Human Development and Theories (ch 1 and 2) Flashcards
What is development
Systematic changes and continuities in an individual
- From womb to tomb
Changes and continuities occur in 3 major domains
- Physical
- Cognitive
- Psychosocial
What is development?
Involves gains, losses, neutral changes, and continuities in each phase of the life span
- Growth: Physical changes
- Stability
- Aging: Range of positive and negative physical, cognitive, and psychosocial changes
Period of life and Age range: Prenatal period
Conception to birth
Period of life and Age range: Infancy
First 2 years of life
- first month is neonatal or newborn period
Period of life and Age range: Preschool period
2 to 5 or 6 years
- some prefer to describe as toddlers - children who have begun to walk and are ages 1 to 3
Period of life and Age range: Middle childhood
6-12
Or until the onset of puberty
Period of life and Age range: Adolescence
12-20
Or when individual becomes relatively independent of parents and begins to assume adult roles
Period of life and Age range: Early adulthood
20-40 years
Some distinguish emerging adulthood period from 18-29
Period of life and Age range: Middle adulthood
40-65 years
Period of life and Age range: Late adulthood
65+
Some break out subcategories eg young-old, old-old based on differences in functioning
Age grade
Socially defined age group in a society
- Confers statuses, roles, privileges, responsibilities
- Rites of passage mark transitions
Age norms
behavioral expectations by age
(What is normal by this age?)
-Sense of when things “Should” be
- Adjustment to life transitions
Urie Bronfenbrenner
Proposed a bioecological model to explain how biology and the environment interact in development
- Microsystem
- Mesosystem
- Exosystem
- Macrosystem
- Chronosystem
Microsystem
Bronfenbrenner
- Immediate environment
Mesosystem
bronfenbrenner
- Linkages b/w microsystems
Exosystem
Bronfenbrenner
- Linkages of social systems
Macrosystem
Bronfenbrenner
- Larger cultural context
Chronosystem
Bronfenbrenner
- Changes occur in a time frame
Developmental theory
Ideas proposed to describe/explain phenomena
- Provides a means to organize, interpret, explain facts or observations
- Guides collection of new data
Five Key Developmental issues
- Goodness-badness of human nature
- Nature-nurture
- Activity-passivity issue
- Continuity-discontinuity issue
- Universality-context-specificity issue
Goodness-badness of human nature
Evidence of biologically based tendencies for good and bad
Nature-nurture
Biological or environmental forces
Activity-passivity issue
Are humans active agents in their own development?
Or passively shaped by forces beyond their control?