Lecture 10 - Development across the lifespan Flashcards
What is the goal of lifespan psychology?
Gain knowledge about:
•Life-long development
•Differences and similarities between people
•INidivudal plasticity
- Track rise and fall of various psychological factors
- E.g. emotional functioning
What are the 2 models of the general course of development over the lifespan?
- Maturational models of development
2. Structural models of development
Outline Maturational Models of development
Growth-maintenance-decline
- based on biological growth
- We grow, reach a peak which we maintain, and then that declines
- Applys to lots of factors
- E,g. physical growth
Outline structural models of development
Development involves fixed sequences of stages
- linear, hierachical, discontinuous
- each stage is qualitatively different from the prior, involving major shifts in processes of reasoning and understanding, or in self-concept
- e.g. piaget’s stages of cog dev
What are the stages in childhood? 4 stages
- Prenatal
- Infancy
- Childhood
- Adolescence
- Characterised by physical growth and change
- Increasing cognitive abilities and social skills
- Children are dependent, with few responsibilities
What is the typical view of how we are when entering adulthood?
- By the end of adolescence, supposedly, we should be:
• Biologically mature
• Operate at highest level of cognitive ability
• Socially competent - Dev in adulthood is considered ‘ageing’
- Behaviour and wellbeing often seen as product of childhood experiences
What does a lifespan approach emphasise?
That development continues to take place across the lifespan
- Adult development may be just as important, if not more
What does Lifespan Developmental Psychology do?
Batles, Lindenberger & Straudinger, 2006
- Explores developmental agenda of each age period
- Processes and mechanisms of dev
- Continuity and changes across the lifespan
What does lifespan change involve?
Lifespan changes involve the allocation of resources to different functions of development
- all dev is gains and losses, cannot have dev (gain without loss)
- Succesful aging involves maxmimising gains and minimising lossess
- Resources in childhood are for growth, but when older, can use for maintenance and resilience
Outline Hartshone & Germine (2015) - Meta analsysis of cognitive tasks
- Looked at which age we were at our peak cognitive performance
- found there is no age where humans peak at all cognitive tasks - we are best at different tasks at different ages
- there may not be an age where we peak at most, its completely varies
- but in general - we get worse at everything over time
Outline subjective age
- How old we feel
- Subjective age becomes increasingly removed from actual age
- Lower subjective age is usually associated with greater well-being
60 year olds feel 54
70 year olds feel 62
80 Year olds feel 70
What are the general trends of ageiing
In early adulthood
- we are at peak biology
- Begin forming long term relationships and settling down
- Set life goals
- High responsibility
- New experiences
Middle adulthood
- Decreases in biology
- Settled
- reflect on life
- children (responsibilities)
Old age
- Decline in everything
- Evaluating and accepting past
- Freedom from responsibilities
What did Eriksons psycholsocial stages argue
- At each new life stage we encounter a conflict/ crisis
- we must overcome this crisis - teaches us a new virtue
- if you dont, it impacts your development
Outline eriksons psychosocial stages in adulthood
- 20-25: Isolation vs intimacy - teaches love
- need meaningful relationships, otherwise will be lonely - 25-60 - Generativity vs stagnation - teaches care
- contribution to the world
- taking care of people, finding meaning and purpose in their world
- leaving legacy
- if not, feel like an unproductive member of society - 65+ Ego integrity vs despair & Disgust - teaches wisdom
- reflect on life, was it okay to be me?
- Feel content with life? lived it to the full?
- if not, may feel despair with an unresolved conflict
Outline Lenvionson’s model of adult development (1986)
Another stage theory of adulthood
- Early adult transition (22 years)- entering adult world
- stress, career, starting families - Mid-life transition (45) - settling down
- responsibilities, slowing down a bit - Late adult transition (65) - middle adulthood
- Late adulthood - reflect on life and achievements
What are the different approaches to when adulthood starts
- Follows adolescence
or - determined by Life events (marriage, parenthood etc)
What did Arnett do before coming up with his theory
Explored peoples subjective experiences of the transition to adulthood
- people aged 18-25 werent adolescents, but hadnt seemed to reach a stable adult life
- so he proposed a new life stage: Emerging adulthood
- not just a transition, but a phase in its own right
What are the features of emerging adulthood?
Arnett (2000)
- A period of identity exploration
- Self-sufficiency is key
- Demographic transitions and life events arent important - its when you become self-sufficient
What is Arnett’s criteria for adulthood?
- Accepting responsibility for oneself
- Making independent decisions
- financially independent
What are the 5 key features of emerging adulthood? (Arnett, 2004)
- ID explorations - choices about love and work, explore options, you have the freedom to do this
- Insability - Frequent changes: relationships, jobs education, relationships etc - new experiences to learn from
- Self-focus - independent decision-making, few obligations to other people. Decide stuff for yourself, on your own. Future plans
- Feeling in-between - neither adult or adolescent, on the way to adulthood, changes day to day how you feel
- Experimentation/ Possibilites - Optimism - high hopes/ expectations of future. Can radically change the direction of your life here
Which psychosocial stage does emerging adulthood apply to?
20-25 (although not the same age ranges)
- Intimacy vs isolation
- opportunities and trying different stuff to do with love
Outline Arnett (2007)
Sufffering, selfish, slackers
- 3 myths about emerging adults that arnett tried to disprove
Outline Arnett’s responses to myth 1: That emerging adults are suffering
Quarter-life crisis?
- Are they suffering? Arnett says no:
• Wellbeing rises from late teens to mid-20s, increased happiness
- They are getting happier, but there is also sometimes a spike in depression -it varies
Outline Arnett’s responses to myth 2: That emerging adults are selfish
Self-indulgent and materialistic?
- argues emerging adults delay adult responsibilites to spend time and money on the self
- Arnett argues that they are just self-focused in order to shape dev, explore life and prepare educationally and occupationally
- more likely than ever to do volunteering
- they must have the chance to focus on self-dev to prepare for adult life
- Self-focused freedom
Outline Arnett’s responses to myth 3: That emerging adults are slackers
Dont want to grow up?
- previous generations were often married by 25, stayed in the same career for life - so emerging adults are slackers
- But Arnett said that it may just take longer nowadays to reach full adulthood. Because society has changde a lot, there is economic shifts and more emphasis on higher education
What are the critiques of the theory of emerging adulthood?
Outline by Hendry & Kloep (2007)
X - limited to specific cultures, socio-economic status, historical period
- Development and progressing into adult differs. Some cultures dont have the chance for self-exploration/ ID formation
- In eastern cultures, girls go from children to adults very quickly
- Is it western specific?
X - stage model - Hendry & Kloep say this process is dynamic, flexible and non-linear. Its about exposure to experience, not chronological age
X - Just describes, doesnt explain how and why
