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Areas of Lifespan development

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Emotional, Cognitive, Social and Physical

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Emotional Development

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Involves changes in how an individual experiences different feelings and how those feelings are expressed, interpreted and dealt with; for example the way in which anger is expressed by a two-year-old compared with a 16-year-old and a 50-year old

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Physical Development

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Involves changes in the body and its various systems e.g. brain, puberty, menopause

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Social Development

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Involves changes in how an individual's relationships with other people and their skills in interacting with others

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Cognitive Development

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Involves changes in individual's mental abilities, such as processing of information through things like perception, language and problem solving

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Lifespan Development

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Refers to age related changes that occur from birth, throughout a person's life, into and during old age

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Stages of Lifespan Development

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Infancy, childhood, adolescence, early childhood, middle age and older age.

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Infancy

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From birth to two years -Many psychological changes characteristics are rapidly developing, for example, perceptual abilities, ways of thinking, use of language and social skills -The bond between infant and primary caregiver(s) is important in terms of the infants later developmental stage

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Childhood

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2-10 years -Begins to develop moral conscience -More self control -Cognitive skills develop and begin to have a better understanding between right and wrong

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Adolescence

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10/12 - 20/24 years -Onset of puberty (usually earlier for females) Puberty is associated with many physical and psychological changes -Compared to the child, the adolescent's thought processes are more logical, complex and idealistic

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Early Adulthood

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20-40 years -For most adults, it is also the stage in which individuals select a partner, develop ongoing intimate relationships, start a family and take on the role of parenting

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Middle Age

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40-65 years -Period of expanding social and personal involvement and responsibilities, advancing a career, and supporting offspring in their development to independent, psychologically mature individuals

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Older Age

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Late 60s-Death -Considerable period of change -For many older people, this can be a very liberating time when they no longer have the day-to-day responsibility of looking after their offspring or paid work

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Heredity

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Involves the transmission of characteristics from biological parents to their offspring via genes at the time of conception

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Environment

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In psychology, the term is used to refer to all the experiences, objects and events to which we are exposed throughout our entire lifetime.

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Nature vs Nurture

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For many years psychologists debated whether it was heredity or environment that determined how we developed. This became known as the nature (heredity) versus nurture (environment) debate. Over time, research evidence has consistently shown it is neither one nor the other that is solely responsible for showing development - both heredity and environment factors interact to shape human development. Psychologists now consider the nature versus nature debate to be resolved.

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Longitudinal Study

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It is a long-term investment that follows the same group (or groups) of people over an extended period of time, observing any changes in their thoughts, feelings and/or behaviours that occur at different ages. Usually, the same group(s) of participants is studied and restudied at regular intervals

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Cross-Sectional Study

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It selects and compares groups of participants of different ages of a short time

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Advantages of the Cross-Sectional study

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The method is relatively inexpensive, easy to undertake, and not too time-consuming

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Disadvantage of Cross-Sectional studies

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One factor that cannot be controlled is called the generational influence. This factor shows up when psychologists measure behaviours in people who were born at different times. They may behave differently not because of chronological age differences, but because of particular life experiences

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Advantage of the Longitudinal Study

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It is a relatively useful way of examining consistencies and inconsistencies in behaviour over time.

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Disadvantages of Longitudinal Studies

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It can be expensive and take a long time to get results. Keeping in touch with the same group over a period of time can be difficult.

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Monozygotic Twins

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Are formed when a single fertilised egg (zygote) splits into two in the first couple of days after conception. These twins will have identical genes since they developed from the same sperm and egg combination

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Dizygotic Twins

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Develop when the female produces two separate ova (eggs) which are independently fertilised by two different sperm cells.

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Loehlin 1992

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The combined data showed that identical twins living in the same environment were more alike in these characteristics than were fraternal twins living in the same environment

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Twin Studies

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Involve research using identical and non-identical twins as participants. The two types of twins result from different biological processes

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Adoption Studies

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Psychologists use information from research with children who have been adopted, and therefore have no genetic similarity to their adopted parents, to learn about the influence of heredity and environment on development

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Attachment

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Commonly defined as the tendency of infants to form an emotional bond to another person, usually their main caregiver. It is believed that the attachment(s) formed during infancy, particularly the first 12 months of life, has a considerable influence on a person's emotional development throughout the lifespan

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Separation distress

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Anxiety experienced when the attachment figure leaves or is absent

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Safe haven

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The ability to return to the attachment figure for comfort and safety when scared or feeling unsafe or threatened

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Secure Base

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The ability to perceive the attachment figure as a base of security from which the infant can explore the surrounding environment

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Proximity maintenance

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The infant's desire to be near the person(s) to whom it is attached

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Attachment target

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The person(s) to whom an infant forms an attachment. The infant will seek attention from and contact with the attachment target more than they do with any other person

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Attachment theory

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The main idea of this theory is that human infants need a secure relationship with an adult caregiver in order for healthy emotional (and social) development to occur. Both the caregiver and the infant play a role in developing an attachment

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Schaffer 1977

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'An infant's capacity for attachment is not limited, like a cake that has to be shared out. Love, even in babies, has no limits'

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John Bowlby (1969)

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The concept of attachment was first proposed by British psychiatrist John Bowlby. Bowlby described attachment as 'lasting psychological connectedness between human beings'

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Secure attachment

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An infant who has formed a secure attachment shows a balance between dependence and exploration. The infant uses the caregiver as a 'home', or safe base from which to venture out and explore an unfamiliar environment, but shows some distress and decrease exploration when the caregiver departs. Securely attached infants feel safe and are able to depend on their caregivers. About 65% of one-year-olds are securely attached

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Avoidant attachment

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The infant does not seek closeness or contact with the caregiver and treats them like a stranger. Research findings suggest that this attachment style may be the result of neglectful or abusive caregivers. About 20% of one-year-olds are in this category

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Resistant attachment

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The infant appears anxious even when their caregiver is near. This attachment style is thought to result from caregivers who are not very responsive to their infant's needs. It is assumed the infant feels they cannot depend on their caregiver to be available to them if needed. About 12% of one-year-olds are in this category

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Harlow's experiments on attachment on monkeys

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Harlow (1958) studied the role of breastfeeding in infant-mother attachment. The monkeys were individually reared in cages, each of which contained two surrogate mothers. One of the surrogates was covered in terry-towelling cloth and the other was left uncovered. A feeding bottle was attached to one of the surrogates in the same area where a breast would be on a real mother. Half of the animals were in cages with the feeding bottle on the cloth surrogate and the other half were in cages with the feeding bottle on the wire surrogate. Harlow proposed that an infant's attachment to its mother was based primarily on feeding, the infant monkeys should have preferred and become attached to whichever surrogate mother had the bottle. Harlow found that regardless of which surrogate provided the nourishment, the infant monkeys spent more time with the cloth surrogate than the wire surrogate. The monkeys' preference for the cloth surrogate was particularly evident when they were emotionally distressed. On the basis of these results, Harlow concluded that 'contact comfort', which was provided by the softness of the cloth covering, was more important than feeding in the formation of an infant rhesus monkey's attachment to its mother.

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Harlow, Dodsworth and Harlow (1965)

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In further experiments, Harlow found that contact comfort was not the only important variable in attachment. In a separate they experiment privated a group of rhesus monkeys to prevent them from having any social contact. The use of a control group enabled the three groups who experienced different periods of isolation to be compared with the one another and with a group that had not experienced any social isolation. Harlow and his colleagues found that after three months privation, the infant monkeys were emotionally disturbed and their social behaviour was impaired. Gradually, however, their individual and social behaviours improved. The monkeys privated for six months were much more severely impaired in terms of their social behaviour. Compared to the control group monkeys they were severely withdrawn and socially incompetent. The infant monkeys isolated from all social contact for the first 12 months of life were extremely socially impaired

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Privation

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Involves removing the opportunity to satisfy a need, in Harlow's experiments, the need for social contact

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(Harlow, Harlow and Hanson, 1963; Seay, Alexander and Harlow, 1975)

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Harlow has also used rhesus monkeys to investigate factors influencing maternal behaviour in attachment. In series of experiments, he discovered that female rhesus monkeys reared in total isolation for the first 12 months of life and then artificially impregnated (called 'motherless mothers') became completely inadequate mothers. However, not all of Harlow's 'motherless mothers' behaved in this way. Some reared their infants in an adequate manner. These mothers had experienced some limited contact with other baby monkeys when growing up, whereas the others had not.

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Sensorimotor stage (0-2 years)

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Infants construct their understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences (for example, vision and touch) with motor (movement) abilities, hence Piaget's use of the term 'sensorimotor'

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Object Permanence

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Concept is discovered in the sensorimotor stage and refers to the understanding that objects still exist even if they cannot be seen or touched

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Goal-Directed behaviour

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Ability developed in the sensorimotor stage and means that infants can carry out behaviour with a particular purpose in mind

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Pre-operational stage (2-7 years)

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Children become increasingly able to internally represent events (that is, think about and imagine things in their own mind). This further develops their abilities to think in more complex ways

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Egocentrism

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Found in the pre-operational stage. Children are typically are unable to or have difficulty in seeing things from another's perspective

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Animism

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Found in the pre-operational stage. It is the belief that everything which exists has some kind of conciousness or awareness

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Transformation

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Found in the pre-operational stage. It is the understanding that something can change from one state (form of structure) to another

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Centration

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Found in the pre-operational stage. A child can only focus on one quality or feature of an object at a time.

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Reversibility

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Found in the pre-operational stage. It is the ability to follow a line of reasoning back to its original starting point

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Concrete operational stage

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The thinking of children in this stage revolves around what they know and what they can experience through their senses; that is, what is concrete

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Conservation

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Found in the concrete operational stage. It refers to the idea that an object does not change its weight, mass, or volume or area when the object changes its shape or appearance

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Classification

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It is a key cognitive accomplishment of the concrete operational stage is the ability to organise information (things or events) into categories based on common features that set them apart from other classes or groups (categories)

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Formal operational stage (12+ years)

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People in this stage have more thought processes become more evident and thinking become evident and thinking becomes increasingly sophisticated

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Abstract thinking

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Found in the formal operational stage. It is a way of thinking that does not rely on being able to see or visualise things in order to understand concepts (as the child in the concrete operational stage does)

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Logical thinking

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Found in the formal operational stage. As individuals move through this stage, they are able to develop strategies to solve problems, identify a range of possible solutions to problems, develop hypotheses (predictions and explanations) and systematically test solutions.

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Moral dilemma

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A social problem which has two or more solutions, each of which is 'wrong' in some way

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Moral behaviour

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Behaviour that is considered proper of ethical according to a society or culture

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Moral development

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Involves the gradual development of an individual's concept of right and wrong

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Kohlberg's theory of moral development

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Kohlberg assumed that if children in the various age groups differed consistently from each other in their moral reasoning for a particular dilemma, then it was likely that the differences between groups resulted from age differences. This would mean that differences in moral reasoning are age-related and he obtained evidence to support this.

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Preconventional level (0-9 years)

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At this stage children have little awareness of moral behaviour which is socially or culturally acceptable.

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Stage 1: Obedience and Punishment orientation

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Children follow rules to avoid punishment. Their behaviour is based largely on fear, rather than on the belief that the behaviour is right or wrong

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Stage 2: Naively Egotistical Orientation

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Children start to think that they will be rewarded if they do something right. Thus, they often do the right thing to please others, rather than doing it because they think it is the right thing to do

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Conventional Level (9-15 years)

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At this stage the children are considerable of the thoughts of others, have adopted many moral values and seek to obey the rules set down by others

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Stage 3: Good Boy/Nice Girl Orientation

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The pre-adolescent often obeys rules in order to please others and to obtain praise or approval from people who are important in their life.

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Stage 4: Law-and-social-order-maintaining orientation

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The adolescent's focus shifts to social institutions such as the law, school or church. They avoid to seek guilt and shame which come from criticism by authoritative figures such as police, teachers and priests

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Postconventional level (16+ years)

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At this stage an individual's decision to do what it morally right is determined by their conscience

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Stage 5: Legalistic-social-contract orientation

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Individual's choose moral principles to guide their behaviour, being careful not to interfere with the rights of others

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Stage 6: Universal-ethical orientation

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The individual knows what is moral is not simply what the majority of people want to do. In this stage individuals have highly individualistic moral beliefs. Their moral views sometimes conflict with their society's views of what is right or wrong

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Criticisms of Kohlberg's theory

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It does not always accurately describe moral development of females. His theory was developed using data collected from mainly male participants. For example, males tend to have a 'problem solving' approach when dealing with moral dilemmas, whereas females are more concerned with how people will 'feel' about the consequences of specific behaviour and events

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Difference between young old and very old

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While these groups are not determined only by age, the young old are commonly defined as people between the ages of about 65 to 85 and the very old are those over 85. With increasing numbers of those over 65 living fuller and more active lives than their grandparents did, the age at which we are to be considered 'old' or 'very old' is likely to increase in the future

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Psychological changes in the very old

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These changes are more significant and more prevalent among the very old when compared with the young old. Most are tied in some way to the aging brain. Just like the rest of our body, our brain grows old. As it ages it changes in structure and functions. Some changes, like grey hair and wrinkled skin, are unavoidable. The very old brain is lighter and smaller. This is due to a loss of neurons and white matter over time. A normal brain of an 85 year old is up to 15% smaller than of someone in their 60's. It is also slower due to the decrease in myelin and other age-related changes. It also becomes less agile. Multitasking (switching back and forth between different tasks) is not easy for an older brain

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Successful aging

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Occurs when a very old person maximises and attains positive (desired) outcomes while minimising and avoiding negative (undesired) outcomes

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Baltes 1977

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Promoting gains and managing loses are the two main ways of aging successfully

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SOC theory

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Selection, Optimisation and Compensation Theory. It describes selection, optimisation and compensation as three distinct, but interrelated processes that are all vital for successful aging

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Selection

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Involves identifying an committing to fewer and more meaningful personal goals from the range of possibilities

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Optimisation

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Involves making the most of one's abilities, resources and opportunities to achieve the best possible ('optimal') outcome

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Compensation

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Involves developing new strategies to overcome or 'substitute' for significant losses

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