Chapter 9 Life Span Development I 11 16 2011 Studying Development Development psychology study of age related changes in behavior and mental processes from conception to death Life Span Development Prenatal conception to birth infancy birth to 18 months early childhood 18 months to 6 years middle childhood 6 12 years adolescence 12 20 years young adulthood 20 45 years middle adulthood 45 60 years later adulthood 60 years to death Theoretical Issues Ongoing Debates 1 Nature vs Nurture maturation development governed by automatic genetically predetermined signals NATURE SIDE critical period a period of special sensitivity to specific types of learning that shapes that capacity for future development NATURE SIDE tabula rasa blank state our minds are born with no pre genetic disposition environment writes on the slate 2 Continuity vs Stages development is continuous with new abilities skills and knowledge is gradually added CONTINUITY adult thinking and intelligence DIFFERS from a child s CONTINUITY development occurs at different rates alternating btw periods of little change and abrupt change STAGES 3 Stability vs Change stability in development measures personality taken during childhood can predict adult personality Research Methods Two Basic Approaches Cross sectional method measures individuals of various ages at one point in time and gives information about age differences Longitudinal method measures a single individual or group of individuals over an extended period and gives information about age changes Cross sectional Longitudinal Advantages gives information gives information about about age differences age changes quick sample less expensive typically larger increased reliability more in depth information per participant Disadvantage cohort effects are more expensive s difficult to separate time consuming restricted restricted generalizability measures behaviors at generalizability typically smaller sample and only one point in time dropouts over time GENDER CULTURE DIVERSITY Culture may be the most important determinant of development Human development like most areas of psychology cannot be studied outside its sociocultural context Each culture s ethnotheories are important determinants in behavior Culture is largely invisible to its participants Physical Development Prenatal Period and Early Childhood A Time of Rapid Change Prenatal Physical Development Germinal period first stage of prenatal development which begins with conception and ends with implantation in the uterus first two weeks Embryonic period second stage of prenatal development which begins after uterine implantation and lasts through the 8th week Fetal period third and final stage of prenatal development 8th week to birth which is characterized by rapid weight gain the fetus and the fine detailing of bodily organs and systems Hazards to Prenatal Development Maternal Factors Possible Effects on Embryo Fetus Newborn or Young Child Malnutrition Low birth weight malformations less developed brain greater vulnerability to disease Stress exposure Low birth weight hyperactivity irritability feeding Exposure to x rays Malformations cancer difficulties Legal and illegal drugs Inhibition of bone growth hearing loss low birth weight fetal alcohol syndrome mental retardation attention deficits in childhood and death Diseases Blindness deafness mental retardation heart and other malformations brain infection spontaneous abortion premature birth low birth weight and death Fetal alcohol syndrome combination of birth defects including organ deformities and mental motor and or growth retardation that results from maternal alcohol abuse Early Childhood Physical Development Brain Development the brain and other parts of the nervous system grow faster than any other part of the body during both prenatal development and the first two years of life Motor Development starts with simple reflexes voluntary control over reflexes natural maturation Sensory Perceptual Development bitter tastes around the age of two newborns can smell most odors and distinguish between sweet salty and sense of vision is poor Starts out at 20 200 and normally becomes 20 20 newborns can hear quite well at birth fetus can also hear in the womb possibility of fetal learning and some have advocated special stimulation for the fetus as a way of increasing intelligence creativity and general alertness Adolescence and Adulthood A Time of Both Dramatic and Gradual Puberty biological changes during adolescence that lead to an adult sized body and sexual maturity aka become a baby making creating machine Adolescence psychological period of development between childhood and Change Adolescence adult hood Middle Age Later Adulthood Menopause the cessation of the menstrual cycle which occurs btw 45 55 most physical changes in development are gradual and occur in the heart and arteries and sensory receptors cardiac output decreases bp increases visual acuity and depth perception declines hearing lessens smell and taste sensitivity decreases Cognitive Development Schema cognitive structures or patterns consisting of a number of organized ideas that grow and differentiate with experience Assimilation in Piaget s theory absorbing new information into existing schemas Accommodation in Piaget s theory adjusting old schemas or developing new ones to better fit with new information Stages of Cognitive Development Birth to Adolescence The Sensorimotor Stage Sensorimotor stage Piaget s first stage birth to approx 2 years in which schemas are developed through sensory and motor activities Object performance Piagetian term for an infant s understanding that objects or people continue to exist even when they cannot be seen heard or touched directly Preoperational Stage Preoperational stage Piaget s second stage roughly 2 to 7 characterized by the ability to employ significant language and to think symbolically but the child lacks operations reversible mental processes and thinking is egocentric and animistic 1 Concepts are not yet operational 2 Thinking is egocentric Egocentrism the inability to consider another s point of view which Piaget considered a hallmark of the preoperational stage 3 Thinking is animistic Concrete Operational Stage Concrete operational stage Piaget s third stage roughly 7 to 11 the child can perform mental operations on concrete objects and understand reversibility and conversation but abstract thinking is not yet present Conservation understanding
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