Week 1 - Introduction to life span perspective

Question 1

describe the distinctive features of the life span perspective

Answer 1

Focuses on development occurring from birth to death (Erikson, Bronfenbrenner)
Biological, Cognitive and socioemotional development.
Views development as lifelong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary & contextual.

Contexts -
normative age-graded influences (similar for individuals of a group),
normative history-graded influences (common to people of a period/generation),
non-normative life events (unusual impactful events)

Question 2

identify the most important periods, processes and issues in development

Answer 2

Prenatal (conception > birth)
Infancy (birth > 12 months)
Toddlerhood (1 > 3 years)
Early childhood (3 > 6 years)
Middle childhood (6 > 9 years)
Adolescence (10 > 20 years)
Emerging adulthood (20 > 23 years)
Young adulthood (20 > 40's)
Middle adulthood (40 > 60's)
Late adulthood (60 +)

Developmental issues - nature vs nurture, stability and change, continuity and discontinuity

Question 3

describe the main theories of development

Answer 3

Freud (1856-1939) Psychosexual theory
Psychoanalysis - bringing up patients repressed memories from unconscious mind through talk about dreams and childhood.
Stages - infancy (oral), toddlerhood (anal), early childhood (phallic), middle childhood (latency, repressed), adolescence (genitals)
Limitations - sample size, only women

Erikson (1902-1994) Psychosocial theory
Development is driven by the need to become integrated into social and cultural environment.
Development continues through lifespan
Stages - infancy* (trust vs mistrust), toddlerhood (autonomy vs shame/doubt), early childhood (initiative vs guilt), middle childhood (industry vs inferiority), adolescence* (identity vs role confusion), early adulthood (intimacy vs isolation), middle adulthood* (generativity vs stagnation), late adulthood (ego integrity vs despair)

Bronfenbrenner (1980-2000’s) Ecological theory
Focuses on multiple influences that shape human development in social environment.
Consists of - the individual, microsystem (immediate environment), mesosytem (interconnections between microsystems), exosystem (societal institutions), macro system (cultural beliefs and values)

Question 4

explain how research on life span development is conducted.

Answer 4

Research designs - cross sectional (collect data once), longitudinal (data collected multiple times)

Research methods - questionnaire, interviews, observations, ethnographic survey (spending time with the group), case studies, biological measurements, experimental, natural experiments