Chapter 9:
Life Span Development
I. Methods in Developmental Psychology
A. Developmental Psychology:
The study of the physical and psychological changes that occur in people from birth through old
age
B. Research methods in developmental psychology
1. Cross-sectional Studies: Examines subjects of different ages at same time
2. Longitudinal Studies: Examines same subjects at different ages
3. Biographical/Retrospective Studies:
Reconstructs subjects’ past through interviews
C. Assumptions of Stage Theories of Development
1. Each stage is a structured whole, defined by a characteristic theme or set of activities.
2. Each stage is qualitatively different from and more complex than the previous stage.
3. Each stage is more adaptive than the previous stage.
4. Each stage subsumes and integrates the abilities of the previous stage.
D. Characteristics of Stage Theories of Development
1. The sequence of stages is universal.
2. The sequence of stages is invariant, although the duration of stay at each stage can vary
individually.
3. Normal children reach the last stage.
4. Normal children do not regress from a higher stage to a lower stage.
II. Prenatal Development
A. Biological aspects and terms
1. Fertilized Egg: conception to 2 weeks
2. Embryo: 2 weeks to 3 months
3. Fetus: 3 months to 9 months
B. Critical periods when fetus can be affected by harmful substances/diseases: alcohol, drugs,
rubella
III. The Newborn Baby
A. Basic Reflexes of the Neonate:
Rooting, Sucking, Swallowing, Grasping, Stepping
B. Temperament/Personality
1. Individual differences?
Easy, Difficult, Slow-to-warm-up, Shy
2. Not always hereditary
C. Perceptual Abilities of Infants
1. Vision
a. Human infants are born with their eyes open and functioning
(1) At birth: Gaze at nearby objects
(2) Track slowly moving objects and people.
(3) Range = 7 to 15 in. Can't focus, but does have color vision.
b. By 3-4 months: Distance perception and binocular vision.
c. By 6-8 months, infants can see as well as the average college student
d. Takes 3-4 years for the visual system to fully develop.
e. Have visual preferences
(1) New pictures rather than old
(2) Clear contrasts
(3) Simple patterns
(4) Own mother rather than stranger
2. Depth perception: Visual Cliff Research
3. Other Senses
a. Ears work even before birth
b. Can tell the direction of a sound
c. By 4-5 months: integrates sound and video so that they can locate sound in dark
without visual cues
d. Infants are tuned into sounds of human speech.
e. Overall perceptual abilities improve during development
IV. Infancy and Childhood
A. Physical Development
From head downward, from center outward
B. Motor Development
C. Cognitive Development
Piaget's Stage Theory of Cognitive Development
1. Assumptions
a. Biological metaphor: development a function of maturation and adaptation
b. Learning is adaptation and organization, not just a passive process.
c. Equilibration as motivation
d. Assimilation: Interpreting new information in terms of old.
e. Accommodation: Adjustment to new information by reorganizing cognitive
structure.
2. Characteristics of the Four Major Stages of Cognitive Development
3. Criticisms
D. Moral Development
1. Kohlberg's Stage Theory of Moral Development
a. Methodology
b. Levels:
Pre-conventional (Stage 1, Stage 2)
Conventional (Stage 3, Stage 4)
Post-conventional (Stage 5, Stage 6)
2. Criticisms
E. Theories of Language Development
1. Skinner's behavioral theory-operant conditioning
2. Chomsky's cognitive theory
Language Acquisition Device (LAD) -an internal mechanism for processes speech
that is “hard-wired” into all human beings. The LAD facilitates language learning
and makes it universal.
3. Second language acquisition and critical periods?
Earlier is better
V. Erik Erikson’s Stages of Personality Development (see also pp. 361-362)
A. Stage theory
1. Developmental “crisis” in each stage
2. Successful personality development depends on satisfactory resolution
B. Eight stages (see table on p. 323)
VI. Social Development
A. Parent-Child Relations in Infancy: Attachment
1. Children who are securely attached to their mothers are more likely to explore an
unfamiliar environment.
2. Erikson’s stage of Autonomy versus Shame and Guilt.
B. Parent-Child Relations in Childhood
1. Baumrind (1972)
a. Authoritarian: children are withdrawn and distrustful
b. Permissive -- indifferent: children grow up overly dependent
c. Permissive -- indulgent: children grow up disrespectful and impulsive
d. Authoritative -- good balance, healthy children, self-reliant and socially
responsible
2. Relations with Other Children
a. solitary play
b. parallel-play
c. cooperative play
d. peer group
3. Sex-role Development
C. Television and Children
VII. Adolescence
A. Physical Changes
1. Growth Spurt
2. Sexual Development
3. Early and Late Developers
4. Adolescent Sexual Activity
5. Teenage Pregnancy
B. Cognitive Changes
1. Increased ability to reason abstractly, understand and manipulate abstract concepts,
speculate about alternatives, and reason in hypothetical terms.
2. Piaget’s stage of formal operations
C. Personality and Social Development: Forming an Identity
Marcia (1980)
1. Identity Achievement
2. Identity Foreclosure
3. Identity Moratorium
4. Identity Diffusion
D. Problems of Adolescence
1. Declines in Self-Esteem
2. Depression and Suicide
3. Youth violence
VIII. Adulthood
A. Love, Partnerships, and Parenting:
Erikson’s Stage of “Intimacy versus Isolation.”
1. Partnerships
2. Parenthood
3. Ending a relationship
B. The World of Work
1. Effects of Work
2. Dual Career Families
C. Personality Changes
Erikson’s stage of “Generativity versus Stagnation.”
1. Midlife Crisis
2. Levinson's model: midlife transition
D. The “Change of Life”
1. Women: sharp decline in female hormone estrogen around age 45; menopause, bone
thinning
2. Men: gradual decline in male hormone testosterone (30-40% between age 48 and 70);
increased risk of prostate cancer and heart disease
IX. Late Adulthood
A.
Physical Changes
B. Social Changes
1. Most men and women over 65 live autonomous lives apart from children, outside
nursing homes, and enjoy their lives.
2. Retirement
3. Sexual behavior
C. Cognitive Changes
1. Intellectual functioning
a. Sharpest decline is in mathematics. Smallest decline in spatial abilities.
b. At age 80 only 1/8th lower than at 50 year of age.
2. Alzheimer's disease
D. Facing the End of Life
1. Views of Death by Individuals in Late Adulthood
2. Stages of Dying (after Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, 1969)
a. Denial
b. Anger
c. Bargaining
d. Depression
e. Acceptance
3. Widowhood