1. Lifespan Development Chapter 4 Objectives:
State the main stages of development
Describe how we develop through each stage (socially, behaviourly, cognitively)
Explain the role of maturation in development
Describe the interactions between heredity and environment in development
Understand the research methods and ethics associated with the study of lifespan psychology.

2. Life span Development
Age related changes that occur from birth through to old age
Psychology of life span psychology aim to understand, describe, explain and predict our thoughts, feelings and behaviours.
A development must be a change that is permanent

3. Stages: Infancy – birth to 2 years Childhood – 2 to 10 years
Adolescence – 10 to 20 years
Early adulthood – 20 to 40 years
Middle age – 40 to 65 years
Older age – 65 years and beyond
Movie: The Developing Child – Part 1

4. Types of Changes
Emotional
Social
Physical
Cognitive

5. Cognitive – eg: Language

6. Social & Emotional

7. Movement & coordination
Example:

10. How we develop Continuously OR Discontinuously Sequentially
Gradual
Build on basic skills
Distinct, separate stages
Ways of thinking, feeling, interacting can have a start & finish
Sequentially
Abilities to think, feel, interact tend to develop in a set order, from simple to complex

11. Researching Development
Quantitative and Qualitative studies
P153, Activity 4.4, Q5

12. Individual Differences in Development
No two individuals develop at exactly the same rate or in exactly the same way, even if they are identical twins
What does that tell us about ‘Nature vs Nurture’?
Discuss activity 4.5

13. Hereditary & Environment
Hereditary- characteristics are passed on from parents to off-spring via genes.
Environment – all the experiences, objects & events to which we are exposed in our life times
Heredity? Environment? Mixture of both?
P156, activity 4.8 & discuss p160
AT6: activity 4.11

14. Maturation
Sequential changes in the nervous system & other bodily structures
Automatic, internal
Controlled by our genes
‘Principle of readiness’
Nerves, bones, muscles need to be developed enough for the behaviour to occur

15. Examples of maturation of nerves & bones

16. Examples of Maturational developments
Sit before stand
Sounds before words
Adding numbers before starting algebra
When should a child start school?

17. Sensitive Periods
Periods of rapid change when individual is more vulnerable to the environment
Eg: second 6 months of life sensitive to attachment
Eg: years sensitive to language acquisition
AT 4 Folio: Activity 4.14

18. Different Perspectives on Development
Emotional
Social
Physical
Cognitive

19. Ethics in developmental research
Remember:
Fully informed
Consent – how with a child? How with a dementia patient?
Confidentiality
Safety
Debrief

20. Research methods in development
Longitudinal study repeated observations of the same variables over long periods of time to study developmental trends across the life span
Advantages
Permanence in development over time
Disadvantages
Expensive
Takes time with participants (and researchers) not being available

21. Research methods in development
Cross-sectional study
designed to look at a variable at a particular point in time.
To study developmental differences/similarities between groups eg: memory at different ages
Advantages:
relatively inexpensive
easy to undertake
not too time-consuming.
Disadvantages:
Differences maybe due to other variables
Eg: generational influences

22. Research methods continued
Cohort Cross-sectional Study
Combination of longitudinal & cross-sectional studies
Movie: 49 up

23. Research Methods Twin Studies
using identical (mono-zygotic) and non-identical (fraternal/di-zygotic) twins as participants.
Identical especially for nature vs nurture BUT danger (eg more likely to be treated the same by parents)
Personality and intelligence investigations
Discuss 4.17 ranking

24. Research Methods Adoption Studies
Children raised by different parents – nature vs nurture
IQ score studies indicate heredity plays a large role
Selective Breeding
Using animals with short gestations to study traits longitudinally, with control of genes
Unethical in humans but can use

25. Resources