Chapter One
Introduction
PowerPoints prepared by Cathie Robertson, Grossmont College
Studying the Life Span:
Five Characteristics
• The study of human development is
the science that seeks to understand
– how and why all kinds of people change
over time
– how and why they remain the same
– the generalities and the specifics
• Focus is on all kinds of people
- age, socioeconomic status, gender,
ethnicity, sexuality, background, culture,
and nationality
Studying the Life Span:
Five Characteristics, cont.
• Change from conception to death—the
five characteristics
– A Life-Span Perspective
•
•
•
•
multidirectional—nonlinear progression (1)
multicontextual—a number of contexts (2)
multicultural—many cultural settings (3)
multidisciplinary—many academic disciplines
contribute data (4)
• plasticity—change through the life span (5)
Multidirectional (1)
• Each aspect of life is multidirectional
– physical health, intellectual growth, and
social interaction
– up, down, stable or erratic
• Dynamic Systems
– process of continual change within a
person or group, in which each change is
connected systematically to every other
development in each individual and every
society
Physical Growth
• Growth in height and weight is not linear
• Fluctuations in body weight are
affected by many other changes
– appetite, nutrition, family, stress, exercise,
culture, food supply, and climate
– historical changes can have powerful
effects
• “obesity epidemic” in the U.S. today
Effects, Large and Small
• Butterfly effect—the idea that a small
action or event may set off a series of
changes culminating in a major event
• Opposite Idea
– a large change may have little or no effect
• Family Dynamics
– influence vulnerability or resiliency
– strong bond with loving caregiver can
protect against adversity of many kinds
Multicontextual (2)
• Humans develop in many contexts
that influence development
– physical and family
– focus on three facets of social context
• historical, socioeconomic, and cultural
Three Broad Contexts Within the Social
Context
Historical Context
• Historical context involves cohorts,
social constructions
– impact of historical context varies with age
The Socioeconomic Context
• Socioeconomic includes
– socioeconomic status (ses),
• education, income, neighborhood,
occupation of household head
Families and Neighborhoods
• Economics
– poverty
• Collective Efficacy—neighbors that
create a functioning, informal network
of people who show concern for each
other and their block
• Supportive Family Relationships
– quality of parenting
– family support best predictor of health and
happiness
The Cultural Context
• Cultural—set of values, assumptions, and
customs as well as physical objects such
as clothing, housing, etc.
– includes all decisions people make
– is dynamic, supportive
Who Sleeps with Whom?
• Example from Figure 1.2 showing
configuration of sleeping arrangements
– in Western cultures, husband and wife sleep
together
– not all cultures have the same ideas about
sleeping arrangements
Multicultural (3)
• Two examples of various practices
provide insights into culture—(1) Too
Rich to Marry? And (2) The Children’s
House
Too Rich to Marry?
• Worldwide, the richer the man, the
more likely he is to marry
• Is a woman a less desirable mate if she
earns more income and therefore would
be less dependent on the male?
– higher income for women
• reduced marriage prospects in Japan
• increased marriage prospects slightly in U.S.
• increased marriage prospects significantly in
Sweden
• findings reflective of a country’s gender equality
The Children’s House
• Kibbutz Sleeping Arrangements
– different sleeping practices, with some
children sleeping in Children’s House, while
others slept at home
– children who slept away ended up having
negative consequences
• difficulty talking about, relating to family
members
Ethnicity, Race, and Income
• Ethnic group—collection of people who
share certain attributes, almost always
including ancestral heritage and often
including national origin, religion,
customs, and language
• People can belong to more than one
culture
Ethnicity, Race, and Income, cont.
• Race—a social construction by which
biological traits are used to
differentiate people whose ancestors
came from various regions of the world
– a distorted concept
• SES variations tend to follow ethnic
variations
Ethnicity, Race, and Income, cont.
• The Person Within the System
– divergent directions, contextual
influences, cohort effect
Multidisciplinary (4)
• Body, Mind, and Spirit
• Three domains
– biosocial
– cognitive
– psychosocial
• Williams Family Example
• Combination of Nature vs. Nurture
Plasticity (5)
• Plasticity—capacity to change
• Characteristics can be molded into
different forms and shapes or a
durability can be maintained
• Provides hope and realism
– change is possible
– people must build on what came before (raw
materials = genes, families, cultures,
experiences)
The Person Within the
Context
• Person is guided in divergent directions
by many contextual influences
• No one is “average”— each person unique
– each person has unique genes and
experiences
– Paul Baltes (Founder of lifespan
developmental study)
• “We need to keep in mind that the future is not
something we simply enter, the future is also
something we help create.”
Developmental Study as a
Science
• Based on objective evidence (objective)
• Laden with personal implications and
applications (subjective)
Scientific Method
• Scientific method—general way to seek
evidence to answer question, involving
four basic steps and sometimes a fifth.
1. formulate a research question
2. develop a hypothesis
hypothesis—a specific prediction that is stated
in such a way it can be tested and either
confirmed or refuted
Scientific Method, cont.
3. test the hypothesis
4. draw conclusions
5. make findings available
• replication—the repetition of a scientific study
using the same procedures on another group of
participants to verify or refute the original study’s
conclusion
Research Methods
• Four Methods of Testing
Hypotheses
–
–
–
–
observations
experiments
surveys
case studies
Observation
• Scientific observation—observing and
recording (unbiased) in a systematic way
what people do
– Limitation: it does not indicate what causes
behavior we observe
Observation, cont.
• Correlation and Causation
– Naturalistic observation provides no
definitive answers about causes
– Correlation exists between two variables if
one variable is more (or less) likely to occur
when the other occurs
– correlation indicates a connection, but does
not specify reason (cause) for it
The Experiment
• Experiment—investigation designed to
untangle cause from effect
– independent variable—imposed treatment or
special condition
– dependent variable—specific behavior being
studied
– experimental group—participants who are
given particular treatment
– comparison (control) group—participants
who are not given special treatment but are
similar to experimental group in other
relevant ways
How to Conduct an Experiment
The Survey
• Survey—information collected from
personal interview, questionnaire, etc.
The Case Study
• Case study—intensive study of one
individual or situation
Studying Changes over Time
• Developmental research must be able to
deal with changes that continue over
time
– research design allows researchers to
include time, or age, as a factor
– three basic designs:
• cross-sectional, longitudinal, cross-sequential
Cross-sectional Research
• Cross-sectional research-research that
studies groups differing in age but
sharing other important characteristics
(education, SES, ethnicity)
Longitudinal Research
• Longitudinal research—research that
studies individuals over a long period;
valuable developmental information from
longitudinal studies includes
– adjustment to divorce
– role of fathers in child development
– prevention of teenage delinquency
Cross-Sequential Research
• Cross-sequential research—research
that studies several groups of people of
different ages, then follows those
groups longitudinally
Cross-sectional, Longitudinal, and CrossSequential Research: Which is Best?
Cross-sectional, Longitudinal, and CrossSequential Research: Which is Best?, cont.
The Ecological-Systems
Approach: A Synthesis
• Ecological-systems approach—research
that takes into consideration the
relationship between the individual and
the environment
– Uri Bronfrenbrenner
Ethics and Science
• General principles of code of ethics
– never harm participants either physically or
psychologically
– explain purposes and procedures of study
– secure informed consent
– keep data on participants private
– allow participants to stop at any time
Implications of Research
• Deliberate or accidental deception?
• Misinterpretation?
• Replicable?
What Should We Study?
• Are scientists studying issues that are
crucial to human development?
– human sexual urges and actions to prevent
STDs, pregnancy, and sexual abuse and to
cure infertility
– stress, poverty, and prejudice
– children’s anger
– retirement