature vs. nurtureMaturation: unfolding of a natural sequence of physical and behavioral changesInfluences brain developmentContexts of developmentNuclear family: household unit consisting of one or two parents and their childrenSocioeconomic status: combination of economic and social factors describing and individual or family. Includes income, education, and occupationRisk factors: conditions that increase the likelihood of a negative developmental outcomeRace is a factor in research because it makes a difference in how individuals are treated, employment opportunities, quality of healthcareEthnic gloss: overgeneralization that obscures or blurs such variationsNormative and Non-normative influencesNormative influences: biological or environmental events that affect many or most people in a society in similar ways and eventsCohort: group of people born at the same timeNon-normative: unusual events that have a major impact on individual lives because they disturb the expected sequence of the life cycleTiming of Influences: Critical or Sensitive PeriodsImprinting: instinctive form of learning in which during a critical period in early development, a young animal forms an attachment to the first moving object it sees, usually the mother.Duck exampleCritical period: specific time when a given event, or the absence of an event, has a specific impact on development.If a necessary event does not occur, normal development will not occurMany aspects of development have been known to show plasticity: range of modifiability in performanceSensitive periods: times in development when a person is especially responsive to certain kinds of experiencesPaul B. Balte’s Life-Span Developmental ApproachDevelopment is …lifelong, multidimensional(social, biological, psychological), multidirectional(grow in one area, lose in another), relative influences of biology and culture shift over lifespan, involves changing resource allocations, shows plasticity(things can be improved with training), influenced by historical and cultural contextBasic Theoretical IssuesScientific theory of development is a set of logically related concepts that seek to describe and explain development and predict the kinds of behaviors that might occur under certain conditionsTheories inspire further research and predict its results by generating hypothesesBased on assumptions that may or may not turn out to be trueHypotheses: possible explanation for phenomena, used to predict the outcome of researchThe way theorists explain development depends on their assumptions about:1. Whether people are active or reactive in their own development2. Whether development is continuous or occurs in stagesIssue 1: Is development active or reactive?John Locke said a young child is a “Blank slate” on which society “Writes”Jean Jacques Rousseau believed children develop according to their own natural tendencies if not corrupted by society^both views are too simplistic. Children have internal drives and needs that influence development. They are social animals who cannot develop optimally in isolationMechanistic ModelLocke’s and Rousseau’s philosophies led to two contrasting models of development1. Mechanistic: people are like machines that react to environmental input. No free will, react automatically2. Organismic: people are active and growing, they initiate events (not just react) driving force for change is internal.Environmental influences don’t CAUSE development but can speed it up or slow it downIssue 2: is development continuous or discontinuous?Mechanistic theorists see development as continuous, allows prediction of earlier behaviors from later onesQuantitative change: changes in number or amount, such as height, weight, size of vocab, or frequencyQuantitative researchers measures how much a person can remember rather than how memory operatesQualitative change: discontinuous changes in kind, structure, or organizationCannot be anticipated easily…ex) the change from a nonverbal child to one who understands words and can communicateTheoretical PerspectivesFive major perspectivesPsychoanalytic- focuses on unconscious emotions and drivesLearning- studies observable behaviorCognitive-analyzes thought processesEvolutionary/sociobiological- considers evolutionary and
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