Chapter 11: Human
Development Across the
Life Span
Progress Before Birth:
Prenatal Development
• 3 phases
– germinal stage = first 2 weeks
• conception, implantation, formation of
placenta
– embryonic stage = 2 weeks – 2 months
• formation of vital organs and systems
– fetal stage = 2 months – birth
• bodily growth continues, movement
capability begins, brain cells multiply
• age of viability
Figure 11.1 Overview of fetal development
Environmental Factors
and Prenatal Development
• Maternal nutrition
– Malnutrition linked to increased risk of birth
complications, neurological problems, and
psychopathology
• Maternal drug use
– Tobacco, alcohol, prescription, and
recreational drugs
– Fetal alcohol syndrome
Environmental Factors
and Prenatal Development
• Maternal illness
– Rubella, syphilis, mumps, genital herpes,
AIDS, severe influenza
– Prenatal health care
– Prevention through guidance
The Childhood Years: Motor Development
• Basic Principles
– Cephalocaudal trend – head to foot
– Proximodistal trend – center-outward
• Maturation – gradual unfolding of genetic
blueprint
• Developmental norms – median age
– Cultural variations
Easy and Difficult Babies:
Differences in Temperament
• Longitudinal vs. cross-sectional designs
• Thomas, Chess, and Birch (1970)
– 3 basic temperamental styles
• easy – 40%
• slow-to-warm-up – 15%
• difficult – 10%
• mixed – 35%
–stable over time
Easy and Difficult Babies:
Differences in Temperament
• Kagan & Snidman (1991)
– Inhibited vs. uninhibited temperament
• inhibited – 15 - 20%
• uninhibited – 25 - 30%
–stable over time, genetically based
Figure 11.6 Longitudinal versus cross-sectional research
Attachment: the close emotional bond that forms between
infant and caregiver
• Harlow’s study of attachment in monkeys
Early Emotional Development: Attachment
• Separation anxiety
– Ainsworth (1979)
– The strange situation and patterns of attachment
• Secure
• Anxious-ambivalent
• Avoidant
• Developing secure attachment
– Bonding at birth
– Daycare
– Cultural factors
• Evolutionary perspectives on attachment
Diagnostic criteria for 309.21 Separation
Anxiety Disorder
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A. Developmentally inappropriate and excessive anxiety concerning separation from home
or from those to whom the individual is attached, as evidenced by three (or more) of the
following:
(1) recurrent excessive distress when separation from home or major attachment figures
occurs or is anticipated
(2) persistent and excessive worry about losing, or about possible harm befalling, major
attachment figures
(3) persistent and excessive worry that an untoward event will lead to separation from a
major attachment figure (e.g., getting lost or being kidnapped)
(4) persistent reluctance or refusal to go to school or elsewhere because of fear of
separation
(5) persistently and excessively fearful or reluctant to be alone or without major attachment
figures at home or without significant adults in other settings
(6) persistent reluctance or refusal to go to sleep without being near a major attachment
figure or to sleep away from home
(7) repeated nightmares involving the theme of separation
(8) repeated complaints of physical symptoms (such as headaches, stomachaches, nausea,
or vomiting) when separation from major attachment figures occurs or is anticipated
B. The duration of the disturbance is at least 4 weeks.
C. The onset is before age 18 years.
D. The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, academic
(occupational), or other important areas of functioning.
E. The disturbance does not occur exclusively during the course of a Pervasive
Developmental Disorder, Schizophrenia, or other Psychotic Disorder and, in adolescents
and adults, is not better accounted for by Panic Disorder With Agoraphobia.
Specify if:
Early Onset: if onset occurs before age 6 years
Diagnostic criteria for 313.89 Reactive
Attachment Disorder of Infancy or Early
Childhood
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A. Markedly disturbed and developmentally inappropriate social relatedness in most
contexts, beginning before age 5 years, as evidenced by either (1) or (2):
(1) persistent failure to initiate or respond in a developmentally appropriate fashion to most
social interactions, as manifest by excessively inhibited, hypervigilant, or highly ambivalent
and contradictory responses (e.g., the child may respond to caregivers with a mixture of
approach, avoidance, and resistance to comforting, or may exhibit frozen watchfulness)
(2) diffuse attachments as manifest by indiscriminate sociability with marked inability to
exhibit appropriate selective attachments (e.g., excessive familiarity with relative strangers
or lack of selectivity in choice of attachment figures)
B. The disturbance in Criterion A is not accounted for solely by developmental delay (as in
Mental Retardation) and does not meet criteria for a Pervasive Developmental Disorder.
C. Pathogenic care as evidenced by at least one of the following:
(1) persistent disregard of the child's basic emotional needs for comfort, stimulation, and
affection
(2) persistent disregard of the child's basic physical needs
(3) repeated changes of primary caregiver that prevent formation of stable attachments
(e.g., frequent changes in foster care)
D. There is a presumption that the care in Criterion C is responsible for the disturbed
behavior in Criterion A (e.g., the disturbances in Criterion A began following the pathogenic
care in Criterion C).
Specify type:
Inhibited Type: if Criterion A1 predominates in the clinical presentation
Disinhibited Type: if Criterion A2 predominates in the clinical presentation
Stage Theories of Development: Personality
• Stage theories, three components
– progress through stages in order
– progress through stages related to age
– major discontinuities in development
• Erik Erikson (1963)
– Eight stages spanning the lifespan
– Psychosocial crises determining balance
between opposing polarities in personality
Figure 11.10 Stage theories of development
Figure 11.11 Erikson’s stage theory
Stage Theories: Cognitive Development
• Jean Piaget (1920s-1980s)
– Assimilation/ Accommodation
– 4 stages and major milestones
– Sensorimotor
» Object permanence
• Preoperational
– Centration, Egocentrism
• Concrete Operational
– Decentration, Reversibility, Conservation
• Formal Operational
– Abstraction
Figure 11.12 Piaget’s stage theory
Figure 11.13 Piaget’s conservation task
Figure 11.14 The gradual mastery of conservation
The Development of Moral Reasoning
• Kohlberg (1976)
– Reasoning as opposed to behavior
• Moral dilemmas
–Measured nature and progression of
moral reasoning
– 3 levels, each with 2 sublevels
• Preconventional
• Conventional
• Postconventional
Figure 11.17 Kohlberg’s stage theory
Adolescence: Physiological Changes
• Pubescence
• Puberty
– Secondary sex characteristics
– Primary sex characteristics
• Menarche
• Sperm production
– Maturation: early vs. late
• Sex differences in effects of early
maturation
Figure 11.19 Physical development at puberty
Adolescence: Neural Changes
• Increasing myelinization
• Synaptic pruning
• Changes in prefrontal cortex
The Search for Identity
• Erik Erikson (1968)
– Key challenge - forming a sense of identity
• James Marcia (1988)
– 4 identity statuses
• Foreclosure
• Moratorium
• Identity Diffusion
• Identity Achievement
The Expanse of Adulthood
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Personality development
Social development
Career development
Physical changes
Cognitive changes