PSYCHOLOGY UNIT 1 CHAPTER 04- Lifespan Development Flashcards
❓❓❓ Psychologists who study lifespan development aim to…
…understand, describe, and predict the ways in which our thoughts, feelings and behaviour change throughout our lives
❓❓❓What does lifespan development refer to?
-refers to age-related changes that occur from birth, throughout a person’s life, into and during old age
❓❓❓Define Physical(biological) development (areas of lifespan development)
- Changes in the body and it’s various systems
- development of brain, nervous system, bones, muscles, motor skills(movement) and hormonal changes(puberty/menopause)
interaction between physical and psychological development
❓❓❓Define Social development (areas of lifespan development)
-changes in an individual’s relationships with other people and their skills in interacting with others, such as the ability to form and maintain close relationships in a group situation.
also language skills
❓❓❓Define Cognitive development (areas of lifespan development)
-changes in an individual’s mental abilities such as processing of information through perception, learning, language, moral reasoning, problem solving, decision making
❓❓❓Define emotional development (areas of lifespan development)
-Changes in how an individual experiences different feelings and how these feeling are expressed, interpreted and dealt with
☀️☀️☀️
- most physical development changes can be directly observed
- all others: researchers make observations of behaviour believed to be associated with thoughts/feelings and make assumptions about underlying cognition sand emotions
- social development: inferred from observing ‘social behaviour’ assumed to be associated with underlying psychological processes
- social, cognitive and emotional development referred to collectively as ‘psychological development’
☀️☀️☀️INTERACTION OF DIFFERENT AREAS OF DEVELOPMENT
- how you think and/or feel can influence your physiological, state
e. g. Negative thoughts about your body image can lead to eating disorders - physical condition can also influence thoughts/feelings
e. g. If you are stressed/tired you may ‘snap’ at someone
❓❓❓What is the age range of ‘Infancy’? Description of developmental changes?
AGE: birth - 2
DESCRIPTION: learning to walk/talk, bond with parents
❓❓❓What is the age range of ‘Childhood’? Description of developmental changes?
AGE: 2 - 10
DESCRIPTION: learn to read/write, morals, social interaction with peers
❓❓❓What is the age range of ‘Adolescence’? Description of developmental changes?
AGE: 10 - 20
DESCRIPTION: puberty(physical and psychological changes), develop independence from family, abstract/logical thought processes
❓❓❓What is the age range of ‘Early Adulthood’? Description of developmental changes?
AGE: 20 - 40
DESCRIPTION: establish personal/financial independence, career, life partner, parenting
❓❓❓What is the age range of ‘Middle Age’? Description of developmental changes?
AGE: 40 - 65
DESCRIPTION: further advancement of career, supporting children, social and personal responsibilities
❓❓❓What is the age range of ‘Older Age’? Description of developmental changes?
AGE: 65+
DESCRIPTION: retirement, decrease in physical health and abilities, death of friends/relatives
❓❓❓What is continuous development?
-gradual and ongoing changes throughout the lifespan without sudden shifts. Can be represented as a single, smooth line
❓❓❓What is discontinuous development?
- involves distinct and separate stages with different kinds of abilities occurring set each stage
- identifiable short/end points
❓❓❓Define ‘sequential nature of development’
- development of many thought, feelings and behaviours occur in an orderly sequence
- sequences usually begin with simple thought/feelings/behaviours and progress to more complex ones
- possible but unusual to skip a step
e. g.
- walk before running
- count before adding
❓❓❓What are quantitative changes?
- variations in the quantity of a thought/feeling/behaviour
- expressed in numbers
e. g. Number of words spoken in relation to age
❓❓❓What are qualitative changes?
- changes that vary in ‘quality’, ‘kind’ or ‘type’
- changes that make an individual different from the way they were before
- described with words
e. g. 4 year old doesn’t understand most concepts that a 16 year old would
☀️☀️☀️INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN DEVELOPMENT
- no two people develop at exactly the same rate or same way
- changes in different areas occur at its own pace within a person
-each person has a unique genetic make-up and set of life experiences which interact continuously, shaping their particular course throughout their lifespan
❓❓❓What is heredity (nature)?
- transmission of characteristics from biological parents to offspring via genes at time of conception
- genes influence psychological development
❓❓❓What is environment(nurture)?
- refers to all experiences, objects, events to which we are exposed throughout our lifetimes
- environmental factors: siblings, up brining, friendship groups, schooling, income level, religion, relationships etc.
☀️☀️☀️NATURE VS NURTURE
- over time, research showed that it is neither one or the other that is solely responsible
- now focuses on how much heredity and environment contribute to the development of particular characteristics
-general agreement: development begins with genetic ‘instructions’ act as ‘building blocks’ for development of characteristics. Environment interacts with inherited potential to determine how the genetic plan unfolds
❓❓❓What is maturation?
-a the orderly sequential development. Changes which occurs in the nervous system and other bodily structures by our genes
❓❓❓What is the principle of readiness?
❓❓❓What is a sensitive period in development?
-a period of time when an individual is more responsive(sensitive) to certain influences from their environment
☀️☀️☀️physical characteristics= longer sensitive period
Psychological characteristics= shorter sensitive period
❓❓❓What is the Biological Perspective on development?
- focuses on biological/physiological bases of development
e. g. How hormones influence psychological changes during and after puberty
❓❓❓What is the Behavioural Perspective on development?
- focuses on how behaviour is acquired or changes as a result of environmental influences
e. g. may consider the role of parenting styles on the psychological development of children
❓❓❓What is the Cognitive Perspective on development?
- focuses on changes in how we acquire, process, remember and use information throughout the lifespan
e. g. Whether there is a large cognitive change form middle age to older age
❓❓❓What is the Socio-Cultural Perspective on development?
- emphasis on the roles of social and cultural influences on human behaviour and mental processes
- focuses on effects of specific environmental factors on developments (age, race, gender, income, culture)
e.g. The effect on adolescent confidence of living in the city compared with living in an isolated community
❓❓❓What is a longitudinal study? Advantages? Limitations?
DESCRIPTION:
A longitudinal study is a long-term investigation that follows the same group (or groups) of people over
an extended period of time, observing any changes in their thoughts, feelings and/or behaviour that occur at different ages
ADVANTAGES:
-lets psychologists understand long term changes in thoughts/feelings/behaviours
LIMITATIONS:
- expensive
- long time to get results
- participants may lose interest/die
❓❓❓What is a Cross-sectional study? Advantages? Limitations?
DESCRIPTION:
The cross-sectional study selects and compares groups of participants of different ages over a short period of time
ADVANTAGES:
- inexpensive
- not too time consuming
LIMITATIONS:
- differences may be due to background of participants
- generational influence( people in their 80s would have experienced childhood during the Great Depression so the difference would not be from age, but form that life experience)
❓❓❓What is a Cohort-Sequential method? Advantages?
DESCRIPTION:
-combines the other two methods. Involves two or more groups of participants (called cohorts) who overlap in age
ADVANTAGES:
- comparison between groups with an overlap in participants’ ages
- sample size is larger
- bigger diversity of participants
☀️☀️☀️TWIN STUDIES
- research using identical(monozygotic) and non-identical(dizygotic) twins
- if a characteristic is mainly influenced by the environment, then monozygotic twins could show significant differences in that characteristic
☀️☀️☀️ADOPTION STUDIES
- psychologists compare characteristics of adopted children with their adopted and biological families
- similarities with adopted parents= evidence for environmental influence
- similarities with biological parents= evidence for heredity
☀️☀️☀️SELECTIVE BREEDING (animals)
-Involves mating a female and male animals from family lines with desired characteristics to increase the likelihood that offspring will have their characteristics
