-
traditional approach
emphasizes extensive change from birth to adolescence little or no change in adulthood and decline in old age
-
life span approach
emphasizes developmental change throughout adulthood as well as childhood
-
characteristics of the Life Span Perspective
- lifelong
- multidimensional
- multidirectional
- plastic
- multidisciplinary
- contextual
-
lifelong
from beginning of life to the end
-
multidimensional
- biological (physical)
- socioemotional
- psychological (cognitive)
inextricable intertwined and influence each other
-
multidirectional
decline and growth
-
plastic
capacity for change
-
multidiciplinary
many different field contribute
-
contextual
happens in a context and context matters
-
three types of contextual influences
- normative age graded influences
- normative history graded influences
- non normative or highly individualized life events
-
normative age graded influences
- happen to everyone at specific ages
- school causes experiences to change
- puberty
-
normative history graded influences
- happens to everyone based on historical circumstances
- technology influence
-
non normative or highly individualized life events
- dont happen to everyone
- loosing parents at a young age
-
biological dimension of development
produce changes in an individuals physical nature
-
cognitive dimension of development
refer to changes in the individuals thought, intelligence, and language
-
socioemotional dimension of development
involve changes in the individuals relationships with other people, changes in emotions and changes in personality
-
periods of development
- prenatal period- conception to birth, tremendous growth
- infancy- birth to 18-24months, dependence upon adults, development of psychological activities
- early childhood- end of infancy to age 5-6
- preschool years, self sufficiency and increased play
- middle and late childhood- 6-11 years of age, reading writing and arithmetic, focus on achievement and self control
- adolescence- transition from childhood to early adulthood, approximately 10-12 to 18-22 years of age, rapid physical changes, pursuit of independence and identity
- early adulthood- late teens to early 30s, personal and economic independence, selecting spouse
- middle adulthood- 40-60yrs, social involvement and responsibility, assisting the next generation
- late adulthood- 60s-70s to death, life review, adjustment to new social roles, longest developmental span
-
early adulthood
late teens or early twenties through thirties
-
middle adulthood
approximately 40-60yrs of age
-
late adulthood
sixties or seventies and lasts until death
-
4 ways to conceptualize age
- chronological age
- biological age
- psychological age
- social age
-
chronological age
number of years since birth
-
biological age
age in terms of biological health
-
psychological age
individuals adaptive capacities
-
social age
- societys age expectations
- roles you are taking on
-
Debates in the field of developmental psychology
- Nature-Nurture Issue
- Stability change issue
- continuity vs discontinuity
-
Nature-Nurture Issue
- nature refers to an organisms biological inheritance
- nurture to its enviornmental experiences
- which has the greater influence
- environmental and biological conditions influence each other
-
Stability Change issue
- stability is result of heredity and possible early experiences in life
- Plasticity the potential for change, exists throughout the life span
- to what degree do early traits and characteristics persist through life, how much do they change
-
continuity and discontinuity
- continuity- gradual cumulative change, quantitative
- discontinuity- distinct stages, qualitative
- is change in development gradual or abrupt
-
Theories of development
- Psychoanalytic theory
- cognitive theory
- behavioral and social theory
- ethological theory
- ecological theory
- eclectic theoretical orientation
-
psychoanalytic theory
- primarily unconscious (beyond awareness) and heavily colored by emotion
- understanding development requires analyzing the symbolic meanings of behavior and deep inner workings of the mind
- sigmund freud and erik erikson both have theories
-
sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory
- behavior and problems are the result of experiences early in life
- mainly 1st five years
- adult personality- resolution of conflicts between sources of pleasure at each stage and the demands of reality (5 different stages that has to do with pleasure)
-
Erik Erikson's psychoanalytic theory
- primary motivation for human behavior is social and reflects a desire to affiliate with other people
- developmental change occurs throughout the life span
-
Freud's psychosexual stages
- oral stage
- anal stage
- phallic stage
- latency stage
- genital stage
-
oral stage
- birth to 1.5 year
- infant pleasure centers on the mouth
-
anal stage
- 1.5-3 years
- childs pleasure focuses on the anus
-
phallic stage
- 3-6 yrs
- childs pleasure focuses on the genitals
-
latency stage
- 6 to puberty
- child represses sexual interest and develops social and intellectual skills
-
genital stage
- puberty onward
- a time of sexual awakening, source of sexual pleasure becomes someone outside the family
-
Erikson's Psychosocial stages
- trust vs mistrust
- autonomy vs shame and doubt
- initiative vs guilt
- industry vs inferiority
- identity vs identity confusion
- intimacy vs isolation
- generativity vs stagnation
- integrity vs despair
-
trust vs mistrust
- infancy (first year)
- erikson believed the 1st year is characterized by trust or mistrust
- not complelty resolved in 1st year
- arises again at each successive stage
- development of sense of self at 18months
-
autonomy vs shame and doubt
- infancy (1-3yrs)
- acceptance of the cycle of life from integration to disintegration
-
initiative vs guilt
- early childhood (preschool years, 3-5 yrs)
- children must discover who they are
- they often identify strongly with parents
- children use perceptual motor cognitive and language skills to make things happen
- discover that conscious must govern exploration
- guilt can lower self esteem
-
industry vs inferiority
- middle and late childhood (elementary school, 6-puberty)
- industry- child becomes interested in how things work
- inferiority- parent who see children's efforts as mischief may encourage inferiority
- school is important for industry
-
identity vs identity confusion
- adolescence (10-20 yrs)
- adolescents are generally free to try out different identities and choose what is right for them
- adolescents who resolve conflict emerge with a refreshing acceptable sens of self
- adolescents who do not successfully resolve conflict suffer identity confusion
- withdrawal and isolation
- immersion in peers
-
intimacy vs isolation
- early adulthood (20s, 30s)
- intamicy should occur after one is well into establishing a stable and successful identity
- intimacy is finding oneself while losing oneself in another person
- failure to achieve intimacy results in social isolation
-
generativity vs stagnation
- middle adulthood (40s, 50s)
- generativity- adults desire to leave legacies of themselves to next generation
- stagnation- develops when individuals sense that they have done nothing for the next generation
-
integrity vs despair
- late adulthood (60s onward)
- involves reflecting on the past and either piecing together a positive review or concluding that ones life has not been well spent
- life review looking back at ones experiences, evaluating them, and interpreting reinterpreting them, set in motion by looking forward to death
- regrets invlove mistakes and bad decisions, hard times, social relationships, missed educational opportunities
-
cognitive theory
- emphasis on conscious thoughts
- three important cognitive theories
- piagets cognitive developmental theory
- Vygotsky's sociocultural cognitive theory
- information processing theory
-
Piaget's cognitive developmental theory
- children go through four stages of cognitive development
- process underlie this cognitive construction of the world
- organization
- adaptation
- each stage is age related and consists of a distinct way of thinking- a qualitatively different way of understanding
-
Piaget's cognitive stages
- sensorimotor stage
- preoperational stage
- concrete operational stage
- formal operational stage
-
sensorimotor stage
- birth to 2yrs old
- infant constructs an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences with physical actions
- an infant progresses from reflexice instinctual action at birth to beginning of symbolic though toward the end
- infants understand the world through their sensory experiences
-
preoperational stage
- 2-7 yrs old
- the child begins to represent the world with words and images
- these words and images reflect increased symbolic thinking and go beyond the connection of sensory information and physical action
-
concrete operational stage
- 7-11 yrs
- the child can now reason logically about concrete events and classify objects into different sets
-
formal operational stage
- 11yrs through adulthood
- adolescent reasons in more abstract idealistc and logical ways
-
vygotskys sociocultural cognitive theory
- emphasizes how culture and social interaction guide cognitive development
- cognitive development involves learning to use the inventions of society such as language, mathematical systems, and memory strategies
-
information processing theory
- emphasis on ways that individuals manipulate information, monitor it, and strategize about it
- individuals develop a gradually increasing capacity for processing information which allows them to acquire increasingly complex knowledge and skills
-
behavioral and social cognitive theories
- behaviorism- we can study scientifically only what can be directly observed and measured
- two versions of behaviorism
- BF skinners operant conditioning
- Albert Bandura's cocial cognitive theory
-
skinners operant conditioning
- consequences of a behavior produce changes in the probability of the behavior's occurrence
- rewards and punishments shape development
-
bandura's social cognitive theory
- holds that behavior environment and cognition are the key factors in development
- observational learning (also called imitation or modeling)
- people cognitively represent the behavior of others and then sometimes adopt this behavior themselves
-
ethological theory
- ethology stresses
- behavior is strongly influenced by biology
- it is tied to evolution
- characterized by critical or sensitive periods
- noted ehtologists
- konrad lorenz
- john bowlby
-
ecological theory
- emphasis on environmental factors
- noted ecological theories
- bronfenbrenner's ecological theory
- theory identifies five environmental systems: microsystems, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem
-
eclectic theoretical orientation
no single theory described in this chapter can explain entirely the rich complexity of life span development but each has contributed to our understanding of development
-
cross sectional approach
- research strategy that simultaneously compares individuals of different ages
- takes less time but causes worries about cohort effects
-
longitudinal approach
- research strategy in which the same individuals are studied over a period of time, usually several years or more
- shows age related changes
- problems is it costs more time and money and people could die
-
sequential design
- the researcher follows a sequence of samples (two or more groups), collecting data on them at the same points in time
- mixture between longitudinal and cross sectional approaches
-
growth of newborn
- newborn is 20 inches long and 7.5 pounds
- lose 5-7% of body weight in the first few days and then gain 5-6 onces per week during first month
- grow 1 inch per month during first year
- growth slows during year 2
-
what is leading cause of death in infants
- SIDs
- sudden infant death syndrome
- infant stops breathing and die without cause
- risk decreases when infant sleeps on its back and when pacifier is used
- higher risk when
- siblings has died from SIDS
- sleep apnea or low birth weight
- infants passively exposed to cigarette smoke
- lower SES, african america, eskimo
- soft bedding
- abnormal brain stem functioning involving serotonin
-
vision in infants
- newborns vision is 20/600
- by 6 months vision is 20/100
-
newborns hearing
- fetuses can hear and learn sounds during last two months of pregnancy and can recognize mother's voice by birth
- cannot hear soft sounds as well as adults
- less sensitive to pitch
- are fairly good at determining the location of a sound
-
newborns and touch and pain
newborns respond to touch and can feel pain
-
smell of newborns
- newborns can differentiate odors
- preference for mothers smell by 6 days old
-
newborns taste
sensitivity to taste may be present before birth
-
biological influences on language
- evolution of nervous system and vocal apparatus
- similarities in language development across the world suggest a biological basis
- particular brain regions used for language
- broca's area
- wernicks area
- language acquisition device
-
environmental influences on language development
- behaviorist claim language is a complex learned skill acquired through responses and reinforcements
- interaction view (learn language in specific contexts)
- childrens vocabulary is linked to family SES and type of talk parents direct toward them
-
early childhood growth
- avereage growth is 2.5 inches and 5-7 pounds per year
- girls slightly smaller than boys
-
leading cause of death in early childhood
- motor vehicle accidents
- followed by cancer and cardiovascular disease
-
growth during middle and late childhood
- growth 2-3 inches per year
- weight gain is 5-7 lbs per year
-
leading cause of death in middle and late childhood
- motor vehicle accidents
- followed by cancer and cardiovascular disease
-
types of intellegence
- verbal
- mathematical
- spatial
- bodily-kinesthetic
- musical
- interpersonal- others
- intrapersonal- onself
- natualist- nature
-
growth during adolescence
- growth spurt occurs about 2 years earlier for girls than boys
- girls increase height 3.5 inches per year and boys about 4 inches
-
leading causes of death in adolescence
- accidents is first
- homicide
- suicide
-
crisis
a period of identity development during which the individual is exploring alternatives
-
commitment
a personal investment in identity
-
marcias four definitions of identity
- diffusion
- foreclosure
- moratorium
- achievement
-
identity diffusion
individuals who have not yet experienced a crisis or made any commitments
-
identity foreclosure
individuals who have made a commitment but not experienced a crisis
-
identity moratorium
individuals who are in the midst of a crisis but whose commitments are absent or weak
-
identity achievement
individuals who have undergone a crisis and made a commitment
-
MAMA
repeated cycles of moratorium to achievement
-
emerging adulthood
- transition from adolescence to adulthood
- occurs from approximately 18-25 yrs of age
- characterized by experimentation and exploration
- is a process not an event
- identity exploration, especially in love and work
- instability
- self focused
- feeling in between
- age of posibillities
-
romantic love
- passionate love
- strong components of sexuality and infatuation
-
affectionate love
- companionate love
- based on a deep and caring affection
- passion tends to give way to affection
-
consummate love
- the strongest form of love
- contains passion, intimacy and commitment
-
fatuous love
contains passion and commitment
-
changes during middle adulthood
- declining physical skills and increasing
- gain and decline balance each other
- wrinkling and sagging of skin
- appearances of aging spots
- hair becomes thinner and grayer
- nails become thicker and more brittle
- yellowing of teeth
- time for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and cardiovascular disease
- lungs become less elastic at 55
- wakeful periods become more frequent
-
change in height during middle adulthood
height tends to shrink due to bone loss in vertebrae
-
weight changes during middle adulthood
many gain weight
-
sarcopenia
- age related loos of muscle mass and strenght
- during middle adulthood
- especially common in the back and legs
- exercise can reduce this
-
changes in sight during middle adutlhood
- accommodataion of the eye (ability to focus and maintain an image) experiences sharp declines between 40-59
- diffculty viewing close objects-- far-sighted
- reduced blood supply decreases visual field
-
hearing changes in middle adulthood
- start to decline by 40
- hearing loss occurs in up to 50% of individuals over age 50
- high pitched sounds are typically lost first
-
leading cause of death for middle adulthood
- chronic disorders
- accident frequency declines
- heart disease, cancer, cerebrovascular disease
in first half cancer claims more lives in second half heart disease claims more lives
-
chronic diseases
- characterized by a slow onset and a long duration
- rare in early adulthood but increase in middle age
- men have higher rates of fatal chronic conditions
- stress is key factor
- early signs in early adulthood
- high blood pressure, arthritis, diabetes, cardiovascular disease etc
-
midlife crisis
- stage of uncertainty and indecision brought about by the realization that life is finite
- Vaillants grant study- 40s are decade of reassesing and recording truth about life, only minority of adults experience,
- midlife is generally reported to be high in well being and life satisfaction
- most are attributed to negative life events
- have been exagerated
- stage theories place too much emphasis on crises in development
- often considerable individual variation in the way people experience the stages
-
osteoporosis
- a condition where the bones become brittle, fragile, and thin, often brought about by a lack of calcium in the diet
- happens usually during mid life
-
divisions in late adutlhood
- young old- 65-74
- old old 75+
- oldest old 85+
-
biological theories of aging
- cellular clock theory
- free radical theory
- mitochondrial theory
- hormonal stress theory
-
cellular clock theory
- cells can divide a maximum of 75-80 times, this places the maximum human life span at 120-125 years of age
- telomeres become shorter each time cell divides
-
free radical theory
- people age because when cells metabolize energy the by products include unstable oxygen molecules or free radical
- free radicals damage DNA and other cellular structures
-
mitochondrial theory
aging is due to the decay of mitochondria
-
hormonal stress theory
- aging in the bodys hormonal system can lower resistance to stress and increase likelihood of disease
- prolonged elevated levels of stress hormones are associated with increased risks for many disease
-
brain and aging
- brain shrinks 5-10% between 20-90
- general slowing of function begins in middle adulthood and accelerates in late adulthood
-
height and weight changes during late adulthood
- height reduces due to bone loss in vertebrae
- weight drops after age 60 due to muscle loss
- move more slowly
-
vision changes in late adulthood
- more pronounced decline in vision
- adaptation to dark and driving at night becomes difficult (reduction in intensity of light reaching retina)
- color vision declines due to yellowing lens of eye
- depth perception declines due to decrease in contrast sensitivity
- cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration
-
hearing changes during late adulthood
- hearing imparements are typical
- 15% legally deaf
-
smell and taste changes during late adulthood
- smell and taste loss begins at age 60
- desire for more seasoned food
-
touch and pain in late adulthood
- slight decline in touch sensibilit
- less sensitive to pain
-
leading causes of death during late adulthood
- heart disease, cancer or cerebrovascular disease
- chronic diseases
-
theories of socioemotional develoment of aging
- active theory
- socioemotional selectivity theory
- selective optimization with compensation theory
- erikson's theory
-
active theory
- the more active and involved older adults are the more likely they are to be satisfied with lives
- suggests that individuals will achieve greater life satisfaction if they continue middle adulthood roles late into adulthood
-
socioemotional selectivity theory
- older adults become more selective about their social networks spending more time with individuals with whom they have had rewarding relationships
- two imporatant classes of goals
- knowledge related
- emotional
- trajectory for each goal is different
- when time is perceived as open ended knowledge related goals are pursued more often
- older adults perceive that they have less time left, emotional goals become more important
-
selective optimization with compensation theory
- successful aging is linked with three main factors
- selection- older adults have a reduced capacity and loss of functioning which require a reduction in performance in most life domains
- optimization- it is possible to maintain performance in some areas through continued practice and use of new technologies
- compensation- older adults need to compensate when life tasks require a higher level of capacity
-
brain death
- a person is brain dead when all electrical activity of the brain has ceased for a specified period of time
- includes both the higher cortical functions and the lower brain stem functions
-
living will
- designed to be filled in while individual can still think clearly
- designed for situations in which individual is in a coma and cannot express his or her desires
-
people engaged in end of life planning are more likely to
- have been hospitalized in the year prior
- believe that patients rather than physicians should make health care decisions
- have less death anxiety
- have survived the painful death of a loved one
-
euthanasia
act of painlessly ending the lives of individuals who are suffering form an incurable disease or severe disability
-
passive euthanasia
treatment withheld
-
active euthanasia
- death deliberately induced
- made famous by Jack Kevorkian
-
hospice
- program commited to making the end of life as free from pain anxiety and depression as possible
- makes every effort to include the dying patients family members
- incluede home based programs today, supplemented with care for medical needs and staff
-
palliative care
reducing pain and suffering, helping individuals die with dignity
-
causes of death vary across life span
- prenatal death through miscarriage
- death during birth or shortly afterwards
- accidents or illness cause most childhood deaths
- most adolescent and young adult deaths result from suicide,homicide or motor vehicle accidents
- middle age and older adults deaths usually result from chronic disease
-
Kubler ross's stages of dying
- denial and isolation: It cant be
- anger: why me
- bargaining: just let me do this first
- depression: withdrawal, crying, grieving
- acceptance: sense of peace comes
-
problems with Kubler ross's stages of dying
- exsistance of 5 stage sequence has not been demonstrated
- stage interpretation neglects patients unique situations
- not stages more like reactions
- some individuals never reach acceptance
-
grief
- emotional numbness, disbelief, separation, anxiety, despair, sadness, and loneliness that acocompany the loss of someone we love
- complex evolving process
- more like a roller coaster ride
- good family communications and grief counselors can help grievers cope
- traumatic, violent or sudden deaths are likely to have more intense and prolonged effects
-
prolonged grief
approximately 10-20% of surviors have difficulty moving on with life after 6 months have passed
-
disenfranchised grief
an individuals grief involving a deceased person that is a socially ambiguous loss that cant be openly mourned or supported
-
dual process model of grief
- loss oriented stressors: focus on the deceased individual
- can include grief work and both positive and negative reappraisal of the loos
- resoration-oriented stressors: seconday stressors that emerge as indirect outcomes of bereavement
- changing identity and mastering new skills
- effective coping involves cycling between coping with loss and coping with restoration
-
defining death
- brains stops functioning for a period of time, heart stops
- in most societies death is not viewed as the end of existence because the spiritual body is believed to live on
- brain death- diagnosis of death based on cessation of all signs of brain activity as measure by electrical waves
- functional death- absence of a heartbeat and breathing
- more difficult to classify if someone is dead today because of medical technology and keeping people on life support, doing CPR
-
brain processes during death
- brain becomes smaller and lighter with age
- as it shrinks it pulls away from skull and amount of space between brain and skull doubles
- blood flow reduced within brain and oxygen and glucose use decreases
- number of neurons declines in some part of brain
-
DNR
- do nor resuscitate order
- how far you want intervention to go
- anyone can have a DNR
- if not one a doctor will keep you alive or ask your family
-
life span
- based on oldest age documented how long we can live under ideal circumstances
- currently 122 years
-
life expectancy
- how long you can expect to live based on when you were born, it can change over time
- currently 78
-
what causes us to be gay or straight
- hormones during prenatal development
- roles we are socialized into
- genetic component
- bottom line... dont know
-
defining development
- pattern of movement or change that begins at conception and continues through the human life span
- involves growth and decline
-
cohort
group of people who are born at a similar point in history and share similar experiences
-
cohort effects
differences due to a persons time of birth, era, or generation but not to actual age
-
sandwich generation
- refers to middle adulthood
- couples who in middle adulthood must fulfill the needs of both their children and their aging parents
-
cataracts
thickening of the lens of the eye that causes vision to become cloudy, opague and distorted
-
glaucoma
damage to optic nerve because of pressure created by a buildup of fluid in the eye
-
macular degeneration
deterioration of the macula of the retina which corresponds to the focal center of the visual field
-
advantages to longitudinal method
provides information about the aging process
-
disadvantage to longitudinal method of research
expensive and time consuming
-
Erikson's theory
- o Integrity
- vs. Despair:
- involves reflecting on the past and either piecing together a positive review
- or concluding that one’s life has not been spent well
- Life review: looking back at one’s life experiences, evaluating them, and
- interpreting/reinterpreting them
-
hospice vs hospital approaches
- Hospice: a program committed to making
- the end of life as free from pain, anxiety, and depression as possible
- Palliative care: reducing pain and suffering, helping individuals die with dignity
- Care of life instead of quantity of life, informed decisions for alternatives, and control to the patient.
-
- Hospital: goal of hospital is to cure
- disease and prolong life
- One special concern over the current medical system is that it is cure oriented, whereas most health problems of the elderly are chronic
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