Life Span Development

1. Human development- introduction and theories

2. Developmental psychology is the branch of psychology that studies intra-individual changes and inter-individual changes which takes place in Humans. • Its task, is not only description (what) but also explanation (how) of age-related changes in behavior in terms of antecedent-consequent relationship. • Some developmental psychologists study developmental changes covering the life span from conception to death; give a complete picture of growth and decline. • Others cover only a segment of the life span – childhood, adulthood and old age.

3. Major objectives of Developmental psychologists to study the subject includes: 1) to find out what are the common characteristic changes that takes place in appearance, in behavior, in interests and in goals from one developmental period to another, 2) to find out when these changes occur; 3) to find out what causes them; 4) to find out how they influence behavior; 5) to find out whether they can or cannot be predicted; 6) to find out whether they are individual or universal

4. MEANING OF DEVELOPMENTAL CHANGES • The term development means a progressive series of changes that occur as a result of maturation and experience. • "development implies qualitative change". • This means that development does not consist merely of adding inches to one's height or of improving one's ability. Instead, it is a complex process of integrating many structures and functions. • Two essentially opposite processes in development take place simultaneously throughout life —growth / evolution, and decline / involution (shrinking of organs). • Both begin at conception and end at death. In the early years growth predominates as early as embryonic life. • In the latter part of life, atrophy (deterioration) predominates, though growth does not stop; hair continues to grow, and cells continue to be replaced.

5. The human being is never static. From conception to death, change is constantly taking place in physical and psychological capacities. • A maturing organism undergoes continued and progressive changes in response to experiential conditions, and these result in a complex network of interaction. • Often the pattern of change resembles a bell shaped curve, rising abruptly at the childhood and then flattening out during the middle years, only to decline slowly or abruptly in old age. • It is important to recognize that at no time can this pattern be represented by a straight line.

8. SIGNIFICANT FACTS ABOUT DEVELOPMENT To understand the pattern of development, certain fundamental and predictable facts must be taken into consideration. Each of these facts has important Implications in its own way. • Early foundations are critical • Roles of maturation and learning in development • Development follows a definite and predictable pattern • All individuals are different

9. Each phase of development has characteristic behavior • Each phase of development has hazards (Ex: childhood to adulthood, middle age to old age) • Development is aided by stimulation • Development is affected by cultural changes • Social expectations for every stage of development

10. Early Foundations Are Critical • Attitudes, habits, and patterns of behavior established during the early years determine to a large extent how successfully individuals will adjust to life as they grow older. • Because early foundations are likely to be persistent, it is important that they be of the kind that will lead to good personal and social adjustments as the individual grows older. • This point of view was expressed by Bijou as: 'Many child psychologists have said that the preschool years, from about two to five, are among the most important, of all the stages of development, and a functional analysis of that stage strongly points to the same conclusion. • It is unquestionably the period during which the foundation is laid for the complex behavior structures that are built in a child's lifetime".

11. Erikson claims that babyhood is the period when individuals learn general attitudes of trust or mistrust • depending on how parents gratify their child's needs for food, attention, and love. • These attitudes, remain more or less persistent throughout life. • Early patterns do tend to persist, but they are not unchangeable.

13. There are three conditions under which change is likely to occur. • First, change may come about when the individual receives help and guidance in making the change. Some parents, for example, may succeed in training a child to use the right hand in preference to the left. • Second, change is likely to occur when significant people treat individual in new and different ways. • Example, Children who have been trained to believe that they should be “seen but not heard” can be encouraged to express themselves more freely by a teacher who makes them feel that they have something to contribute to the group. • Third condition that can lead to change exists when there is a strong motivation on the part of the individuals themselves to make the change.

14. When behavior meets with social disapproval, there will be a strong motivation to change. • Knowing that early foundations tend to persist enables one to predict with a fair degree of accuracy what a child’s future development is likely to be. Example, A quiet, introverted child is not likely to develop into an extrovert, a child who has little or no interest in school or school activities is not likely to develop into a scholar or a good school citizen. Roles of maturation and learning in development • Maturation is the unfolding of the individuals inherent traits. In phylogenetic functions – functions which are common to the human race, such as creeping, sitting and walking – development comes from maturation.

15. Learning, in the form of training, is of little advantage. Maturation provides the raw materials for learning and determines the more general patterns and sequences of behavior. • Learning is development that comes from exercise and effort on the individual’s part. • In ontogenetic functions – those that are specific to the individual, such as writing, driving a car, or swimming – learning in the form of training is essential. • Without it, development would not take place.

16. Development follows a definite and predictable pattern • There are orderly patterns of physical, motor, speech and intellectual development, for example, the pattern of physical and motor development; the laws of developmental directions • development spreads over the body from head to foot and the development spreads outward from the central axis of the body to the extremities. • In most of the time development will follow a pattern similar for all. Babies creep and crawl before they walk and interest in opposite sex appears only when pubertal changes have taken place. There is no evidence that individuals have their own individual patterns of development, though there is evidence that the rate of development varies from individual to individual.

17. Cephalocaudal and proximodistal development

18. All Individuals Are Different • "Every person is indeed biologically and genetically different from every other," even in the case of identical twins. • There is evidence that differences increase rather than decrease as children go from childhood into adolescence and eventually to old age. • Adults are not only much more complex than children but they are more different one from another, and increasingly different as they move from youth to extreme old age". • As all individuals are different, no two people can be expected to react in the same manner to the same environmental stimuli. Example, Fearful children react differently than aggressive ones, and those who are easy going are not as upset by family moves (divorce) as are those who are sensitive.

19. Each Phase of Development Has Characteristic Behavior • The patterns are marked by periods of equilibrium, when individuals adapt easily to environmental demands and, as a result, make good personal and social adjustments • by periods of disequilibrium, when they experience difficulties in adaptation and, as a result, make poor personal and social adjustments • Some stages of growing up are marked by more difficult behavior than others. When an individual's behavior is atypical for a particular age and leads to poor adjustment may it be considered problem behavior. • In most instances, such behavior is infantile in that it is characteristic of an earlier age level.

20. Each Phase of Development Has Hazards • Prenatal - Still birth, Delivery Complication, dvlpmt irregularity, Baby hood – Too much affection, stress, object relation, overprotection • There is ample evidence that each period in the life span has associated with it certain developmental hazards— whether physical, psychological, or environmental in origin—and these inevitably involve adjustment problems. • Persons who are in charge of the training of children be aware of the hazards. Such awareness may make it possible to prevent or to at least lessen these hazards. • Hazards are visible especially in middle and old age. (health, menopause, role change / economic status, accidents, sexual deprivation) • It is important because the way in which how people cope with these hazards has a great effect on their personal and social adjustments.

21. Development Is Aided by Stimulation • While most development will occur as a result of maturation and environmental experiences, much can be done to aid development so that it will reach its full potential. • This can be done by stimulating development through directly encouraging the individual to use an ability which is in the process of developing. Hospitals today—care-givers stimulate new born children by moving their limbs, turning them into different positions, and talking to them. • Stimulation, is especially effective at the time when an ability is normally developing, though it is important at all times. • Stimulated premature infants develop faster than unstimulated premature infants. Furthermore, the mortality rate is lower for these infants than for unstimulated premature babies.

24. The more often parents talk to their pre-school age children, the sooner the children learn to talk and the stronger their motivation to do so. • Stimulation of the muscle during the early years results in earlier and better coordinated motor skills. • Studies of the elderly have revealed that stimulation helps to ward off physical and mental decline. (learning new skills, sleep, physical activity) • Those who remain physically and mentally active in old age show far less physical and mental deterioration.

25. Development Is Affected by Cultural Changes • An individual's development is molded to conform to cultural standards and ideals, thought, behavior, expression of emotions, changes in these standards affect the developmental pattern. • culture can affect how children build values, language, belief systems, and an understanding of themselves as individuals and as members of society. • Children can receive these cultural influences in different ways, such as through their parents, their environment, and the media [movie, tv, video games etc-aggressive behavior]. • Collectivist culture may encourage child to help family after school. • How society shows an understanding of diverse cultures can impact a child’s development in many ways, such as how confident in themselves or how comfortable interacting with others they become as adults.

26. Collectivism – [Asia, Africa, S. US] Individualism – [US, Europe] cooperation vs competition / child parent interaction / Conflict between family and society values. Social Expectations for Every Stage of Development • Example: how your family expect you to behave in front of elders/visitors • Every cultural group expects its members to master certain essential skills and acquire certain approved patterns of behavior at various ages during the life span. • According to Havighurst, a developmental task is "a task which arises at a certain period in the life of the individual, successful achievement of which leads to happiness, while failure leads to unhappiness and difficulty with later tasks."

27. Some tasks arise mainly as a result of physical maturation, such as learning to walk; • others develop primarily from the cultural pressures of society, such as learning to read; • others grow out of the personal values of the individual, such as choosing and for a job. In most cases, however, developmental tasks arise from these three forces working together.

28. Theories of Development • Psychoanalytic Theories • Neuro Maturational Theories • Dynamic Approach Theories • Constructivist theories • Learning Theories • Ethological Theories

29. Ethological Theories • Ethology stresses that behavior is strongly influenced by biology, is tied to evolution, and is characterized by critical or sensitive periods. • Unlike any field that study behavior, ethology does not only consider the environmental factors that affect behavior but focuses more on the physiological, genetic, and evolutionary factors that affect these actions • The word ethology comes from the Greek word “ethos” meaning character and “logos” meaning “study of“, and from the Latin word “ethologia” which means “mimicry” or the art of depicting characters by copying behaviors. • Ethology involves the study of animal behaviors by observing, describing, and evaluating them in the natural setting.

30. THEORY OF MIND • It is a child’s ability to “tune-in” to other peoples’ perspectives • involves understanding that people don’t share the same thoughts and feelings as you do. • theory of mind refers to our ability to attribute mental states, such as beliefs, desires, and intentions, to other people. This capacity allows us to predict and interpret the behavior of others, and to understand that their actions are motivated by their thoughts, social competence, and emotions. • Individuals with a theory of mind impairment may experience challenges in social situation, including understanding others' perspectives, recognizing sarcasm or irony, and expressing their own emotions accurately.

32. During infancy and early childhood, children learn the early skills that they’ll need to develop their theory of mind later on. These skills include the ability to; • pay attention to people and copy them • recognize others’ emotions and use words to express them (“happy”, “sad”, “mad”) • know that they are different from other people and have different likes/dislikes from others • know that people act according to the things they want • understand the causes and consequences of emotions (If I throw my toy, Mom will be mad) • pretend to be someone else (like a doctor or a cashier) when they play

33. Between ages 4-5, children really start to think about others’ thoughts and feelings, and this is when true theory of mind emerges. Children develop theory of mind skills in the following order • Understanding “wanting” – Different people want different things, and to get what they want, people act in different ways. • Understanding “thinking” – Different people have different, but potentially true, beliefs about the same thing. People’s actions are based on what they think is going to happen. • Understanding that “seeing leads to knowing” – If you haven’t seen something, you don’t necessarily know about it (like the Dad in the example above on the telephone). If someone hasn’t seen something, they will need extra information to understand. • Understanding “false beliefs” – Sometimes people believe things that are not true, and they act according to their beliefs, not according to what is really true. • Understanding “hidden feelings” – People can feel a different emotion from the one they display.

34. Children’s theory of mind continues to develop after age five. • For the next several years they learn to predict what one person thinks or feels about what another person is thinking or feeling. • They also begin to understand complex language that relies on theory of mind, such as lies, sarcasm, and figurative language (like “it’s raining cats and dogs”) • Some experts argue that theory of mind development continues over a lifetime as one has more opportunities to experience people and their behaviour. • Home training can be given to promote the child’s theory of mind; In tuning language, Role play with full involvement