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ESSENTIALS OF
LIFE-SPAN
DEVELOPMENT 6e
John W. Santrock
© 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Authorized only for instructor use in the classroom.
No reproduction or further distribution permitted without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Chapter 1
The life-span perspective to studying Human
Development
Adapted for PS102 – Developmental Psychology
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2
Learning Objective
Discuss the distinctive features of a life-span perspective on
development.
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Lesson Outline
The Life-Span Perspective
•
The importance of studying life-span development
•
Characteristics of the life-span perspective
•
Address contemporary concerns in the field
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The Importance of Studying Life-Span
Development
1
•
Prepares individual to take responsibility for children
•
Gives insight about individuals’ lives
•
Provides knowledge about what individuals’ lives will be like
as they age
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The Importance of Studying Life-Span
Development
2
Development
•
Pattern of change beginning at conception and continuing
throughout the life span
•
Involves growth and decline brought on by aging and dying
Life-span perspective
•
Involves growth, maintenance, and regulation
•
Constructed through biological, sociocultural, and individual
factors working together
•
Emphasis on developmental change throughout adulthood and
childhood
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Life Expectancy
1
The upper boundary of
human lifespan is 122 years.
Life expectancy is 79 years.
•
Prehistoric era average life
expectancy was 18 years.
•
People live longer in part
due to better sanitation,
nutrition and medicine.
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Characteristics of the Life-Span Perspective
Development is
•
Lifelong
•
Multidimensional
•
Multidirectional
•
Plastic
•
Multidisciplinary
•
Contextual
•
Co-construction of biological, sociocultural, and individual factors
•
A process involving growth, maintenance, and regulation of loss
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Types of Contextual Influences
Normative age-graded influences: similar for individuals
in a particular age group
• For example, starting school, puberty, menopause
Common generational experiences due to historical
events
• 1930’s Great Depression
• 1960s to 70s Civil and Women’s rights movements
• 9/11/2001 Terrorist attacks
Non-normative life events: unusual occurrences that
have a major life impact
• For example, losing a parent as a child, winning the lottery
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The Life-Span Perspective
1
Contemporary concerns
• Health and well-being
• For example, positive connection between exercise and
cognitive development
• Parenting and education
• For example, child care, parents’ relationship, early childhood
education
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Life Expectancy
2
Rapid increase in life expectancy has negative
implications on quality of life for older people.
• Society reflects the needs of younger people.
•
Parks, transportation systems, etc., are built assuming they
are used only by able-bodied people.
•
Planning and building does not consider needs of lowstrength or low-stamina people.
• Focus has been on what older adults lack, not what they can
contribute to society
•
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Older citizens can share expertise, motivation to make a
difference.
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The Life-Span Perspective
2
Sociocultural contexts and diversity
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Culture: interactions, behavior patterns, beliefs, and all
other products of a group passed on from generation to
generation
•
Cross-cultural studies: comparing aspects of cultures to
gain information about their developmental similarities
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The Life-Span Perspective
3
Ethnicity: based on cultural heritage, nationality characteristics, race,
religion, and language
• Positive impact of ethnic identity and negative impact of
discrimination on children’s development
Socioeconomic status: grouping of people with similar occupational,
educational, and economic characteristics
Gender: characteristics of people as males, females, or transgender,
and sociocultural challenges
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The Life-Span Perspective
4
Social policy: national government’s course of action designed to
promote the welfare of its citizens
• Social Policy Issues
• Increase in number of children living in poverty and resulting stressors
• Well-being of older adults
• Escalating health care costs
• Older adults’ access to adequate health care
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The Life-Span Perspective
5
Technology
• Impact on child’s development
• Recent dramatic increase in technology
for adults and children
Constant use of the internet, smart phones, advent of
social media and its impact
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