1. Life-Span Development
Lecture 4
Life-Span Development

2. Outline Introduction Early Motor and Perceptual Development
Child Development
Cognitive development
Social development
Adolescence, Adulthood and Aging

3. What is Developmental Psychology?
The study of the processes and patterns of change that occur within an individual over life’s course. Includes the study of physical, cognitive, emotional and social development.

4. Research Methods in Developmental Psychology
Cross-sectional research
Longitudinal research

5. Early Motor and Perceptual Development
Motor Development
milestones in motor development
Perceptual Development
perception of patterns
perception of space

6. Cognitive Development: Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor Stage (0-2years)
Preoperational Stage (2-6 years)
Concrete Operational Stage (7 to 11 years)
Formal Operational Stage (12 through adulthood)

7. Sensorimotor Stage Object permanence Deferred imitation
The idea that objects do not disappear when they are out of sight
Deferred imitation
Can imitate the actions of others; imagination

8. Preoperational Stage
Increased ability to think symbolically and logically
Egocentricity
Can see the world only from their own perspective
Cannot master conservation tasks
Conservation: Understanding that specific properties of objects (height, weight, volume, length) remain the same despite apparent changes in the shape or arrangement of those objects

9. Concrete Operational Stage
Masters conservation tasks
Cannot think abstractly

10. Formal Operational Stage
Thinks abstractly and hypothetically

11. Cognitive Development: Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
Children develop in a sociocultural milieu in which they interact constantly with other people. Their thinking is a product of their sociocultural history.
Piaget: child is a scientist acting on the physical world
versus
Vygotsky: child is an apprentice acting in the social world

12. Cognitive Development: Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
Verbal thought
Communicative and noncommunicative speech
Inner speech
Zone of proximal development
“Scaffolding”

13. Social Development: Attachment Theory
Affectional bond and attachment
A relatively long-enduring tie in which the partner is important as a unique individual and is interchangeable with none other. Attachment is one affectional bond in which a person’s sense of security is bound up in the relationship.
Parent’s bond to the infant
Infant’s bond to the parent

14. Social Development: Attachment Theory, cont.
Stranger Anxiety
Separation anxiety
Strange situation paradigm (Ainsworth et al., 1978)

15. Social Development: Attachment Theory, cont.
Secure and insecure attachment
Securely attached
Insecurely attached: detached/avoidant
Insecurely attached: resistant/ambivalent
Insecurely attached: disorganized/disoriented

16. Social Development: Attachment Theory, cont.
Parenting style
Authoritarian
Permissive
Authoritative

17. Social Development: Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development
Preconventional
Punishment and obedience
Naïve instrumental hedonism
Conventional
Maintaining good relations
Maintaining social order (law and order)
Postconventional
Social contracts
Universal ethical principles
Cosmic orientation

18. Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development
Childhood
Trust vs. mistrust
Autonomy vs. self-doubt
Initiative vs. guilt
Competence vs. inferiority
Adolescence
Identity vs. role confusion
Adulthood
Intimacy vs. isolation
Generativity vs. stagnation
Integrity vs. despair

19. Adolescence: Marcia’s Theory of Identity Formation
Crisis
Yes No
Identity
Achieved
Foreclosure
Moratorium
Diffusion
Commitment