Human Development across the lifespan

Question 1

Basic Principles

Answer 1

• Cephalocaudal trend – head to foot
• Proximodistal trend (trunk) – centre-outward
  Maturation – gradual unfolding of genetic blueprint
  Development norms – median age
  Cultural variations

Question 2

Easy and Difficult Babies: Differences in temperament

Answer 2

• Longitudinal vs cross-sectional designs
• Thomas, Chess, and Birch (1970)
• 3 basic temperamental styles
• Easy- 40%
• Slow-to-warm-up – 15%
• Difficult- 10%
• Mixed – 35%
• Stable over time
• Kagan & Snidman (1991)
• Inhibited vs uninhibited temperament
• Inhibited – 15-20%
• Inhibited – 25-30%
  Stable over time – genetically based

Question 3

Early emotional development: Attachment

Answer 3

Separation anxiety
- Ainsworth (1979)
- The strange situation and patterns of attachment
- Secure
- Anxious-ambivalent
- Avoidant
- Disorganized/disoriented
Stage theories of Development: Personality
- Stage theories, three components
- Progress through stages in order
- Progress through stages related to age
- Major discontinuities in development
- Erik Erikson (1963)
- Eight stages spanning the lifespan
Psychosocial crises determining balance between opposing polarities in personality

Question 4

Stage theories of development: Cognitive

Answer 4

• Jean Piaget (1920-1980s)
• Assimilation/accommodation
• 4 stages and major milestones
• Sensorimotor
• Object permanence
• Preoperational
• Centration, egocentrism
• Concrete operational – decentration, reversibility, conservation
  Formal operational – abstraction

Question 5

Vygotsky - Sociocognitive Development

Answer 5

Social interaction is key – cognitive development occurs gradually (continuous)
Scaffolding – learning mechanism – parents provide initial guidance in child’s learning then gradually remove structure
Zone of proximal development – Difference between what child can do independently & what she can do with assistance
Others can facilitate child’s cognitive development within limits of biological maturation

Question 6

Critical periods in development

Answer 6

• Limited time span when it is optimal for certain capacities to emerge because the organism is especially responsive to certain experiences
  Sensitive periods:
  Evident in language development

Question 7

The Development of Moral Reasoning

Answer 7

Kohlberg (1976)
- Reasoning as opposed to behaviour
- Moral dilemmas
- Measured nature and progression of moral reasoning
3 levels, each with 2 sublevels: Preconventional, Conventional, Post-conventional

Question 8

The transition of adolescence

Answer 8

• Pubescence
• Puberty
• Secondary sex characteristics
• Primary sex characteristics
• Menarche
• Sperm production
• Maturation: early vs late
• Sex differences in effects of early maturation
• Depression (higher rate in adolescence)
  Brain development

Question 9

The search for identity

Answer 9

• Erik Erikson (1968) – forming a sense of identity
• James Marcia (1988)
• 4 identity statuses
• Identity diffusion
• Identity foreclosure
• Identity moratorium
  Identity achievement

Question 10

The exposure of adulthood

Answer 10

• Personality development
• Social development and family life
• Physiological changes
• Neural changes
  Cognitive changes