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Lifespan Developmental Psychology Summary Notes - Lecture and Textbook....

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PSYC213 Summary- LOOK AT PREVIOUS PSYC AID SHEET Topic 1 – Understanding Lifespan Human Development Lecture What is Development? -

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Systematic changes and continuities in an individual that occur between conception and death o Change can be specific (first words) or general (wisdom)  Orderly and patterned o Constancy can be short (liking music when 12) or long term (introverted child and adult) = How they CHANGE or REMAIN THE SAME: physical growth, feelings, thoughts = You’re still the same person Development includes: o Growth o Biological aging

Domains of Development -

Physical: biological change (visible or not: physical body, hearing, walking etc) Cognitive: thinking, language ability and use, memory o Attribute abilities to individuals irrespective of context (good memory) Psychosocial: emotions, interpersonal relationships o Interactions changing between family and friends o Changes in sense of self

Periods of the Lifespan (based on subjective assumptions = suggestive groupings)

Age and Development: Sociocultural Perspective -

Culture o A society’s or group’s total way of life o Customs, traditions, language, beliefs and values, artwork o Learned behaviours passed on from parents to children = Each culture has its own way of dividing up lifespan and placing people in different age grades Age grade: a form of social organisation based on the age through which a person passes over the course of their lives = vary between traditions and societies

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Age Norms = social rules for age appropriate behaviour = Variety of social norms = rules of behaviour) & have 3 defining characteristics: 1. Shared 2. Obligatory (contain a should or ought element) 3. Positive or Negative sanctions (most likely punished for negative, praised for positive)

=> o Social clock: age-related goals and expectations o Stereotypes: generalisations about attributes of a group o Ageism: systematic stereotyping of and discrimination against people because of their age Sociohistorical Views of Development -

In Medieval times children had no status Expected to take adult roles at about 7 or 8 Important to understand perceptions within the context that they occurred Adolescence not recognised as a distinct stage = new middle period created

Developmental Diversity -

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Differences in development relate to: o Genetics, environment, social, cultural context Question of extent of influence of: o Nature  Genetically inherited traits, abilities  Emphasis on the process of maturation; biological development o Nurture  Environmental influences  Emphasis on learning; experiences cause changes Likelihood of joint influences in development

The Interplay of Nature and Nurture

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Brofenbrenner’s bioecological model: -

Microsystem: immediate environment (day to day interacts) Mesosystem: linkages between microsystems Exosystem: linkages between social systems Macrosystem: larger cultural context (beliefs) Chronosystem: changes occur in a timeframe

= The individual is both the product and producer of their environment Goals of Studying Development -

Description: typical development and individual differences Explanation: typical vs. individually different development Prediction: factors resulting in humans developing typically or differently Optimisation: positive development and enhanced capacity & preventing and overcoming difficulties

Modern-Day Lifespan Perspective The scientific study of how humans develop Development is: - A lifelong process = opportunities for growth - Is multidirectional - Involves both gain and loss - Is characterised by lifelong plasticity (capacity to change in response to neg and pos experience) - Is shaped by historical/cultural context - Is multiply influenced – adaptive

The Scientific Method A process of generating ideas and testing them - Preliminary observations provide ideas for a theory - Theories generate hypotheses A good theory should be: - Internally consistent, Falsifiable & Supported by data Research Methods - Quantitative: Objectively measurable data = standardised tests, physiological changes - Qualitative: Non-numerical data = feelings, beliefs (e.g. interviews, diaries) Both methods are valuable, depending on the research question asked Data Collection Methods: Verbal Reports: Interviews, written questionnaires, surveys, etc. - Shortcomings: o Cannot be used with infants, those who cannot read or understand speech, etc. o Results may reflect age differences o Responses may be socially desirable Behavioural Observation: Observing people in their natural surroundings (focus on occurring behaviour) - Limitations: o Cannot be used for rare or infrequent behaviours o Difficult to determine cause and effect o Presence of observer can influence the behaviour that is being observed Physiological Measurements: Measure electrical activity in the brain, heart rate, skin conductance, etc) - Advantages: o Hard to fake o Useful in study of non-verbal infants - Limitation: o Not always clear what’s being assessed

Case Study: In-depth examination of an individual or small number of individuals - Advantage: o Rich information about complex or rare aspects of development - Limitation: o Conclusions cannot be generalised The Experiment: One variable (IV) is manipulated in order to see what effect this has on the measured variable (DV) - Three critical features of true experiments: 1. Random assignment (vs. quasi experimental) 2. Manipulation of independent variable (IV) 3. Experimental control - Advantage: o Can establish cause and effect - Limitations: o Findings in a laboratory don’t always hold true in the real world = ethical principles

The Correlational Method: Are two or more variables related in a systematic fashion? - Strength of the relationship is expressed by the calculation of a correlation coefficient o An index of the extent to which one variable is systematically related to another variable - can range from +1.0 to -1.0 - Advantages: o Can be used when it’s unethical to manipulate o Allows and examination of multiple factors - Limitations: o Can’t establish a causal relationship o Third variable problem Cross-Sectional Designs: Compare performances of people of different cohorts - Advantages: o Quick and easy to conduct o Convenient, timely, inexpensive - Limitations: o Age and cohort effects are confounded o Don’t reveal how people change with age Longitudinal Designs: Compare the same people over time & tests or observations at several different times over the course of the research - Limitations: o Age and time of measurement effects o Costly and time-consuming o Measurement methods may become obsolete o Participants are lost (i.e., attrition) o Effects of repeated testing Sequential Studies - Combination of cross-sectional and longitudinal designs - Can reveal age effects - Can reveal cohort effects - Can reveal time of measurement effects

Challenges in Developmental Studies - Protecting the rights of research participants - Research ethics are standards of conduct that protect research participants from psychological or physical harm o Informed consent, Debriefing, Protection from harm, Confidentiality/anonymity - Conducting culturally sensitive research o Study samples of developing people from a variety of ecological settings, differing SES, etc. o Study different cultural and subcultural groups o Keep ethnocentrism from influencing one’s research Ethics Researchers are guided by: - Beneficence - Respect - Justice Researchers should be sensitive to participants’ developmental needs and cultural issues and values

Textbook Development: orderly patterns of change, as well as continuities that occur in an individual throughout their lifespan = results from a complex interplay of nature and nurture where both forces ‘co-act’ to produce development. 3 domains of development: 1. Physical: component of development concerned with physical and biological processes (genetic inheritance, growth of body, functioning of physiological systems – brain) 2. Cognitive: component of development concerned with thought and other mental and intellectual processes (perception, attention, language, learning, memory, intelligence) 3. Psychosocial: component of development concerned with aspects of the self, and social and interpersonal interactions (motives, emotions, personality traits, social skills) The three domains interwove and overlap that influence human development.  Growth: physical changes that occur from conception to maturity  Biological Aging: biological and physical deterioration of organisms that leads inevitable to their death Period of lifespan table – new defined period “emerging adulthood”: period of the lifespan from 18 – 25 years, when young people are neither adolescent nor adults and are exploring their identities, careers and relationships. Culture: a system of meanings shared by a population of people and transmitted from one generation to the next. Each culture has its own ways of dividing the life span and of treating the people in different age groups. Each socially-defined age group in a culture = age grade: defined age group or stratum, with distinct statuses, roles, privileges and responsibilities in society. Age Norms: expectations about what people should be doing or how they should behave at different points in the life span. 1. Social Clock: a personal sense of when things should be done in life and when the individual is ahead of or behind the schedule dictated by age norms. 2. Stereotypes: generalisations about the attributes of a group which are assumed to be true of all members regardless of individual variation among group members. 3. Ageism: prejudice or discrimination against individuals or groups on the basis of age. Socioeconomical Status (SES): the positon people hold in society based on such factors as income, education, occupational status and the prestige of their neighbourhood. Nature: refers to the influence on development of heredity: passing of traits to offspring from their parents or ancestors. Nature emphasises that development is largely a process of maturation: biological programmed by genes, rather by learning, injury, illness or other life experiences. Nurture: emphasises that developmental change in response to environment: events or conditions outside the person that are presumed to influence and be influenced by the person (external physical and social conditions) Interplay of Nature/Nurture = Bronfenbrenner Model = Bioecological Model of development 1. Microsystem: the immediate settings in which the person functions (day to day, home, school) 2. Mesosystem: the interrelationships between microsystems or immediate environments 3. Exosystem: settings not experienced directly by individuals but which still influence their development (social networks, media, relationships, neighbours, legal services) 4. Macrosystem: the larger cultural or subcultural context of development (social conditions, culture)

5. Chronosystem: the system that captures the way changes in environmental systems, such as social trends and life events, are patterned over a person’s lifetime = timeline of development Topic 2 – Theories of Human Development Lecture Learning Outcomes After completing this topic, you should be able to: - Describe the significant developmental issues on which theorists may take different positions - Identify some of the major theoretical viewpoints and identify the key theorists - Summarise distinctive features, contributions, and weaknesses of the major theories - Compare and contrast the major positions of the key theorists - Apply developmental viewpoints and theories as lenses through which development can be described, explained, and optimised What is a Theory? A set of orderly statements to describe, explain and predict behaviour in various domains. Qualities of a good theory: - Internally consistent - Provide meaningful explanations - Open to scientific evaluations - Stimulate new thinking and research - Provide guidance in application Key Developmental Themes - Nature (maturation) OR Nurture (experience) - Activity / Passivity = are children passive recipients of experience, or do we actively construct the way we develop? - Continuity / Discontinuity = process or stage = are we different people at different phases of our lives, or are we always the same just with more experience? - Universality / Context- specificity = in what way is development similar from person to person and from culture to culture, and in what ways does it differ depending on the social context?

Psychoanalytic Theories Freud: humans have instincts that motivate behaviour - Id: pleasure principle, impulsive, selfish part of personality - Ego: reality of principle, rational aspect that seeks to gratify instincts - Superego: conscience, internalised moral standards Erikson: expanded and refined Freud’s stages – “Neo-Freudian” - 8 stages, each stage associated with a crisis to be resolved - Development reversible - Differences with Freud: o Less emphasis on sexual urges o More positive, adaptive view of human nature o Development continues through adulthood

Psychoanalytic Theories: Contributions and Weaknesses Contributions - Emphasised unconscious processes - Emphasised importance of early experience and emotions - Erikson: emphasised interaction of biological and social influences Weaknesses - Not testable, ant not falsifiable - Describes development but not how it occurs

Learning Theories: long-lasting change in behaviour, based on experience or adaption to the environment Learning Theory: Behaviourism - We respond based on whether the situation is: painful or threatening & pleasurable - Associative learning Classical Conditioning: Watson = conditioning of fear - “Little Albert” o Albert liked the furry rat o Rat is then presented with a loud ‘CRASH’ o Albert cried because of the noise o Eventually, sight of the rat made Albert cry - “Pavlov’s Cats” Operant Conditioning: Skinner = behaviourism: conclusions should be based on observable behaviour - Learners behaviour is more/less probable depending upon contingent consequences o Reinforcement/punishment - Strengthens response; increases likelihood of behaviour reoccurring o Can be positive or negative  Positive: giving a reward (treat)  Negative: removing something aversive (no chores for A+) - Weakens response; decreases likelihood of behaviour reoccurring o Can be positive or negative  Positive: adding something aversive (smacking)  Negative: removing something pleasant (time out) Social Cognitive Theory: Bandura - Emphasises the motivating, self-regulating role of cognitive - Observational learning o Accomplished by observing models (imitation modelling) o Bobo doll study

o More aspects of social cognitive theory: human agency, selfefficacy & reciprocal determinism   

Learning Theories: Contributions & Weaknesses Contributions: - Theories are precise/testable - Principles apply across the lifespan - Practical applications are possible Weaknesses: - Inadequate accounts of developmental changes - Little consideration of genetics and maturation Humanistic Theories: emphasises the inherent “goodness” in people Maslow: hierarchy of needs  Humanistic Theories: Contributions & Weaknesses Contributions: - Focused on psychological wellness as more than simply absence of disease - Focus on positive dimensions - Foundation for positive psychology Weaknesses: - Initial theories and concepts too broad and hard to measure - University of hierarchy questioned

Cognitive Theories: focus on how thinking and problem-solving skills develop (Piaget theory) Piaget - Clinical method: combining observation with flexible questioning - Interaction between biological maturation and experience is responsible for developmental progress from one stage to the next (social transmission) Typical Age Range Birth to 2 years

2 to 7 years

7 to 11 years

12 to adulthood

Description of Stage Sensorimotor Experiencing the world through senses and actions (looking, hearing, touching, mouthing and grasping) Preoperational Representing things with words and images; using intuitive rather than logical reasoning Concrete Operational Thinking logically about concrete events; grasping concrete analogies and preforming arithmetical operations Formal Operational Abstract reasoning

Developmental Phenomena Object permanence Stranger anxiety

Pretend play Egocentrism

Conservation Mathematical Transformation

Abstract Logic Potential for mature moral reasoning

Vygotsky - Disagrees with universal stages - Cognitive development is shaped by sociocultural context - Social constructivism Information Processing Approach - Examines fundamental processes of attention, memory, decision making, etc. Theories of Adult Cognitive Development Cognitive Theories: Contributions & Weaknesses Contributions: - Well researched, mostly supported - Influenced education and parenting - Vygotsky highlighted importance of social interaction and culture Weaknesses: - Too little consideration of motivation/emotion - Piaget underestimated some abilities - Little emphasis upon parents and caregivers

Systems Theories - Brofenbrenner’s bioecological model (lecture 1) - Gottlieb’s epigenetic psychobiological systems perspective - Evolutionary theory considers how characteristics and behaviours may have been adaptive in the past Gottlieb - Development is the product of interacting biological and environmental influences - Genes and environment interact o Epigenesist: ‘over and above’ genes

Cognitive Theories: Contributions & Weaknesses Contributions: - Calls attention to transactions between individual and environment Weaknesses: - Only partially formulated and tested - No coherent developmental theory Theories in Perspective - Freud, Erikson & Piaget o Stage theorists o Biological – maturational forces o Parents are supporters of development - Watson, Skinner & Bandura o Learning theorists o Emphasis environment more than biology o Parents are children’s trainers - Vygotsky, Maslow & Systems/Information Processing Theorists o Biology and environment are inseparable components of a larger system o Parents are partners with their children in the development process

Comparison & Implications - Theories help to systematically organise ideas - Theorists can stimulate new thinking and guide understandings and professional practice - No one theory can provide a complete explanation, but together may be complementary Comparing the Theorists Textbook 4 Issues in Human Development 1. Nature and Nurture: To what extent is development primarily the product of genes, biology and maturation (nature) – or of experience, learning and social influences (nurture)? BOTH?? 2. Activity and Passivity: How much do humans actively shape their own environments and contribute to their own development – or are they more passive and shaped by forces beyond their control? 3. Continuity and Discontinuity (process or stage): To what extent do humans change gradually and in quantitative ways – or progress through qualitatively different stages and change dramatically into different beings? = Continuity theorists argue that developmental changes are gradual and quantitative (a process), whereas discontinuity theorist argue they are more abrupt and qualitative, progress through developmental stages a. Developmental stages: distinct phase of development characterised by a set of abilities, motives, emotions or behaviours that form a coherent pattern. 4. Universality and Context Specify: In what ways is development similar form person to person and from culture to culture, and in what ways do pathways of development vary considerably depending on the social context? = Are developmental changes common to all humans (universal) or different across cultures, communities, families and individuals (context specific). Psychoanalytic Theories Theoretic...