INTRODUCTION TO
LIFESPAN
DEVELOPMENT
PSY1201:Developmental Psychology
DEVELOPMENT PSYCHOLOGY
Also known as Human Development or Lifespan Development
Is the scientific study of ways in which people change, as well as
stay the same from conception to death
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DEVELOPMENT PSYCHOLOGY
Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has
expanded to include adolescence and more recently, aging and the
entire life span
Related to other fields and informs several applied fields in
psychology (educational psychology, psychopathology, forensic
developmental psychology, social psychology, cognitive
psychology, comparative psychology)
Draws from theories and research of several scientific fields
including biology, sociology, health care, nutrition and
anthropology
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LIFESPAN PERSPECTIVE
DEVELOPMENT IS LIFELONG. Change is apparent throughout the
lifespan. No single age period is more crucial, characterizes or
dominates human development.
DEVELOPMENT IS MULTIDIRECTIONAL. Humans change in many
directions. We may show gains in some areas of development,
while showing losses in other areas.
DEVELOPMENT IS MULTIDIMENSIONAL. We change across three
general domains/dimensions: physical, cognitive and psychosocial.
All three domains influence each other.
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LIFESPAN PERSPECTIVE
DEVELOPMENT IS MULTI-DISCIPLINARY. Human development is
such a vast topic of study that it requires the theories, research
methods and knowledge base of many academic disciplines.
DEVELOPMENT IS CHARACTERIZED BY PLASTICITY. Plasticity is all
about our ability to change and that many of our characteristics
are malleable.
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LIFESPAN PERSPECTIVE
DEVELOPMENT IS MULTI-CONTEXTUAL. Development occurs in many
contexts.
Normative, age-graded influences (toddler, adolescent, seniors).
Humans in a specific age-grade share particular experiences and
developmental changes.
Normative history-graded influences. The time period in which
you are born shapes your experiences.
Non-normative life-experiences. Despite sharing an age and
history with our peers, each of us also has unique experiences
that may shape our development.
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LIFESPAN PERSPECTIVE
Socio-economic Status (SES) – is a way to identify families, households,
based on their shared levels of education, income and occupation
Poverty level – is an income amount that is based on a set of income
that vary by family size
Culture – is the totality of our shared language, knowledge, material
objects and behavior
Ethnocentrism – the belief that our own culture is superior
and is a normal product of growing up in a culture
Cultural Relativity – is an appreciation for cultural differences
and the understanding that cultural practices are best
understood from the standpoint of that particular culture
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LIFESPAN PERSPECTIVE
Lifespan (longevity) refers to the length of time a species can
exist under most optimal conditions.
Life Expectancy is the predicted number of years a person
born in a particular time period can reasonably expect to
live
Chronological age – Based on the number of years since your
birth
Biological age – How quickly the body is aging
Psychological age – Our psychologically adaptive capacity
compared to others of our chronological age
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LIFESPAN PERSPECTIVE
Social age – based on the social norms of our culture and
the expectations our culture has for people of our age group
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Prenatal Development– conception occurs and development
begins, Understanding nutrition, teratogens or environmental
factors that can lead to birth defects and labor and delivery are
primary concerns.
Infancy and Toddlerhood – ones of dramatic growth and change
Early Childhood – the child is busy learning language, is gaining a
sense of self and greater independence and is beginning to learn
the workings of a physical world
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Middle and Late Childhood – The world becomes one of learning
and testing new academic skills and by assessing one’s abilities
and accomplishments by making comparisons between self and
others
Adolescence – Period of dramatic physical change marked by an
overall growth spurt and sexual maturation, known as puberty.
Cognitive change – adolescent begins to think of new possibilities
and consider abstract concepts.
Emerging adulthood – Continued identity exploration and
preparation for full independence from parents
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Early Adulthood – Intimate relationships, establishing families and
work
Middle Adulthood – A period in which ageing becomes more
noticeable and when many people are at their peak of productivity
in love and work
Late Adulthood –
Young old (65-84 y.o) – still relatively healthy, productive,
active and majority continue to live independently
Oldest old (85 y.o. and older)
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ISSUES IN LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENT
Nature VS Nurture (heredity VS environment)
Continuity VS Discontinuity (gradual process VS abrupt change)
Stage theories or discontinuous development – assume that
developmental change often occurs in distinct stages and in
a set, universal sequence (Freud, Erikson, Piaget, Kohlberg)
Continuous development – assume development is a more
slow and gradual process (Vygotsky)
Active VS Passive – some theorists see humans as playing a much more
active role in their development, behaviorists view humans as being
more passive in the developmental process
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ISSUES IN LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENT
Stability VS Change – some theorists argue the personality traits
of adults are rooted in the behavioral and emotional tendencies of
the infant and young child. Others believe that these tendencies
are modified by social and cultural forces over time
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HISTORICAL THEORIES ON DEVELOPMENT
Preformationist View – (18th century), children were merely
thought of as little adults
Preformationism is a belief that a tiny, fully formed human is
implanted in the sperm or egg at conception and then grows in
size until birth. The environment was thought to play no role in
determining development.
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HISTORICAL THEORIES ON DEVELOPMENT
John Locke (1632-1704)
Refuted the idea of innate knowledge and instead proposed
children as largely shaped by their social environment
Through education, a child learns socialization
Advocated thinking of a child as a “tabula rasa”
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HISTORICAL THEORIES ON DEVELOPMENT
Jean Jacques Rosseau (1712-1778)
Did not believe that children are blank slates but developed
according to a natural plan which unfolded in different stages
Children should be allowed to think by themselves according to
their own ways and an inner, biological timetable
The “father of developmental psychology”
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HISTORICAL THEORIES ON DEVELOPMENT
Arnold Gesell(1880-1961)
Studied the neuromotor development of children
Believed that child development is activated by genes and he
called this process “maturation”
Development unfolded in fixed sequences
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HISTORICAL THEORIES ON DEVELOPMENT
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
Emphasized the importance of early childhood experiences in
shaping our personality and behavior
We are biological beings and are driven primarily by our instincts
During childhood, we begin to become social beings as we learn
how to manage our instincts and transform them into socially
accepted behaviors
The ways in which parents interacted with children were assumed
to have a long-lasting impact on children’s emotional states
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HISTORICAL THEORIES ON DEVELOPMENT
Contemporary Theories on Development
Erik Erikson (1902-1994)
Broke with Freud’s emphasis on sexuality as the cornerstone of
social-emotional development and suggested that social
relationships fostered development
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HISTORICAL THEORIES ON DEVELOPMENT
Learning Theory (Behaviorism)
Based on the premise that it is not possible to objectively study
the mind and therefore psychologists should limit their attention to
the study of behavior itself
Burrhus Frederick (BF) Skinner (1904-1990) used the ideas of
stimulus and response along with the application of rewards and
punishments
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HISTORICAL THEORIES ON DEVELOPMENT
Social Learning Theory (learning by watching others)
Albert Bandura (1977)
Many of our actions are not learned through conditioning
Young children learn behavior through imitation
We are not just the product of our surroundings, rather we
influence our surroundings
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HISTORICAL THEORIES ON DEVELOPMENT
Cognitive Theory
Focuses on how our mental processes or cognitions change
overtime
Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
The first to recognize and map out the ways in which the children’s
intelligence differs from that of adults
Children progressed through four stages of cognitive development
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HISTORICAL THEORIES ON DEVELOPMENT
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HISTORICAL THEORIES ON DEVELOPMENT
Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)
His sociocultural theory emphasizes the importance of culture and
interaction in the development of cognitive abilities
Information-processing – based on the studies and research of several
cognitive scientists, studying how individuals perceive, analyze,
manipulate, use and remember information
This approach assumes that humans gradually improve on their
processing skills, cognitive development is continuous rather than stage
like
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HISTORICAL THEORIES ON DEVELOPMENT
Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917-2005)
Developed the Ecological Systems Theory which provides a
framework for understanding and studying many influences on
human development
Human interaction is influenced by larger social forces and that an
understanding of these forces is essential for understanding an
individual
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HISTORICAL THEORIES ON DEVELOPMENT
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HISTORICAL THEORIES ON DEVELOPMENT
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REFERENCE
Lally, Martha & French Suzanne Valentine (2022). Lifespan Development:
A Psychological Perspective (4th Edition)
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