Dev Psych Notes

• Life-span Development

  The concept of human development as a lifelong process, which can be studied scientifically. From "womb to tomb," comprising the entire human life span from conception to death. Can either be positive or negative.
• Goals of Human Development

  • To describe
  • To explain
  • To predict
  • To intervene
• Domains of Development

  • Physical Development
  • Cognitive Development (Mental Abilities)
  • Psychosocial Development
• Each domain/aspect/area of development affects the others. Development in one area sends ripples through all other areas.
• Division of life span into periods is a social construct.
• Typical Major Developments in 8 Periods of Human Development

  • Prenatal Period
  • Infancy and Toddlerhood
  • Early Childhood
  • Middle Childhood
  • Adolescence
  • Emerging and Young Adulthood
  • Middle Adulthood
  • Late Adulthood
• Periods of Development (4 Ages)

  • Childhood and Adolescence
  • Prime Adulthood (ages 20-59)
  • ~60 to 79 years old
  • ~80 years old and older
• Life-span developmentalists who focus on adult development and aging use the 4 ages periods of development.
• The major emphasis in the 4 ages is on the third and fourth ages, especially the increasing evidence that individuals in the third age are healthier and can lead more active, productive lives than their predecessors in earlier generations.
• When older adults reach their eighties (fourth age), especially 85 and over, health and well-being decline for many individuals.
• Contexts of Development

  • Family
  • Socioeconomic Status (SES)
  • Culture
  • Ethnicity and Race
  • Historical Context of Development
• Nuclear Family


  Two-generational kinship, economic, and household unit consisting of one or two parents and their children, whether biological, adopted, or stepchildren.
• Extended Family

  Traditional family form in many societies in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Multigenerational kinship network of parents, children, and other relatives, sometimes living together in an extended-family household.
• Polygamy

  Family structure in which one spouse, most commonly a man, is married to more than one partner. Primarily within Muslim countries.
• Socioeconomic Status (SES)

  Based on family income and the educational and occupational levels of the adults in the household.
• Culture

  A society's or group's total way of life, including customs, traditions, beliefs, values, language, and physical products—all learned behavior, passed on from parents to children. Constantly changing.
• Individualistic Cultures

  Priority on personal goals and encourage people to view themselves as distinct individuals.
• Collectivistic Cultures

  Prioritize collaborative social goals ahead of individual goals and to view themselves in the context of their social relationships.
• Ethnic Group

  A group united by ancestry, race, religion, language, or national origins, which contribute to a sense of shared identity.
• Ethnic Minorities

  Ethnic groups with national or cultural traditions different from the majority of the population. Often affected by prejudice and discrimination.
• Race

  A grouping of humans distinguished by their outward physical characteristics or social qualities from other groups. Not a biological construct.
• Historical Context of Development

  • Normative Age-Graded Influences
  • Normative History-Graded Influences
  • Nonnormative Influences
• Normative Age-Graded Influences


  Highly similar for people in a particular age group. Timing of biological events is fairly predictable within a normal range.
• Normative History-Graded Influences


  Significant events that shape the behavior and attitudes of a historical generation.
• Nonnormative Influences


  Unusual events that have a major impact on individual lives because they disturb the expected sequence of the life cycle. Either typical events that happen at an atypical time of life (death of a parent in childhood) or atypical events (surviving a plane crash).
• Imprinting (Konrad Lorenz)

  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. Result of the readiness of an organism's nervous system to acquire certain information during a brief critical period in early life.
• Critical Period

  Specific time when a given event or its absence has a specific impact on development.
• Sensitive Period

  Times in development when a person is particularly open to certain kinds of experiences.
• Principles of Life-Span Developmental Approach

  • Development is a lifelong process of change
  • Development is multidimensional
  • Development is multidirectional
  • Relative influences of biology and culture shift over the life span
  • Development involves changing resource allocations
  • Development shows plasticity
  • Development is influenced by the historical and cultural context
  • Developmental science is multidisciplinary
  • Development is a co-construction of biology, culture, and the individual factors working together
• Three Developmental Patterns of Aging

  • Normal Aging
  • Pathological Aging
  • Successful Aging
• Conceptions of Age

  • Chronological Age
  • Biological Age
  • Psychological Age (maturity)
  • Social Age
• Developmental Issues

  • Nature and Nurture
  • Stability and Change
  • Continuity and Discontinuity
• Heredity (nature)

  Inborn traits & characteristics inherited from our biological parents. Genetic roll of the dice.
• Environment (nurture)

  Totality of nonhereditary, or experiential, influence. Starting with the prenatal environment in the womb & continuous throughout the lifespan.
• Stability

  A result of heredity & early experiences in life.
• Change

  Takes a more optimistic view that later experiences can produce change.
• Continuity

  Development is gradual, continuous process. Allows for prediction about future characteristics.
• Discontinuity


  Development occurs in a series of distinct stages. Marked by the emergence of a new phenomenon that could not be easily predicted on the basis of past functioning.
• Reactive Development

  Conceptualize the developing child as a hungry sponge that soaks up experiences and is shaped by this input over time. Mechanistic Model - People are like machines that react to environmental input. Human behavior results from the operation of biological par

  
• Stability

  A result of heredity & early experiences in life