Lifespan
Development: A Topical
Approach
Robert S. Feldman
Chapter 1: Orientation
What is Human Development?

It is a pattern of movement and change



Some things change
Some things stay the same
Movement & change include growth,
transition, and decline.
The Lifespan Perspective


History

Studied child development since about 1900.

Studied adult development since about 1960.
The reason for the difference is cultural
change & increased longevity (life
expectancy).
Life Expectancy Changes


Lifespan, the maximum number of years a
human being could live (about 120 years)
remains relatively constant.
Life expectancy, the number of years a
person can expect to live when born in a
certain place in a certain year, changes.


U.S., 1900 47 years
U.S., 2005, 77 years (30 year increase)
Lifespan Research is Multidisciplinary


Where did this information come from?
Research and study in many fields of
endeavor including psychology, sociology,
anthropology, education, and medicine.
What types of influences form the
context of development?

Normative age-graded (cultural)


Normative history-graded (historical)


e.g., puberty, graduation, retirement
e.g., war, famine, earthquakes, terrorism
Non-normative life events & conditions
(personal)

Individual experiences, biology, personality
Historical Views of Human Nature

Prevailing views of children (human nature)
throughout history?





Preformationism
Original Sin
Tabula Rasa
Innate Goodness
How does each view affect child-rearing
practices?
Historical View: Preformationism



Time: 6th 15th Centuries
View: Children are basically small adults
without unique needs and characteristics.
Effect: Little or no need for special
treatment
Historical View - Original Sin



Time: 16th Century (Puritan)
View: Children are born sinful and more
apt to grow up to do evil than good.
Effect: Parents must discipline children to
ensure morality and ultimate salvation.
Historical View - Tabula Rasa



Time: 17th Century, philosopher John
Locke (behaviorist)
View: Children are born “blank slates”
and parents can train them in any
direction they wish (with little resistance).
Effect: Shaping children’s behavior by
reward and punishment.
Historical View – Innate Goodness



Time: 18th Century, philosopher Jean
Jacque Rousseau (humanist)
View: Children are “noble savages” who
are born with an innate sense of morality.
Effect: Parents should not try to mold
them at all.
Issue 1: Nature/nurture

Nature = biological inheritance (genetics)


Nurture = all experience




Rousseau (humanists)
Locke (tabula rasa)
Is that all there is? (Is it neither?)
Are they separable? Is it both?
What is epigenetic theory?

Interaction of nature and nurture
Issue 3: Continuity/discontinuity



Did the change happen suddenly or
gradually (first step; first word)?
Is there a marker event?
Does the old resemble the new
(butterfly)?
What are the periods (age groups) of
development?
These are not standard across textbooks.
However, they roughly agree.





Prenatal - conception to birth
Infancy – birth to about 2 years
Early childhood – about ages 2-6 (preschool)
Middle & late childhood – about ages 6-11
Adolescence – ages 10-12 or puberty until about
ages 18-22 or independence
What are the periods (age groups) of
development?

Early adulthood – ages 20/25 – 40/45

Middle adulthood – ages 40/45 – 60/65

Late adulthood – ages 60/65 on
 Young old: 65-84
 Oldest old: 85+
To what extent are we becoming
an age-irrelevant society?

People‘s lives are more varied.

We have a loose “social clock.”

The frequency of reported happiness is
about the same for all ages. (78%)
Psychoanalytic Theory:
Erik Erikson (1902-1994)

Eight psychosocial stages in the lifespan








Trust v. mistrust
Autonomy v. shame/doubt
Initiative v. guilt
Industry v. inferiority
Identity v. confusion
Intimacy v. isolation
Generativity v. stagnation
Integrity v. despair
Review of Theories
Recommendations:
We will not be studying these theories directly in this course.
However, their general principles may be referred to in
explaining developmental events or processes. If you feel
that you need to review them, I would recommend:
1. your textbook
2. any Introduction to Psychology textbook
3. www. allpsych.com
4. http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/perscontents.html
5. Google the word in question, e.g., psychoanalysis,
ethology, B. F. Skinner, etc.
Data

Where do we get our data?

What information are we going to believe?
What are the techniques of
collecting data?






Observation
Survey/interview: asking questions
Standardized Tests
Physiological Measures
Case Study
Life-history records
Research Designs


Descriptive – includes more detail
Correlational – numbers show strength &
direction of relationship



Used for prediction
Ranges from -1.00 to +1.00 (+ is direct; - is
inverse)
Remember: correlation does not equal
causation
Research on How People Change
across the Lifespan

Cross-sectional research: People of different
ages are measured in the same year.
 Cohort effects may occur. These are
differences due not to common age, but
common experience

Longitudinal research: The same people are
repeatedly measured across different years.
 Expensive, time-consuming, dropouts
Research on How People Change
across the Lifespan

Sequential or cross-sequential research: a
combination of cross-sectional and
longitudinal

People of different ages are measure the first
year. Then at intervals (e.g., 1, 5, 10 years),
the same people are measured again and new
groups are added.
How Do We Know? Or Do We
Just Believe?

We are information dependent



Bandura – learn from observing others
Vygotsky – learn through
conversation/communication with others
What is the world’s tallest mountain?

Why do you believe that it is Everest?
How Do We Know? Or Do We
Just Believe?

Robyn Dawes

Why believe that for which there is no good
evidence?



http://www.fmsonline.org/dawes.html
(Or possibly evidence to the contrary?)
Most of what we know, we actually believe
that we know from authority and consensus.
How Do We Know? Or Do We
Just Believe?

Authority implies that the knowledge is
reliable




Source is trustworthy; of good reputation
No ulterior motives
In position to have this type of knowledge
However, we often attribute this to
consistency of report/public exposure
(media).
How Do We Know? Or Do We
Just Believe?

Consensus leads to lack of doubt.


(Surely somebody would know if this is false.)
The fallacy in consensus is that if the
same misinformation (lie) is told often
enough, everyone believes it for the truth.

Becomes “common sense” (common
nonsense)
How Do We Know? Or Do We
Just Believe?

Ways to Know Include







Authoritative sources
Opinions of others (consistent or not)
Personal experience
Intuition (with or without confirmation)
Reason (I figured it out.)
Common sense
Data
Consider the Limitations of Data


Some things cannot be measured, or detected by
the five senses
Some variables cannot be ethically or possibly
submitted to experimentation, only correlation
This will not show causality.
 Correlations may be spurious.




There may have been bias in data collection.
The interpretation may be incorrect.
Information for public consumption may be less
accurate.
How Do We Know? Or Do We
Just Believe?

In our culture data trumps other sources



Recorded evidence, we can all agree
May not agree in Interpretation
Tend to discount “pre-scientific” claims to
knowledge/understanding

We even discount “old” data.
How Do We Know? Or Do We
Just Believe?

This tends to lead to bias against non-data
sources, earlier historical times, and less
industrialized civilizations.


“So easy a cave man could do it.”
Don’t bother to study history.
How Do We Know? Or Do We
Just Believe?

Led to the postmodern mindset


Truth is relative to the situation and changes
across time.
There is no ultimate truth that is unchanging.
No reliable causes and effects.
 Reality is socially constructed.


Idea that we create knowledge and reality,
and it is what we say it is.

Hence, we can change it.
How Do We Know? Or Do We
Just Believe?

Contrast the prisca sapientia view.

The existence of this knowledge would imply
a fixed and unchanging set of principles for
operation of the universe and the natural
world, including the biological world, and
possibly for human nature and the social
world.
How Do We Know? Or Do We Just
Believe?

Contrast the prisca sapientia view.





Was there a pristine and superior ancient
knowledge?
How else do you explain the writings of the
ancient Greeks, Egyptians, and Hebrews?
How to you explain the Mayan calendar and the
construction of the Egyptian pyramids?
How was it lost?
Did the search for it lead to modern science?
Practical Critical Thinking







1. Stop to think.
2. Theories are not proven facts.
3. Findings of research can be misinterpreted.
4. Correlations are not evidence of causation.
5. Be very suspicious of politicized research.
6. Beware journalistic media as a source of
presentation of scientific findings.
7. Always ask whether the topic is more likely a law
or principle rather than a social construction.
What is political research?




Research that drives or justifies public policy
and/or major business decisions is of great
interest to powerful people.
Research must be funded.
Funding agencies can and do influence what
topics are funded.
There also may be pressure to bias the
experimental set-up or to withhold the
findings from publication.
Evolutionary Developmental Psychology
Perspective here has profound effects on:
Concern for the tradition of learning/socialization:
Judith Harris (Nature Assumption, 1998) says
parents not important; genes and peers rule.
Views of the meaning of life:
Was man made for nature/society or
nature/society for man?