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1. Lifespan Development
Jen Smith
Today
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Introductions
Syllabus
Textbook
E-mail
What is Psychology of the Lifespan?
Learning Goals for Today
1. Understand guidelines and schedule of
the course.
2. Describe the Lifespan Perspective of
development.
3. Understand how different historical ideas
about development affected children.
4. Describe the 3 basic key developmental
issues.
Lifespan Development
• Pattern of change that begins at
conceptions and continues through the life
cycle.
• The BIG question:
“Why do people turn out the way
that they do?”
Jo the Nanny
Nick Nolte
Paris Hilton
Andre 3000
old Japanese man
Meth addict
Do you believe that development is influenced by:
A. environment
B. biology
C. both
Historical Perspective
• Child Development
– Middle ages…original sin view
– End of the 17th Century….tabula rasa view
(John Locke)
– 18th Century…innate goodness view
(Rousseau)
So What?
• Implications of each of these views on
parenting?
– Bad child
– Blank tablet
– Innate goodness
Implications
• Original sin, born bad…salvation, remove
sin from the child’s life
• Tabula rasa….childhood experiences are
important in determining adult
characteristics…parents teach, spend time
• Innate goodness….children should be
permitted to grow naturally with little
parental monitoring or constraint
Today
• Childhood lays the foundation for the adult
years
• Distinct periods…shared characteristics
(e.g., we all walked at about 1 year)
Contemporary Concerns
• Health and well-being (e.g., exercise,
loneliness)
• Parenting
• Education
• Sociocultural Contexts; context, culture,
ethnicity and gender
• Political Policies…will they be good for our
children?
3 Key Developmental Issues
1. Nature v. Nurture
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Genetics vs. environment
2. Continuity v. Discontinuity
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Gradual changes or distinct stages
3. One Course v. Many Possible Courses
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One size fits all or many options for dev’t?
The Lifespan Perspective
Development is:
1. Lifelong
2. Multidimensional
biological
cognitive
socioemotional
3. Multidirectional (e.g., language)maintenance and decline
The 3 Multidimensional
Developmental Processes
• Biological….changes in individual physical
nature
• Cognitive…changes in individuals
thoughts, intelligence, and language
• Socioemotional ….changes in individual
relationships with other people, changes in
emotions, and changes in personality.
Development is also
• Contextual:
– Normative age-graded influences….biological
and environmental influence of a particular
age group (e.g., puberty, retirement)
– Normative history-graded influence…common
to particular generation (e.g., Role of women,
technology revolution)
– Non-normative life events…..major impacts
that are unique to individuals (e.g., death of
child, winning the lottery)
Healthy males experience puberty withn a
certain age range
A. Normative age-graded influence
B. Normative history-graded influence
C. Non-normative life event influence
Losing a parent in childhood
A. Normative age-graded influence
B. Normative history-graded influence
C. Non-Normative life event influence
Challenger space shuttle
explosion
A. Normative age-graded influence
B. Normative history-graded influence
C. Non-normative life event influence
Periods of development
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Prenatal period:
conception to birth
Infancy:
birth -2 years
Early childhood:
2 -6 years ( before school)
Middle and late childhood: 6 -11
Adolescent:
11 -18/20
Early Adulthood:
20 -40
Middle Adulthood: 40-65
Late Adulthood:
65 –death (retirement phase)
Question:
• What do you think is the best age to
be?
• Why?
Good News
Age is not related to happiness!
• Different ways to conceptualize age:
– Chronological age….years since birth
– Biological age….biological health
– Psychological age…adaptive capacities
– Social age….social roles and expectations
Re-cap: Learning Goals for Today
1. Understand guidelines and schedule of
the course.
2. Describe the Lifespan Perspective of
development.
3. Understand how different historical ideas
about development affected children.
4. Describe the 3 basic key developmental
issues.