Title 01 DevPsy - About Human Development.pdf ✅

01 – About Human Development DVPSY | 2024 - 2025 | NOT FOR SALE OUTLINE 1. The Study of Human Development a. Human Development b. Life-Span Development 2. Basic Concepts of Development a. Domains of Development b. 8 Periods of Human Development c. Conceptions of Age 3. Influences on Development a. Nature vs. Nurture b. Contexts of Development c. Normative vs. Nonnormative d. Timing of Influences THE STUDY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT DEFINING HUMAN DEVELOPMENT Human Development — scientific study of patterns of change and stability throughout the human lifespan ● Development is complex and multifaceted ● Research findings are often applied to child rearing, education, health, and social policy Goals of Developmental Psychology ★ Describe behavior and how it changes ★ Explain processes / causes of change ★ Predict future behavior ★ Intervene to enhance / modify behavior Key Terms in Development ● Growth: physical and physiological changes (structure and form); quantitative ● Development: relatively predictable pattern of changes (organization and function); qualitative ● Maturation: unfolding of traits resulting from the interaction of heredity and environment; broad term Risk, Protective, and Causal Factors ● Risk Factor: increase likelihood of negative developmental outcomes ● Protective Factor: reduce likelihood of negative developmental outcomes ● Causal Factor: leads to the negative developmental outcome DEFINING LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT Life-Span Development — concept of human development as a lifelong process, which can be studied scientifically ● From “womb to tomb” ● Can either be positive or negative 7 PRINCIPLES OF LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT ● Development is Lifelong. ○ Development starts from conception to death ○ Each period has its own unique characteristics ○ No period is more important than the other ● Development is Multidimensional. ○ Occurs along multiple interacting dimensions – biological, cognitive, psychological, and social ○ Each may develop at varying rates ● Development is Multidirectional. ○ As people gain in one area, they may lose in another, sometimes at the same time ○ Hence, it’s advisable for children to learn language as early as possible ● Relative Influences of Biology and Culture Shift Over Lifespan. ○ Influenced by both biology and culture ○ Balance between the two change over time ○ As we age, we learn to rely more on culture ● Development Involves Changing Resource Allocations. ○ Individuals choose to invest their resource of time, energy, talent, money, and social support in varying ways ○ For growth, maintenance or recovery, or for dealing with loss ● Development Shows Plasticity. ○ Many abilities can be improved significantly with training and practice, even late in life ● Development is Contextual. ○ Each person develops within multiple contexts – circumstances or conditions defined in part b y maturation and in part by time and place ○ Ex. historical influences, SES, family BASIC CONCEPTS OF DEVELOPMENT DOMAINS OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT Physical Growth of the body and brain, sensory capacities, motor skills, and health Bound by the rules of biology Cognitive Learning, attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning, and creativity Capacity to learn / make use of mental processes 1 | @studywithky
Psychosocial Emotions, personality, and changes in relationships Involves social environment Also called “socioemotional” 8 PERIODS OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 1. Prenatal Period (conception to birth) ○ Rapid formation of basic body structures and organs ○ Fetus begins to learn how to respond to mother’s voice and other sensory stimuli 2. Infancy and Toddlerhood (birth to 3 years) ○ More physical growth, especially cognitive and motor skills ○ Centers around attachment to parents 3. Early Childhood (3 to 6 years) ○ Preschool Years: acquisition of school readiness skills (ex. identifying numbers & letters) ○ Egocentrism: inability to differentiate between own perspective with others 4. Middle Childhood (6 to 11 years) ○ Elementary Years: building of fundamental skills in reading, writing, and arithmetic ○ Exposure to larger world ○ Achievement is central theme 5. Adolescence (11 to 20 years) ○ Rapid physical changes due to puberty ○ Identity and independence ○ Logical, idealistic, and abstract thought ○ More time outside family 6. Emerging and Young Adulthood (20 to 40 years) ○ Transition between adolescence and adulthood ○ Marked by exploration and experimentation of occupational, sexual, ideological roles 7. Middle Adulthood (40 to 65 years) ○ Expansion of personal and social responsibilities beyond family ○ Maintaining career satisfaction 8. Late Adulthood (65 and over) ○ Period of life review, retirement, and adjustment to new social roles ○ Decline in health and abilities ○ Young-Old (65 – 74) ○ Old-Old (75 – 84) ○ Oldest-Old (85 – 99) ○ Centenarians (≥ 100) CONCEPTIONS OF AGE Chronological Number of years that have elapsed since birth Biological Age in terms of individual’s biological health Biological Clock: timelines set by the body Psychological Individual’s adaptive capacities compared with those of other individuals of the same chronological age Social Social roles and expectations related to a person’s age Social Clock: timelines set by society INFLUENCES ON DEVELOPMENT NATURE VS. NURTURE Nature — development is influenced by heredity ● Nativists: adopt an extreme hereditary position ● Basic assumption is that the characteristics of humans are a product of evolution and that individual differences are because of one’s unique genetic code ● Heredity: Genetic roll of the dice / inherited from biological parents ● Maturation: unfolding of a natural sequence of physical changes and behavioral patterns ● Epigenetics: study of how the environment and other factors can influence gene expression Nurture — development is influenced by the environment (aka empiricist approach) ● Empiricists: extreme nurture position ● Basic assumption is that at birth, the human mind is a tabula rasa and that our experiences contributes to our development ● What we know now is a result of our environment ● Ex. BF Skinner’s operant conditioning and Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory (Bobo Doll Experiment) ● Environment: Totality of non hereditary or experiential influence ● From womb to tomb Nature vs. Nurture in Personality Development ● Twin Studies have shown that identical twins reared apart tens to have more similar personalities, indicating a genetic component to personality ● Around 40-60% variance can be attributed to genetics ● Twin and adoption studies show that 40-50% of individual differences in personality traits are the result of genetic differences ● Other 50-60% is a result of environmental differences ● Major influence on personality is nonshared environmental influences 2 | @studywithky
● Studies have shown that personality is relatively stable but can also change with life-changing events CONTEXTS OF DEVELOPMENT ● Family ○ Nuclear: household unit consisting of 1-2 parents and their children; most common in western culture ○ Extended: multigenerational network of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other distant relatives; most common in asian households ○ Blended: consists of two adults, the child or children that they have had together, and one or more children that they have had with previous partners ● Socioeconomic Status (SES) ○ Combination of social and economic factors describing an individual or family ○ Risk Factor: conditions that increase the likelihood of a negative outcome ○ Poverty is stressful and can damage children and families’ physical, cognitive, and psychosocial well-being ○ Poor children are more likely to go hungry, have frequent illnesses, lack access to healthcare, experience violence and conflict, show emotional behavioral problems, and have their cognitive potential and school performance suffer ○ Harm done by poverty is often indirect through parents’ environment ○ Negative effects of poverty are not inevitable ○ Positive development can still occur despite this ● Culture, Race, & Ethnicity — continuously shaped and redefined by social and political force ○ Culture: behavior patterns, beliefs, and all other products of a particular group of people that are passed on from generation to generation ○ Ethnicity: rooted in cultural heritage, nationality, race, religion, and language ○ Ethnic Group: people united by distinctive culture, ancestry, religion, language, or national origin ○ Ethnic Gloss: overgeneralization that obscures or blurs variation ○ Race: identifiable biological category that is impossible to measure reliably ○ Patterns affect development by their influence on the composition of households, economic and social resources, ways its members act toward one another, food they eat, and etc ● Gender ○ Gender roles and expectations may affect one’s development ○ There are differences in experiences based on gender NORMATIVE VS. NONNORMATIVE Normative Influences – significant events that affect majority of society ● Normative History-Graded Influences: similar in a historical generation (ex. Pandemic) ○ Historical Generation: a group of people who experience the event at a formative time in their lives ○ Cohort: a group of people born at about the same time (ex. Gen Z) ● Normative Age-Graded Influences: similar in a particular age group (ex. Age of Retirement) Nonnormative Influences – unusual events that disturb the expected sequence of life cycle ● Unusual events that have a major impact on individual lives because they disturb the expected sequence of the life cycle ● Either typical events that happen at an atypical time of life or atypical events TIMING OF INFLUENCES Critical Period – time when it is essential for a person to be expected to a specific stimulus to develop ● Very short in duration ● With well-defined beginning and end ● Effects are irreversible ● Ex. anoxia during birth Sensitive Period – less sensitive than critical period ● No exact time frame ● Results are not necessarily as dramatic or irreversible ● Wherein humans are highly responsive to experiences ● Ex. language development during toddlerhood and early childhood REFERENCES Papalia, D., & Martorell, G. (2015). Experience human development (13th ed.). McGraw Hill Education. Santrock, J. W. (2019). Life-span development (17th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education. 3 | @studywithky