VCU PSYC 304 - Lifespan Development (16 pages)

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Lifespan Development 08 27 2014 Lifespan Development the study of how and why we change and remain the same over the lifespan Conception to death Senescence universal things that happen to us as we age wrinkles thinning hair etc Wrinkles determined by genetics Development is multidirectional changes in many ways Increasing decreasing steady linear stages curved line unpredictable Also multicultural culture affects every aspect of our lives Is a result of dynamic systems o Dynamic systems things keep changing a change in one system may affect change in other or all aspects each system connected to everything else Family school health government economy religion jobs Bronfenbrenner and the Bio Ecological Model The environment has layers of influence some close up and direct others at distance Individual brings her own personal characteristics and responses to the situation changes the environment that she is in Microsystem people and places everything you own touch interact with o People interactions between the target person and the individual o Places immediate settings in which the individual develops o Very direct influence Mesosystem relationships between parts of the microsystem interchanges between two systems or two individuals who are outside the target o Ex child in the middle of two fighting parents or having a parent who doesn t like a boyfriend clash between work and class schedules Exosystem resources of the community town state large scale institutions impact is at a distance o Schools police jobs highways water supply hospitals wifi access Macrosystem overarching cultural economic legal influences o Political system laws religions lifestyle values economy war peace natural disaster technology weather Chronosystem time in history the broad sweep of time in history AND the influence of specific events o Ex civil war WWII 9 11 Influences move across levels does a child know about national economy o Recession macro local businesses fail exo dad loses job