1. History of the Study of Human Development
Preformation
Locke, Rousseau, and Darwin
Six Major Theories
Current Theoretical Perspectives

2. History
To a large extent, the study of human development is the study of child development.
Most significant changes take place from infancy through adolescence.

3. History Life phases evaluated in this course:
Infancy
Childhood
Adolescence
Young adulthood
Middle adulthood
Late adulthood
Childhood has been of interest for a long time.
Adulthood became of interest in the late 1900’s.
Childhood seen as special time of growth and change, influenced by child-rearing practices, childhood experiences, and environmental influences.

4. History
Since 1900, the older adult population has increased dramatically:
Greatest increases up to 2040 will be in the 85-and-over and 100-and-over age groups.
A girl born today in the U.S. has a 1-in-3 chance of living to be 100 years old.
Changes in adulthood are just as important as the changes in childhood:
There are great changes in body, personality, and abilities during adulthood.

5. Average Human Life Expectancy (in Years) at Birth, from Prehistoric to Contemporary Times77 70
Years 5 4
1900 USA 47
1620 Mass. Bay Colony 41 35 33
Ancient Greece 20 18
Middle Ages, England
19th Century England
1915 USA
1954 USA
2002 USA
Prehistoric times
Time Period

6. Americans over 65 (in millions)
The Aging of America
Female
Male 40 30
Americans over (in millions) 20 10
1900
1940
2000
2040
Year

7. History Characteristics of the life-span perspective:
Development is lifelong.
Biological, cognitive, and socioeconomic dimensions of experiences and psychological orientation are very important.
Development is multidirectional:
Some aspects of dimensions shrink and some expand.
Development is plastic:
It has the capacity for change
Development is multidisciplinary:
Psychologists
Sociologists
Anthropologists
Neuroscientists
Medical researchers

8. History Development is contextual: Biological processes
Sociocultural and environmental experiences
Historical circumstances
Life events or unusual circumstances impacting on the specific individual
Development involves:
Growth
Maintenance
Regulation

9. History Contemporary concerns (in the media): Health and well-being:
Lifestyle
Drug and alcohol use
Parenting:
Divorce
Child maltreatment
Education:
U.S. system
Bilingual education
Poverty
Cooperative learning

10. History Social policy Contemporary Concerns (continued):
Sociocultural contexts and diversity:
SES
Gender
Context
Culture
Ethnicity
Social policy

11. History Life-span psychologists focus on shared Characteristics.
Not individual uniqueness.
Biological processes focus on:
Physical nature and genetic influences
Height and weight
Brain development
Motor skill changes
Hormonal changes of puberty
Cardiovascular decline
Cognitive processes focus on changes in individual thought, intelligence, and language.

12. History How should age be conceptualized? Chronological age
Biological age
Psychological age
Social age

13. Conceptions of age Chronological age Number of years since birth
Age in terms of physical health
Biological age
Conceptions of age
Adaptive capacity compared with
others of the same chronological age
Psychological age
Social roles and expectations
relative to chronological age
Social age

14. Main Debates Issue Details Nature/Nurture How do genetic inheritance
(our nature) and experience
(the nurture we receive)
influence our behavior?
Continuity/Stages
Is developmental a gradual,
continuous process or a
sequence of separate stages?
Stability/Change
Do our early personality
traits persist through life, or
do we become different
persons as we age.

15. Preformation
Defined: (Previous Formation) Development involves merely an increase in size.
Women were merely a housing unit designed to help the fathers fully formed child to grow.
Homunculus: (Little Man) Miniature adult that inhabits the germ cell and produces a mature individual.

16. Locke, Rousseau, and Darwin
John Locke ( )
Tabula Rasa: Blank Slate
Whatever comes into the mind comes from the environment.
Knowledge depends on the experience of the sense organs.
Environment molds the mind.
Thoughts and feelings develop through associations, repetition, and imitation.
Learn through rewards and punishment.

17. Locke, Rousseau, and Darwin
Jean-Jacques Rousseau ( )
People are always looking for the man in the child, without considering what he is before he becomes a man.
Childhood has its own way of seeing, thinking, and feeling.
According to Nature’s Design.
Created four stages in child development.

18. Locke, Rousseau, and Darwin
Charles Darwin
Children develop through evolution.
Explains mental and psychological traits as adaptations and the functional products of natural selection.
To bring the functional way of thinking about biological mechanisms into the field of psychology.
Applys to all organisms as opposed to just humans.
Applys to any organism with a nervous system.

19. Six Major Theories Psychodynamic Theory (Sigmund Freud)
Epigenetic Theory
(Erik Erikson)
Integrated-Attachment Theory
(John Bowlby/Mary Ainsworth)
Social-Cognitive Learning Theory
(Albert Bandura)
Genetic Epistemology
(Jean Piaget)
Cognitive-Mediation Theory
(Lev Vygotsky)

20. Current Theoretical Perspectives
Psychodynamic
Behavioral
Cognitive
Humanistic
Biological
Evolutionary
Social