Download The Life-Span Perspective

Introduction
The Life-Span Perspective
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
The Life-Span
Perspective
What Is Life-Span
Development?
Historical Perspectives on
Life-Span Development
Characteristics of the
Life-Span Perspective
Some Contemporary
Concerns
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
The Life-Span Perspective
What is Life-Span Development?
Historical Perspectives on Life-Span Development
Characteristics of the Life-Span Perspective
Some Contemporary Concerns
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
What is Life-Span Development?
• The pattern of change that begins at
conception and continues through the life
cycle.
• It allows you to gain insight into your own
life as a child, adolescent, and young
adult.
• Life-span development is linked with many
different areas of psychology.
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Historical Perspectives on LifeSpan Development
• Child Development
• Traditional and
Life-Span
Approaches
• Life Expectancy
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Child Development
• Original Sin – children are perceived as
being basically bad, born into the world as
evil beings.
• Tabula Rasa – children are like a “blank
tablet,” and acquire their characteristics
through experience.
• Innate Goodness – children are
inherently good.
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Traditional and Life-Span
Approaches
• The traditional approach
emphasizes extensive
change from birth to
adolescence, little or no
change in adulthood, and
decline in late old age.
• The life-span approach
emphasizes
developmental change
during adulthood as well
as childhood.
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Life Expectancy
• Improvements in
sanitation, nutrition, and
medical knowledge has
extended life expectancy
by 25 years since before
the 20th century.
• The average life
expectancy in Canada is
79 years of age.
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Characteristics of the Life-Span
Perspective
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Development is lifelong
Development is multidimensional
Development is multidirectional
Development is plastic
Development is multidisciplinary
Development is contextual
Development involves growth,
maintenance, and regulation
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Development if Lifelong
• No age period dominates
development.
• Researchers increasingly study the
experiences and psychological
orientations of adults at different
points in their development.
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Development is Multidimensional
• There are biological dimensions.
• There are cognitive dimensions.
• There are socio-emotional
dimensions.
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Development is Multidirectional
• Some dimensions
or components of a
dimension increase
in growth.
• Some dimensions
or components of a
dimension
decrease in
growth.
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Development is Plastic
• Plasticity involves the degree to which
characteristics change or remain
stable.
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Development is Multidisciplinary
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Psychologists
Sociologists
Anthropologists
Neuroscientists
Medical Researchers
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Development is Contextual
• Normative agegraded influences
• Normative historygraded influences
• Non-normative life
events
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Development Involves Growth,
Maintenance, and Regulation
• The mastery of life involves conflict and
competition among three goals of human
development:
– Growth
– Maintenance
– Regulation
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Some Contemporary Concerns
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Health and Well-being
Research on Premature Infants
Parenting
Socio-cultural Contexts
Social Policy
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Health and Well-Being
-drug
and alcohol use during pregnancy
-genetic counselling
-women’s health issues
-ambiguous gender
-nutrition and fitness
-breast vs. bottle feeding
-addiction and recovery
-Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and effects
-loneliness
-school health programs
-at-risk adolescents
-adaptive physical skills in aging adults
-coping with death
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Research on Premature Infants
• Research
focuses on how
massage therapy
can facilitate
weight gain in
premature
infants.
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Parenting
• Daycare
• Working parents and latchkey
children
• Effects of divorce on children
• Blended families
• The best way to parent
• Child maltreatment
• Support systems for families
• Marital relationships
• Intergenerational relations
• Aging parents
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Socio-cultural Contexts
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Context
Culture
Ethnicity
Gender
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Context
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Homes
Schools
Peer groups
Churches
Cities
Neighbourhoods
University
laboratories
• Countries
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Culture
• The behaviour patterns, beliefs, and all
other products of a particular group of
people that are passed on from generation
to generation.
• Cross-cultural studies involve a
comparison of one culture with others to
provide information about the degree to
which development is similar across
cultures or is culture-specific.
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Ethnicity
• Based on
cultural heritage,
nationality
characteristics,
race, religion,
and language
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Gender
• The sociocultural
dimension of
being male or
female
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Social Policy
• A national government’s course of action
designed to influence the welfare of its
citizens.
• The shape and scope of social policy is
strongly tied to our political system.
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Generational Inequity
• An aging society’s unfairness to its
younger members due to older adults’
piling up advantages by receiving
inequitably large allocations of resources.
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.