1. Janet Belsky’s Experiencing the Lifespan, 2e
Chapter 1:
The People and The Field

2. What We Are Studying? Developmental Psychology
Also known as lifespan development, ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Includes physical, cognitive, socio-emotional changes during the life span
This field includes the study of:
Infant and Child Development
Adult Development
Gerontology
Exploration of predictable milestones in development
Individual Differences
Life Transitions and Practices

3. Questions to Ask Yourselves
What are some of the changes that occur over our lives??
How have you changed?
Has your thinking changed?
Are your relationships different?
Do you feel different?

4. Life Changes

5. Periods of Development
Prenatal Period
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Infancy
Includes the developmental period from birth to about age 2
Childhood
Early- preschool years ages 3 through 5
Middle- __________________________
Adolescence
Early- ages 12 through14
Middle- ages 15 through 19

6. Periods of Development
Adulthood
Early- 20’s and 30’s
Issues include achieving intimacy, career choices, marriage, and potential parenthood.
Middle-40’s and 50’s
Issues include launching children, changing physical performance, increased freedom, and increased career success
Late-60’s and Over
____________________________________________________________________________________________

7. Changing Perceptions of Childhood
Historical Background
Mortality rates high; poverty
Childhood not perceived as a special life stage
Abusive treatment common
Children assume __________________________________________
Norms: child labor; child abandonment among poor

8. Changing Perceptions of Childhood
Modern view, late 19th Century: kinder, gentler view of children
Childhood protected, dependent life stage
Universal education: primary school mandatory
Adolescence: identified by G. Stanley Hall in early 20th Century
Stage of “_____________” between childhood and adulthood
In 1930s, High school attendance became mandatory (Great Depression and President Franklin Roosevelt)
Emerging Adulthood:
Age 18 to late 20s
Time for personal exploration

9. Changing Perceptions of Later Life: Adulthood and Old Age
Life Expectancy
Before 20th century medical advances, average life expectancy was low
Today, twentieth-century life expectancy revolution!
Infectious diseases wiped out
Chronic diseases (heart disease, cancer, etc.) today
New Stages
Young-old (60s, 70s)
____________ (80s and beyond)

12. Theories of Development
_______________
Any perspective which attempts to explain individual behavior
Allows us to predict behavior
Presents ideas for interventions to improve behavior
Nature/Nurture
Are we shaped by biological/genetic forces or is the environment more influential?

13. Theories of Development
Psychoanalytic Theory
Freud
Erickson
Bolby
Learning Theory (Behaviorism)
Skinner
Watson
Bandura
Humanistic Theory
Maslow
Rogers
Cognitive Theory
Piaget

14. Do we need to know names? And theories? And Faces? And that’s it!
Freud Watson Bandura Maslow
Erickson Skinner Piaget Rogers

15. Evolutionary Psychology: Nature
Evolutionary psychologists focus on ________________________
Inborn, species-specific behaviors influence human development
Speculate about the genetic roots of human behaviors
Survival of the fittest!

16. Behavioral Genetics: Nature
Field devoted to scientifically determining the role that hereditary forces play in individual differences in behavior
Twin Studies (identical and fraternal)
Adoption Studies
Twin/Adoption Studies
Heritability- 1 (totally genetic) to 0 (no genetic contribution)
Statistic to summarize the extent to which a given behavior is shaped by genetics

17. Nature and Nurture Combined
Consider both nature and nurture when studying human development!
_____________ Forces
Inborn talents and temperamental tendencies naturally evoke certain responses from others.
Bidirectional forces in relationships
Active Forces
We actively select our environments based on our genetic tendencies.
Person-Environment Fit crucial to flourishing in life!

18. Person-Environment Fit
Basic goal of developmental science is to foster the correct person-environment fit
The real impact of the “nature” revolution is to allow us to intervene to change the environment in order to enhance one’s quality of life.

19. Age-Linked Theories: Piaget
Cognitive-Developmental Theory
Qualitatively different stages exist in the way thinking develops (different age groups conceptualize the world in completely different ways).
Schemas (cognitive structures)
Assimilation, Accommodation
Studies focused on children

20. Cognitive Development: Piaget
Tried to understand the unique qualities of childhood cognition by entering children’s mental framework, setting up tests, watching children’s actions, and listening to them speak.
Believed that we grow mentally through assimilation, fitting information from the outside world into our “schemas” (or current mental capacities), and accommodation, enlarging our capacities to fit in this “data” from the world.

21. A Preview of Piaget’s Stages

22. Personality Development
______________________________
Stage Focus
Oral Pleasure centers on the mouth–
(0-18 months) sucking, biting, chewing
Anal Pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder
(18-36 months) elimination; coping with demands for control
Phallic Pleasure zone is the genitals; coping with
(3-6 years) incestuous sexual feelings
Latency Dormant sexual feelings
(6 to puberty)
Genital Maturation of sexual interests
(puberty on)

23. Psychosocial Development: Erikson
Considered “___________________________”
Believed we continue to develop throughout life
Exception to Freud’s idea that development ends in adolescence
Identified core developmental tasks, or psychosocial tasks, for each of eight stages from infancy to old age
Believed that we need to master the task of each previous stage in order to progress to the next.

24. A Preview of Erikson’s Stages

25. Research Methods Two standard research strategies: Correlations
Relate two or more variables as they naturally occur
Correlation does not mean causation!
_____________________
Randomly assign individuals to groups
Give each group a different treatment
Determine if intervention produced a predicted effect
Experiments can determine cause!

26. Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Studies: How do we change with age?
Testing and comparing different age groups
Gives differences between age groups
Does not tell us the changes that occur with age
______________
Test at intervals – one group over many years
Note: It’s “all statistics.” These methods are valuable, not because they apply to everyone—but because they allow us to make educated guesses about human life!

27. Quantitative and Qualitative Research
The typical research mode in developmental science using groups and statistical analyses to make general predictions about behavior
_______________
Scientist not interested in numerical comparisons
Studying through observation and interviews the life of a single person, or observing a single individual in depth